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And Ellie was caught right in the middle.
ONE HUNDRED TWENTY-FOUR
Ellie struggled not to pass out as she studied the screens. Beverly’s shrill cries echoed in her ears. Janie was unconscious.
A groan brought her head to another screen. Cord lay on the floor, not moving, blood pooling beneath him. A sob caught in her throat. “Hang in there, Cord. I’m coming for you.”
Don’t you dare die on me.
The sound of Lorna Bea’s voice drew her to yet another screen. A dim light glowed from a bulb overhead, enough for her to see the terror on the girl’s face. She sat on a low cot, her hands tied, the rope attached to the wall.
Wahlburg was in the room. And another man.
Shock stole her breath. It was Harvey—the photographer who worked with their very own ERT.
A sense of helplessness mingled with rage.
“Let her go,” Wahlburg said as he untied Lorna Bea’s hands. “She has nothing to do with this.”
“Daddy, what’s he talking about?” Lorna Bea cried.
“She has everything to do with it,” Harvey barked. Then he turned to the girl. “You think you know your father but you don’t. This man made a pact with us. We all made our choices and he chose your mother.”
Lorna Bea turned a confused look toward Wahlburg. “What?”
Wahlburg started toward the man, jaw tight, fists clenched. “Shut the hell up.”
But Harvey grabbed Lorna Bea around the neck. She shrieked and the monster laughed.
“He’s not your father,” Harvey spat. “He killed your mother and was supposed to kill you, too. That was the deal. Leave no witnesses behind.”
“She was only a toddler,” Wahlburg snapped. “I saw her birthday picture on the table and couldn’t do it.”
“You chicken shit,” Harvey growled.
“She was a baby,” Wahlburg said this time. “She wouldn’t have remembered anything. Shedoesn’tremember anything now.”
Ellie frantically struggled to loosen the knots around her wrists. Her shoulder throbbed and was practically useless, but she clenched her teeth at the pain. Now she had some answers.
Wahlburg had killed Amy Dean. Lorna Bea was Paisley, the missing child.
“You ran because you knew she could be linked to us, to her mother’s death. And when they found Amy’s body, they’d start digging.”
“You killed my mother?” Lorna Bea asked in a strangled voice.
Emotions colored Wahlburg’s face. “I’m sorry, honey,” he said, regret in his tone. “It was a long time ago. We… I was in a dark place. We… were all experimenting with drugs.”
Ellie twisted the rope and finally felt it loosen slightly. Nausea clogged her throat as she kept working the knots.
“You killed Waycross, too,” Harvey said. “He was one of us.”
“I didn’t set out to kill him, only to get the little girl away. But he fought me.”
“And you killed him then put him in the car and forced it into the lake.”
“I had to, to protect all of us. He was going to dump Paisley in the lake.” Wahlburg began to pace, clearly agitated. “I didn’t sign up to kill babies.”
“You agreed to the pact.”
