In the autumn of 2008, a traveling salesman named Ellis Thorne checked into the Dusty Boot Inn outside Marble Falls, Texas. He was the only guest. The innkeeper, a woman named Hattie, gave him Room 8 at the end of the hall—a room with a door that didn't quite close, and a lock that clicked but didn't hold. That night, Ellis woke to the sound of footsteps in the hallway, passing his door again and again. He counted them. Always the same number of steps. Always stopping outside his door. The next morning, Hattie told him that Room 8 had been her son's room. He died there, she said. And every night, he walks the hall, looking for the door that will open. But you lock it, Ellis said. She shook her head. The lock's been broken for years.