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But she ended the call.
She had to listen.
Carver kept talking. “This cabin, that cabin. I go place to place. You know, if this idiot here hadn’t gotten through to me via code that he’d gotten the girl I wanted, I wouldn’t have broken out of that bus. I could have beat the rap. Sally was such a sweet whore! I could have made a judge believe she begged me for exciting sex! And those creeps you worked with—they entered illegally. And in court that would have stood up.”
“Quit calling me an idiot,” another voice said.
Colleen frowned, trying to recognize the speaker.
She knew the voice.
“They look alike!”
“They look alike—from a distance!”
“I’m The Embracer. I’m the mentor. You came to me. I taught you—”
“You were crude and stupid. I thought of the letters. I drove the police insane! You just got stupider and stupider and—”
“You ass. I’ll walk out of here. When they catch you, I’ll deny anything you say about me and call you a crazy person. People will believe me.”
“I have a witness.”
“You’re going to kill both girls and you know it.”
“I have to agree with him—you were stupid,” Megan said in a calm voice.
And before she spoke again, Colleen knew.She recognized the voice of the man with Carver. Knew why she knew the voice and she wondered—should she have guessed something before?
But who would have thought the man would have done what he did to...
Her phone was ringing again.
“You know, I know this area. We used to drive here all the time when I was a kid,” Megan said aloud. “My parents loved to come through Front Royal on their way up to Harpers Ferry. And there are woods here, right, but...you do like to live dangerously. Civilization is not far!”
Colleen quickly hit Answer and Speaker on her phone.
It was Mark, of course.
“The cabin is between Front Royal and Harpers Ferry! I can hear Megan, her voice is becoming clearer and clearer! I’m near her. I can hear her clearly and even the faint voices with her are coming through. Carver had me driving all over for his clues, but I think I even know the little woodsy turnoff where he found a cabin. It’s state land now, but for years there were hunters’ cabins on it. With reclamation by the park service, they’ve cleared people out. But you have to let me get in there first. He can’t see you—”
“He won’t see us. Neither will his partner.”
“Mark, I know who it is! And I saw pictures, but I’d never have suspected, even though I should have asked more questions...”
“So do we. Angela pulled up some magic. And it was easy to figure out from there.”
Colleen realized she was almost there.
The trail now winding through the forest would lead her to whatever structure it was Carver was making use of then.
“Colleen, if you just barge in—”
“I’m not barging in. I have a plan.”
“And that is...?”
“Slowing down enough for you to get here. Entering armed so I can negotiate with a gun. Keeping them occupied so they don’t realize you’re out there, and you can take them down while I’m trying to get Megan out.”
“Colleen, that’s—”
He was going to say “risky.” She hung up on him before he could.
She didn’t park right in front of the old cabin, which just about blended into the trees, nestled into what couldn’t even be defined as a clearing anymore.
She studied the cabin as she approached it. She was in the open; they could see her from the house and she knew it.
But the door to the cabin didn’t open until she was almost at it.
By then, her Glock was drawn.
And she took aim at Carver.
“Shoot me and my buddy shoots Megan!” Carver said.
“Buddy? You’ve been calling him an idiot all day,” Colleen said. “Back up. Get inside.”
“Give me the gun or—”
“Back up. Megan is safe, or you die. That simple.”
“I give you Megan and you’ve still got a gun—”
“Your ‘buddy’ has a gun on my sister. She goes out—then you get my gun.”
She’d forced him back and stood solidly, her Glock aimed at him. She was at the threshold to the cabin and could see inside. The light was weak, coming through the trees. If there had ever been electricity to the place, it was long gone now.
But she could see her sister.
Megan was seated in a chair in front of a crumbling wooden mantel.
