Cradle Lake (35 page)

“Shhhhh,” he whispered as he stroked her head. “Shhhh, mermaid. Shhhhh.”

“Alan!” A louder voice on the porch. A different voice. “This is Landry! Open the goddamn door, will you?”

Alan laughed and tasted the salt from his tears as they ran into his mouth. He grabbed his pack of Marlboros and a lighter off the nightstand. He lit the cigarette and inhaled deeply. It tasted of lighter fluid but he didn't mind.

“Shhhh, my baby, my mermaid.”

He smoked it down to the filter. Flicked it onto the mattress.

Then laughed once, sharply, as the sheets burst into flames.

In the quiet suburb of Harting Farms, the weekly crime blotter usually consists of graffiti or the occasional bout of mailbox baseball. But in the fall of 1993, children begin vanishing and one is found dead. Newspapers call him the Piper because he has come to take the children away. But there are darker names for him, too …

Vowing to stop the Piper's reign of terror, five boys take up the search. Their teenage pledge turns into a journey of self-discovery … and a journey into the darkness of their own hometown. On the twilit streets of Harting Farms, everyone is a suspect. And any of the boys might be the Piper's next victim.

Horror

Trade Paperback

ISBN# 9781605425887

MARCH 2014

To Travis and Jodie Glasgow, the house in the idyllic small town seems perfect, the surrounding woods and lake like a postcard. But soon after they move in, things begin to … change. Strange noises wake Travis at night. His dreams are plagued by ghosts. Barely glimpsed shapes flit through the darkened hallways—shapes bearing a frightening resemblance to a little boy. Footprints appear. Strangest of all are the wooden stairs rising cryptically from the lake.

The more Travis investigates, the more he uncovers the house's violent and tragic past … and the more he learns that some secrets can't be buried forever.

Horror

Trade Paperback

ISBN# 9781605424361