Cal has seen plenty of kids poorer than this one who were ferociously well cared for, but nobody has been checking that this kid’s neck is scrubbed clean or patching his worn‑ out knees. The hoodie is clearly a hand‑me‑ down, and one big toe is poking out through a hole in his sneaker. His jeans are damp to the shins from walking through wet grass.Ĭal starts penciling out the next piece of wood, positioning himself so he can look the kid over, in glances. He seems to have refiled Cal from Dangerous Unknown to Non‑ threatening Known since they last saw each other, the way a dog will, based on some mysterious judgment process of his own. The kid comes over and takes them out of his hand without hesitation. “Here,” Cal says, holding out the piece of wood and a sheet of sand‑ paper. The kid pushes through the hedge and stands there watching, hands in the pockets of his hoodie. This time he doesn’t need to play any games.
He’s finishing up the first one, chiseling the last of the dado that will slot it snugly into place, when he hears twigs cracking. Cal lays the desk on its back on a drop sheet and takes photos of the whole contraption on his phone before he carefully works the broken pieces free, loosening old glue with a scalpel blade, and starts measuring them for replacements. The pieces of wood that make them up are delicate, dadoed together in an intricate jigsaw, and several of them are broken. He finished off the drawer runners last time, so he’s moving on to the nest of cubbyholes inside the drop front. Since the day has brightened up after a rainy start, Cal and his desk are back out in the garden. But when he is persuaded by a local boy to find his missing brother, Cal uncovers layers of secrets and darkness in this picturesque town that he could never have imagined. When ex-Chicago cop Cal Hooper moves to a charming Irish village, he hopes to begin the next chapter of his life in peace. The following is an exclusive excerpt from The Searcher, by Tana French.
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