AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“The rose garden. Park in the lot and I’ll walk the rest of the way. You need to stay in the car.”
“Okay,” he said. He’d park in the lot.
He was not staying in the car.
She was out of the Subaru before he put it in park. Closing the door quietly, he followed her.
She was running along the trail, following the signs to the rose garden, using her Maglite to light the way because there were no lamps anywhere around.
They came to an abrupt halt when they saw the vehicle ahead. It must have come through one of the other gates, because there was no sign that it had driven through the park the way they’d come. The vehicle’s headlights illuminated a small patch of ground.
Where a man stood, shoveling loose dirt into a pile.
He wasn’t standing in a hole, so he must have just started digging. He hadn’t buried Rita yet.
Sam knew that Kit wanted the girl to still be alive. So did Sam, but he knew the likelihood was low and he’d tried to prepare himself for that eventuality.
He knew he hadn’t, though. He kept seeing Rita’s face as she’d shared the photos of Snickerdoodle on her phone.
Don’t let her be dead.
He’d prayed the same prayer that night seventeen years ago, but Marley had already been gone.
The universe owed them a boon, him and Kit. And Rita, too.
Kit looked over her shoulder, glaring at him for not staying in the car before extinguishing her Maglite. Together, they crept along the darkened trail, coming up behind the RAV4 that was almost identical to Sam’s. Trying to frame me.
Sam was so glad he’d listened to Laura and Joel and hadn’t gone out by himself.
The man—John Scott—hadn’t heard them yet. His face was covered by the same balaclava that he’d worn when he killed Colton Driscoll.
Kit crept to the RAV4 and peeked inside. She glanced back at Sam and shook her head.
Dammit. Rita wasn’t in the SUV.
Kit rounded the SUV, staying out of the headlights. If Scott turned around now, he’d be blinded by the light. One fact in their favor.
Sam really wished he had his gun.
At least Kit had hers and she’d drawn it.
Dr.Scott froze and Sam’s heart stopped. Scott had heard them.
Kit had frozen, too, her head moving side to side as she searched for Rita in the dark.
Scott dropped his shovel and lurched to the right, out of the headlights. “Stay back!” he shouted. “I will kill her.”
He hadn’t yet. Sam’s knees nearly buckled in relief.
His relief evaporated a moment later because he could see Scott in the shadows and he had the girl in his grip, Rita’s wrists cuffed in front of her.
He was holding a gun to Rita’s head.
“You’ll kill her anyway!” Kit shouted back, her gun aimed at Scott.
“Maybe not,” Scott said, no longer shouting. “Do you want to take the chance?” he continued smoothly in a tone that Sam recognized well. It was Dr.Scott’s therapist voice. “Do you want to live with the consequences if I pull the trigger? Her blood would be on your hands, Kit.”
Kit stiffened and Sam wanted to tell her that Scott was bullshitting her. Scott had been Kit’s therapist and, while she hadn’t revealed to Sam what she’d told the man, guilt over her failings was a given.
