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
“What I like about you is that you’re a professional. You don’t print rumors, you don’t print stuff you can’t substantiate, you don’t go with sources unless they’re reliable, and I am here to tell you, you can’t put any stock in what Tracy told you. It was the middle of the night, he was tired, working two jobs, probably never seen a body in that state before, and is not what I’d call an experienced observer.”
“I bet he’s smart enough to know when someone’s naked.”
“Would you like to go ahead and print that? That you have new information, that Angus Tanner, fifty-two, married and a father of two, was naked. Just that. Would that answer a burning question, or prompt another dozen that you don’t have the answer to? What will you do when Mrs. Tanner calls and asks what that’s supposed to mean? Because she will. If you were her, wouldn’t you call?”
“Christ, I’m not going to write a story that says nothing more than that the deceased had no clothes on. Give me some credit. And even if I did, and she called, I’d tell her to talk to you, and ask you what it was supposed to mean, and to give me a call back when she got a straightforward answer.”
“Let me be as straightforward with you now as I can,” Harry said, then added, “Off the record?”
Rachel considered the request. “Okay.”
“There are . . . aspects to this investigation that make it slightly more complicated. I can’t get into what those are yet. Releasing snippets of information’s going to raise more questions I can’t answer. So—”
Rachel was rolling her eyes. “Come on, Chief, give me a break here. At least you can tell me whether—”
The Nokia in Harry’s jacket began to ring. Harry grimaced, brought out the phone, and put it to his ear.
“Yeah.”
“It’s Mary.”
Harry turned his back to a scowling Rachel and walked three steps away. “What’s up?”
“Dell Peterson found his goat. Thinks you’re gonna want to have a look.”
Fourteen
“Happy birthday, dear Auden . . . happy birthday to you!”
Once they were finished singing, Christina and Darryl Pidgeon clapped their hands together in celebration as they sat around the kitchen table and watched their son, Auden, blow out the ten candles atop his birthday cake.
“Did you make a wish?” Christina asked.
“I didn’t have to,” said Auden cheerily. “I already got something better than I was asking for.”