Page 66 of Behind These Four Walls
Jackson said, “Cool it, Bennett. For once.”
“It wasn’t random. They were definitely following me. A shot whizzed right by my head and hit a tree ahead of me.”
Dixon had his hand on his hip, completing a revolution as Isla had done when she’d first run out. “I didn’t think there were any other groups out here. I checked. And I can’t believe they’d be taking shots without confirming it is game they’re shooting at. If that was the case here, we’ll need to do something about it.”
Bennett rolled his eyes and sauntered off to join his friends, where they proceeded to shoot looks at her, clearly talking about how she’d ruined their hunting fun.
Victor said grimly, following Dixon’s gaze, “Then let’s go check it out.”
Half the group followed Isla back in, with Bennett begrudgingly following them after telling his friends to begin their trek to their rally point, where they’d head back down to the forest warden’s station and their all-terrain vehicles. Isla steeled herself for reentry into the forest. With a clearer mind, she was able to backtrack to where she’d been. A not-so-keen hunter’s eyes could tell where she’d been, thrashing around and marking a clear path.
“Your ankle,” Myles commented, his concern evident, when Isla began to walk and he saw how hard she limped, favoring her right leg. He reached to take her arm, offering to have her lean on him.
Again she waved him off, not wanting to seem any more of a damsel in distress than she already appeared. She didn’t even want tothink about what she looked like after her ordeal. At least she hadn’t cried in front of them. That might be reserved for later, when she was alone in the staff housing. And she’d need to make it back to the hotel room, where she kept her map.
She pointed to the tree that had been struck by the bullet, shuddering at how the bullet had dug in, showing the light tan of the tree’s inner bark. It had been so close.
Dixon said, “This is definitely not an approved area for hunting. Someone’s made a huge mistake.”
She wanted to say it was more than a mistake. It was intentional. But it was beyond their realm of comprehension because they hadn’t been the prey. It wasn’t them who’d been running for their lives. It had been her. And any one of these people could have been on the other side of that rifle.
They started to move away, continuing through as best Isla could recall, but Myles remained, crouched and staring intently at the ground.
Victor noticed first, turning. “Son, let’s not lose another person, yeah?” Bennett fidgeted at his words.
Myles stood, his gaze remaining fixed on the ground. “Look at this.” He motioned to a set of prints in the mud. “These are hers. I can tell because the left foot digs deeper than the right, since she hurt it and was limping. Plus they’re smaller.” He looked at her, and she looked back, biting her bottom lip. “But there is another set.”
Jackson asked, “Maybe one of ours?”
Myles shook his head. “Can’t be,” he said firmly. “We didn’t come through this way, remember? This set was definitely tracking her. It follows her path directly.”
This time Isla couldn’t hold back her shudder. She’d known someone was chasing her, terrorizing her. But doubling back and seeing the evidence let the fear creep back in. She only needed to make it a little longer; then she’d be alone.
“And look.” Myles gestured to a fainter set of prints nearby, not aligned with hers and whoever was following her. “A third set. Someone else was here. Tracking them.”
“What?” Bennett asked seriously, forgetting he had thought this was all bullshit and was pissed at her for messing up their afternoon before he’d caught anything. “What do you mean a third set?”
A chill ran through her. Goose bumps broke out all over her body, and cold sweat dotted her forehead. Instantly she remembered. “The third shot!”
Victor had joined Myles. He looked at Isla, then at Dixon, his concern deepening. “What was that?”
“There were three shots total. The first two were from one gun,” she said. “That’s how I knew they were following me. Because one shot can be an accident. I called out. They would have heard me yell. But instead they took another shot. But then there was a third shot, and this one sounded different from the other two. Like it came from a different gun.”
“Two sets of prints,” Victor repeated, his voice low, as if he was simmering at the thought.
“Yeah,” Myles said. “One chasing her, and the other ...” He glanced at Isla, catching her in the snare of his eyes. She did a double take. Gone were the days of his morose and indifferent disdain for her. There was something else he was saying in his glance that she didn’t dare puzzle out yet, because if she read him wrong and that wasn’t care and concern she was seeing in his eyes, she realized she’d be crushed. She gripped the rock tighter, knowing she would keep it forever.
They headed back to the meeting point, Bennett grumbling that he wanted to leave and the place was giving him the creeps. Isla noted the flicker of unease in his eyes. The way, when he met up with Danny and Roger, they huddled, throwing her furtive looks. Danny gesticulated wildly, then stalked away. Today might have been their warning to stay out of their business and leave, which meant she had to be on the right track.
Chapter Fifty-Two
The next couple of days were quiet, and Isla was ready to continue on, not letting whoever had tried to scare her in the woods deter her. She was so close to the truth that she could taste it, and she hoped the momentum would keep going. Victor’s reception was getting close.
She shoved her hands in the pockets of her jacket as she waited in the empty parking lot of a CVS. The streets at this time of night were spookier than in the day, but that wasn’t unusual. What was unusual was her actually agreeing to meet James so they could talk alone and away from prying eyes. She was especially jittery after the hunting party, and her ankle still throbbed. James hadn’t been with the party, but what if he had still been there? What if he’d been the one chasing her? So why, again, had she agreed to meet a guy by herself and without telling anyone? She was asking for trouble and probably heading into a trap.
On the phone, James had sounded different. He hadn’t sounded like his smug friends or like something was up. He’d sounded horrible, to be honest, worse than he’d sounded when she’d gone to his house.
She sensed she was being watched. The hairs on the back of her neck raised, and goose bumps spread over her arms. She was just about to forget the entire thing when a figure separated itself from the dark shadows of the alley that she stood looking into. She swallowed a scream and clutched the canister of Mace in her jacket pocket, her finger sliding to the trigger.