She didn’t need to be reminded of that fact. Concurrent, not consecutive jail time for Cody.
“He was a youthful offender at the time.”
She knew exactly how old he’d been.
“Apparently, he’s been a model prisoner. Plus, his father still has power. You know that. Plenty of power. He’s been pulling strings like mad, and he’s getting Cody an early appearance before the parole board.”
Sloane backed up. Her shoulders hit Preston. She jerked in surprise, whipping toward him because she’d just remembered another time, another strong body behind her…
Cody, closing in behind me while I stared at my mother’s body.
“It’s not going to happen,” Lily vowed. “We’ll stop it. We have plenty of power of our own.”
This could not be happening.
“Atlas found out because, well, it’s Atlas. He always gets intel.”
Her breath sawed in. Out.
“We’ll stop it,” Lily said again.
Sloane stared up at Preston. His expression was completely unreadable. Meanwhile, what was her face saying? She hadn’t given a thought to masking. She’d been too stunned.
He wasn’t ever supposed to get out.
Sloane immediately schooled her features.
But if he does, I have a plan.
That plan involved killing Cody Crenshaw. Before he could kill her.
Slowly, she turned back to face Lily. She really, really needed to focus on one horrific situation at a time. Right now, she needed to focus on the immediate threat and that threat would be the driver of the red Honda Accord. No, she hadn’t caught the tag on the vehicle, but she was hoping someone else had seen it and reported that info to Debra Tooni by now. Surely the sheriff was looking for witnesses who’d been out on that road? “You’re leaving town.”
“Um, no?” Lily shook her head. “You need me, and I?—”
“I’m staying with Preston. He’s going to provide around-the-clock protection for us both. He’s as rich as Atlas, so you know he can get the best people to watch over us.”
Lily’s expression hardened. “I didn’t see those best people in front of the sheriff’s station.”
Excellent point. “I didn’t anticipate that this perp would open fire on us in a public place. Doesn’t exactly seem to fit with his MO.” To drive this particular point home, Sloane pushed, “Did you anticipate it, Lily?” Because Lily always knew the killers so well. Better than Sloane did.
Lily’s lashes flickered.
Yep, that was a no. Lily had been taken by surprise, too. Because when a killer buried his vics alive, you didn’t expect him to suddenly start shooting.
Another reason why I say we’re dealing with a copycat. The real Last Breath Killer had never used a gun. He’d buried his vics alive. But there had never been any gunshots. No knife wounds. The vics had died in their coffins. The carbon dioxide had slowly built up in the coffins. Eventually, the vics had stopped clawing at the wood. They’d gotten sleepy. One ME had even said he believed the vics had fallen into comas before their hearts stopped, so, at the end…
You fell asleep in the grave, and you never woke up again.
But…
But…
The bastard did pull a gun on me at the gravesite. That gun was the way he got me in the grave. So…maybe the copycat liked his gun. Maybe he’d decided to incorporate it into his attacks.
“The shots were wild,” Preston noted, speaking for the first time. His strong voice made her give a little start. “Some hit the side of the building. One went through the station’s door. It was a frantic spray. Didn’t seem to be focused on any one of us in particular. Hell, I was standing right there. The closest to the road. If he’d wanted to hit me, he could have.” Then, “Are we even sure this is the same perp? I get that I’m the new member of this little group, but don’t perps like him usually follow the same MO?”
Atlas widened his eyes. “He thinks that he’s in our group? Since when? Dude, not even close. Not. Even.”
