"I remember being really small," "too small to see over the edge of a table." "There was a snow globe, and I remember the penguin who lived inside the globe." "He was all alone in there, and I worried for him." "Don't worry, kiddo." "He has a nice life." "He's trapped in a perfect world." "Look at that, Susie Q." "Yeah." "Yeah." "I remember being given a camera for my birthday." "I loved the way a photo could capture a moment before it was gone." "That's what I wanted to be when I grew up, a wildlife photographer." "Sorry, Mom!" "I imagined that when I was older, I'd be tracking wild elephants and rhinos, but for now, I'd have to make do with Grace Tarking." "It's strange, the memories you keep." "I remember going with Dad to the sinkhole out at the Connors' farm." "There was something about the way the earth could swallow things whole," "and I remember the girl who lived there, Ruth Connors." "The kids at our school said she was weird, but now I know she saw things others didn't." "We're gonna kick it over on three, okay?" "Are you ready?" "All right." "One, two, three!" "One, two, three!" "And I remember the worst thing that ever happened to us as a family." "Help!" "Somebody help!" "Mom?" "Help!" "Where are you?" "Mom?" "Buckley, please, get up!" "Oh, God." "Dad?" "Somebody help!" "Please!" "The day my little brother stopped breathing." "Buckley!" "Buckley!" "What happened?" "He swallowed a twig!" "Watch out!" "Are you crazy?" "Sorry!" "Buckley?" "Are you okay?" "You're okay." "Oh, my baby." "My baby." "And I remember the light in my parents' eyes, the relief." "It was my fault. lt will not happen again." "We weren't those people, those unlucky people to whom bad things happen for no reason." "You know, the Buddhists say if you save someone else's life..." "Grandma Lynn predicted I would live a long and happy life because I had saved my brother." "As usual, Grandma Lynn was wrong." "My name is Salmon, like the fish." "First name, Susie." "I was 1 4 years old when I was murdered on December 6, 1973." "And up next, we have Crystal in a little, bitty, skinny mini!" "This was before missing kids started appearing on milk cartons or were feature stories on the daily news." "It was back when people believed things like that didn't happen." "That's right, ladies." "No matter what the size, it will hug your girly-girl curves in all the right places." "lf you got it, why not flaunt it?" "Slow down, buddy!" "Am I right?" "Buckley!" "Dad, look, look, look!" "There it is!" "Wow." "Who is he?" "Does he like you as much as you like him?" "Grandma, he's a senior!" "He doesn't know I exist." "He's cute." "Grandma, can we please just drop it?" "You're safe now." "He's gone into the record store." "I wasn't safe." "A man in my neighborhood was watching me." "If I hadn't been so distracted, I would have realized something was wrong, 'cause that sort of thing gives me the skeevies." "But I was too busy thinking about the length of Ray Singh's eyelashes." "I had counted each one in library time while he was reading Abelard and Heloise, the most seriously tragic love story ever." "So, have you kissed him yet?" "Why not?" "You like him, he likes you." "What's the hold-up?" "I'm just afraid I won't be any good at it." "My first kiss was with a grown man." "You're not gonna tell on me, are you?" "Of course not!" "What was it like?" "The kiss?" "Oh, it was wonderful." "Beautiful." "Glorious." "It took me a long time before I realized that a kiss like that, it only happens once." "Suze..." "Just have fun, kid." "It wasn't Mr. O'Dwyer, by the way." "Although, he does look kind of suspicious." "But Mr. O'Dwyer never hurt anyone." "Mr. O'Dwyer's own daughter died a year and a half after I did." "She had leukemia, but I never saw her in my heaven." "Hey, look at me!" "We'll be right there, honey." "One second, okay?" "Mom!" "Hi, honey." "My murderer was a man from our neighborhood." "Thank you so much." "Careful, honey." "I took his photo once as he talked to my parents about his border flowers." "Hey, Mom!" "You really should have a cup of coffee with us sometime." "I was aiming for the bushes when he got in the way." "Thanks for the flower." "He stepped out of nowhere and ruined the shot." "He ruined a lot of things." "What have you been photographing, honey?" "Everything." "Everything?" "Hey, look at me!" "Mom!" "Smile!" "Mom!" "Over here!" "Hey, look at me!" "Hey, Mom!" "Hey, over here!" "Look!" "Okay, here we go." "Clarissa has got a crush on you." "Which one's Clarissa?" "You know, blond hair, megablue eye shadow." "Her dad owns Surf 'n' Turf." "The tall one?" "She's not tall." "She wears platforms." "She doesn't know you're an accountant." "I take it that's a negative." "Or that you're a closet scale modeler." "Did Mom know before she married you?" "About your obsession?" "Susie, hobbies are healthy." "They teach you things." "Like what?" "Like if you start something, you finish it." "You don't stop until you get it right." "And if you don't get it right, you start over again and you keep on going as long as you have to." "That's the way it is." "That's what you do. lt's perfectly normal." "You know, Grampy taught me to do this, and now I'm teaching you." "We're creating something here, for us, something special." "I know." "You're my first mate, Susie Q." "One day, all of this will be yours." "Jack!" "Susie!" "Dinner!" "Wait, wait, wait!" "Ready?" "Yeah." "Now, hold her steady." "Okay, shipmate, take it away!" "Now that is a thing of beauty." "Come on." "I don't believe this!" "Would you look at the state of this room?" "You're gonna clean this mess up tonight." "Yeah, I will." "Hey, Mom, we need to get these developed." "Susie, you used up all the film?" "Do you have any idea what this is going to cost?" "No." "No, absolutely not." "Out of the question." "Thanks a lot." "That's my career down the toilet." "Do not be so melodramatic." "Honey, what?" "What's down the toilet?" "She's used up all the film we gave her for her birthday." "All of it?" "All of it." "Every single one." "Susie!" "lt's a crime to be creative in this family." "All right, all right." "Well, say we pay for one roll a month?" "One roll a month?" "You realize by the time I see my photos, I'm gonna be middle-aged." "Look, we got her 24 rolls of film, right?" "At $2.99 apiece to develop, that's $7 1 .76." "l don't think we're being unfair." "Oh, honey." "Are we?" "That's why I love you." "Please." "Could you just not do that at breakfast?" "Yes, okay, whatever you say." "Eat your food." "Come on." "It doesn't have a siren, you moron." "It's a cement mixer." "Please don't call your brother a moron." "Buddy." "No, no, buddy." "Cement stays in the bowl." "Please." "It's not cement. lt's my oaties!" "Okay." "School." "Let's go." "Bye, Dad!" "Bye, Susie!" "Susie." "What's that?" "That's your new hat, sweetie." "Wow, Mom, I thought you'd given up knitting." "No, I'm still knitting." "You want me to make you one, too?" "Do you have your gloves with you?" "Yes!" "Could you put them on, please, young lady?" "Susie!" "Susie, put your hat on!" "It's cold." "Holiday, inside!" "Holiday, come here!" "Come here, boy." "Cool-a-roonie, Suze!" "Shut up." "No, really, it looks good on you." "This is an exercise in humiliation." "ls she looking?" "Maybe." "Yes, I am." "Hey, come on." "We're late." "Next week, bring your homework!" "Othello." "What is that?" "It sounds like a mint." "That guy looked pretty stupid with black makeup on." "Who?" "The one with two first names." "Lawrence Oliver." "What a loser!" "l know." "Clarissa." "Come on." "Let's go." "l'm talking to Susie." "Yeah, and I've been waiting for hours for your jerk-off film club to finish." "I want to get out of this dump." "It's nice to see you, too, Brian." "You coming or not?" "Yeah." "Yeah." "I'll see you, Susie." "I heard there was..." "Hey, Susie." "Hi, Ray." "What did you think of The Moor?" "Who?" "Othello." "Well..." "Well, I just... lt was amazing!" "Yeah. I mean, it was really incredible!" "I love that play." "That's another thing we have in common." "What else do we have in common?" "Don't you know?" "Crap!" "lt's okay." "lt's fine. I've got it." "Stupid books. I don't even read them. I..." "Well, I do..." "Susie?" "What are you doing on Saturday?" "Are you really from England?" "Yes." "You are beautiful, Susie Salmon." "Forget it." "This is obscene!" "Are you listening to me?" "There are no breasts on this anatomy model." "There are no eyes or mouth either, but we were told to draw in the face." "Well, your unnecessary anatomical additions got the Ellis boy thoroughly overexcited." "He stole my drawing." "Yes, and now there are pictures of naked women all over this school." "Move along, people." "Sir, can I have my drawing back?" "Certainly not." "Did you hear me, Singh?" "Go!" "Meet me at the mall, 10:00, Saturday." "Now!" "Where in the mall?" "The gazebo." "It's for an Air Force base?" "Hello?" "Dad!" "Hey, buddy." "No, no, no!" "God, you're choking me." "I need some air!" "How was your day?" "Good." "Buckley, go wash your hands." "Go ahead, buddy." "We'll play after dinner." "is Susie with you?" "No." "She's late." "Lindsey Lou, where's your sister?" "What?" "Your sister." "Oh, she had film club." "What's for dinner, hon?" "Oh, shoot!" "I hope that was your homework." "Oh, hey, you're the Salmon girl, right?" "Yeah." "Remember me?" "You remember me." "I live right down the street, down in the green house." "Mr. Harvey." "Hi." "Hi." "How are you?" "How are your folks doing?" "They're fine." "Good." "Tell them I said hi." "You know, you're the perfect person for me to run into, because I just built this thing over here and I want to get a second opinion." "Do you mind taking a look?" "Well, actually, Mr. Harvey, I have to get home." "Okay." "I just worked so hard on it and I guess I got excited for someone to see it." "But that's okay." "I'll show the other kids in the neighborhood." "They're gonna be very excited about it." "Really?" "Oh, yeah. lt's great." "I mean, it's really neat." "Come on. lt'll take two minutes." "You're probably late already." "I don't see anything." "You don't?" "You're gonna have to be more observant, Susie." "What is it?" "l washed my hands!" "Give me five." "Hey, hey, hey, you gotta dry them." "All right." "Thanks, Mom." "l'm missing a fork." "Oh, not beans!" "What?" "Only one." "One bean?" "Pretty neat, huh?" "You want a..." "You want a pork chop, honey?" "Yes." "Thank you." "Hot, hot!" "See?" "Look at your sister, great eating habits." "Yeah, but she's older!" "There you go." "Got it?" "Okay." "I built it for the kids in the neighborhood." "I thought they could use it as kind of a clubhouse, or... I don't know." "You want to be the first one to try it out?" "Really?" "Yeah, sure, yeah!" "Go ahead." "It'll be fun." "Go ahead." "The corn got into my beans." "If you eat them both, you can stay up and watch TV with me." "Nah." "I'll make her a plate." "That's it." "That's it." "Wow!" "Wow, this is neato." "She doesn't like beans, so I'm not gonna give her any." "Put more." "Put more on her plate." "I'm gonna make her eat them all." "Why doesn't she get to eat beans?" "Okay, okay, I'm gonna give her beans." "They're really good." "Watch this." "That's better." "Pile them on." "You think Popeye only eats spinach?" "There's beans in that can, too." "Make yourself at home." "This is really cool, Mr. Harvey." "Yeah, this is cool, huh?" "Yeah. I thought that you kids would like a place of your own to, you know, hang out." "Here." "Have a seat." "Go ahead." "There you go." "Sit." "You like it?" "Yeah." "Yeah?" "You think she's still at the mall?" "Yeah." "Really?" "She'll be with Clarissa." "She could have at least called." "I mean, a 1 4-year-old girl knows how to use a telephone." "Can I please... I understand. I understand." "I'll deal with her when she gets home." "See, I got all these little things, like this little..." "Little, you know, fluffy animals and some games, 'cause I know you kids like to play games." "And then, you know, candles and, you know, little figurines like these angels, I thought were so pretty." "All the figurines have little..." "Very sweet." "And, you know, some of these little things." "There you go!" "It's nice, with the candles and everything, right?" "And there's one rule." "No adults allowed!" "Okay?" "That's a cute hat." "I like that hat very much." "Would you like a refreshment, Susie?" "Actually, I have to go." "No." "Be polite." "You have to be polite." "Be polite." "That's another rule." "It's warm in here." "I'm warm." "Are you warm?" "You can take your coat off if you want." "You look very pretty, Susie." "Thanks." "Do you have a boyfriend?" "No?" "I knew it." "See, I knew you weren't like those other girls." "I knew that." "Mr. Harvey?" "It's nice down here, isn't it?" "It's special." "It's special down here, right?" "Yes. lt is. lt's very special." "I have to go." "I don't want you to leave." "I'm not going to hurt you, Susie." "If you see her, would you please just call?" "Thank you." "She's not with the Steads." "Where are my keys?" "Where are they?" "l don't know, honey." "In the bowl by the door?" "Where are you going?" "Jack, could you just wait?" "Jack, would you please wait for the police?" "Look, stay by the phone." "Man, she is going to be in so much trouble." "Go back to bed, sweetie." "Okay." "Guys, this is my little girl, Susie." "She hasn't come home from school." "Have you seen her?" "No, I ain't seen nobody." "No?" "Sorry." "Ma'am, could you take a look at this?" "Have you seen this little girl?" "Sorry, buddy." "Can you take a look at this, please?" "It's my little girl." "She hasn't come home." "Sorry." "Just take a look at that." "Ma'am, have you seen this girl?" "Please, can you just take a look?" "Susan has been missing for, what is it, four hours now?" "Susie." "We call her Susie." "Yeah, a little more than four hours." "This the first time she's run away?" "She didn't run away." "She's..." "She's missing." "Any problems at home?" "Family difficulties?" "No, there really are no problems." "This is a happy..." "She's a happy child." "She's never done this, Detective." "She..." "l understand that." "l just have to get a sense of..." "She's not home," "and she always comes home." "...what's going on here." "There's nothing going on." "She's missing." "Understood." "lf you see her, please call me, okay?" "Sure thing, Jack." "I'll come back and see you guys in a little while." "All right." "Take care." "Dad?" "Excuse me. I'm sorry to interrupt you." "My name's Jack Salmon." "I live right around the corner." "Dad!" "Dad!" "Can you put together a list of all her friends" "and their names, contact information..." "Sure." "...and a description of what she was wearing?" "Yes, of course." "Well, actually, I could tell you that right now if you want to write it down." "She was wearing a hand-knitted wool hat." "Mom!" "Dad!" "And it has long, thin tassels." "And she also has..." "Well, in fact, today she didn't wear her scarf." "But she did wear pink gloves, and she has a beige canvas schoolbag, and it's got..." "Mom?" "...rock star buttons pinned to it." "She has Othello inside her bag..." "No!" "No!" "Secure that cordon." "Jesus Christ." "And tape off the rest of the area before the whole neighborhood shows up." "Set up the lcp at the school." "What is that?" "We found some evidence in the cornfield behind the school." "There was a cavity in the earth with a lot of debris, mostly loose woods and broken crates." "We think it's the remains of some kind of structure." "And Susie?" "We didn't find her, Mrs. Salmon." "That's good, isn't it?" "I mean, you found Susie's hat, but you didn't find her, which means we really don't even know if she was there at all." "Right?" "I mean, that..." "That..." "I mean, it's..." "It's preferable, right?" "We also found blood." "A significant amount of blood." "I'm very sorry." "Hey, we'll get through this." "How?" "l'm going to take care of you." "How?" "l'm going to take care of all of us." "You can't." "l'll make it right." "You can't make this right, Jack." "You can't." "We're going to find her. I promise." "We'll bring her home." "If you see anything that's out of the ordinary or anybody that's out of the ordinary, please don't hesitate to call us." "Certainly." "You have my number." "Or you just come by the police station." "Okay?" "I'll be there." "Thank you for your time." "You're welcome." "Have a good day." "You, too." "What's that, a Wagoneer?" "Mr." "Harvey." "Yes?" "Detective Len Fenerman." "How do you do?" "Do you have some time for a few questions?" "Certainly." "Come in." "Thanks." "I know why you're here, of course." "I think when something like this happens, you always blame yourself." "All I can think about now is why didn't I see something or why didn't I hear something?" "Because..." "Because surely that young girl must have screamed." "Did you want..." "No, no, thanks. I'm fine." "But if you could just think back." "I mean, she was wearing a blue jacket, yellow corduroys." "Similar clothes to these." "This blue jacket here?" "The darker blue jacket." "And on the second photograph, you could see the pants, as well." "Oh, I see." "Yeah." "No, it does not ring a bell." "But you were at home that day." "What day?" "Last Wednesday." "Last Wednesday..." "Last Wednesday..." "No, I was home all day." "I mean, I probably went out and ran a few errands or something like that, but, I mean... I should have been here all day, for the most part." "Okay." "Good." "All righty." "Thanks." "You married?" "l was, yeah." "But you have kids." "No, I wish. I wish." "But no." "You mind if I take a look?" "No." "I make everything myself." "Really?" "Oh, yeah." "All this." "I turn all the banisters myself and make all the shingles and the furniture." "And I used to do cabinet making, but there's not much call for that these days." "Maybe I spend too much time on these things, but it's the perfectionist in me, I guess." "Well, it shows." "Thank you." "That's amazing craftsmanship." "Oh, well... I took a risk and tried something new and discovered a talent that I didn't know I had." "What's that underneath the stairs?" "That would be the basement." "Dad?" "She's dead, isn't she?" "I was slipping away." "That's what it felt like." "Life was leaving me." "But I wasn't afraid." "Then I remembered, there was something I was meant to do," "somewhere I was meant to be." "Ray?" "Ray!" "Ray!" "Ray!" "Wait!" "Ray!" ""lf l had but an hour of love" ""lf that be all is given me" ""An hour of love upon this earth"" ""l would give my love to thee" ""The Moor."" "Are you the Moor?" "Why?" "I think this belongs to you." "Where did you get this?" "I found it." "I write poetry." "You're quite good." "Don't you have somewhere to go?" "You miss her, don't you?" "I never knew what dead meant." "I used to think it meant lost." "Frozen." "It means gone." "She's gone." "What if she isn't?" "What if she's still here?" "You're not supposed to do that." "What?" "Who are you?" "She saw you, that girl." "I think my hand touched hers." "Yes, that's all it takes." "She carry you now for the rest of her life." "You're not supposed to look back." "You're supposed to keep going." "Hey!" "Come back!" "Wait!" "Who are you?" "I'm Holly." "Holly Golightly." "That doesn't sound like a real name." "lt isn't." "I borrowed it." "You can do that up here." "Up here?" "You mean in heaven." "You're funny." "What's funny about it?" "This isn't heaven." "You're not there yet." "What is this place?" "This place is not really one place and also is not the other place." "It's bits of both!" "What is that?" "That's where we're going." "Holly said there was a wide, wide heaven beyond everything we knew," "where there was no cornfield, no memory," "no grave." "But I wasn't looking beyond yet." "I was still looking back." "You can't go back." "Who are you?" "It's over." "Come with me." "I don't know you." "Why are you here?" "You need to let go of Earth." "You're dead, Susie." "You have to leave." "I have to go home." "Dad!" "My murderer began to feel safe." "He knew people wanted to move on." "They needed to forget." "He took comfort in the thought." "No one was looking at him." "But there was one thing my murderer didn't understand." "He didn't understand how much a father could love his child." "Dad!" "It's okay." "It's going to be okay." "He knows I'm here." "My dad knows I'm here." "I was still with him." "I wasn't lost, or frozen or gone." "I was alive." "I was alive in my own perfect world." "Dad?" "I saw Susie." "She came into my room." "She kissed me on the cheek." "Come here, buddy." "I saw her, too." "Dad?" "Yeah?" "I think she listens." "She's used up all the film we gave her for her birthday." "All of it?" "It's a crime to be creative in this family." "Say we pay for one roll a month?" "One roll a month?" "I got them." "Look at these." "Some of these are good." "Honey, why don't you get them all developed?" "This one roll a month thing is..." "This must be one of her artistic shots." "...really crazy, honey. it's crazy." "Why?" "I mean, why do we wanna keep this thing dragging out like this?" "We're not dragging it out." "We made a deal." "There is no deal, Jack." "Fenerman..." "Len, I had to call you." "Look, Susie is a smart kid." "She would never go off with a stranger." "It had to be someone she knew, somebody local." "...I'd play with it all the time." "Look, I've got a name for you, I've got several names, actually." "Ronald Driver." "Do you have an address?" "Len, I've got another name for you." "He's a janitor." "Michael Gitchell." "There's something wrong with this one, I'm telling you." "Gary Davis." "Who's that?" "Davis." "He works in the sanitation department." "Okay, I'll look into it, Jack." "l'll look into it." "But I have his address right here." "is it a bad thing if I just drop by there and take a look myself?" "Fenerman." "Have you checked on" "Frank Peretti yet?" "Who?" "Peretti." "P-E-R-E-T-T-l." "I have his credit report, Len." "It does not look good." "I'm on top of it." "You understand?" "Len, I found another one." "Jack, listen, you got to trust me, okay?" "We're gonna get this guy." "Len!" "Glad you're here." "I was just going to call you." "Yeah. I got your messages." "I've been at the Public Records Office all day." "Got a lot of stuff to go over here." "I know you're looking at the obvious suspects, convicted felons, child molesters." "And I understand why, but, Len, I think you're coming at it from the wrong angle." "Honey..." "Herman Stolfuz just across the street." "Now, he appears to be perfectly normal, but, Len," "the man wears adult diapers." "Herman is 80 years old." "I followed him in the supermarket." "His shopping cart was filled with them." "He has a prostate problem." "My point is, we need to start working backwards." "Start looking at family histories, criminal records, mental health issues." "I've been doing a lot of reading on this subject." "Jack, this doesn't change anything." "Did I mention taxes?" "Len, you can tell a lot about a person from taxes." "Please, will you just stop it now?" "Will you just stop?" "Can't you just leave it alone?" "Jack, I know it's been 1 1 months." "I know you've been trying to deal with this in your own way, but she's not coping very well." "She needs help, Jack." "She needs someone to help her get through this." "Grandma's here!" "Grandma!" "Grandma's here!" "What's my mother doing here?" "Look, you're not coping, okay?" "Len's worried. I'm worried." "Your mother offered to help." "You invited her here?" "Darling!" "Hello, Mother." "Watch the hair, sweetheart." "Sorry." "Look at you." "Are you eating?" "ls this all of it?" "Don't be ridiculous." "That's just my makeup." "You are still handsome as hell, Jack." "Lindsey, honey, aren't you going to say hello?" "The child hates me." "Come here, buddy." "So, what'll it be, Jack?" "Actually, I'm not drinking these days." "Well, that's your problem in a nutshell." "Are we still a family?" "Of course we're a family." "Your mother's in crisis, your father's a wreck." "What does that make you?" "I'm in charge." "...through the woods, looking for fuzzwalker." "Then he sees three." "And he takes his gun and looks and aims." "And then, a giant puff of smoke!" "He doesn't see them anymore." "Then he realizes that was his gun." "It was out of bullets!" "Then he runs." "Runs, runs, runs, runs, runs!" "Till he runs in the forest, but then he realizes he came without his fuzzwalker." "Holiday!" "All right!" "Okay!" "You're a Salmon girl, right?" "Okay." "Okay." "Holiday." "Grandma?" "I know where Susie is." "Yeah, Susie's gone to heaven, sweetheart." "Lindsey said there is no heaven." "All right, then, she's dead." "You might be dead soon." "Why do you say that?" "Because you're old." "Thirty-five is not old." "You've been sniffing too much of that nail polish." "And, anyway, nothing is going to happen to me." "You know why?" "Because I take my medicine every day." "Grandma, she's here." "What?" "Susie." "Susie's in the in-between." "I was in the blue horizon, between heaven and Earth." "The days were unchanging, and every night, I dreamed the same dream." "The smell of damp earth." "The scream that no one heard." "The sound of my heart beating, like a hammer against cloth." "And I would hear them calling, the voices of the dead." "I wanted to follow them, to find a way out," "but I would always come back to the same door." "And I was afraid." "I knew if I went in there, I would never come out." "My murderer could live in one moment for a long time." "He could feed off a memory over and over again." "He was animal." "Faceless." "Infinite." "But then he would feel it, the emptiness returning," "and the need would rise in him again." "Go!" "Go!" "ln here?" "A detour." "Go." "When summer came, he noticed young lovers would sneak into the cornfield." "He began to follow them and watch." "Will you come to bed?" "Yeah." "Soon." "Buckley did this, right?" "Correct." "He said that this is our house, this is the police station and that's you." "That's me?" "Yeah." "He made you Chief of Police, so... I've gained 20 pounds." "lt must be the uniform." "lt's the dangers of a desk job." "I'd like to report a lost purse." "Why don't you have a seat?" "l'm living with this every day." "What about your marriage?" "What marriage?" "You just don't give up!" "Jack is sleeping in his study!" "He's trying." "You have to find a way to keep going." "Mother..." "You don't have a choice." "l am coping with this." "You can't give up." "You have to..." "Oh, no, Mother." "Bingo!" "That is cooking sherry!" "Please!" "Please!" "You have to find a way to live with this." "Live with it?" "I am living with this!" "You're not!" "l'm dealing..." "I'm coping..." "You don't go into Susie's room." "l'm dealing with it!" "So what?" "You won't let anybody touch her things!" "You have a tomb in the middle of your house!" "Sweetheart, do you really think if you seal it up that the pain's going to go away?" "My mother went as far away as she could." "She found a job in a small orchard outside of Santa Rosa." "The work was hard, but she didn't mind." "If anyone asked, she said she had two children." "And Lindsey, who always said she didn't believe in love," "found it anyway." "And there it was." "The moment I would never have." "My little sister had run ahead of me." "She was growing up." "What's the matter?" "I thought you'd be happy." "I am happy." "I'm very happy." "Then why are you crying?" "No." "You think she did not want to kiss him?" "No." "She did." "She wanted to kiss him very much." "Always, I would watch Ray." "I was in the air around him." "I was in the cold winter mornings he spent with Ruth Connors, that strange, otherworldly girl who so easily accepted the presence of the dead among the living." "And sometimes, Ray would think of me." "But he began to wonder, maybe it was time to put that memory away." "Maybe it was time to let me go." "What was that?" "l'm sorry." "What was..." "What was that?" "Lindsey, throw it!" "My murderer had finely tuned instincts." "He knew my sister had begun to wonder about the solitary man who lived in the green house." "She seemed intent on crowding him, and he resented it." "He began to feel a familiar itch." "Mom, look!" "Just a second." "Careful, honey." "Mom!" "Pretty, aren't they?" "They are so beautiful." "Mom, look!" "Hey, Dad, look at me!" "Mr. Salmon." "Hi." "What is that?" "It's just a project I'm working on." "You're a hunter?" "Ducks." "That's a blind, right?" "Yep." "So those things really work?" "Oh, yeah." "It's all about concealment, the art of concealment, and patience." "It takes a lot of patience." "I sit for hours on end in the dark." "I'm an outdoorsman." "Always have been." "Mr. Salmon?" "I just... I never got a chance to tell you how sorry I am about your loss." "Dad." "Here." "Let me." "Let me help you." "Oh, no." "That's all right." "Really, I can manage." "No, it's no trouble." "All right." "Appreciate it." "This is for you." "Oh, thank you, Mr. Harvey, you really shouldn't." "You're welcome." "Oh, that does smell... lt's a beautiful smell, isn't it?" "Hey, look at me!" "Careful, honey." "Oh, that really does smell delicious." "Beautiful, yeah." "Dad!" "They are something." "Hey, Dad, look at me!" "I think it's time for you to go home now, Mr. Salmon." "Go on home." "I'm sorry." "I can't help you." "What did you do to her?" "What did you do to my daughter?" "Tell me!" "Where is she?" "It's got to stop, Jack!" "You came this close to getting arrested tonight!" "You're lucky George Harvey declined to press charges." "Lucky?" "Your father put a hole in the man's back door." "Yeah, he should have put a hole in his head." "Lindsey, please." "Did you hear that, Jack?" "This is the example you're setting for your kids?" "Persecuting the neighbors!" "He's not crazy!" "l didn't say that." "Well, then why won't you listen to him?" "Because you need evidence, Lindsey." "You can't go around making accusations against George Harvey when you have no evidence." "You need proof." "You are pathetic." "Why can't you just admit it?" "You stopped looking for her a long time ago." "Len's right." "He's right." "It's time to put this behind us." "It's gone on too long." "This has to stop." "Dad..." "Things will take their natural course, Lindsey." "Len, I appreciate everything you've done." "You've been a great friend to me." "That goes for Abigail, too." "You've been a great friend to both of us." "Murder changes everything." "When I was alive, I never hated anyone." "But now, hate was all that I had." "I want him dead." "I want him cold and dead with no blood in his veins!" "Look at me." "Look at what he did to me!" "What am I now?" "The dead girl?" "The lost girl?" "The missing girl?" "I'm nothing!" "I was stupid." "I was so stupid!" "You don't control this, Susie." "He does not own you." "You can be free of him, but not this way." "What do you know?" "You don't know anything." "That man took my life!" "You will see, Susie." "In the end, you will understand." "Everybody dies." "Brian!" "Just a little further in." "Keep going." "Keep going." "Okay, okay, I'm coming!" "Dad?" "Dad!" "Dad!" "Dad!" "I realized what I had done." "I willed him to stop." "I willed him to turn back." "I know it's you!" "Come out!" "Come out and face me!" "Did you hear me, you son of a bitch?" "Get off me!" "You sick fuck!" "Brian, stop!" "Please, stop!" "Brian, stop!" "Brian, stop it!" "You want to touch my girl?" "Dad!" "Dad!" "No." "Brian, stop!" "Brian, stop!" "Stop!" "Don't you get it?" "You've killed him!" "He's dead!" "Go." "He's dead!" "Go!" "Go!" "I knew then he would never give me up." "He would never count me as one of the dead." "I was his daughter." "And he was my dad." "And he had loved me as much as he could." "I had to let him go." "Sophie Cichetti." "Pennsylvania. 1960." "She had been his landlady." "Jackie Meyer." "Delaware. 1967." "She had just turned 13." "Her body was found in a drainage ditch, by the side of the road." "Leah Fox." "Delaware. 1969." "She was already dead when he dumped her body in the river." "Lana Johnson. 1960." "Bucks County, Pennsylvania." "She was lured into a shack he had built out of old doors." "She was the youngest." "She was six." "Flora Hernandez." "Delaware. 1963." "He'd only wanted to touch her." "But she screamed." "Denise Lee Ang." "Connecticut. 197 1." "Thirteen." "She was waiting for her father to close up their shop when she vanished." "Denise Lee Ang, who sometimes liked to be called" "Holly." "Susie Salmon. 1 4." "Norristown, Pennsylvania. 1973." "Murdered in a room he had built under the earth." "Come on, guys, keep up." "Move over to the right!" "You okay, Lindsey?" "You go on." "You sure?" "l'm fine." "Go." "Catch up?" "Dad!" "Where's Dad?" "Mom." "What are you doing here?" "What does it matter?" "She's home." "Home for good?" "Of course she's home for good." "Where's Buckley?" "He's at soccer practice, and I have to pick him up in an hour." "My girl." "Jack." "Look at you." "What happened?" "This is a crime scene." "Tape it all off." "No, no, no, no." "You're too late." "We're closed." "You're closed?" "Yeah." "That's too bad. I was really hoping I'd get rid of this thing." "Sorry, pal. I'm filling her in." "You're filling her in?" "Yep." "Oh, yeah." "Well, I really hate to inconvenience you, but..." "Would you like some help?" "Yeah, sure." "That'd be great." "I come here almost every day." "I like to listen to the sounds." "Have you seen Holly?" "Did she tell you about this place?" "Yes." "Then you must be ready." "I'm Flora Hernandez." "The others will be here soon." "Who's that?" "I don't know, but he gives me the skeevies." "The skeevies?" "What are you, 12?" "It's beautiful." "Of course it's beautiful." "It's heaven!" "All right, come on." "Let's go. I got to..." "What are you waiting for?" "You're free!" "Almost." "Not quite." "Ray!" "Ray!" "Ruth!" "What happened?" "Hey." "What's wrong?" "Ruth?" "Susie?" "You wrote me a poem once." "You called yourself the Moor." "That's good. I got it. I'll take it from here." "Kiss me." "You are beautiful, Susie Salmon." "These were the lovely bones that had grown around my absence." "The connections, sometimes tenuous, sometimes made at great cost," "but often magnificent that happened after I was gone." "And I began to see things in a way that let me hold the world" "without me in it." "It's a cold one tonight!" "You looking for a ride?" "No." "No?" "Are you sure?" "Pretty cold out here." "I'll take you wherever you want to go." "What do you think?" "Look, mister, I'm not interested, okay?" "I'm not trying to do nothing." "Just trying to be polite." "That's all." "A young lady alone at night, not safe." "Didn't you hear me?" "Piss off!" "When my mother came to my room, I realized that all this time I had been waiting for her." "I had been waiting so long." "I was afraid she wouldn't come." "I love you, Susie." "Nobody notices when we leave." "I mean, the moment when we really choose to go." "At best, you might feel a whisper or the wave of a whisper undulating down." "My name is Salmon, like the fish." "First name, Susie." "I was 1 4 years old when I was murdered on December 6, 1973." "I was here for a moment, and then I was gone." "I wish you all a long and happy life."