Dark Hollow

## Overview

*Dark Hollow* (DH) is the second novel in the Charlie Parker series. Parker relates how - while most of his ideas are pure fiction - this was inspired in part by a crime story he worked on as a reporter in Dublin, Ireland. A young woman was found murdered in an apartment in Dublin just before Christmas. At first, the reaction was one of horror at the murder. When the victim was identified as a prostitute from London that had come to work over the holidays, the public perception flipped, and Connolly felt that she was being held responsible for her own death.

The character of Rita Ferris is based in part on that woman, but beyond that - Connolly relates how *Dark Hollow* ended up becoming more and more about empathy and "the necessity of acting on behalf of the vulnerable and the abused because to do otherwise is to be complicit in their sufferings." This becomes the hard kernel around which much of the series revolves. Whereas *Every Dead Thing* is about the transformation from revenge to empathy, Dark Hollow takes up the theme of empathetic justice.

The supernatural elements are a little more forward in this novel. Parker is becoming more certain that he is connected to the murdered dead, not just experiencing delusions from his grief and guilt over the death of his wife and child. Further, these apparitions take a more active part in helping Charlie in his investigations.

## Synopsis

### Prologue

The Prologue tracks two simultaneous events: a ransom in Portland, Maine, and a runaway in northern Maine.

In Portland park one December night, federal agents are staking out two members of Tony Celli's crime organization. A car of Cambodians approaches and they appear to be about to conduct a ransom exchange. The Cambodians present "at least 2 mil" but when it comes time to retrieve the hostage, Tony Celli's men ambush the Cambodians. The federal agents leap out of cover to arrest Tony's men, but another figure appears. Tony's men shoot the agents, but are in turn killed in the gun battle. The mysterious figure takes off with the ransom.

On the same night in northern Maine, near the town of Dark Hollow, Emily Watts escapes from St. Martha's Home for the Elderly. She is tracked down by Officer Ressler from Dark Hollow, Chief Dave Martel from the Greenville Police Department, and Dr. Martin Ryley from St. Martha's. But she is hostile and says she won't go back to the Home because she was afraid someone by the name of Caleb Kyle was coming for her. When pressed to return, she shoots herself.

Charlie Parker finishes the prologue by flashing through his life, providing some back story, including the death of his wife Susan and daughter Jennifer.

### Part One - Alone, alone, about a dreadful wood / Of conscious evil runs a lost mankind, / Dreading to find its Father

The book begins with Charlie Parker trying to get the child support that Billy Purdue owes to his ex-wife Rita Ferris. Billy had a rough life and married Rita and had a child, but he had a violent temper, got himself into minor trouble, did some work for Tony Celli, and the marriage quickly fell apart. Purdue beats Parker up, but relents when Parker pulls his gun on him and gives him five crisp new $100 bills. When Parker arrives to give Rita and her son Donald the money, he runs in to one of her benefactors, a woman named Cheryl Lansing, who is dropping off some food and clothes.

Parker flies to New York the next day to attend the funeral of a good cop he had known. He briefly talks to Walter Cole, but gets nowhere. On the subway, he has a vision of Susan. Later, he has dinner with Angel and Louis before returning to Portland.

A few days later, Parker has a string of encounters with a vile man who smells of rotten meat, blood, and cologne. He blocks his car in, makes some subtle threats, and harrasses him at a cafe, claiming to be searching for Billy Purdue and asking if Parker has any information.

Back at the house, Ellen Cole - Walter's daughter - drops by with her boyfriend Ricky, en route to northern Maine.

Parker makes the rounds to check on Purdue and Rita and Donald, but can't find anyone at home. That night someone breaks into his house while he is sleeping, leaves muddy footprints throughout the house, watched him as he slept, and left a wooden clown toy in the kitchen.

Ellis Howard - the deputy chief of the Portland PD - drops by the next morning to report that Rita and Donald have been murdered (and Rita's mouth had been sewn shut), and Billy Purdue is missing. Parker further learns that this case is being investigated by two federal agents out of Boston, and a Canadian cop named Eldritch; the money Billy gave Rita was marked in a sting on Tony Celli, and the Canadian cop is looking at the murder of the Cambodians - who were part of organized crime in Toronto. It seems that Tony Celli's crew kidnapped a Harvard co-ed from Canada of Cambodian extraction and were asking the Cambodian crime ring for a ransom.

From a neighbor, Parker learns that Rita had briefly tried to support Donald and herself by working for an escort service run by Lester Biggs. She only went on 3 dates, and then - after being hired by "an old man" that apparently deeply frightened her - she quit.

Parker considers whether he should pursue the case. He muses that Tante Marie gave him a "gift" to be able to empathize with not only the living, but also the dead. It allowed him to see Susan and Jennifer, but it also meant that the dead who were seeking reparation from the living came to him to receive justice. He decides to go looking for Purdue.

He tracks down a fellow PI named Marvin Willeford, who relays that Billy hired him to look for his birth parents. Willeford relates that Billy had a foster parent named Meade Payne, and that his adoption was arranged by St. Martha's and Cheryl Lansing - but there were no other birth records. He later found out from an anonymous tip that he should talk to Emily Watts at St. Martha's - but Billy had no more money so Willeford didn't pursue it, but did give Billy the name.

As he leaves the meeting with Willeford, Tony Celli's crew knocks Parker out and drags him before Celli. Celli wants Parker to tell him where Billy Purdue - and his money - is, and walk away. Parker says he doesn't know anything. Tony denies killing Rita and Donald, and despite torturing Parker, doesn't kill him and dumps him back at his Mustang. When he gets back home, Parker has a vision of first Rita and Donald, then Susan compelling him to help Rita, and finally Jennifer.

The next morning, Louis and Angel show up at Parker's house. Parker catches them up, and Louis and Angel give a little more background. Tony Celli sold a financial scheme back in Boston and ended up losing $2 million. In order to recoup that money, he decided to kidnap the Cambodian co-ed and ask for a ransom. But in kidnapping the girl, his crew ended up killing her. He goes ahead with the transfer, planning on double crossing the Cambodians - only they believe Billy Purdue happened along, shot Celli's crew, and took off with the money. Now Celli has to get the money back or it's *his* life. The pair also explains that it sounds like the man who was harassing Parker is half of a duo of assassins known as Abel & Stritch, apparently lured by the prospect of hunting down Purdue and getting the $2 million for themselves.

Parker heads up to Dark Hollow with Angel, suspecting that Billy will attempt to find his way to Meade Payne - the only foster parent that ever provided him any structure. On the way, they stop in Bangor to talk to Cheryl Lansing, but they discover her house hastily abandoned. As they snoop around some more, they find her body and those of her grand daughters under piles of leaves in the pool.

Upon arriving in Dark Hollow, Parker discovers that Lorna Jennings - a woman that he had an affair with many years ago - lives there with her husband Rand, who is chief of police in Dark Hollow. He talks to Chief Martel in Greenville instead about the Emily Watts suicide. Martel tells him the details, and mentions that Watts was afraid of a "Caleb Kyle." Martel also tells him that a lumber surveyor - Gary Chute - has disappeared, and that Billy Purdue was out at St. Martha's a few days ago creating a disturbance.

Parker recognizes the name Caleb Kyle. His grandfather - Bob Warren - was the Cumberland County Sherrif and had told Parker about the biggest case of his career. There was a series of abductions of young women that mobilized the entire state. Warren had gone searching for the young women. After a fruitless morning of searching, he returned for lunch to a local bar when a strange man approached him and speculated where the women might be. Warren followed the lead, and ended up finding the remains of all of the women - except one - hanging in a tree. When he got back to town, no one could recall or find the strange man. The case haunted Warren for the rest of his career.

Meanwhile, Lee Cole - Walter's wife and Ellen's mother - has shown up at Parker's house in Scarborough, and Purdue has been seen around Portland. As he races back to Portland, Purdue calls him and tells Parker where he is. When Parker gets back to his house, Lee tells him that Ellen has gone missing.

#### Spoilers

Meanwhile, Parker and Louis go to find Purdue in some abandoned buildings by the harbor. When they get there, they find Tony Celli's men also trying to track down Purdue. They also happen upon the bodies of the two FBI agents, but no sign of the Canadian cop Eldritch. They realize Eldritch is actually Abel, and when they encounter him they kill him. Parker has a vision of Rita Ferris - who gives away the location of some of the attackers. He and Louis dispatch them, but Purdue runs. They also encounter Stritch, who gets away.

Parker returns to Dark Hollow with Louis, and with Angel they begin looking for Ellen ... and more clues. Parker believes that everything is bound together - Ellen, Billy, Emily, Caleb Kyle, Cheryl Lansing, Tony Celli - but he just can't figure out how. He learns that people saw Ellen Cole and Ricky, along with an old man that they had picked up as a hitch hiker further south.

Parker meets with Meade Payne and his son Clive, but they have little in the way of information. He also meets an old man who is scared out of his wits and chases him off his property with a shotgun. He has a tense conversation with Rand Jennings, and goes to St. Martha's where Emily Watts' neighbor reveals a huge piece of the puzzle. Emily Watts told the neighbor that she had been in a relationship with Caleb Kyle, who had saved her from an abusive relationship, got her pregnant, and became just as much of an abuser as her previous boyfriend. When she grew suspicious of Kyle, she ran away to St. Martha's to deliver the baby, and then gave it up for adoption. When Billy showed up several days ago, he confronted Watts about being his mother. Emily denied it, but then Kyle tried to break in to her room. Emily then ran away in the middle of the night trying to get away from Kyle.

Angel keeps an eye on the Payne farmstead, while Parker and Louis return to Scarborough. While leaving Dark Hollow, Parker sees the old man dropping off something at a pawn shop, but he can't stop and investigate or he'll be late for his plane. He returns to Portland and gathers his grandfather's notes on Caleb Kyle. He flies to Boston and talks to Rachel Woode, who uses the notes to develop a profile on Caleb Kyle. While in Boston, he also talks to Al Z - a mafia fixer. Al Z reveals that yes, Celli does owe $2 million dollars, and the powers-that-be want it back, no matter what. Celli is probably dead regardless, but if he can't get it and Billy Purdue took it, then they'll go after Billy Purdue. And since Parker seems to be working on behalf of Purdue, he's implicated as well. Al Z gives him 24 hours to get the money and return it.

Parker returns to Dark Hollow. Angel reports that nothing has been going on at the Payne homestead. Purdue has not shown up, and Payne and his son don't go anywhere and appear to just be waiting. They also know that Stritch is close. They go for dinner to a bar where the whole town is gathered. There, Stritch makes a move on Lorna Jennings. Louis, Angel, and Parker thwart the attack and chase Stritch into the woods. They come to realize someone else is after Stritch in the woods, and eventually find him thrown and impaled on a splintered tree.

The next day, Parker returns to the pawn shop, where he finds for sale the boots Ricky - Ellen's boyfriend - was wearing. He confronts the pawn shop owner who confirms that the boots were brought in by the old man. Parker goes back to the old man's house and confronts him. The old man says that he didn't kill Ricky, but saw their car have car trouble, a tall man get out of the car and kill Ricky, and then take Ellen away. The tall man returned and moved the car to a clearing, where he literally buried the entire car. The old man continued that he had gone back to the clearing, dug up the car and grabbed Ricky's boots and knapsack, and then reburied it. Parker demands the old man take him to the clearing.

On their way to the clearing, however, they are attacked by Tony Celli's men. The old man is killed, but Parker gets away by diving into a river that takes him into Dark Hollow. He gets out of the river and goes to the Jennings house. A couple of Tony Celli's men track him down to the house, but Louis and Angel show up just in time to save him (Louis-ex-machina). They learn that Billy Purdue has been arrested and is at the Dark Hollow Police Department. They realize that the rest of Tony Celli's men will desperately attack there, so hurry over to the police department. They repulse the initial attack, and while waiting for the next wave, Parker talks to Purdue and realizes - based on a picture on the wall of the PD - that the man he met at Payne's was not in fact Meade Payne, but Caleb Kyle. During the second wave, Purdue escapes, but cleans out Tony's men. Since Tony is a made man, Al Z shows up to dispatch Tony Celli.

Parker believes that Emily Watts and Caleb Kyle are in deed Billy's parents. When Kyle heard about Emily's betrayal, he moved on her, but she killed herself. Instead, he went to find Purdue - and killed anyone he saw as helping Emily betray him, separating him from his son, keeping his son from him, or threatening his son.

They go out to Meade Payne's place and find Payne's body and the body of his dog in a freezer. They kill Kyle's son Clive, and are about to apprehend Kyle when Purdue shows up. Kyle tries to win Purdue over and exhorts him to kill Parker and his retinue for killing his brother. Parker points out that Kyle killed Rita and his son, Cheryl Lansing, and Meade Payne. Purdue shoots Payne.

Parker realizes that it is the one year anniversary of the murder of Susan and Jennifer.

### Epilogue

Parker returns to his house as Christmas season starts. He has a vision of Rita and Donald disappearing into the forest. Purdue gives most of the money back to Al Z, but Parker convinces Al Z to let Purdue keep some of the money. Susan and Jennifer visit Parker just after Christmas. Parker notes that he and Rachel have gotten together.