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Chapters (206)
  1. Praise for Maplecroft
  2. Title page
  3. Copyright page
  4. Contents
  5. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  6. THESE ARE THE THINGS AN EARTHQUAKE BRINGS
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  12. A DOCTOR, A LAWYER, A MERCHANT, A CHIEF
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  20. Phillip Zollicoffer, Professor of Biology, Miskatonic University
  21. Lizzie Andrew Borden
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  26. BE SURE YOUR SINS WILL FIND YOU OUT
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  29. I CROSS THE MAGPIE, THE MAGPIE CROSSES ME
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  31. Nance O’Neil
  32. THIS KNOT I KNIT, THIS KNOT I TIE
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  37. AND IF YOU HAVE A HORSE WITH ONE WHITE LEG . . .
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  43. THE WORST IS TO BE JUDGED WITHOUT HOPE
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  46. Lizzie Andrew Borden
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  53. BUT NETTLE SHANT HAVE NOTHING
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  55. CUT THEM ON FRIDAY, YOU CUT THEM FOR SORROW
  56. Phillip Zollicoffer, Professor of Biology, Miskatonic University
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  62. HAPPY IS THE CORPSE THAT THE RAIN SHINES ON
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  67. A DWELLING PLACE OF JACKALS, THE DESOLATION FOREVER
  68. Lizzie Andrew Borden
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  71. Nance O’Neil
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  84. Emma L. Borden
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  88. Owen Seabury, M.D.
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  91. Lizzie Andrew Borden
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  93. RIGHT CHEEK, LEFT CHEEK—WHY DO YOU BURN?
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  101. Aaron B. Stewart, Fire Chief, Farthington, Mass.
  102. Emma L. Borden
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  104. Gerald Macintyre, Telegraph Clerk, Western Union
  105. Owen Seabury, M.D.
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  107. Physalia, Z. University I Was Not Now
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  109. DEPART, ALL ANIMALS WITHOUT BONES
  110. Emma L. Borden
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  115. Owen Seabury, M.D.
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  119. Lizzie Andrew Borden
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  130. Owen Seabury, M.D.
  131. Phillip Zollicoffer. Physalia Zollicoffris.
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  137. Christoff Dane, M.D., Ph.D., University of Rhode Island, Kingston
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  139. Emma L. Borden
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  144. Owen Seabury, M.D.
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  150. Emma L. Borden
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  153. FAMILY SLAIN IN MAYFIELD
  154. Owen Seabury, M.D.
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  165. Lizzie Andrew Borden
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  176. Emma L. Borden
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  186. Owen Seabury, M.D.
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  197. Lizzie Andrew Borden
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  205. Inspector Simon Wolf
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The flames had burst through the roof at the cannery’s tallest point: a four-story tower that once housed the family offices. The blaze appeared to have begun there, but given the scope of the situation, I could not swear to it in court. Not yet. Not before all the investigations are concluded, and all the evidence sorted from the ashes.

Just call it the gut feeling of a longtime fireman, and lend as much weight to that as you like.

But the fire had not stopped with the tower offices, alas. It’d spread in both directions, up and down the block, devouring a smaller segment of the plant (which had collapsed before we got there), and devastating a wing where the sorting of meats once occurred. This left approximately half of the remaining structures unscorched, but in the inevitable path of a blaze that was wholly outside our capacity to contain it.

With a steam engine, we might have cut the unburned structure off with a water wall, and saved it. But with rows of buckets and heavy hoses, I regret to say that we emptied all three tanks into the inferno to absolutely no effect. In the end, we were forced to retreat—and to ask the stalwart brigade members to abandon their posts.

We reassigned them to the side streets, where they doused cinders and stomped upon embers that still glowed. We sent some to the nearby rooftops with all the water they could carry between them, pumped from wells or dragged from creeks, so that the structures might be preserved.

Containment, sir. That’s the best we could hope for, and I am proud that we accomplished even that much.

If the insurance company is unsatisfied with this account, then I scarcely know what else to provide. This was the situation, and these were the conditions. We were powerless against a problem of that size, and nothing short of the most advanced equipment—and another dozen trained men—would’ve made the slightest difference in the outcome.

I am personally insulted that the adjuster has called our efforts into question, and if he has any further inquiries—or any accusations, for that matter—you may send him to me directly. I’ll no doubt be at my post, at the station. He’s welcome to wave his paperwork and spew his nonsense as he likes, and I’ll let Thompson or Coy have a go at him. Or at any rate, I won’t stop them if they do.

It’s our honor and our ability he’s taking to task, and I won’t stand for it.