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Jayce Thornton was returned to her parents just before sunrise. They had actually been expecting her to spend the night with one of her friends, and were shocked to hear that she had been lost in the woods. It would be four years before she was given permission to sleep over anywhere again. It would be two years before she could go to sleep with the lights off in her bedroom.

The Silver Dollar Diner was in ruins. Something very bad occurred inside the building and the line cook was found cooking on the grill. Sally Harmon, who was a staple at the place, was never found.

Seven Halloween parties on the campuses of Winslow Harper and Sacred Dominion ended in disaster. The details remained blurry, but most everyone agreed in their descriptions of people dressed in black who came in and attacked at random and with unexpected violence. With all of the confusion, it was difficult to establish just how many people were killed. There were more people reported missing than actually murdered. It’s hard to prove murder when there is no body. Several corpses were found, but most of the students who disappeared were listed simply as missing. Detectives Boyd and Holdstedter were not amused.

II

“So we get to look like assholes, and those two get to come out of this with a better track record?” Danny was whining.

“Yeah, but on the bright side, we always look like assholes.”

“Oh, yeah. Never mind then.”

They were standing on the Cliff Walk, looking down at the waters where they crashed against the jagged rocks. They’d been there for over three hours. A good portion of that time they were supervising the divers who had to pull Kelli Entwhistle’s remains from the spot. She’d been found by a jogger early on. Her body was stuck between two rocks and her arm pointed toward Soulis’s place like an accusation.

Danny had looked down at the remains and shaken his head. “Sometimes,” he said, “I hate being right.”

He had been right, too. Most of her had been pulped into jelly by the waves. Boyd didn’t respond; he was too busy looking at the way her arm moved in the current. There was something there. He just couldn’t figure it out.

He caught it when the tide changed. The undertow was all wrong. When he thought about how the girl’s hand had moved, he looked to the spot and finally understood that there was something there, a cave or a well or something.

He and Danny spent a long time looking at it.

A big enough cave could hide a lot of bodies.

It could hide a lot of bodies that weren’t as dead as maybe they should be. It took a little work, and he had to pull some favors, but after Boyd explained it, Danny got a few things they would need.

III

Maggie got the letter from Jason Soulis in the mail the next day. It had been sent overnight express.

She opened it while Ben was sleeping and read it carefully.

It read:

Dear Maggie,

It was a pleasure to make your acquaintance. I suspect you remain confused by what has happened to you, and I can most certainly understand that. Know this: You will endure.

If all goes as I have planned it, you will be reading this after I have left Black Stone Bay. I have to ask a favor of you. Please watch over my house. It is empty of all that was mine, and for the present time I have no need of it. I would consider it a kindness if you could move in and make yourself at home. You will find all of the appropriate paperwork has been filed and that you can move in at your convenience.

I will leave you with the following thoughts: First, know that there was a reason for everything I did. We may well discuss it some day. Second, keep your secret well. I have met the boy you trust and he should do well for you, but do not spread the secrets of your condition to others. Believe me, they will not understand.

May your life be less complex than it has been and may your nights and days be peaceful.

Until we meet again,

Jason Soulis