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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 desperately wanted to believe her, but it was hard. The way her palms were folded around mine, she seemed to be offering to carry something for me. If only I could let it go. “Do you dream about Hap sometimes?” I asked. If I didn’t change the subject, I really was going to unravel.

Her eyes passed over me so gently, full of love and acceptance. “Too much. That’s something I’d change if I could.”

“But you can’t.” I wanted her to know how closely I’d been listening to her from the beginning.

“I can’t.”

“But you can make bread.”

“That’s right, Anna.” She squeezed my hands once, twice before letting them go. “That’s something anyone can do.”

(twenty-eight)

When Will and I step back onto Fourth Street, he’s fuming. “Would it have killed you to back me up? Jesus, Anna. You know what kind of pressure I’m under.”

I stop him with my hand. “I do know. I’m sorry. But it wouldn’t have been right to get Rod’s team involved when the MOs don’t line up.”

He releases a frustrated noise, his mouth tight and closed, but he’d heard everything I had. Polly’s abductor broke into her house on a warm night, with lots of activity on the street, and took Polly at knifepoint in front of witnesses. How could that be the same guy who somehow lured Cameron out of the safety of her home, and probably manipulated her beforehand? She went willingly, like a farm girl in one of Grimms’ fairy tales who gets lured deeper and deeper into the dark forest by shiny trinkets dropped on the path. Looking up only when it’s too late, when she’s lost and afraid, far too far from home.

“We’re going to figure this out, Will,” I say, “but you have to trust me.”

“Do I?” His eyes blaze.

“Anna! Wait up,” Rod Fraser calls suddenly from Eve’s porch. He’s motioning me back.

I ask Will to wait and hurry over. “What’s up?”

“I just wanted to say how sorry I am.”

“Don’t worry about it,” I reply without thinking. Then it hits me. He doesn’t mean our case or his own. He means me. The funeral and investigation.

“I should have sent a card.” His eyes are dark with emotion. “My heart really went out to you.”

“It’s okay,” I say dumbly.

“I guess you must feel ready now. To be back on the job.”

“Almost.” It’s the most honest word I’ve spoken all day. “Thanks, Rod.”