I'll Be Watching You. M. William Phelps

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      Praise for I’LL BE WATCHING YOU

      “This tale skillfully balances a victim’s story against that of an arrogant killer as it reveals a deviant mind intent on topping the world’s most dangerous criminals. Phelps has an unrelenting sense for detail that affirms his place, book by book, as one of our most engaging crime journalists.”

      —Dr. Katherine Ramsland, author of The Human Predator

      Praise for MURDER IN THE HEARTLAND

      “Drawing on interviews with law officers and relatives, Murder in the Heartland will interest anyone who has followed the Stinnett case. The author has done significant research and—demonstrating how modern forensics and the Internet played critical, even unexpected roles in the investigation—his facile writing pulls the reader along.”

      —St. Louis Post-Dispatch

      “Phelps uses a unique combination of investigative skills and narrative insight to give readers an exclusive, insider’s look into the events surrounding this incredible, high-profile American tragedy…. He has written a compassionate, riveting true crime masterpiece.”

      —Anne Bremner, op-ed columnist and legal analyst on Court TV, MSNBC, Nancy Grace, FOX News Channel, The O’Reilly Factor, CNN, Good Morning America, and The Early Show

      “When unimaginable horror strikes, it is certain to cause monstrous sufferings, regardless of its locale. In Murder in the Heartland, M. William Phelps expertly reminds us that when the darkest form of evil invades the quiet and safe outposts of rural America, the tragedy is greatly magnified. Get ready for some sleepless nights.”

      —Carlton Stowers, Edgar Award–winning author of Careless Whispers, Scream at the Sky, and To the Last Breath

      “This is the most disturbing and moving look at murder in rural America since Capote’s In Cold Blood.”

      —Gregg Olsen, New York Times bestselling author of Abandoned Prayers

      “A crisp, no-nonsense account…masterful.”

      —Bucks County Courier Times

      “An unflinching investigation…Phelps explores this tragedy with courage, insight, and compassion.”

      —Lima News (Lima, OH)

      Praise for SLEEP IN HEAVENLY PEACE

      “An exceptional book by an exceptional true crime writer. In Sleep in Heavenly Peace, M. William Phelps exposes long-hidden secrets and reveals disquieting truths. Page by page, Phelps skillfully probes the disturbed mind of a mother guilty of the ultimate betrayal.”

      —Kathryn Casey, author of She Wanted It All and A Warrant to Kill

      Praise for EVERY MOVE YOU MAKE

      “An insightful and fast-paced examination of the inner workings of a good cop and his bad informant culminating in an un-forgettable truth-is-stranger-than-fiction climax.”

      —Michael M. Baden, M.D., author of Unnatural Death

      “M. William Phelps is the rising star of the nonfiction crime genre, and his true tales of murderers and mayhem are scary-as-hell thrill rides into the dark heart of the inhuman condition.”

      —Douglas Clegg, author of The Lady of Serpents

      Praise for LETHAL GUARDIAN

      “An intense roller-coaster of a crime story. Matt Phelps’ book Lethal Guardian is at once complex, with a plethora of twists and turns worthy of any great detective mystery, and yet so well-laid out, so crisply written with such detail to character and place that it reads more like a novel than your standard non-fiction crime book.”

      —New York Times bestselling author Steve Jackson

      Praise for PERFECT POISON

      “Perfect Poison is a horrific tale of nurse Kristen Gilbert’s insatiable desire to kill the most helpless of victims—her own patients. A stunner from beginning to end, Phelps renders the story expertly, with flawless research and an explosive narrative. Phelps unravels the devastating case against nurse Kristen Gilbert and shockingly reveals that unimaginable evil sometimes comes in pretty packages.”

      —Gregg Olsen, bestselling author of Abandoned Players, Mockingbird, and If Loving You Is Wrong

      “M. William Phelps’s Perfect Poison is true crime at its best—compelling, gripping, an edge-of-the-seat thriller. All the way through, Phelps packs wallops of delight with his skillful ability to narrate a suspenseful story and his encyclopedic knowledge of police procedures. Perfect Poison is the perfect antidote for a dreary night!”

      —Harvey Rachlin, author of The Making of a Detective and The Making of a Cop

      “A compelling account of terror that only comes when the author dedicates himself to unmasking the psychopath with facts, insight and the other proven methods of journalistic leg work.”

      —Lowell Cauffiel, bestselling author of House of Secrets

      “A blood-curdling page turner and a meticulously researched study of the inner recesses of the mind of a psychopathic narcissist.”

      —Sam Vaknin, author of Malignant Self Love—Narcissism Revisited

      Other books by M. William Phelps

      PERFECT POISON

      LETHAL GUARDIAN

      EVERY MOVE YOU MAKE

      SLEEP IN HEAVENLY PEACE

      MURDER IN THE HEARTLAND

      BECAUSE YOU LOVE ME

      IF LOOKS COULD KILL

      I’LL BE WATCHING YOU

      M. WILLIAM PHELPS

      PINNACLE BOOKS

      Kensington Publishing Corp.

       http://www.kensingtonbooks.com

      For my readers, old and new

      AUTHOR’S NOTE

      I

      Is the boogeyman real? Generations of children would say, Yes, of course he is. There, hiding in the closet, amid boxes of toys and smelly socks, creeps that mysterious, unseen monster; that demon underneath the bed; that ghostly image, transparent and ominous, tucked behind the curtains gently drifting in the wind of an open window; that shadowy figure, who comes out at night when the lights are off and Mom and Dad are shouting from the next room, “It’s your imagination. Go to sleep.”

      The boogeyman is there. Any child who has ever sat awake at night with a flashlight underneath his or her covers has seen or heard him.

      Truth be told, however, popular culture rarely compares fictional boogeymen—i.e., Michael Myers, Freddy Krueger, and the like—to those predators out there right now blending into society, working with us, standing behind us in line at the bank, waving to our children as they pass by their houses on bikes, watching and waiting for the perfect opportunity to snatch one of us off the street to use as a prop in some sort of unimaginable game of God knows what. Think BTK: an outwardly normal, churchgoing animal control officer who tormented and tortured women for years under the nose of law enforcement. To be clear, this is a book about a real boogeyman (like BTK, Gacy, Dahmer, Bundy). A true monster.

      A calculating maniac.

      Twisted and despicable.

      And yet contrary