The Quiet Tenant

by Clémence Michallon

Before you can decide, the man in the driver’s seat answers for you. “Raiford, Florida. Just north of Gainesville. Whole family’s from there originally.”

When writing a novel, I like inserting references so discreet that I know there is a chance no one will clock but me. Ideally, lots of people would get those little references, but if no one does, that still doesn't make them useless in my view. They are here, in my mind, to infuse the novel with a certain flavor, almost by osmosis. Raiford, Florida is such a detail. Raiford is a small town of around 200 people located, like Aidan says here, north of Gainesville. It was, for a time, the location of the Florida State Prison. And it happens to be where Ted Bundy was executed in 1989, aged 42. When the time came to pick a birth place for Aidan, I wanted that choice to be intentional. It made sense, to me, that Aidan would have been born where Bundy died. The fact that Aidan works with electricity, and that Bundy was executed by electrocution, strengthened that connection in my mind. If you've read The Stranger Beside Me by Ann Rule, you might recall her note that the lights would dim in Raiford when the electric chair was tested ahead of an execution. I pictured a young Aidan in his parents' house, wrestling with whatever dark thoughts happened to occupy his mind, in the dimming light of a living room lamp, while the state put to death someone very much like his future self. The image stuck. I'm curious—did anyone catch this particular reference? And if not, does it all make sense now?