“Callum swallowed, his throat dry. He didn’t want to think about what that something might be.Ahead, through the trees, he could just see a pinprick of light. Home.”

“Doby started to swallow but his throat was so dry he coughed. How would he explain that one to von Portzer? One million dollars stolen.”

“Callum didn’t need a lifetime’s experience of seeing ghosts to know that the creature was not of this world.For a long moment, he stared at the phantom. What was it? And why was it following him?”

“He was serious. He didn’t want her to hold him close. He didn’t want to pretend she was his mother. He didn’t want to imagine going home in her car to pet her black labs. He didn’t want to dream about sitting down to a home-cooked spaghetti dinner at her kitchen table with her family. Those things would never be his. He watched her eyes switch from hazel to green.”

“Its not that he didn’t appreciate his dishwasher. There was something about washing dishes by hand that was therapeutic, as if he could wash away the regrets of the past and photos he wanted to wipe out of his memory forever.”

“He just wanted to get through his uninteresting day, so he could cross over into the night, and find his way to the red headed light that brightened the black sky.”