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John. Was he lying about John or was it true? Was he dead in the rain? Her heart hiccupped, but she had to incapacitate Cecil, rescue Bella Dawn and come out alive before she could chase down John.
“So, if you’re hoping to be saved, Violet—no one is going to save you. No one saved me. You know what it’s like to cry every day because you’re forced into a role you never wanted to play? To be convinced you’re someone you’re not? I believed I was Cecilia! Yes, I liked dolls. I like to make dolls. See the kids enjoy them.”
“With their moms’ panties on them?”
He was quiet. “I wanted them to know I could enter their homes. Take what I wanted. Take them. But I didn’t. I was gentlemanly. And yet... I was still rejected.”
“Until you did. You took Bella Dawn.”
“Do you know what I went through? Pretty girls didn’t want me. I was a freak. A girl. Too feminine. I tried to be chivalrous. Kind. Not like those men who pay to go thirty minutes and walk out. They use them. Even my own brother! But he gets more respect than me.”
“You were told you were too pretty to be a boy. Know what I was told, Cecil?”
She made her way to the ladder closest to the tree house near the cabin. But Cecil’s voice was farther away, coming from the other smaller tree house. She skulked through the forest, weaving between trees, climbing over brush, using the rain to block noise.
“What?” Cecil called.
“That I’m my father’s daughter.”
“Big deal.”
“My father is a wicked, wicked man, Cecil. He caught young girls and imprisoned them. I’m gonna catch you. I haven’t decided yet what I’m going to do with you, though. Put you away or put you in the ground.”
She made her way through the shadows, watching the bridge outline and working to find the end of it. Fine. She’d come up. It was her only shot to save Bella Dawn and make Cecil believe he was in control and getting his way.
Finally, she found a small ladder attached to a towering tree that led to a small open platform.
Bella Dawn cried out again.
“Regis won’t protect you, Cecil. How do you think we got to the cabin? He knows you’re the killer. He told us you’d be here.” Fudging the truth never hurt an agent. “And he really won’t protect you now. He’s going away. I’ve already caught him. He’s in jail right now. This town won’t hide you. They’d rather see you go. You’re a joke to them, Cecil. You know it. I heard the bartender teasing you, saw him winking. You have no respect and nowhere to hide.”
She wasn’t one to bully or goad, but he’d tortured, maimed and killed four women, and she needed his fury focused on her right now, not Bella Dawn.
“You’re lying about Regis.” His voice sounded unsure.
“I’m not. I have no reason to lie, Cecil. Regis told us about your bloody shirt and Atta’s locket. How would I know that?” She climbed methodically and carefully up the tree until she made it to the top. The bridge swayed in the gales.
She stepped out onto it. “Let her go.” Another shaky step. A few pieces were broken, and one was missing. She stepped over them and kept her arms on the thick wet ropes.
Twenty feet away, Cecil stood with Bella Dawn’s neck in the crook of his arm. “Push her behind you and let her go. Then it’s me and you.” Time to crack him. “But to be very clear, my answer is no.”
That did it. He shoved Bella Dawn behind him and stalked toward Violet. “Run, Bella Dawn!” She’d unleashed a rage with her blatant rejection.
She turned to run, and her boot cracked a wooden rung on the bridge, her foot slipped through and she pitched forward. The bridge tottered, and Cecil was now in a dead run.
She scrambled to find her footing, but he was on top of her and the bridge was teetering. Her arm slipped through the rope rails, and she lost her balance, shrieking. Using her free leg, she swept Cecil’s leg, toppling him over, blocking the path to the platform a few feet away. She had no other alternative than to dart the opposite way toward the sturdier tree house, closest to the cabin. Missing boards slowed her pace, and the rope handles weren’t secure.
She was up maybe thirty feet. Rain dripped into her eyes, and her throat and lungs burned from the cold. But she had to make it to the tree house. Leaves and branches brushed her shoulders, but she kept moving. Not looking back. Unsure how far behind Cecil was. The wind rustled the trees; the rain was deafening.
Adrenaline raced through her bones at the thought of his slender fingers grasping ahold of her, pinning her down. If he caught her, he would do to her what he’d done to all the others.
What he’d been planning to do to Bella Dawn when he was done using and abusing her. What he would do to Ruby?
Ruby!
She had to live to find Ruby. She had to live to find John. Was he dead?
Must keep a level head. Get Cecil on the ground, where she had a better advantage. The tree house was about ten feet away.
