✍ Scribed by Eliza Maxwell
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
In the isolated estate she’s found the perfect getaway. But there’s no escaping the past in this chilling novel from the bestselling author of The Unremembered Girl.
Filmmaker Tessa Shepherd helped free a man she believed was wrongly imprisoned for murder. When he kills again, Tessa’s life is upended.
She’s reeling with guilt, her reputation destroyed. Worse, Tessa’s mother has unexpectedly passed away, and her sister, Margot, turns on her after tensions from their past escalate. Hounded by a bullying press, Tessa needs an escape. That’s when she learns of a strange inheritance bequeathed by her mother: a derelict and isolated estate known as Fallbrook. It seems like the perfect refuge.
A crumbling monument to a gruesome history, the mansion has been abandoned by all but two elderly sisters retained as caretakers. They are also guardians of all its mysteries. As the house starts revealing its dark secrets, Tessa must face her fears and right the wrongs of her past to save herself and her relationship with Margot. But nothing and no one at Fallbrook are what they seem.
Tessa stands near the back and surveys the crowd. The crush of reporters in their dark overcoats brings to mind a flock of blackbirds. Unsavory creatures that travel in packs, aware they possess no great beauty alone. Only the power of the mob. They vie with one another, jostling to prove their dominance, and turn their glassy eyes to the object of their curiosity.
Oliver Barlow.
Wondering if he’ll make a good meal, no doubt.
Tessa shakes off the thought. She’s no better. Not really.
“Mr. Barlow, what are your plans now that you’re a free man?” one of them shouts over the rest.
“I . . . I don’t know,” Oliver stammers in response, overwhelmed by the strangers and microphones pushing in on him, questions coming quick and sharp from all directions.
He glances at his wife, a full head shorter than his lanky six-foot frame. She stares at her shoes, intimidated by the mass of humanity blocking their way.
Oliver’s father, a truck driver who manned a wall of stoicism during the fourteen years of his son’s incarceration, stands beside the couple and mops at tears that show no sign of stopping.
Oliver scans the crowd. Searching for an answer, perhaps. Or an escape. Or simply a familiar face in a sea of strangers.
When his eyes find Tessa, they light with relief, and she sends him what she hopes is a reassuring smile.
“I just want to live my life,” he says, his voice stronger. “Hug my kids. Have a home-cooked meal. Watch a ball game with my old man.”
The elder Mr. Barlow chokes back a sob and hides his face behind his hands. Oliver glances at him, bemused. After a slight hesitation, he gives his father an awkward one-armed side hug, which only causes the heaving of the old man’s shoulders to increase.
Oliver’s words are honest, if simple, and leave the reporters hungry for more.
“Do you plan to return to the Bonham community permanently, Mr. Barlow?”
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