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
Not Central Park big. That was, as its name kind of suggested, a park. It was supposed to be big. It was supposed to have lots of trees and shrubs and rocks and stuff. You could run flat-out for ages and not run into anything if you watched where you were going. You could fly a kite in the park. You could play Frisbee in a park. But this was a private yard that went with the house. You didn’t have to share it with other people. Charlie had heard his mother say it was four acres of property, and a lot of that was just woods. Charlie didn’t know what an acre was, but he figured it had to be huge.
Charlie was right to have raised the issue of getting a bike. He needed a bike here. If he had wheels he could ride it around and around the house and down to the road and back again.
There was one item of interest in the backyard.
It was a small building tucked almost out of sight behind a couple of trees, about ten-by-ten-feet in size, with a wide door at one end and a small window on the left and right sides. It would, Charlie thought, make a neat fort. A place just for him. He could read comics back here, play video games, set up a table and chair and build his Lego sets. It could be like his own office. If his mom could have her own studio, shouldn’t he have a place, too, to do what he wanted to do? Of course, much would depend on what was in there to begin with and if he could make some space for himself.
He wasn’t going to find out by opening the door. It was secured with a padlock, which he pulled in the unlikely event it hadn’t been snapped into place, but it held firm. He went around to a side window, where a pile of firewood leaned against the shed, for a peek inside. Climbing on top of the woodpile, he used his hand as a visor and put his nose up to the glass to peer inside. There was stuff in there, that was for sure, although the glass was so dirty—on both sides—that it was hard to make anything out very clearly. He thought he saw a wheelbarrow, maybe a lawn mower, some lawn chairs that had been folded up, and several boxes.
He hopped off the woodpile, tried the lock once again without success, then wandered off into the trees. He was hoping he might see a bear, or a fox, or maybe even a kangaroo, although he had heard those lived in Austria or someplace like that.
The lasagna and salad hit the spot. Annie also found two cartons of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream—Salted Caramel Almond and Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough.