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
“Could be,” Daniel said. “You know, when we were talking the other day, I said that this thing what happened to her, that it was like this time bomb in her head, it was gonna go off one day, and it happened to go off when she was over there. Could’ve been anyplace, but that was where it happened.”
“I remember.”
“I might not have been totally frank with you about that.”
Even with the temperature in the eighties, Annie felt a slight chill.
“I mean, maybe she did have some sort of disposition to something bad happening, but I believe it was triggered by something in that house.”
“Christ, what are you saying?” She managed a sardonic chuckle. “That the place is haunted?”
“No, no, I’m not saying that. I strike you as the kind of person who’d believe in that nonsense?”
“I haven’t known you long enough to make that call,” Annie said, an edge to her voice. “My son and I took that house for the summer because we needed to get away, to get our lives back together. Because we’ve been through some bad shit in the last year, and the suggestion that our place already has ghosts and goblins as tenants, well, that’s not helpful.”
“The boy who jumped,” Daniel said.
The world seemed to stop. Annie stared at him, openmouthed. “What did you say?”
“You told me about your husband, that he’d passed. But there was the boy who thought he could fly. I may look like someone who hasn’t moved on since the eight-track tape, but I’m actually hooked up to the Interweb.” He stressed the last word to make sure she knew he was having her on. “Your name kinda rang a bell and I googled you and I know about the boy. That’s a horrible thing.”
“It’s no business of yours.”
“Believe me when I say I mean no offense. What happened to you, that’s out in the public. I didn’t pry. And I’m very sorry for what you’ve been through. I’m not going to repeat what I am guessing a hundred people have already told you about blame and responsibility. What I will say is that I think we can all be captive to events that are out of our control.”
Annie was still too angry to say anything.
“I want to ask you about that train you said you heard in the night.”
“What?”
“I said you must have heard something else, because there’s no trains running around here anymore. The A&B went bankrupt. I know the crossing’s just up the road there, they still got the signs up, but there’s nothing that passes through.”
“So I heard something else, then. Or I was dreaming.”
“I don’t think you were dreaming.”