Page 48 of Every Sunset

“My son…Max. He was away that weekend…camping with h-his friends. He came back on Sunday evening and he…he heard me crying out. He…he was scared. He came in with his bat…from baseball. He hit Callum and then he freed me. There was a struggle and I hit Callum with the bat. He went down and hit his head on a dresser,” I lied.

There was no way I was telling them Max hit him more than once.

Who knew what they would do with the information?

Where I grew up, you never trusted the cops, no matter what, and I couldn’t get that out of my head.

If anyone was going to jail for hitting that fucker, it was me, not my son.

“I wasn’t thinking straight. I was in a bad way, and we were both scared.

I just grabbed Max and we ran away. We hid out for a while, but when we went back to our place, Callum was gone. ”

“So your son saw him too?” the male agent asked. They were both taking notes in little notebooks as I spoke, which was fine by me. I didn’t want to have to tell them it all again.

“Maybe. It all happened so fast,” I hedged.

“Do you think you’d both be able to sit down with a sketch artist?

We really need an image of this man before he strikes again.

As far as we know, you are the only person who has escaped him so far, Miss Hart,” the man told me, and my eyes instantly pooled with tears.

If Max hadn’t have come home when he did…

“Anna, you have to breathe for us, sweetheart. You’re here. You and Max are both safe, and you’re gonna stay that way,” Logan told me. I didn’t even feel myself being moved, but when I looked around for him, I found myself sitting in his lap, both of his arms wrapped around me and Maddox was gone.

“Max…please, Logan. I n-need him home I need him to…to be safe,” I whimpered shakily.

“I’ll go and pick him up, Anna. Try to drink some juice for us, okay?

” Maddox said, and when I looked behind me he was standing there with a tall glass of orange juice held out to me.

I realized he must have passed me to Logan so he could go to the kitchen, and I hadn’t even noticed any of it. What was wrong with me?

“You’ll be careful?” I panicked.

“Always am, baby. Stay with Logan. I won’t be long.” With that he leaned in and kissed my lips chastely, then handed the glass off to Logan.

“I have to go and collect Max, but before I head out you should know you don’t need that sketch artist. I have images and video footage of this scum bag,” Maddox told the FBI.

“How?” They both asked in perfect synchronicity.

“He turned up here a little over a week ago, stalking Anna. He tried to run her off of the road when she was driving home from work. I managed to find him on the surveillance footage from the store Anna works in,” Maddox explained.

“He’s here?” The female agent asked, but the male was already pulling out his cell phone.

“He hasn’t been spotted since that day, but yes, I think he’s still here somewhere,” Madd agreed.

“Makes more sense now,” Logan spoke up, and I looked to him with question. “He wanted to finish what he started, Anna. If you are the only victim who managed to escape him, he knowns you’re also the only person who can identify him. He was trying to tie up loose ends.”

“Oh God,” I gasped as I sat up and clutched my lurching stomach. “Max!”

“I’ll go now, baby,” Maddox told me, then he rushed from the room and out of the house with a slam of the front door behind him.

“He’s safe at school, sweetheart. No one can get to him there,” Logan reminded me.

“Try to drink some juice. You’re shaking so hard I feel like we’re on some strange carnival ride,” he joked.

I couldn’t bring myself to smile, but I did take the glass of juice from him.

I only managed a small sip before it started to shake so hard in my grip I panicked I’d drop it.

Thankfully, Logan grabbed it and set it on the table for me.

“That’s enough for now. Anna needs to rest,” Logan told the agents who were watching me like a bug under a microscope. I couldn’t stand them staring at me that way, so I turned my face and hid against Logan. I knew it made me look like a child, but I was done.

It was one thing to go through being held and tortured by that monster, but to find out he had planned to murder me too – that he had already murdered so many other women – it was all jus so much more than I could take.

And knowing that Callum was a murderer just increased my fear for Max by about a million times. If Callum got a hold of my son…

“We need those images, Mr. Easton, right away,” the male agent spoke up, startling me from my nightmarish thoughts.

“Here. I have images on my cell. You can do what you need to with those, but I need to take care of Anna right now. Anything else you need can and will wait,” Logan snapped, his tone brokering no argument.

“Mr. Easton. We will need to speak further with Miss Hart as soon as possible. We can take a break, however…”

“No,” Logan cut off the male Agent’s argument.

“Miss Hart is done speaking to you today. She’s been through enough and I’m not going to allow you to push her any further.

Any other questions you have will not be asked tonight, so please either leave, or wait quietly for my brother to return, so that he can give you the surveillance footage that you want. ”

With those final and very clear words of dismissal, Logan gathered me up in his arms and stood like I weighed nothing.

I didn’t even look up as he carried me from the living room and started up the stairs.

I knew I was being a coward, and that I should be doing all I could to help the FBI find Callum, And I would.

Tomorrow. First I needed time to shore up some strength from somewhere.

I had no idea from where, since I felt completely drained and empty, but I would find some.

I always did. I’d take the night to get myself together and tomorrow I would do what I could to make sure that monster was found and locked away for all he had done.

I would help them to make my son safe once and for all and I would find a way to end the living nightmare I had been trapped in ever since I made that stupid, selfish decision to go on that date.