Page 3

“Go ahead. I’ll keep watch.”
Swiftly, Reese showered, letting the hot water beat down on her until she was warmed through. She wished it could wash away the voices that had followed her home, but she knew that was impossible. Guilt didn’t stay buried. Evil lingered, underpinned by sin or shame, she wasn’t sure which. It sought out those who could understand, and that unwelcome intuition had been the curse of her life. Because she couldn’t change what was innate in her, she’d learned to use it.
Reese changed and returned, shooing her colleague to the bathroom while she took up watch at the kitchen window. Running a comb through her tangled hair, she noted no change in the inky darkness outside. Nothing would alter until Thorne returned.
Ifhe returned.
2
Reese was unsure what had awakened her. A small sound, perhaps, at the side of the house. She sat up in bed, strained to listen. But it didn’t repeat. It was the silence that resonated.
She flipped back the covers, grabbed the yoga pants she’d laid across the foot of the bed, and dragged them on beneath her T-shirt before picking up her cell to check the time. Three a.m. She and Autry had agreed to split shifts watching Thorne’s place, and she’d lost three out of five coin flips her colleague had insisted upon. Her stint didn’t begin until four, but Reese knew there’d be no more slumber for her.
She stepped out into the small living area, which still had a lamp switched on. It was empty. So was the dining area and minuscule attached kitchen. Feeling a flicker of annoyance, Reese eased open the second bedroom door, assuming Autry had given in to exhaustion. But although the man’s bag was on the bed, there was no sign of him there, and the bathroom was similarly empty.
Retracing her steps to the kitchen, she observed that the flashlight that had once sat on the kitchen counter was missing. When she walked to the back door, she found it unlocked, asweep of dampness on the linoleum in front of it. She pulled the entry open and saw the slant of rain pounding the steps outside.
With a sigh, she retraced her steps to her bedroom, bending to find the umbrella she’d packed as an afterthought. Striding to the back door again, she flicked on her cell’s flashlight app and plunged outside into the dark monsoon.
The umbrella was little help against the sheets of rain. Surely he wouldn’t have gone next door without her. Reese encircled the neighboring building once. Saw nothing. But she could hear a loud throbbing beat of heavy metal emanating from it, loud enough to shake the structure to its foundation. When she reached the front of the yard, she hunched low to run for the carport. The white cargo van was nestled there.
Stephen Thorne had returned.
Fear niggled upon the heels of that realization. Surely Autry wouldn’t have gone in after him alone?
Reese sidled along the side of the van, shining the pinpoint light of the app into the vehicle. There was nothing visible but fast food bags. No windows wrapped around the side or back. She tried all its doors. They were locked.
Moving to the side entrance of the home, she found that secured, as well. She turned back to their rental, tipping the umbrella so it shielded her from the blustery whip of rain. Reese ran her light along the unkempt bushes crowding the side of the house. There. She arrowed the flashlight app toward a slight glow emanating from the overgrown mulberry bush. Maybe Autry had to take shelter behind it. Perhaps he was injured.
She got down on all fours for a closer look. The branches caught at her clothes. Scratched her cheek. She stretched out a hand, her fingers brushing the discarded flashlight, finally grasping it. But there was no sign of her colleague.
Thoroughly shaken now, she wiggled free with the flashlight and shoved her cell in her pocket as she scooped up the umbrellaand ran for the back porch dropping it after running up the steps. It rolled away on its metal ribs as she pushed open the back door. “Autry?” Already knowing the place was empty, she searched it a second time in a futile hope that the newsman had returned.
She flipped through her options. They were limited. Reese set the flashlight on the counter and pulled out her phone to hit speed dial, waiting impatiently for Gordon’s disgruntled voice to answer.
“Do you know what the hell time it is?”
“Autry’s gone. We were taking shifts watching the home next door. When I woke up, Thorne had returned, but I can’t find Autry. Gordon, it could be bad. Call the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation. Get them here.” She reeled off the address. Had to pause to collect her thoughts. “No, that’s my rental. He’s in the concrete brick structure next door. There aren’t any other houses on this street.” No help nearby. No neighbors to see or hear anything. The killer had chosen well. A cold ribbon of dread snaked down her spine.
“How the hell am I supposed to find that number? And who’s going to answer at this hour?”
“I don’t have time. I have to find him.” Reese disconnected as she ran to the bedroom. Digging in her bag, she grabbed a sweatshirt to pull over her soaked clothes. Shoving her wet hair out of her face, she retraced her steps to the kitchen, rummaging in the drawers for a weapon. She withdrew a small knife, wrapped it in the hem of her T-shirt, and tucked it in the waistband of her pants under the sweatshirt. Then she spotted a screwdriver and snatched it up. She may be able to use it to break into the next-door building. It was old, as poorly maintained as this one. The deafening music pouring out of it would mask her attempts.
Door or window, she promised herself as she yanked open the back entry. She’d sneak inside one way or the other. If Autry was in there, she couldn’t afford to wait for help to arrive.
Pulling open the door, she kicked the umbrella out of the way. As she started for the steps, a shadow moved in her peripheral vision. She swung around, the tool clenched in her fingers. “Autry?” And immediately realized her mistake.
The shadow unfolded. Far bigger than her colleague. She tensed, and cocked her hand before she was tackled, landing hard on the wood floor. Reese drove the screwdriver into the brawny arm beside her. A pained roar sounded in her ears. But in the next moment, something touched the side of her throat, and an agonizing jolt hit her. Her muscles contracted, involuntarily spasming as pain crashed through her, turning her body to fire. Reese lay helpless as the man above her straightened and drew something from his pocket, jabbing it into her arm through the sweatshirt. Then the electric shock struck again. Dimly, she felt her shuddering body being dragged down the steps and across the wet grass, adding to the excruciating torment. And then the world shrank, leaving only fear and misery.
Until she felt nothing at all.
The hard metalrock battered her ears. Jackhammered through her throbbing skull. Colors cartwheeled behind her eyelids. When Reese did manage to open them a slit, she squeezed them shut again against the flickering neon glare. Her moan vibrated through her brain. There was a voice in the room, and an answering scream that bounced off the walls, careened throughher mind. “Stop,” she muttered. But there was no end. Just one shriek climbing over another in a long unbroken choir of agony.
Without opening her eyes, she blindly groped the space. Her fingers met resistance after only a few inches. She forced her eyelids open, her jumbled brain trying to comprehend what her senses were telling her.
Black welded wire above her. On both sides. A cage. A kennel, her sluggish thoughts corrected belatedly. She attempted to sit up, banging her head against the top. Gritting her teeth, she bent, bracing herself on her hands and carefully turned her pounding head to the side. Another cage sat next to hers, a motionless body crumpled in it. Hope surged. Autry? His form was folded nearly in two, his knees pulled up to a fetal position facing away from her. Reese tried to stretch her fingers through the space afforded by the wire, but she couldn’t reach him. “Autry! Wake up!”
“Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!” a familiar roar sounded. “Wait your turn! It’s coming soon enough.” Reese watched in horror as a hulk of a man approached Autry’s kennel. Recognition formed a venomous pool in her gut. Thorne. He bent over her colleague’s kennel and jammed something through the wires to touch him. She heard an alert, saw a bright light, and her colleague’s unmoving body arched in a prolonged jolt. When Thorne spun to her, she shrank back. Something brushed her neck, and pain engulfed her.