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eBook Category: Suspense/Thriller/Mystery/Crime
eBook Description: Accused of an unspeakable crime, respected high school teacher Mike Chadwick retreats to the lonely isolation of the north woods, where he attempts to salvage his career, reputation and sanity. There is no rest for the weary, however. Relentless detective, Pat Donegal, locates and questions Chadwick after a series of murders occur in the area. Chadwick believes himself branded by bad luck, the result of an unfounded accusation that was never proved. Detective Donegal believes he is on the trail of a madman.

eBook Publisher: The Fiction Works, Published: http://www.fictionworks.com, 2004
Fictionwise Release Date: February 2004

9 Reader Ratings:

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Available eBook Formats [MultiFormat - What's this?]: eReader (PDB) [287 KB] , ePub (EPUB) [247 KB] , Rocket/REB1100 (RB) [246 KB] , Adobe Acrobat (PDF) [857 KB] , Palm Doc (PDB) [281 KB] , Microsoft Reader (LIT) [233 KB] , Franklin eBookMan (FUB) [279 KB] , hiebook (KML) [587 KB] , Sony Reader (LRF) [331 KB] , iSilo (PDB) [232 KB] , Mobipocket (PRC) [285 KB] , Kindle Compatible (MOBI) [337 KB] , OEBFF Format (IMP) [373 KB]
Words: 92365
Reading time: 263-369 min.
Microsoft Reader (LIT) Format: Printing DISABLED, Read-Aloud ENABLED
Portable Document Format (PDF) Format:  Printing DISABLED, Read-Aloud DISABLED
All Other formats: Printing DISABLED, Read-aloud DISABLED

Looking out tonight over this still lake with the full moon shining over the pines, it's hard to draw the line between the real trees and the reflections of trees. It is nearly impossible to separate reality from illusion. And so it has been with the last several years of my life. I'm no longer certain from one minute to the next what is fiction and what is truth. So many stories and images blur together in patterns that I can't really focus on clearly. With the lake at least, I can toss out a rock and momentarily shatter the illusion. There are no rocks to throw at the real world. I'm no longer certain about the reality of anything.

A bat swoops inches above the water surface. The mosquitoes in its path are swallowed without ceremony, simple victims of nature's daily ritual. I'm reminded of a line I heard somewhere. It went something like this: before the bat completes its blind flight, some dreadful deed will be done tonight. It was an odd thing to think of on such a peaceful night. Maybe I am crazy.

Earlier tonight I flipped my line, rigged with a slip bobber and sinker and baited with a live minnow, out in front of a bed of lilies maybe forty feet from the pier. After a few minutes a smallmouth bass, no more than a pound and a half, snatched the bait. I played the fish delicately while it zipped left and right trying to find some structure to snag and hopefully break the line. I let him run. Finally, he broke the surface, did a little tail-dance across the water, and was all played out. I landed the bass, removed the hook from the upper lip, and released it back into the water. The fish had put up a good fight for his size. That's why the smallmouth bass is so popular; it's always willing to put up a good fight. I guess I have a lot of respect for its willingness to keep fighting even when he feels the hook snugly fastened to the corner of his mouth. I can identify with that fish. Maybe that's why I decided not to rebait the line, and sat instead and watched the stars.

I've always had a hard time finding the Little Dipper. Maybe it's because I expect it to be a miniature duplicate of the Big Dipper. I know Polaris, the north star, is at the end of the handle, but I still have a difficult time seeing a dipper up there. Almost straight overhead Hercules chases Draco the dragon but never catches up. In the western sky Jupiter and Mars are just visible above the horizon, but Venus has already dropped from sight. I miss her, and I miss Orion who hasn't yet thrown his leg up over the horizon and crawled up the southern sky. I understand why ancient sailors who spent many months at sea became so fascinated by the stars. They make interesting companions when you're alone most of the time. I remember Macbeth asking the fiery stars to hide the black desires of his soul. I like that line for some reason.

The night sky, of course, is much easier to study when you're away from city lights as I am now. Up until a few years ago, the stars and planets held little interest for me. Things have changed.

So as I sit here a hundred miles from nowhere, clouds are moving in from the west. I can tell because the stars are disappearing from the black sky as if some huge invisible bat were swooping across the darkness gulping mouthfuls of flickering mosquitoes. The wind stirs the leaves on the poplar trees hanging over the edge of the lake. I realize I have rehashed these events enough for tonight. I want desperately to claim control of my existence, but there are still too many things I don't understand. Someday maybe I'll understand what really happened and perhaps even why it happened. Perhaps this box full of tape-recordings holds the answer to the mysteries that have been haunting me. Things have started to get clearer these past few weeks, but I still have a long way to go.

Tomorrow the sun will rise again, and I'll be out on the lake in my canoe again. I'll watch the eastern horizon give birth to another day, and I'll stand up and shake my fist at the sun and holler at the cruel gods who have led me through this horrible journey, "Why do you torture me? What have I done to deserve this?"

But like always there'll be no answer, so I'll continue. "Please, let this new day give me a chance to outdistance the darkness. Keep away your black demons. I'm tired of this venom pulsing through my veins. I've seen the long black shadows stretching across my path. I've felt the cold night air in my face and have heard the wild midnight calls of coyotes and owls. I've experienced all of the cruel mysteries of the darkening woods, and I'm ready to find a new way in life. Call off the savage three-headed monsters that hound my every thought and action. Let this new day provide a fresh start for me!"