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Cassie had barely spotted her standing just beneath the sign to start heading south.
Harris switched lanes without bothering to use her turn signal. Cassie saw the driver of a red Honda Civic flip them off as they passed, but Harris didn’t care, if she noticed at all. She took the exit easy and hit the gas as soon as she was back on the straightaway.
“Where are we heading?” she asked Cassie.
“Beats me.”
They stayed on I-95 past Richmond Hill and got off on 17. Every step of the way, Cassie would see Elizabeth at the last second and call out instructions to Harris, who would curse and turn the wheel to make their next direction.
“Fleming?” Harris asked.
They passed through the small town and stayed straight until Elizabeth appeared out in front of a church. She pointed down a road opposite her and Cassie called out the directions. A few minutes later they entered the boonies. They were driving along a street with farms on one side and deep woods on the other.
Cassie rubbed her arms. “I think we’re getting close.”
“What makes you say that?” Harris asked.
“I’m freezing.”
Harris leaned forward to check the temperature on her dash. “It’s ninety-seven degrees outside. The AC is on low.”
“That’s what makes me think we’re getting close,” Cassie said.
When she next saw Elizabeth standing at the end of a long driveway, Cassie knew this was it. “Turn here. Go slow.”
Harris followed Cassie’s instructions and let the car roll forward down a gravel driveway. The trees were dense here and the driveway had recently been dug out and filled in. The fill dirt was loose. Plumes of dust kicked up behind them. Cassie hoped to God they weren’t pulling up to a dilapidated house. They’d have to account for every step they t
ook while fearing the place would collapse on them.
But when Harris rounded the driveway’s final bend, a beautiful green Victorian appeared as if someone had dropped it in the middle of the woods.
From the outside, it looked immaculate. There were large rose bushes lining the front of the house, all the color of red wine. A swing blew in the breeze on the front porch and the sun glinted off the windows on the third floor.
“Are you sure this is the right place?” Harris asked.
Cassie leaned forward and saw Elizabeth staring at her from the steps leading up to the front door. “Positive.”
“I want you to stay in the car,” Harris said.
A chill ran down Cassie’s spine. “I don’t want to do that.”
“Why not?”
“Honest answer?”
“Yeah.”
“I’m kind of shitting myself right now, and I’d rather have you in my sights at all times.”
Harris laughed and smothered it. “You know what, fair enough. Text David. Give him the address. Tell him the second he’s got a warrant he needs to bring half the precinct to this guy’s doorstep.
Cassie did as she was told and looked back at the house. All the windows were closed and there was no car in the driveway. “Do we know if he’s home?”
“Let’s go find out,” Harris popped open her door.
Cassie tucked her phone in her pocket and got out of the car. Another chill went down her spine and a pit hollowed out her stomach. Elizabeth took three steps backwards and disappeared inside the house.
“Great,” Cassie mumbled.
