A Minute to Midnight

V pamyati u Etli Payn, slovno stal'naya zanoza, zaselo vospominanie: ey shest' let, i vtorgshiysya v ih dom muzhchina vybiraet s pomoshch'yu detskoy schitalki mezhdu ney i Mersi, ee sestroy-bliznecom. V itoge on ostanavlivaetsya na Mersi i unosit ee s soboy. Bol'she Etli nikogda ne videla sestrenkü
Spustya tridcat' let special'nyy agent FBR Payn, otchayavshis' vyrvat' priznanie u man'yaka, kotorogo ona schitaet pohititelem Mersi, vozvrashchaetsya na mesto davney tragedii. Dom detstva v gorodke Andersonvill', shtat Dzhordzhiya - ee poslednyaya nadezhda. No lichnoe rassledovanie, skol' by zhiznenno vazhnym ono ni bylo, pridetsya otlozhit'. Zdes', v zaholust'e, gde so vremen «Unesennyh vetrom» ne proiskhodilo nichego osobennogo, soversheno krayne zagadochnoe ubiystvo: molodaya zhenshchina ne prosto zhestoko lishena zhizni, no i oblachena posle etogo v antikvarnuyu svadebnuyu fatü