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
An electric hum emanated from the locomotive, and a second later it began to move. The black engine and tender, and the cars linked to the back of it, made one circuit of the table, and then another, and then kept on going.
“That’s pretty cool,” Harry said, his palm on the boy’s back.
Auden appeared to take no pleasure in the train’s flawless operation, and Harry could hardly blame him.
Auden said, with no enthusiasm, “It’s working okay now.”
Sixteen
“I’m gonna do it,” Wendell Comstock said earlier that afternoon.
He was Edwin Nabler’s last customer of the day. He had been thinking it was almost time to switch the neon sign to closed when the bell rang and in walked Wendell.
“That’s great,” Edwin said, and smiled. “I knew you’d be back. I just had a feeling. There was a woman in here a couple of days ago, and she had her eyes on that set, really wanted to buy it for her boy, but I said it was spoken for. When you’ve been in this business long enough, you know when someone’s hooked.”
“Yeah, well, I guess I am,” Wendell said.
He found the set on the shelf where he had last seen it, picked up the box, and brought it to the counter.
“Have you thought about accessories?” Edwin asked.
“What would you suggest?”
“First, how much space do you have?”
“I’ve got a Ping-Pong table in the basement I never use. I’m gonna take the net down, set the train up there.”
“I’ve got a roll of fake grass you might want to put over the table first, make it more realistic.”
“Oh, I love that idea. Yeah, gimme one of those.”
“And if you have that much space, maybe some buildings? A station? Maybe an industry or two? I have plenty of building kits.”
“Load me up. I’m jumping in with both feet.”
Edwin started pulling things off the shelves, Wendell saying yes to every one of them. Edwin said, “I bet your wife is going to be surprised when she sees you coming home with this.”
Wendell let out a long sigh.
“Oh my,” said Edwin. “That sounded ominous. You know, I have an instinct for these things. I believe your wife—what’s her name?”
“Nadine.”
“Nadine. What a lovely name. I believe you’re going to be surprised by how much she loves this hobby.”
Wendell shook his head skeptically. “I got my doubts about that.”
“Let me help you get all this stuff to your car. It’s like an early Christmas, isn’t it? Except you’re your very own Santa.”
Once Edwin had helped Wendell put everything into the back of his minivan, he returned to the store and turned on the closed sign.
All in all, a successful day. And that wasn’t even counting sales in the shop.