I’m sorry, Lizzie.
He crossed the room, past the minifridge, his eyes drifting one last time over the postcard, the pictures. “Take care, Earl,” he said, but his gaze lingered on Lizzie’s wedding photo. Looking back over her shoulder, lips slightly parted, as if caught by surprise. The expression on her face was cautious, but her blue eyes were pale and fierce. She looked aware, awake, alive, and in the periphery of his memory, something flickered. Something familiar. A shadow shaped like a woman. Hair twisted up on her head, the flush of exertion on her cheeks. But she was walking away from him, already fading. A phantom. A ghost of a ghost.
“Take care, yourself,” Earl said. The door creaked as it swung open.
Bird stepped through, back into the warmth of the afternoon, and for one moment, he felt an unanswered question on the tip of his tongue. Something left unsaid, maybe even something important. But it was too late: the door was already closed behind him, and the sun, so hot and bright and glaring, made him feel like he needed to sneeze. He squinted, sniffed, then descended the steps to his car, opened the door, turned the ignition. A left out of the driveway, another left onto the town’s main street, and then he was flying. Past the Copper Falls ice cream shop, where a lemon-faced old woman was taking orders through a window. Past the municipal building, where Sheriff Ryan stood outside and raised a hand as the cruiser passed by. Past the hilltop church, with its shaded graveyard beside, and though Bird had planned to pause here, he didn’t. To stop by Lizzie Ouellette’s grave seemed suddenly unnecessary. An empty gesture, a knock at the door of a house where you already knew nobody was home. It was enough to have thought of it, he decided, and the cruiser picked up speed. Going, going.
I’m sorry, Lizzie.
It happened just one more time as he passed out of Copper Falls: the briefest sense, only a heartbeat long, that there was something he might have forgotten. But when he searched his mind in the place where the flicker had been, whatever it had been, there was nothing there at all.
Acknowledgments
Thank you to the friends and fellow writers who offered early reads, valuable advice, sanity checks, and general cheerleading while I worked on this book: Leigh Stein, Julia Strayer, Sandra Rodriguez Barron, Phoebe Maltz Bovy, Amy Wilkinson, Katie Herzog, Jesse Singal, and Nick Schoenfeld.
Thanks to my mom, Helen Kelly, the most enthusiastic beta reader in the world.
I owe a tremendous debt to these subject matter experts: Lennie Daniels, retired New York state trooper, answered my questions about criminal investigations and law enforcement procedure in rural enclaves. Andrew Fleischman, defense attorney and A+ Twitter follow, provided legal expertise （including Kurt Geller’s best line）。 Joshua Rosenfield （a.k.a. my dad） rounded it out with medical knowledge. Any inaccuracies or creative liberties are my fault, not theirs.
Thanks to Margaret Garland for connecting me with Lennie.
I am exceptionally grateful to Yfat Reiss Gendell for being my agent throughout seven years, multiple genres, two Comic Cons, and a global pandemic.
It was an incredible privilege to work with Rachel Kahan, whose insight and enthusiasm made this story better. Thanks also to the incredible team at William Morrow who turned this messy manuscript into a book.
Thanks to my brother, Noah Rosenfield （to whom this book is dedicated）， for always being game to bat an idea around. A TV show where some dogs are police officers, and some are just dogs: is this something?
And finally, thank you to Brad Anderson, who in no way resembles any of the various terrible husbands in this book. Except for the beard. I love you.
About the Author
KAT ROSENFIELD partnered with the late, great Stan Lee to coauthor the New York Times bestseller A Trick of Light, and also wrote two acclaimed YA titles—the Edgar-nominated Amelia Anne is Dead and Gone and Inland. A former reporter for MTV News, her work as a pop culture and political writer has appeared in Wired, Vulture, Entertainment Weekly, Playboy, US Weekly, and TV Guide.
Discover great authors, exclusive offers, and more at hc.com.