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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 don’t blame you. I can’t even imagine what you’ve been dealing with. I’m so sorry. I wish I could have helped somehow.”

“You’ve had too much to deal with too. The separation. Your family. The risk of losing your kids. That’s a lot.”

The muscles in his jaw clench as he wrestles with emotion. “It hasn’t just been Jenny’s case that’s come between me and Beth,” he says. “My drinking’s been out of control for years. I want to get sober, but I don’t know how.”

“Me too. Maybe we can lean on each other. Anyone can change, Will,” I say, trying on Tally’s phrase. “Even if it’s inch by inch.”

He’s silent for a moment, gazing down at his desk, the files and Post-it notes, the half-drained pens in a spill of light. Then he says, “I know it’s crazy, but I still think we’re going to work together to solve those murders from 1973, even if Jenny wasn’t involved. It should be us. I just feel it.”

I have to smile at that, just a little. “His famous feelings are back.”

“Very funny.”

“I do want to visit in a few weeks to check in on Cameron.”

“Of course. Whatever you need. And let me know how you are, okay? You’ll be on my mind.”

“I love you, Will. You know that, right?”

“Yeah. Me too. Come back soon.”

(seventy)

Leaving town is harder than I imagined, even though I know I’ll be back—for Will, for Wanda and Gray and Emily. For Cameron. I walk the length of Lansing Street, unable to get into my Bronco. Bristling with cold, underdressed for the bite of the wind, I look up at Time and the Maiden, starkly white against the blue fist of the sky, utterly cloudless and blameless, silent and everywhere. A single raven is perched squarely on the hourglass, looking not at me but away, its sharp head in profile, an arrow pointing at the sea. A symbol in a puzzle full of symbols, a mystery in plain sight.