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Tears filled her eyes and ran down her cheeks. Just a few days ago, she’d been so excited to reconnect with her friends at the reunion. To take a break from her stuffy life. Have fun again and not be tied down.
Her husband’s face flashed behind her eyes. Rick was a great guy. Smart. Hard-working. Ambitious. Those were the reasons she’d married him.
But he’d become so self-absorbed and career-driven; work always came first. The romantic dates they used to enjoy had turned to business dinners that kept him out till all hours of the night. If she didn’t know better, she’d suspect he was having an affair. But sex seemed to be the last thing on his mind. Building his portfolio took priority.
Still, he loved her and the kids. He’d even promised to take them on a cruise for Christmas.
And her little girl and boy… What would they do without a mother?
Sadness blended with icy fear, and she doubled over and sobbed. Forget the cruise. All she wanted now was to go home, cuddle her kids and sleep in her own safe bed. Take a walk with Rick and tell him she still loved him. Make him the homemade chicken curry he liked so much.
She blinked to clear her vision from the tears. She had to think. Find a way to get out of here.
She turned her head to look around for a way to escape. A sliver of light wormed through the bottom of the doorway. Dingy concrete walls surrounded her. Shadows closed in.
And silence. The kind of eerie silence that came before a terrible storm. The kind of silence that made her think that she’d never see her husband or children again.
ONE HUNDRED FIFTEEN
SOMEWHERE ON THE AT
Cord knew the location of the hospital, so Ellie let him drive. She needed time to sort through the dates and times again of the unsolved cases she thought related to the current ones.
Cord picked up his SAR dog from his cabin, hoping Benji would be able to help them locate possible victims if they were being held at the building.
Dark storm clouds threatened, the trees starting to shiver in the wind. Hopefully the rain would hold off until they could search this place.
She explained her conspiracy theory to Cord. “We know Jones, AKA Frank Wahlburg, kept souvenirs. If Pockley was in on it, he may have kept something, too.”
She texted the captain:
Get a warrant for Professor Pockley’s home and office, including his computer, files and any video footage he may have kept.
Copy that.
A text appeared from Shondra next.
Talked to Dr. Dansen. She confirmed that Waycross was especially interested in ritualistic behavior, that he wrote a paper about cult and gang initiations.
Ellie responded:
Thanks
She texted Derrick her theory about the initiation. “Cord, gang initiations often involve committing a crime or murder. Some of our witnesses suggested these guys formed a cult. What if their initiation required them to take a life?” Her thoughts raced. “The reunion is the anniversary of the beginning. Ten years ago, Amy Dean was murdered. Now they could be celebrating that day by taking new victims.”
ONE HUNDRED SIXTEEN
SOMEWHERE ON THE AT
Déjà vu struck Frank as he parked in the woods. He had to be strategic, couldn’t rush in guns blazing.
The brothers had been his friends, had shared his obsessions. They were the only ones who understood the demons that crawled through his mind like a flesh-eating virus.
The damn heat had made him crazy back then. It was making him crazy again. The thick trees of the AT stood so close together that it was suffocating him. The branches with their spiny leaves shot out tentacles, choking him. Invisible hands pushed him to the steep edge of the cliff where he looked down at the haunted lake and saw the dead buried, Waycross’s body parts floating on the surface.
He closed his eyes, taking deep breaths as the chanting began in his mind. The rumble of thunder above the mountain thrust him back in time to that night.
The pact they’d made.
