Chapters (97)
- Cover
- Back Cover Text
- Praise
- Booklist
- Dedication
- Epigraph
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Twenty
- Twenty-One
- Twenty-Two
- Twenty-Three
- Twenty-Four
- Twenty-Five
- Twenty-Six
- Twenty-Seven
- Twenty-Eight
- Twenty-Nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-One
- Thirty-Two
- Thirty-Three
- Thirty-Four
- Thirty-Five
- Thirty-Six
- Thirty-Seven
- Thirty-Eight
- Thirty-Nine
- Forty
- Forty-One
- Forty-Two
- Forty-Three
- Forty-Four
- Forty-Five
- Forty-Six
- Forty-Seven
- Forty-Eight
- Forty-Nine
- Fifty
- Fifty-One
- Fifty-Two
- Fifty-Three
- Fifty-Four
- Fifty-Five
- Fifty-Six
- Fifty-Seven
- Fifty-Eight
- Fifty-Nine
- Sixty
- Sixty-One
- Sixty-Two
- Sixty-Three
- Sixty-Four
- Sixty-Five
- Sixty-Six
- Sixty-Seven
- Sixty-Eight
- Sixty-Nine
- Seventy
- Seventy-One
- Seventy-Two
- Seventy-Three
- Seventy-Four
- Seventy-Five
- Seventy-Six
- Seventy-Seven
- Seventy-Eight
- Seventy-Nine
- Eighty
- Eighty-One
- Eighty-Two
- Eighty-Three
- Eighty-Four
- Eighty-Five
- Eighty-Six
- Eighty-Seven
- Eighty-Eight
- Eighty-Nine
- Acknowledgments & A Personal Note
- Excerpt
“I’m pulled right back into it like it was yesterday. The scene, the horror of it. I went to the hospital and was there when Connie Tullock breathed her last words. You never forget something like that. Ever.”
Ben let a respectful moment pass.
“Can I ask your help on something?”
“You can ask.”
“I’m going to need to speak to the girls. Well, they’re women now, but with all the restrictions on their identities at the time, I may have trouble finding them. Would you be able to help me on that?”
Ben heard Jurek make a low whistling sound.
“That could be a challenge. I’m bound by the law. Their records are sealed. Their fingerprints and DNA are in the databases but if they commit no crimes, they’ve essentially vanished. They really have no conditions. They don’t report to anyone, and they’ve all changed their names and we’ve got no reason and no authority to track them. They could be living anywhere under new identities without anyone knowing what they did.”
“What do you think of that?”
“It’s chilling.”
Forty-Seven
Toronto, Ontario
Present day
Torrie Tullock’s face glowed in the darkness, lit only by the light of the eighty-inch TV screen before her.
She was alone with her dead family, joining them in the moments of their lives, forever frozen in time.
Here we are in the pool. Me on Dad’s shoulders while he holds Linda and Neal in each arm as we yell: “Dad Statue!” before he dunks us in a big splash. Now here’s Mom waving at the camera with me, Linda and Neal looking out the gondola window ascending the mountains in Banff.
Torrie smiles at the screen’s next images.
All of us wearing mouse ears at Disney World.
Now here’s everyone in front of our Christmas tree tearing away wrapping paper. Then candles flickering on a cake, Mom smiling, laughing, Linda and Neal squealing, Dad leading everyone in song, the cake reading “Happy Birthday Torrie.”
Suddenly the screen goes white like a nuclear detonation.
They’re gone. All of them. Gone, gone, gone. I am alone.
I wish I died that day, too.
I’m not me anymore.
I’m not a daughter. I am not a big sister.
I am no one.
Her thoughts pulled her further into darkness to the last time she was alone, when she was sick and had to go to the Wellness Retreat. She hated being there, hated being away from her family.
The worst of it was when some of the staff, those with some connection to Eternity, gossiped. She’d overheard them saying things like they’d heard that her father had beat her, that’s what made her sick and dangerous.
Not true.