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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. •   •   •

Whatever had happened, however she was being changed, she wasn’t changed all the way yet. I’d pulled her out in time, even if doing so had still failed her in some awful way I did not understand. Her body still functioned, if reluctantly, the way it ought to—and not through some unnatural mechanism that ought to be left to the fish in the sea.

“Nance—” I begged her, and it sounded like I was crying, too, but I wasn’t. My eyes were the only thing dry in the entire room, and I don’t know why. Maybe it’d finally happened: I was all cried out.

Nance didn’t respond, except with that awful wheeze that had become the sound of her breath.

•   •   •

From down the hall came the never-ending ringing of Emma’s bell, but I scarcely heard it. It’d become just another noise, like the dripping of the faucet or the hissing fuss of something that struggles to breathe air. Just another sign of horror, another note of impending awfulness that I was no doubt powerless to stop.

Over my shoulder I shouted, “Emma, I hear you—shut up!”

The ringing stopped, from surprise or satisfaction I cannot say. But it stopped, and that was all I wanted. That, and for Nance to breathe and open her eyes and look at me.

Might as well have wished for the moon.

Owen Seabury, M.D.

APRIL 30, 1894
LETTER TO CHRISTOFF DANE, C/O UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND, KINGSTON

Hello there, Christoff—and I hope all is well at that wonderful new university of yours. Not quite ten years on, is it? You must be very proud; I’ve heard only exceptional things about you and your research programs, particularly with regard to that very fine agricultural experiment station; and although I realize it’s been some time since last we spoke, it is because of that station (and its general subject matter) that I write you today.

To be more specific, I’m interested in your progress and practice concerning a vaccine against Clostridium tetani—a vaccine which I’m led to understand you’ve developed with some degree of success. Or if not you, personally, then I seem to recall that you’re performing further development and refinement upon it. I hope you’ll forgive my lack of clarity on the matter, as it’s been a trying series of months, and I’m not at my sharpest right now.

I suppose you think my request must come out of the clear blue, but I must impress upon you the dire nature of my inquiry: Here in Fall River, just a handful of miles to your east, we find ourselves afflicted with a particularly virulent strain—one that’s striking willy-nilly throughout the town. I can’t say how it’s evolved in its present aggressive state, only that I’m somewhat confident that this is indeed the bacterial foe we face.