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Back When the Stars Go Dark Save as PDF
Chapters (83)
  1. Epigraph
  2. Maps
  3. (prologue)
  4. Part 1: Signs and Vapors
  5. (one)
  6. (two)
  7. (three)
  8. (four)
  9. (five)
  10. (six)
  11. (seven)
  12. (eight)
  13. (nine)
  14. (ten)
  15. (eleven)
  16. (twelve)
  17. Part 2: Secret Things
  18. (thirteen)
  19. (fourteen)
  20. (fifteen)
  21. (sixteen)
  22. (seventeen)
  23. (eighteen)
  24. (nineteen)
  25. (twenty)
  26. (twenty-one)
  27. (twenty-two)
  28. (twenty-three)
  29. (twenty-four)
  30. (twenty-five)
  31. (twenty-six)
  32. (twenty-seven)
  33. (twenty-eight)
  34. (twenty-nine)
  35. (thirty)
  36. (thirty-one)
  37. (thirty-two)
  38. (thirty-three)
  39. (thirty-four)
  40. (thirty-five)
  41. (thirty-six)
  42. (thirty-seven)
  43. (thirty-eight)
  44. (thirty-nine)
  45. Part 3: Time and the Maiden
  46. (forty)
  47. (forty-one)
  48. (forty-two)
  49. (forty-three)
  50. (forty-four)
  51. (forty-five)
  52. (forty-six)
  53. (forty-seven)
  54. (forty-eight)
  55. (forty-nine)
  56. (fifty)
  57. (fifty-one)
  58. (fifty-two)
  59. (fifty-three)
  60. Part 4: The Bent Grove
  61. (fifty-four)
  62. (fifty-five)
  63. (fifty-six)
  64. (fifty-seven)
  65. (fifty-eight)
  66. (fifty-nine)
  67. (sixty)
  68. (sixty-one)
  69. (sixty-two)
  70. (sixty-three)
  71. (sixty-four)
  72. (sixty-five)
  73. (sixty-six)
  74. (sixty-seven)
  75. (sixty-eight)
  76. (sixty-nine)
  77. (seventy)
  78. Dedication
  79. (acknowledgments)
  80. (author’s note)
  81. BY PAULA MCLAIN
  82. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
  83. What’s next onyour reading list?

I push the coleslaw on my plate with the tip of my fork. “Oh, please. I don’t believe that for a second.”

“Maybe I don’t either,” Will says, “but so what? Does being an asshole philanderer mean he could have hurt Cameron?”

“It still could be Drew Hague, couldn’t it?” I race to fill in. “Just because he has an alibi for the twenty-first doesn’t mean he wasn’t the one to target her back then. Maybe you could bring him in again for questioning and widen the frame?”

“Okay.” Will twists the napkin in his hand as if it’s a tourniquet. “But even if Drew did abuse Cameron years ago, his alibi clears him on the night she disappeared. Which means it’s someone else entirely. Maybe a family friend, or a neighbor, or a teacher? In LA, maybe, before the family moved up here?”

“Maybe.” I feel an inward sputtering. We’re short on leads and even shorter on time. And I’ve been hoping to see my hunches line up. Now what? Now who? “I need to think.”

“Well, while you’re thinking, chew on this. At 3:02 p.m. yesterday, Marc Klaas’s phone rings in Sausalito at his place. He answers, and a little girl says, ‘Daddy, it’s me.’ ”

“What?”

“The call lasts less than a minute. She says she’s at a hotel but doesn’t know where. That a man took her, that she’s scared and hungry. Then click.”

“Klaas believes it was really Polly?”

“Says he’d swear by it, but here’s the thing. There was no trap trace on the line.”

“Holy shit,” I blurt. “How’d that happen?”

“The girl resides with her mother. The trap is there, on Eve Nichol’s line. Seems no one thought that far.”

“If it was Polly, why would she call Dad and not Mom?” I can’t help asking. “It’s Mom she lives with most of the time.”

Will shrugs. “Maybe the call had to be local? She’s in San Francisco? Anyway, we won’t know now. Not unless she calls back.”

My thoughts race to Rod Fraser. A mistake like this isn’t just fodder for the media, but potentially lethal for his career. And then there are the personal ramifications. The self-blame that will no doubt be louder and more punishing than anything anyone else could aim at him. “Poor Rod. Jesus.”

“I know. Can you imagine missing something this big? When the media catches wind, that town will lose their fucking minds. Maybe we’re glad we don’t have that kind of circus here after all.”