SHE DOESN’T WORK FOR THE POLICE ANYMORE. TOOK EARLY RETIREMENT FROM HER JOB IN LONDON A FEW MONTHS AGO. HQ ARE STILL LOOKING FOR A DETECTIVE TO WORK IN YOUR PATCH, NO ONE EXCEPT YOU HAS EVEN APPLIED. NOBODYWANTS THE JOB! YOU OK MATE?
I stare at the screen and read the message again.
Then I turn to stare at the house behind me.
I am definitely not okay.
59BIRDY
November 2
Nothing about this situation feels okay anymore.
Harrison sees me staring at the photo of Gabriella. Before he or I can say anything the alarm I set on my phone goes off.
It’s midnight, which means it is now the second of November.
For a lot of people that means it is All Souls’ Day. First comes Halloween, then the Day of the Dead, then All Souls’ Day—a time to remember family members who have died.
It means something else to me this year.
I remember the letter I got from Thanatos. The one that set all of this in motion. It’s not the sort of news anyone would forget.
Thank you for joining the Thanatos Family.
You’ll find your date of death confirmed below.*
Olivia Bird—November 2, 2025
We all have a right to know when our last day will be, and now you can live your best life every day until the day you die, and make any arrangements with peace of mind. Do be sure to contact us if you need any furtherinformation at the number below.
We wish you a Happy Deathday.
*Terms and conditions apply.
Today is my deathday and I’m terrified.
60CARTER
I’m not scared of DCI Bird anymore. According to the text I just read, she isn’t even my boss. I don’t know what is going on here, but I hurry back inside Spyglass to find out. There is no sign of Bird or Harrison Woolf. Anywhere. They are not in the hallway where I left them. They are not in the kitchen. I run up the staircase two steps at a time but it’s the same story. I don’t understand. It’s as though they’ve just… vanished.
The message from HQ said that DCI Bird never got the detective job in Hope Falls. That she didn’t even apply for it. At first I thought that must be a mistake, but then I replayed the last few days in my mind. I remember getting a random call from someone I’d never heard of saying a new detective was starting the next day. When I asked who, they said it hadn’t been formally announced yet, and that they needed to inform all the unsuccessful candidates—including me—before saying who had got the job. Standard procedure, they said. But the more I think about it, nothing about any of this has been standard.
When DCI Bird turned up out of the blue and told me she was my new boss I didn’t question it. Anyone who works for the police knows that communication is not the force’s strong point. And I’mso far down the food chain I rarely hear about anything until after it has happened. So it didn’t surprise me one little bit that I hadn’t been fully informed about who was taking over my patch. Everything I subsequently read about DCI Bird said she was a high-ranking and highly decorated detective in London before she came here. She didn’t makethatup. But was everything else she told me a lie?
And if so, why?
My heart is thudding so loudly I can hear it in my ears.
Then I hear something else.
The sound came from the back of the house, so I sprint downstairs to the little library. But it’s empty. There is nobody here. It looks like a book just randomly fell off a shelf and landed on the floor. When I pick it up I see that it isFrankenstein. The same book old Mrs. Bird was reading when she died. DCI Bird went on about this room when we were here before. Something to do with an ancient covenant and the floor-to-ceiling bookcases. I take a closer look and see a gap between them. I slide my fingers into it, and I’m gobsmacked when I discover I can push the bookcases apart.
I’m even more stunned when I see a secret door.
It looks like the entrance to a tunnel.
I get closer, cautious about who or what might be waiting for me. But I don’t find out because as soon as I step inside I feel a sharp blow to my head. My vision blurs, I’m unsteady on my feet, and I fall to the floor.
