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 talking about making a contribution, being a sponsor, something like that. Buying new jerseys or skates or sticks, say, for the Bobcats.” The Lucknow Bobcats, the local kids’ hockey team. “And putting an ad on the jerseys, or maybe one on the boards.”
“Oh,” Harry said.
“Kind of goofy, but nice of him. He was saying he’s relatively new here and wanted to make a contribution, be more involved in the community.”
“What’d you decide on?”
“Nothing yet. I said I’d think about it, see where whatever funds he wanted to donate could be put to the best use. Truth be told, this whole place could use a coat of paint. I keep telling the mayor and his band of numbnuts we need more funds for upkeep, but they’ve got their heads so far up their asses it’s like trying to explain France to a chicken. Why?”
“Why, what?”
“Why you asking me about the train geek?”
Harry smiled. “He’s been putting other people’s parking tickets under his wiper so he won’t get one.”
“Bastard,” she said.
Harry spent much of the afternoon going through the annual budget he would present to the town. The community center wasn’t the only municipal operation looking for more money. Harry wanted to hire another person to keep the station running smoothly, plus one more officer. They were stretched too thin to cover the town’s needs twenty-four hours a day.
When it got to be close to five, Harry left the station and returned to his Main Street bench. Choo-Choo’s Trains closed at five. What did Nabler do once his workday was over?
Harry sat there, glanced at this watch: 4:55 p.m.
Waited. Looked again: 4:58 p.m.
The sign in the window of Choo-Choo’s Trains went from open to closed.
Harry looked at his watch. Exactly 5:00 p.m.
Game on.
Forty-One
As Harry got off the bench, he used his Nokia cell to call Janice and tell her he’d be late getting home this evening.
Standing next to their bed, using the extension that sat on the bedside table, Janice said that was a shame, because she had a surprise for him. A surprise? What kind of surprise? he wanted to know. His thoughts immediately leaned toward matters of an intimate nature. With all the stress he’d been under these last few weeks, he knew he hadn’t exactly been the most attentive partner, and maybe Janice had something in the works to get him back on track.
But then she offered one hint. It was a surprise for both him and Dylan. Well, so much for that theory.
“I might be home after he’s gone to bed,” he said.
“Then we can do it tomorrow. What are you working on, anyway?”