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Drops of blood led her to the surrounding woods. She could hear their footsteps crunching twigs and Trent’s calls for Rodney to stop. Amanda tucked her flashlight away and kept moving.
“Katherine Graves is secured,” a man’s voice came over the comms.
Then, a gunshot cracked the afternoon air.
It propelled her legs to move even faster. She kept going, edging toward them.
“She’s the one! This is all her fault!” Rodney was screaming.
Amanda was coming up to a creek that fringed the school property. The snowflakes were getting larger and clinging to her eyelashes.
Then all fell silent. Eerie. Tall trees towered above her, their branches bare of leaves, while they slept until spring.
She ducked behind one of them, holding her gun up. Her lungs were heaving for a solid breath, the adrenaline infusing her system as a drug and keeping her alert.
Still, she didn’t hear Rodney come up on her until it was too late.
She was pulled from behind and thrown to the ground. The wind gushed from her lungs, making it impossible to scream for help.
Rodney lowered over her, straddling her. “You bitches never leave me alone. Ever!” His hands encircled her neck.
She batted at his injured shoulder, and he howled, but the pain seemed to make him stronger. He pulled her arms down and pinned them beneath him, then wrapped his hands around her neck and squeezed.
Amanda’s body convulsed, and her hearing began to fade. It was like she was in a snow globe. Such stillness, snow falling ever so gracefully. Any light that had been there retreated from her vision like a stage actor taking their final bow.
SIXTY-NINE
NEXT DAY
Katherine was all set up with cable television and a room full of blooms. May Byrd hadn’t left her side since her admission to the hospital, or so the nurses told Amanda and Trent when they dropped by to see her. They brought a bouquet they’d picked up from the gift shop downstairs, but it was an insignificant offering considering what Katherine had suffered. But that wasn’t all they arrived with.
“You didn’t need to bring flowers.” Katherine struggled to sit straighter, but Amanda and May both motioned for her to be careful. She looked like she’d been used as a human punching bag, and her cheek was bandaged where she’d been burned with the cigarette.
“Nonsense. You’ve been through a lot.” It went without saying that Amanda wished she had gotten to her sooner.
“Well, I’m safe now.” Katherine squeezed May’s hand. “You don’t look so great.” She flicked a finger toward Trent. “That’s quite the shiner you have.”
“It will heal,” Trent said.
“We also brought you this.” Amanda held up the chain and locket.
“Oh. I thought I’d lost that.”
May helped Katherine put it on, and said, “You guys just missed Hannah by about fifteen minutes. She insisted on coming home when I called about Kat.”
“I can understand that,” Amanda said.
A brief silence fell in the room. Trent was the one to break it.
“Did you know about Rodney?” he asked.
“No. But I did receive threats after the trial that were left for me at my precinct.”
“The ones in your drawer?” Amanda asked, thinking about what they’d said.
You ruined my life. I will ruin yours.
You owe me. I’m coming to collect.
