BooksBarbecue
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 know what’s filling his head right now. The trunk. The body. It’s all with me too. “Try not to think about it,” I say gently. “You can do this. We’re in it together.”

“Yeah,” Will says, clearly unconvinced. “What do you think of Denny’s ranger theory?”

Hap’s profession has always been sacred to me, but I have to admit the idea sounds plausible. A ranger would be local and familiar with the area, comfortable in the outdoors. “Could be a firefighter, too,” I add, “or military, or someone in the National Guard? All those guys learn how to handle fire, and they’re physical.”

“True,” he agrees. “By the way, did you notice Drew Hague didn’t show up at the community meeting? He seems pretty comfortable in the outdoors, too.”

I had noticed. If Emily couldn’t bring herself to come, with all she’s dealing with, that’s one thing. But Drew has no excuse. Not a plausible one anyway, unless there’s a story. “I think there’s something he’s avoiding. How did the follow-up polygraph go?”

“The technician had to cancel at the last minute. We’ve rescheduled for Wednesday.”

“That’s two days from now.”

“You don’t have to tell me, Anna. But what am I supposed to do? I’ve always had to call in techs from other counties, and Polly Klaas’s case is still sucking up a lot of resources. Anyone with talent is working there. Her tip line is still going crazy, and it’s only going to get more crazy now.”

“We’re going to have to call Rod Fraser right away and share everything we know. This guy could be the same one who took Polly, right? We just don’t fucking know.”

He stares at the center of his messy desk for a long moment, obviously overwhelmed. Then he says, “Let’s go back to the ranger idea for a minute. If that’s who we’re looking for, how would he have made contact with Shannan up here in the woods, particularly if she was on her way to Seattle? She wasn’t outdoorsy.”

“Could he have run into her socially somehow, in a bar or something? Even dated her for a while?” I tap two more packets of Sweet’N Low into my coffee, hoping the rush will help me think. “Maybe it was an accident, even. Say he and Shannan hooked up one night and went somewhere quiet to have sex in her car. But then something flipped. He got violent and strangled her, and then afterward there he was with a body. He’d go somewhere he knows, right? He’d burn the car and bury his tracks and try to forget about it.”