AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I didn’t want to let go of him. Right now Nathan was grounding me. If I was holding on to him, there was a chance. But I let go. And I turned to the old patch of land. Not even Nathan’s money could conceal a fresh grave.
Harlan was on the phone, redirecting people to check the other cemeteries in town as I jogged down the rows. I looked for any trace—fresh dirt or sod. Footprints or leftover tools. She wasn’t in this graveyard. Of course she wasn’t. Nathan wasn’t stupid. He wouldn’t make this easy.
Sirens wailed through the air, and seconds later cop cars pulled up outside the fence. I was calmer than I had been, the panic held back by the wall of steel and action that was surrounding me.
I crossed back across the graves to where Daniel held Nathan, and where he was now resisting arrest. “You can’t arrest me. There’s no proof that I’ve done anything, and you can’t arrest me for standing in a graveyard. You should arrest these two for assault. They’re keeping me here against my will.” He pushed against Daniel’s hold and failed utterly.
The police chief observed Daniel and me coolly and then looked back at Nathan. “We’ll see about that once our witness wakes up. Nathan West, you’re under arrest for the attempted murder of Lena Mitchell.”
For one second Nathan went still. His eyes flew to mine as he realized that I’d lied. There was plenty of evidence. Who knew what Lena had seen while she was with him?
Then he started to fight. Like a wounded animal, he lashed out, and it took Daniel, Charlie, and another officer wrestling him to the ground to get the cuffs on him.
My hands twitched. There was nothing I wanted more than to put my fist into Nathan’s skull and render him unconscious. But he had a point. I couldn’t do shit for Evelyn if Charlie was forced to arrest me for assault. It still took everything I had to let them shove him into the cruiser.
Evelyn was still alive, but she didn’t have long if what Nathan had said was true. Harlan and Daniel were standing in front of me. “Did he give you any clues?”
I crouched down, needing to just think. Please. “He wants me to try to find her. That must mean that she’s able to be found. So she can’t be far. On the phone he told me that she’s already been laid to rest like he promised—” My mind went blank with realization.
“Lucas?” Daniel asked.
Standing back up, I looked at them. “He made promises to her. He told her that he’d bury her somewhere beautiful. Somewhere with flowers.”
There was only one place in Garnet Bend where there were flowers in public. The same place that I’d kissed her for the first time. And it was only three blocks from here. My friends had the same thought—I could see it in their eyes.
And we ran. I wasn’t going to be too late. This wasn’t going to be like Emmett. I was going to make it in time. I had to.
Chapter 30
Evelyn
I was floating on a dreamless sea.
What was this place? Everything was calm and dark. I felt peaceful in a way that I hadn’t in years. It was a comforting, velvet black.
But why was there pain?
Pain shouldn’t exist in a place like this.
Sharp lines of fire rolled across me, even though I could barely sense my body. I think I was below ground. There was something tugging at my brain. Why did I feel like I was underneath the world?
My thoughts were growing clearer and the infinite darkness receding into a smaller space. I was here, but I hadn’t chosen to be here. Where was I?
Reaching out, I brushed my hand against a ceiling a mere foot from my face. It was soft. All the walls were soft. But the movement of my arm burned. Why?
I shifted my legs, and the fiery lance of feeling cleared more of the fog away. I knew where I was. I was in a coffin. In a coffin. Nathan had put me in here and drugged me so I wouldn’t fight, but the drugs hadn’t lasted long. Otherwise, I would be dead. He wanted me to panic. He wanted me to know exactly where I was and how I was dying as I suffocated.
Hauling in a breath, I held it. Holy shit, he’d actually done it. He’d buried me. He was killing me.
The urge to move and claw at the walls rose up and choked me. The panic of fight or flight. But I couldn’t. I only had so much air down here, and I needed to hang on as long as possible so that Lucas could find me.
He had to find me, right?
Moving as slowly as I could, I held a hand over my mouth to keep from screaming and to try to control my breath. I was shaking with the effort to keep myself still and not claw my way out of here. I wouldn’t succeed. Nathan was thorough. He hadn’t left me in an open grave.
Everything in my body was burning from Nathan’s attentions, and I wanted it gone. I was wearing his rings and the clothes that he’d forced me into. And his scars. He’d finally gotten what he wanted.
I didn’t want to cry. I hated crying. But tears leaked out the side of my eyes, dripping down into my hair. When Lucas had left, I’d wanted to tell him that I loved him and I’d hesitated. Why? Because I was scared. And I’d thought it was too early to feel something like that.
