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Authors: Jennifer McMahon

Tags: #Mystery, #Suspense, #Adult, #Young Adult, #Thriller

Dismantled

BOOK: Dismantled
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Dismantled

A Novel

Jennifer McMahon

For Michael, who knows how to take things apart

Contents

Present Day

“DISMANTLEMENT EQUALS FREEDOM.”

Nine Years Ago

WHEN TESS’S WATER BROKE, she was staring into the long-forgotten…

Part One

To Understand the Nature of a Thing, it Must be Taken Apart

Chapter 1

THE MOOSE, OR RATHER, the left eye, ear, antlers, and…

Chapter 2

“LOOK, DADDY, I’M A frog!"

Chapter 3

HER RHYTHM IS OFF. Her concentration, gone. Spencer is dead.

Chapter 4

THEY’RE ON THEIR WAY home from the supermarket, Henry at…

Chapter 5

WHAT IS A GHOST? Danner says it’s not always the…

Chapter 6

TESS HAS WORKED LATE into the night to finish the…

Chapter 7

LAST SPRING, JUST DAYS after Henry moved into the barn,…

Part Two

We Oppose Technology, Hierarchy, Rules and Laws, and All Forms of Government

Chapter 8

IT’S A FORTY-MINUTE DRIVE from Henry’s office to Alden. Route…

Chapter 9

DON’T GO OUT OF sight. Stay where I can see…

Chapter 10

“YOU’RE LATE,” TESS ANNOUNCES when he walks in the door.

Chapter 11

DRIVING HOME FROM HER appointment with Julia, owner of the…

Chapter 12

“DID YOU GIVE THIS to her?”

Chapter 13

TESS’S HAND IS TREMBLING so hard she can’t get the…

Chapter 14

THEY SIT IN THE kitchen drinking the coffee Henry made…

Chapter 15

HENRY LEFT THE KITCHEN to go work on his canoe.

Chapter 16

HENRY FINDS A ROLL of black plastic, cuts off a…

Chapter 17

SHE PICKS UP THE phone after the first ring.

Chapter 18

EMMA OPENS HER EYES. Danner is standing above her, holding…

Chapter 19

DRIVING OUT TO THE lake, Henry remembers helping Suz stretch…

Chapter 20

TWO A.M. EMMA’S ASLEEP, her belly full of cocoa. Henry’s…

Chapter 21

HENRY STAGGERS DOWN THE path. Trips on tree roots. He…

Chapter 22

THIS IS HOW IT began. A series of seemingly random…

Chapter 23

SHE LOWERED THE RAZOR blade, traced the surface of her…

Chapter 24

“WHERE THE HELL HAVE you been?”

Part Three

The Universe Was Created Inchaos, and the Only True Creative Force is Chaos

Chapter 25

“DADDY!” EMMA CRIES WHEN he enters the kitchen the next…

Chapter 26

“I’M GOING OUT TO the garden,” she tells her dad.

Chapter 27

AFTER TESS LEFT THIS morning, Henry found the Swedish vodka…

Chapter 28

“DO YOU MIND IF I smoke?”

Chapter 29

DRIFTING IN AND OUT. Clouds in the sky. Clouds in…

Chapter 30

PASSION?

Chapter 31

HENRY DOES NOT NEED stitches. Winnie was able to revive…

Chapter 32

THERE WAS A FACE down there at the bottom of…

Chapter 33

“IT LOOKS WORSE THAN it is,” Henry promises.

Chapter 34

WINNIE’S NEARLY TO THE cabin when she realizes she left…

Chapter 35

TESS CAN STILL TASTE the sweet floral smoke of Claire…

Chapter 36

IT’S NEARLY MIDNIGHT. THE main house is dark and Henry’s…

Chapter 37

SHE’S COLD. SCARED. EMMA’S been watching her father’s barn all…

Chapter 38

TESS HEARS HENRY DRIVE off, and slips out of the…

Chapter 39

HENRY TAKES A STEP toward her, staggers a little. He’s…

Chapter 40

“I WAS ABOUT TO call the police,” Tess says as…

Part Four

Dismantlement is an Act of Compassion as Well as an Act of Revolution

Chapter 41

SUZ IS KISSING HER.

Chapter 42

HE’S SWIMMING OUT TO the center of the lake, his…

Chapter 43

“IT MAY BE TIME to call off Operation Reunite,” Mel…

Chapter 44

CLAIRE HAS LOADED HER mesh shoulder bag with sourdough bread,…

Chapter 45

“IT LOOKS LIKE THE same wig,” Henry tells her. He…

Chapter 46

“I’VE NEVER TOLD ANYONE this before,” Tess says, her face…

Chapter 47

“I DON’T BELIEVE THIS,” Tess says. “Twice in one week…

Chapter 48

SHE BOBS AND WEAVES. Practices her footwork. Side step, side…

Chapter 49

“I’M SORRY ABOUT THE window,” Emma whispers into the phone.

Chapter 50

TESS IS STANDING IN line at the supermarket, casting an…

Chapter 51

July 14—Cabin by the lake

Chapter 52

TESS WAKES UP DISORIENTED and in complete darkness. She’s naked.

Chapter 53

HENRY FREEZES IN THE doorway of Emma’s room. Emma and…

Chapter 54

“I’M NOT SURE THEY liked you,” Emma whispers, curling up…

Chapter 55

“WHERE THE HELL DID she get that wig?” Tess asks.

Chapter 56

July 21—Cabin by the lake

Chapter 57

TWO A.M. AND TESS lies in bed, tossing and turning,…

Chapter 58

THE CLOCK ON THE dashboard says 10:21 A.M. as Winnie…

Chapter 59

“WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR hand?” Erin LaBlanc asks. Vanessa Sanchez…

Chapter 60

“WHAT WAS SPENCER’S ROLE in the group?” Bill asks.

Chapter 61

HE’S FINGERING THE THICK shards of broken lightbulb on the…

Chapter 62

EMMA IS ON HER hands and knees, dabbing a Q-tip…

Chapter 63

TESS ISN’T SURE THE Volvo will make it up the…

Chapter 64

“WHAT?” MEL SNAPS INTO the phone.

Chapter 65

June 17—Cabin by the lake

Chapter 66

NEARLY MIDNIGHT. TESS HAS worked out, showered, watched the evening…

Chapter 67

THE HOUSE IS TOO quiet. He settles in on the…

Chapter 68

“TELL ME YOUR BIGGEST secret,” Claire says. “The one thing…

Chapter 69

HE WAKES UP GASPING, drenched in sweat, his heart thudding…

Part Five

Dismantlement = Freedom

Chapter 70

HENRY GLANCES OUT THE window toward the Blazer as he…

Chapter 71

EMMA HAS MADE A sculpture of herself this time, a…

Chapter 72

RUNNING LATE, HENRY HEADS for his workshop to grab the…

Chapter 73

WINNIE’S SITTING AT THE table in the cabin, wearing the…

Chapter 74

PARKED ON THE BEACH, Henry stares out at the water…

Chapter 75

EMMA CRAWLS OUT FROM under the tarp, lowers herself over…

Chapter 76

PUSHING OFF IS EASIER than he thought it would be.

Chapter 77

THERE WAS A LOUD rapping at the cabin door, and…

Chapter 78

WHEN TESS WAKES UP, the first thing she thinks is…

Chapter 79

“SUZ?” HE’S SQUINTING AT her, not quite believing. This isn’t…

Chapter 80

EMMA’S MOVING FAST THROUGH the water, her cadence perfect. She’s…

Chapter 81

WHEN SUZ DIVES OFF the front, it makes the canoe…

Chapter 82

“I WAS SO CLOSE to piecing everything together,” Bill Lunde…

Part Six

Look in the Mirror to See What You Saw

Chapter 83

HENRY’S ON THE FLOOR of his workshop, amid the sawdust…

Chapter 84

TESS’S EYES ARE MOVING from wall to canvas as she…

Chapter 85

WINNIE ROLLS OVER. THE train is rattling along on its…

Chapter 86

IN ORDER TO TRULY understand something, you have to take…

 

BOOK: Dismantled
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