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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
  138. •   •   •
  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
  206. •   •   •

Lizzie answered, “No. But beyond a certain point, names become accessories. We swap them out as needed, for the sake of peace. You understand?” she asked him, her voice calm and level. She really wasn’t asking if he understood.

“I understand,” he confirmed anyway. “Though I disagree. Names aren’t hats to change a look, or a suit to be swapped at a whim. Words mean things.”

“Then we must agree to disagree,” she told him. “Now. Tell us about this man who’s coming for Doctor Jackson.”

“It’s as I said—a teacher who’s lost his mind. We found a scrap of note, left by the killer at a scene. Not as a warning or boast, but as an afterthought, I think. Maybe he simply forgot about it. It seems to have been written to the doctor.”

“It only seems that way?” I asked.

“The note rambles excessively, and it makes sense only in fits and starts. Here,” he said, withdrawing a folded sheet from his vest pocket. “Since I believe it was intended for you, in a roundabout way. You may as well have it.”

And then he handed over the most astonishing document I’d ever set eyes on.

I read it start to finish; then I read it again . . . and a third time. All the while, my skull was boiling, cooking through the details and trying to figure out how they all fit together.

“Zollicoffris,” I whispered, my attention snagging on the corruption of a name.

“Does it mean anything to you?” Wolf asked carefully.

I cleared my throat. “Zollicoffer,” I said with more confidence. “Phillip Zollicoffer, at Miskatonic. We’ve been correspondents for some years, off and on.”

He sat back in the chair, exhaling. “So you do know the man.”

“I know the handwriting, and this isn’t his.”

“No, madam. A copy, produced by one of the Boston record keepers. But should I trust that the two of you have never met in person?”

“Trust and believe it. He has no idea who I am, or that I’m a woman.”

“When was your last exchange of letters?” he wanted to know, and when I finally tore my eyes away from the paper, I saw that he was now holding a notebook and a pencil. Something told me he was always similarly prepared. For anything.

“Erm . . . I don’t know. Last April, I suppose. It’s been a while. My health has its ups and downs, but last April I was strong enough to roam along the shore, a little bit. With my sister’s help.” I cast a nod in her direction. “Sometimes Doctor Zollicoffer and I would exchange strange finds, fossils or seaweed samples. That sort of thing.”

“Samples, yes. He refers to a ‘sample’ in the letter. Is there any light you can shed upon those particular ramblings?”