Chapters (73)
- Cover
- Dedication
- Prologue
- Part IAnnie
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Part IIHarry
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Twenty
- Twenty-One
- Part IIIAnnie
- Twenty-Two
- Twenty-Three
- Twenty-Four
- Twenty-Five
- Twenty-Six
- Twenty-Seven
- Twenty-Eight
- Twenty-Nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-One
- Thirty-Two
- Part IVHarry
- 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
- Part VAnnie
- Forty-Nine
- Fifty
- Fifty-One
- Fifty-Two
- Fifty-Three
- Fifty-Four
- Fifty-Five
- Fifty-Six
- Fifty-Seven
- Fifty-Eight
- Fifty-Nine
- Sixty
- Sixty-One
- Acknowledgments
- About the Author
- Also by Linwood Barclay
- About the Publisher
He was happy.
Whenever Wendell was out, Nadine would slip downstairs, turn on the train, sit in the chair, and watch it go around. The times they spent in the basement together were not enough for her. She wanted more. She couldn’t quite understand it, but she wanted to listen to the train travel around its loop all the time. She would be upstairs, watching TV or sitting at the kitchen table paying bills, when suddenly she would get up, go downstairs, turn on the transformer, and let ’er rip.
Chuffchuffchuffchuffchuff
The sound started boring into her brain, like the sound of a cicada on a hot summer’s day.
Chuffchuffchuffchuffchuff
Just as she’d indicated to Wendell, it was a soothing sound. Intoxicating, even. Akin to some yoga-like mantra. When she listened to it, her stresses evaporated. She was in the moment.
So when Wendell said he would be gone all of Sunday, that he’d promised to help a friend from college who was thinking of buying a new house and wanted Wendell to have a look at it, Nadine could not have been more excited. On Saturday, at the sidewalk sale, she had gone to the bakery and bought a couple of chocolate chip muffins at Len’s, and Sunday morning, moments after Wendell had departed, she made herself a pot of coffee.
Nadine felt an excitement unlike any she had ever felt before. And also, just a little guilty. It was like she was having an affair. She was going to play with the trains alone. Without her husband.
Was this cheating? And if it was, so what?
She took her coffee and a muffin on a plate and descended the stairs to the basement. She checked that the transformer was plugged in, turned it on, which brought up the headlight on the engine. Before turning the throttle, she leaned over so she could look directly into the light.
She stared for several seconds, not blinking.
The light stared back.
A few more seconds passed before Nadine quietly said, “Okay.”
She cranked the throttle and the train began to move. She took her seat, had a sip of coffee, and nibbled on the muffin.
And watched.
And listened.
Chuffchuffchuffchuffchuff
Chuffchuffchuffchuffchuff
The more she listened to the engine huffing and puffing, she started to hear something . . . else. It was like listening to a song, where you think there are lyrics behind the lyrics. Hidden words. Or maybe, if you played the song backward, you’d pick up on something you’d never realized was there.
Chuffchuffchuffchuffchuff
She pulled her chair up to the edge of the Ping-Pong table, her ear so close to the track that it seemed to tingle with electricity. She felt the train pushing air out of the way as it flew past her head.
Chuffchuffenoughchuffenoughchuffchuff
Wait, what was that?