Chapter One

Marilyn Q

For nine years, Harrow Creek has dreaded the final five nights of October. Every year, beginning October 27, five people die. Each victim is meticulously dressed, posed, and transformed into a grotesque work of art. Then, as suddenly as the killings begin, they stop—until the following Halloween season. Forty-five victims. No arrests. No answers. Now the killer has returned for his tenth performance. When hardware-store owner Harold Benton is found beneath the courthouse clock, dressed for Halloween and wearing an impossible painted grin, Chief Grant Hollis knows the nightmare has begun again. A card tucked into the scene delivers the promise Harrow Creek has feared: 1 OF 5. As four more nights close in, Grant and Detective Rachel Simmons race to uncover the pattern behind the killer’s elaborate displays. But this year is different. The murders are becoming more theatrical, more personal—and every carefully staged death appears to be building toward one final performance. Because the killer has spent ten years preparing his masterpiece. And this Halloween, someone in Harrow Creek is meant to take center stage. FIVE NIGHTS. FIVE VICTIMS. ONE FINAL PERFORMANCE.