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 killed off the first beer pretty quickly, went in for a second, and came back out. He’d been sitting there for a good ten minutes, struggling to unwind, hoping to clear his head, when he heard someone moving around in the kitchen. Seconds later, the door opened and Janice came out with a beer of her own, clinked bottles with Harry, took the chair next to his, and, without saying a word, had a drink.
Janice let another few minutes go by before she asked a question she already knew the answer to. “Bad day?”
Harry said, “Where’s Dylan?”
“I think he’s upstairs.”
“Got something I have to tell him.”
Janice sat up straight and set the beer on the broad arm of the chair. “What’s going on?”
“I’d like him to hear it from me before he hears it from his friends, although it might already be too late. You know his friend Auden?”
“Is Auden in some kind of trouble?”
Harry quickly shook his head. “His dad.” He told her.
“Oh my God,” Janice said. “You stay. I’ll find him.” She slipped back into the house, and two minutes later Dylan was walking out onto the patio. “What’s going on, Dad?”
“Have a seat.”
“Did I do something wrong?”
“What? No. Why would you think you’re in trouble?”
The boy went quiet. He needed a moment to work up the nerve. “I lost my skateboard.”
“When’d that happen?”
Dylan shrugged. “Couple days ago. Went into Wilson’s to buy some Ho Hos and left it leaning up against the front of the store, and when I came back out it was gone. So, like, I didn’t lose it, exactly. Somebody swiped it.”
Harry sighed. “That’s a real shame, pal.”
“I’d left it there lots of times before and nobody ever took it. So I’m sorry, and I’ll save up money to buy another one.”
Harry pulled him closer. “It’s okay.”
“I’m not in trouble?”
Harry, a hand on each of Dylan’s shoulders, said, “Sometimes these things happen.”
“I thought if the chief was your dad people wouldn’t steal from you.”
Harry smiled. “I wish.”
“So why did you want to talk to me?”
“Sit.”
Dylan sat.
“You know your friend Auden?” Dylan nodded. “Well. there was an accident this afternoon over at his place. Some kind of malfunction with the barbecue. A gas leak or something. It blew up. His dad was a little too close, and, well, it was pretty bad, and Auden’s dad was killed.”
Dylan’s face went blank, as though he didn’t quite know what to feel. “Oh,” he said.
“Yeah.”
“That’s really awful.”
“Did you ever meet him when you were over there?”