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Chapter 1
“Just terrific. I am so late for work,” Karissa muttered to herself as she drove to Thorn’s Bar where she worked as a bartender, putting her wipers on high speed. The sky decided to open up and start pouring down rain, forcing her to drive at a snail’s pace instead of the fast pace she had intended. The sun was setting and daylight was fading fast. It had to be a Monday. There was no other explanation for the horrible day she was having.
First she had slept through her alarm and had to rush to get ready for work. She took the quickest shower on record and threw her long sandy blonde hair up in a clip and out of the way. She threw some jeans and a T-shirt on but had forgotten a jacket. Eating had been out of the question if she wanted to get to work on time.
Although she had grown up here in the town of Appledale in Missouri, it had been years since she had been back home and was just getting used to the curvy country roads again. She almost missed the small figure crossing the road. She slammed on her brakes just in time and let out a big breath of relief. What child would be out in this weather and this late in the day she wondered? She pulled over to the side of the road and rolled down her car window.
“I almost ran you over, honey, you shouldn’t be running in the road,” she said, sticking her head out the window. “Are you lost? Do you need a ride home?”
The small, wet boy looked over at her with wide, scared eyes and a pale face and she knew immediately something was wrong. “What’s wrong? Did you fall and hurt yourself?” she said, opening her car door to go and check him out for herself. The temperature was dropping despite it being summer and she couldn’t leave the small boy out here all alone.
He shook his head, gasping for air, since he was out of breath from running. He stood still as if deciding whether to trust Karissa or not, then after a few seconds he blurted out, “A bad man is chasing me and I’m scared and lost. Will you help me?”
“What?” she asked in shock and looked around, seeing nothing in the heavily wooded area, but it was pouring rain and getting darker by the minute. The small, thin boy looked terrified and he was wet and muddy. He couldn’t be more than seven or eight. She quickly got back to her car, leading him by his small, cold hand. “Get in the car, sweetheart, and you can tell me where you live,” she told him trying to keep the anxiety out of her voice.
As soon as she and the boy climbed in her car and closed the door she hit the lock button thinking of all the horror movies she had ever seen in her life. Could this day get any worse?
Thank God she locked the doors because suddenly a tall, slender man came up to her car window and tried to open her car door. He looked very angry and scary. When he couldn’t open the car doors he started banging on her window and yelling at her to give him the boy.
The boy screamed out in fright, sinking down in his seat, his voice quaking with fear. “That’s the bad man who chased me. He said he wou
ld hurt me with his knife. Drive away, lady!”
Karissa didn’t ask any questions. She put her car in drive and took off, tires squealing on the wet pavement. She’d ask questions later. She looked in her rearview mirror and saw him waving his fist in the air, yelling at them as she drove off in a hurry.
“Please tell me the truth kid. That isn’t your dad or something is it? Because I don’t want to be arrested for kidnapping,” she asked, looking over at the small boy huddled in the corner with his arms around himself, shivering and wet. He was wearing a gray T-shirt that was soaked and dirty blue jean shorts and muddy tennis shoes that used to be white. He had short brown hair and his eyes were red and puffy from crying. He shook his head, ready to break down and cry again. “I’m scared. Take me to my uncle please. He’ll know what to do. He catches bad guys.”
Karissa turned the car heater on so he could get warmed up. She had no experience with kids and didn’t want to deal with a hysterical one. “Okay, sweetie, don’t cry, it’ll be okay. Where is your uncle or your parents?”
The boy sniffed and wiped his eyes with his muddy hands, making his face dirtier. “My uncle is a deputy in town. His name is Ethan White and he’ll help us, he’s big and strong.”
Karissa nodded. She didn’t know Ethan White personally but had heard his name before. He was her ex-boyfriend Gabe Wilson’s best friend. Great, that meant she’d probably run into Gabe there since he was also a sheriff’s deputy. Her sister Casey had given her that information when she moved back home a few weeks ago and Karissa had acted like she didn’t care what her ex-boyfriend was up to these days. At least that is what she told herself each time thoughts of Gabe would creep into her head. After all, he carelessly dumped her to go back into the military life. Pushing thoughts of Gabe out of her head, she slowed down to turn the car around. She had been heading toward Thorn’s Bar, but the town was a few miles in the opposite direction. She had lived in Appledale her whole life and had moved away to St. Louis years ago. When she caught her longtime boyfriend Jordan cheating on her once again, she had broken up with him and moved back home. She had been fed up with her life there anyway and she missed her sister Casey, who was her only family. Their dad had died many years ago and their mom had run off when they were little girls.
What if the man was still in the road waiting for them? Was he dangerous? Karissa slowed down and looked out the window. She could see lightning flashing in the dark sky, illuminating the road. “Tell me what happened to you, sweetie?” she asked the boy as she drove to town. “My name is Karissa.”
The boy sat up straighter with wide eyes, putting his cold hands on the car heater, obviously feeling better now that they were headed toward town. “I was riding through the woods with my bike when I saw two men digging a hole. I thought they were digging for treasure so I asked if I could help. One of them told me to go away so I was, I’m not supposed to talk to strangers anyway. Then the other one said, ‘Don’t let him leave, he saw us.’ He started chasing me and he had a knife in his hand. I couldn’t go fast on my bike so I threw it down in the woods and started running as fast as I could. He almost had me, then I saw you. I was so glad to see you.”
Karissa tensed at his story, feeling very concerned with what he was saying. What if she hadn’t run into him and they had caught him? Who were these men? Appledale was a small, usually safe town. “Did you know these men, sweetheart?”
He shook his head in denial, sitting up straighter. “I’m Toby, by the way. My family is on summer vacation here. We’re from St. Louis so I don’t know a lot of people. They were very mean and I’m telling my uncle to arrest them.”
As they passed the spot where she had picked up Toby in the road she let out a sigh of relief when she saw the road was empty. Whoever the man was had left. She pulled out her cell phone from the console, grateful to see she had reception, and called her boss, Tom, letting him know what was going on.
“As soon as I take him to the station I’ll be in,” she explained to Tom, telling him what Toby had told her. She had only been bartending there for a few weeks and didn’t want to lose her job. She needed money to get her own place. She was staying with her big sister Casey and her husband Roy temporarily but they had just had a baby and needed their privacy.
“Yeah, I know Toby. He is Ethan White’s nephew. Be careful, Karissa,” Tom told her, talking loud over the music playing in the bar. “Something fishy is going on here. I know Ethan’s sister Kari and she would never let Toby out of her sight like this.”
Karissa looked behind her as headlights came into view. They were so bright they were blinding her vision and they were driving fast as if trying to reach her. She had a bad feeling these were the guys chasing Toby. This wasn’t good at all. She didn’t want to frighten Toby more than he already was so she calmly told Tom. “Call them now for me now, Tom. I am on Road 2007 heading toward town and someone is following me really fast.” As soon as the words were out of her mouth she felt the car behind her slam into her back bumper and she screamed in fright and Toby started crying loudly.
