Chapters (206)
- Praise for Maplecroft
- Title page
- Copyright page
- Contents
- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
- THESE ARE THE THINGS AN EARTHQUAKE BRINGS
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- A DOCTOR, A LAWYER, A MERCHANT, A CHIEF
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- Phillip Zollicoffer, Professor of Biology, Miskatonic University
- Lizzie Andrew Borden
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- BE SURE YOUR SINS WILL FIND YOU OUT
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- I CROSS THE MAGPIE, THE MAGPIE CROSSES ME
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- Nance O’Neil
- THIS KNOT I KNIT, THIS KNOT I TIE
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- AND IF YOU HAVE A HORSE WITH ONE WHITE LEG . . .
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- THE WORST IS TO BE JUDGED WITHOUT HOPE
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- Lizzie Andrew Borden
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- BUT NETTLE SHANT HAVE NOTHING
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- CUT THEM ON FRIDAY, YOU CUT THEM FOR SORROW
- Phillip Zollicoffer, Professor of Biology, Miskatonic University
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- HAPPY IS THE CORPSE THAT THE RAIN SHINES ON
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- A DWELLING PLACE OF JACKALS, THE DESOLATION FOREVER
- Lizzie Andrew Borden
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- Nance O’Neil
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- Emma L. Borden
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- Owen Seabury, M.D.
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- Lizzie Andrew Borden
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- RIGHT CHEEK, LEFT CHEEK—WHY DO YOU BURN?
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- Aaron B. Stewart, Fire Chief, Farthington, Mass.
- Emma L. Borden
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- Gerald Macintyre, Telegraph Clerk, Western Union
- Owen Seabury, M.D.
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- Physalia, Z. University I Was Not Now
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- DEPART, ALL ANIMALS WITHOUT BONES
- Emma L. Borden
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- Owen Seabury, M.D.
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- Lizzie Andrew Borden
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- Owen Seabury, M.D.
- Phillip Zollicoffer. Physalia Zollicoffris.
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- Christoff Dane, M.D., Ph.D., University of Rhode Island, Kingston
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- Emma L. Borden
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- Owen Seabury, M.D.
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- Emma L. Borden
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- FAMILY SLAIN IN MAYFIELD
- Owen Seabury, M.D.
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- Lizzie Andrew Borden
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- Emma L. Borden
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- Owen Seabury, M.D.
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- Lizzie Andrew Borden
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- Inspector Simon Wolf
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Lizzie answered it, at first with a smile, and then with a frigid politeness that told me something was amiss. I listened for all I was worth, and before she even invited them in, I knew it was Doctor Seabury come to visit . . . and that he was not alone.
Coolly, she ushered the men inside, and that’s when I was compelled to make the acquaintance of Inspector Wolf, the strangely named.
Everything about the doctor’s demeanor suggested apology, and a begging of indulgence. He didn’t want to do this. He didn’t want to be here, he told us all, but the matter was outside his control and he had nothing but our best health and happiness in mind.
My face flushed warm, and my hands went cold. I had no idea how much Seabury had told this man, and I was not certain of the subject matter. We hide so many secrets here at Maplecroft—it was impossible to assume which one might have been transgressed.
The doctor sat on the chair opposite the settee where I rested. He fidgeted with his hat in his hand, and seemed very earnest when he leaned toward me and said, “I apologize from the bottom of my heart, Miss Borden, but it’s a matter of exceptional importance that brings us unannounced.”
I tried to keep from glaring when I replied, “It must be indeed, for you to surprise us like this.”
He nodded hard, his eyes trying to convey something I couldn’t quite grasp. I think he was trying to tell me to trust him, but that wasn’t easy. Not when he knew so much, and could do such harm. “Yes, and I trust you’ll forgive me if I’m direct: This is Inspector Wolf, from Boston. He wishes a word with Doctor E. A. Jackson.”
I was stunned. It would have almost been easier to swallow had he offered up some greater—but less personal—secret for this out-of-towner to chew on.
“About what?” I was not quite ready to give up the game. I had my gender on my side, for once. Any man would believe the whole thing was an utter fabrication, if I swore it was so.
The inspector answered this stuttered question of mine before the doctor had a chance. “I believe that he’s in terrible danger. A madman on a spree wishes to meet him, and thus far, everyone who crosses this madman’s path has turned up dead.”
I struggled to get a handle on the matter, all the possibilities rolling around in my brain like so many marbles. “Dead? The doctor is being hunted by a murderer?”
“A murderer many times over. We’ve tracked him since his first killing spree at a university, up at the northwestern end of the state, and—”
I interrupted. I couldn’t stop myself. “His first killing spree?”