The Empty Chair

“Deaver writes the types of thrillers that would challenge even the most enthusiastic roller-coaster rider.”
    —The Plain Dealer (Cleveland)
    Praise for Jeffery Deaver and
    THE EMPTY CHAIR
    “Gripping . . . You’re drawn into Deaver’s diabolical, high-speed funhouse, a ride through a thicket of twists that will have you tumbling toward the conclusion as quickly as you can.”
    —New York Post
    “Deaver does a wonderful job. . . . People should be grabbing it off the shelves.”
    —Library Journal
    “Engrossing. . . . For thrills and surprises, Deaver is still aces.”
    —Publishers Weekly
    “Intricate, well written, and enormously satisfying. . . . Deaver is the master of the plot twist, and readers will only drive themselves crazy trying to outguess him.”
    —Booklist
    THE DEVIL’S TEARDROP
    “[A] devil of a thriller. . . . Fascinating. . . . Full of good characters and dialogue.”
    —San Francisco Examiner
    “From the very first page . . . both the reader and the party-hatted residents of Washington, D.C., know they’re in for a very wild last night of the century.”
    —BookPage
    “A fast read, chockablock with twists and turns that pave the way to a satisfying conclusion. . . . Vintage Deaver, a smattering of clues and a race against time.”
    —The Denver Post
    “A professional, high-quality crime thriller. . . . an effervescent Sherlock Holmes–style blend of science and inspiration that makes his books sing and dance.”
    —San Jose Mercury News
    “The plot is a sizzler . . . [and] the premise is chilling.”
    —The Boston Globe
    “Exciting. . . . A thriller that doesn’t try to do more than keep the reader anxious and surprised.”
    —The Wall Street Journal
    “Action-packed. . . . Deaver is at his best here.”
    —Booklist
    “Quick, unexpected plot turns are guaranteed to keep that adrenaline pumping right up until the final pages.”
    —The Plain Dealer (Cleveland)
    “A consummate thriller. . . . Highly recommended.”
    —Library Journal
    “Fair warning to newcomers: Author Deaver is just as cunning and deceptive as his killer; don’t assume he’s run out of tricks until you’ve run out of pages.”
    —Kirkus Reviews
    THE COFFIN DANCER
    “Wake up, Scarpetta fans—Lincoln Rhyme is here to blast you out of your stupor.”
    —Entertainment Weekly
    “This is as good as it gets. There is no thriller writer today like Jeffery Deaver. . . . The Lincoln Rhyme series is simply outstanding.”
    —San Jose Mercury News
    “Deaver revs up the already supercharged tension by cramming all of the action in The Coffin Dancer into forty-eight hours.”
    —USA Today
    “Nearly impossible to put down. . . . Draws the reader in on the first page.”
    —The Denver Post
    “Intense and heart-stopping . . . leaves readers gasping at the stunning climax.”
    —Booklist
    “Revelations and reversals punctuate this thriller like a string of firecrackers. . . . Superb plotting and brisk, no-nonsense prose.”
    —Publishers Weekly
    “Quick to the punch, The Coffin Dancer is diabolically packed with the good stuff: cover-ups, mystery, action.”
    —Library Journal

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For Deborah Schneider . . .
no better agent, no better friend

From the brain, and the brain alone, arise our pleasures, joys, laughter and jests, as well as our sorrow, pain, grief, and tears. . . . The brain is also the seat of madness and delirium, of the fears and terrors which assail by night or by day. . . .
    —Hippocrates



I
North of the Paquo

. . . chapter one
    She came here to lay flowers at the place where the boy died and the girl was kidnapped.
    She came here because she was a heavy girl and had a pocked face and not many friends.
    She came because she was expected to.
    She came because she wanted to.
    Ungainly and sweating, twenty-six-year-old Lydia Johansson walked along the dirt shoulder of Route 112, where she’d parked her Honda Accord, then stepped carefully down the hill to the muddy bank where Blackwater Canal met the opaque Paquenoke River.
    She came here because she thought it was the right thing to do.
    She came even though she was afraid.
    It wasn’t long