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She had partners in the FBI she cared about, people she trusted and worked well with. But they weren’t the woman she loved. None of them were the singular sunshine that Teddi embodied. She couldn’t be replaced, could never have her shoes filled. Rubbing at her chest, she checked that it hadn’t been pulled open from the outside. It was intact, skin and bone right where it was meant to be.
But Teddi wasn’t. She shouldn’t be there. Vera spent years putting herself in the line of fire, months in undercover work where one word meant sudden death. She’d reckoned with dying long before today. She wasn’t ready but she accepted the reality in her line of work. She couldn’t accept that Teddi could be part of that. She was too good for this world, for this work, for her. She had to get her out of Sylen. A plan began to form when Teddi yelled.
“Vera!” Standing quickly, she swayed, head spinning. They both needed to check their wounds and she needed to find a way to get her to leave. To get her back to safety. Every minute she stayed in Sylen was another chance for her to end up like Alex and all of the other victims of a sadistic killer.
“The truck is still here and no one is answering. I tried the door but it’s locked.”
Gunson was gone. His wife was gone. For all they knew it was another Grennan scenario and she’d taken off like Alice and her two sons.
“Fuck!” Pulling at her hair, Vera looked around the property for something useful. They could have died, they could have found Gunson, they could have solved the case but it kept slipping through their fingers like oil. “Fuck,” she huffed.
The bodies were piling up, Alex was still cold, and their lead suspect was missing. She seethed. Not this time. Not another fucking person running roughshod over her investigation, not another thing attempting to derail her efforts to do her goddamn job. Slapping her hands to her thighs, she took a long breath. She was going to solve this case, get Teddi to safety, bring Alex home, and get the hell out of the black cursed hole that was Sylen.
“I’m not sure his wife is coming back, let’s go.” They needed to get cleaned up and come up with a plan. Hers was assuredly different from Teddi’s. She wanted her out and she was getting what she wanted no matter what it cost her.
“I need food,” Teddi said, tying her hair up to cover the majority of the blood. “And pain meds. And coffee before we figure out where the hell Gunson is.”
“It’s not like we can attract any more attention than we already do.” Pouring water on the spare napkins in the glove box, they cleaned up as best they could before pulling out of Deputy Gunson’s neighborhood.
Vera made it to the town square in record time. They were starving, bloody, and pissed off. There was little left to lose, their pride scattered on the filthy forest floor where they’d been knocked on their asses.
The diner lot was packed, forcing them to find a spot on the main road. Parking, they both groaned when they unfolded themselves from the vehicle. She figured the air would be full of the scent of fried food like normal but it was thick and heavy, pregnant with something toxic.
Spotting a familiar head of chestnut curls in the lot, Daisy gave a modest wave as she opened her car door. Her mother followed her eyeline, giving them a frigid glare before ducking into the driver’s seat of her car. Vera waved back, ready to cross the street towards warm food and more glares.
Lifting her foot, she was about to step into the lane, head so full of thoughts she didn’t see the vehicle coming.
Chapter 32
Vera
With a deafening roar a truck barreled past, her face so close to the side mirror that a snap of air whipped her nose. Someone laid on the horn. Inches behind them, another vehicle blew past her.
Teddi yanked her backward onto the sidewalk. Vera was momentarily stunned.
The roar of their engines blocked out the sound of her thoughts. A matching caravan of trucks hauled down the other lane across the square, their truck beds full of men. All bundled up against the whipping cold, they hollered. Exhaust filled the air as they watched the patchwork mob hurry toward the encroaching forest.
“You don’t belong here!” Someone screamed, their voice buried behind the many men mashed together in the bed of a green truck. A freckled man she’d seen at the diner before leaned out the window as they drove past, his heavy gaze pinning her.
Heart thudding like a drum, they watched the trail of men fly down the road.
“Where are they going?” Teddi asked, her grip still around her bicep. The main road led only three ways from where they stood. To a stretch of neighborhoods, out of town, and the glade.
Vera scrambled for the keys. Without a word Teddi followed, diving back inside their vehicle the second the doors were unlocked.
“Another body?” Vera heard what she didn’t say. Either it was Gunson or he’d struck again.
“It has to be.” She had a feeling that they were about to watch small-town justice unfold.
Four men were dead, murdered, and mutilated. Three of whom were well-known in the community. The locals were bound to snap when they found out. If the drunk man who found Scott Reade's body couldn't be convinced to stay quiet by the Sheriff, he might have told every person he could find. Her palms threatened to slip against the steering wheel as she peeled out, following the taillights.
By the time they made it to the trailhead parking lot, the trucks were empty. Five of them were parked haphazardly as if they saw the marker and swerved off the road. Pulling into the hidden path they used before, they rushed into the woods.
“You still carrying?” She asked Teddi as they jogged.
“Of course.”
“Let’s hope we don’t need it.” Voices could be heard before they reached the familiar ring of trees. The air was cold and brittle, waiting to break under the weight of what was ahead. “Back to the same spot,” Vera whispered as she took them toward the location where they watched Scott Reade be dragged away like an animal carcass. The same place where three trees were marked with the killer’s sigil. Pushing through the brush, they hurried until they caught a glimpse of the open glade.
