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
Nabler’s shop had been open for fifteen minutes and, so far, had attracted no customers. Harry drank the last of his coffee, tossed the paper cup into a nearby trash bin, got in his car, and backed out of the angled spot. Rather than head to the station, he opted to patrol. Drive around with no particular goal in mind, although he was always hoping he might come upon Gavin, that maybe he’d been on a bender, had busted into a vacant house, taken a few days to sober up, and finally decided to rejoin the world. But in his gut, Harry didn’t expect to see Gavin again. Not alive, anyway.
After half an hour of wandering, he made it to the station and dealt with the paperwork piling up on his desk. Figured out the next three weeks’ worth of schedules for the staff. When it got to be eleven, he walked down the street to the deli and bought a tuna sandwich with a dill pickle on the side and a Diet Coke and brought it all back and ate lunch at his desk.
At half-past the hour, he got back in his car, found a parking spot on Main Street, and found a spot on a bench across, and a little ways down, from Nabler’s shop.
Just as he put his butt on the bench, the sign at Choo-Choo’s went from open to closed.
Hello.
If Nabler was closing for lunch, was he staying there to eat it, or heading out? Harry got back into his car, backed out of the spot, drove a block, and turned around, waiting to see whether Nabler’s van would appear from the alley that separated his business from Featherstone’s next door.
After two minutes, the front of the van nosed out onto the street, made a right, and drove up Main. Harry followed, staying well back. He wasn’t too worried about losing Nabler. This wasn’t like tailing a car in New York City—not that he’d ever done that, but he could imagine. There wasn’t dense traffic in Lucknow. There weren’t stoplights every block.
Nabler made a right, heading north. Harry stopped for a moment at the turn, waiting for Nabler to get far enough ahead that he wouldn’t notice Harry in his rearview mirror. Nabler’s van rumbled over the same railroad crossing where Harry had been delayed the other day. This time, Harry made it through without having to take any chances. But as he crossed the tracks, he glanced to the west and saw the distant headlight of an approaching freight. Once he was through, he heard the familiar clang and, looking into his driver’s-door mirror, saw the lights begin to flash and the gates descend.