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Chapters (47)
  1. Title Page
  2. Contents
  3. Praise for In the Clearing
  4. Praise for Call Me Evie
  5. Dedication
  6. Prologue
  7. Part One: The Sociopath Test
  8. Chapter One
  9. Chapter Two
  10. Chapter Three
  11. Chapter Four
  12. Chapter Five
  13. Chapter Six
  14. Chapter Seven
  15. Chapter Eight
  16. Chapter Nine
  17. Chapter Ten
  18. Chapter Eleven
  19. Chapter Twelve
  20. Chapter Thirteen
  21. Part Two: Introspection
  22. Chapter Fourteen
  23. Chapter Fifteen
  24. Chapter Sixteen
  25. Chapter Seventeen
  26. Chapter Eighteen
  27. Chapter Nineteen
  28. Chapter Twenty
  29. Chapter Twenty-One
  30. Part Three: Retrospection
  31. Chapter Twenty-Two
  32. Chapter Twenty-Three
  33. Chapter Twenty-Four
  34. Chapter Twenty-Five
  35. Chapter Twenty-Six
  36. Chapter Twenty-Seven
  37. Chapter Twenty-Eight
  38. Chapter Twenty-Nine
  39. Chapter Thirty
  40. Chapter Thirty-One
  41. Chapter Thirty-Two
  42. Chapter Thirty-Three
  43. Now
  44. Chapter Thirty-Four
  45. Extract of The Last Guests
  46. Acknowledgements
  47. Copyright

‘Take the day off, Anna. Paid, of course.’ I can feel a tremble in my arms and legs, my chest, like a scream wanting to get out, but I know I’ve got to keep calm, I’ve got to support her. ‘If you need any counselling, or anything else I can help you with, please don’t hesitate to ask.’

‘I’ll be okay, I can stay,’ she says, her mouth downturned with the echo of disgust. She can still see the images in her mind.

‘No, I want you to have the day off. Go rest up at home or visit friends.’

‘Thank you,’ she says, taking her coat from the back of her chair and pulling one arm into a sleeve. When she’s ready to go, she grabs her keys and starts towards the door.

‘They’re fake, Anna,’ I lie.

‘What?’

‘The images. They’re not real. Gore scenes from old horror movies. They look real but they’re not.’

‘I thought so,’ she says. ‘But I just don’t know why anyone would send them.’

‘I know what you mean,’ I say. She’s a grad student. Soon she will be sitting in a seat like mine talking to people for eight hours a day.

‘I’ll see you tomorrow,’ she says, stepping out onto the footpath.

I lock the door and call Xanthe myself, trying one last time. It rings out and her recorded voice comes down the line. ‘This is Xanthe’s phone, leave me a message.’

‘Xanthe, it’s Margot. You had an appointment booked in with me today at 10 am which obviously you’ve missed now. Please give me a call once you hear this to reschedule and let me know that you are okay. Speak soon.’

I hang up the phone and sit, waiting in Anna’s chair for the police to arrive. I realise then that the image on my doorstep was likely left there before the fire. Maybe someone left it as a warning before burning the place down. Is this box a warning of something to come, too?

Part Two: Introspection

PART TWO

INTROSPECTION

Reporter: A man has died after a three-hour stand-off at an apartment block in Elwood overnight. Police arrived in response to a neighbour hearing banging from the apartment and the building was evacuated. The man refused to speak with negotiators and barricaded himself in his bathroom, insisting he would only speak with his psychologist. The man was known to neighbours as someone who had mental health issues. Police are not treating the cause of death as suspicious and no others were hurt.

Chapter Fourteen

FOURTEEN