Chapter 27
Canada, Twenty-Eight Years Ago
The dark figure lowered his head toward the boy. Maggots writhed, dropping several at a time from one empty eye socket. The other eye, lidless and lifeless, stared at the boy, leaking a thin stream of vile fluid down its decayed face. The monster leaned down further. When the ugly thing unhinged its jaws as though to devour him, the stench overwhelmed the boy. He gagged and squeezed his eyes shut to block out what would certainly happen next. “Daddy! Mommy! Help me!…”
Northern California, Present Time
The more time Maggie spent at the sheriff’s office, the more she felt at home. The musky smell, the old windows that stuck when she tried to open them, and the drip, drip, drip of the faucet in the restroom were comforting and familiar to her. The
