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
“How’s it going back there?” she’d ask, turning her head slightly so that Charlie could better hear her.
“Fine.”
“Whatcha doin’?”
“Nothin’.”
“You need a juice box or anything?”
“No.”
“You need to make a pit stop?”
“No.”
There were times when he would talk your ear off, and times when he had very little to say. Although the truth was, on this particular trip, Annie didn’t actually have that much to say herself.
She couldn’t stop thinking about the dream.
Because, of course, it was a dream. John had not come back from the Great Beyond to give her a little snippet of advice.
Still, it had been so real. She’d sensed that familiar stirring in the bed next to her. Even though she was generally a pretty sound sleeper, she could always tell when John was getting out of bed. It could be three in the morning, but no matter how carefully he might slip back the covers to head to the bathroom, she would know, and ask dreamily, “You okay?”
“Gotta pee,” he’d say, and she would go back to sleep.
So it had to be that she’d dreamed the stirring in the bed next to her. And dreamed turning over in bed to see what it was. And dreamed seeing John there, head propped up on his palm. And dreamed what he had said to her.
“Don’t go, Annie. Don’t go.”
She’d woken with a start, her heart hammering, her nightshirt drenched in sweat. She had flicked on her bedside lamp, turned and put her bare feet to the floor, and sat there a moment, catching her breath, letting her heart rate settle down to something more normal. She went to the bathroom, had a small drink of water, then returned to bed, unsure whether she would be able to get back to sleep, but after about half an hour, she did.
In the light of day, traveling along 280 West, waiting for Sherpa to tell her to bear left or bear right or take this mountain pass, she wondered what to make of the dream, if anything. She imagined herself as her therapist, what she would make of it: Well, maybe you’re giving yourself a warning here. Perhaps you don’t want to leave the city as much as you thought you did. Maybe you don’t want to go to the country for the summer.
“What do you know,” Annie said aloud.
“What?” Charlie asked from the backseat.
Annie glanced in the rearview mirror, caught a look at him. She thought he’d been sleeping. “Nothing, honey. Just talking to myself.”
“What about?”
“Nothing. You getting hungry?”