Page 31

THIRTY

Elaine Harper locked the door to the library and headed down the steps. She took the quiet, dimly lit alleyway between the buildings and pulled her coat tighter against the cool evening air. The sun had set, and the last traces of twilight faded into long shadows cast by the buildings. Her rhythmic footsteps from the heels of her sensible shoes echoed through the alleyway. Shivering as the wind from the mountains whisked up discarded papers and other bits of garbage littering the ground, she pushed on in the darkness. As she moved past the dumpsters, the light along the road at the end of the alleyway glowed like a beacon. She hurried along as a prickle of unease crawled over her. She turned a corner and stared both ways along the unusually deserted street. With each step the streetlights flickered ominously, creating distorted images of the way ahead.

Heart thumping in her chest, she glanced over her shoulder. A shadow moved behind her, or had it? She couldn’t be sure, but the feeling of being watched was undeniable. Senses on high alert, Elaine picked up her pace. The once familiar route had suddenly become a labyrinth of potential threats, with every sound amplified—the ticking from a vehicle engine cooling, the distant howl of a dog, the wind whispering through the trees. She kept moving. A crunch of gravel followed by slow deliberate footfalls came from close behind her. Should she stop to look behind her again or keep going? Trying hard to swallow her fear, she reached in her purse for her phone and her hand came up empty. Frantically, she searched her pockets—nothing.

Panic had her by the throat. Had the escaped prisoners made it to town? Was one of them stalking her? She stared ahead to the small clutch of houses in the distance. If someone was following her, would she make it there in time to ask for help? The footsteps behind her grew louder, more deliberate, whoever lurked in the shadows was getting closer. Maybe the person behind her wasn’t a threat, but could she dare risk it? Mind racing, she scanned the dim light ahead looking for a place to hide. She’d walked along this sidewalk a thousand times before, but panic was fogging her brain. She moved faster, and ahead, the shadowed maw of an alleyway yawned. Hidden by a cloak of darkness, she could slip inside, hide behind a dumpster, and wait for him to go by.

With each beat of a heart pounding in her ears, she chanced a glance over one shoulder. No one followed her, but as she backed into the alleyway the crunch , crunch of boots on gravel split the silence, and the silhouette of her pursuer detached from the darkness. Unable to take her eyes from the approaching man, she walked backward into the alleyway. Her feet tangled in a bunch of loose packing material and she stumbled, falling heavily to the ground. Pain shot up her arm and something sharp stuck into her hip. The footsteps were getting closer. Terrified, she dragged herself to her feet, and gritting her teeth, pushed herself to keep moving despite the pain. The stink of garbage seared her nostrils as she shuffled a few steps, slipping on the spilled grease making the ground like ice. It seemed to take forever to get between two dumpsters and press herself against the wall. Panting with terror, she trembled, but not from the cold. Sweat dripped down her back, tickling a path between her shoulder blades.

The footsteps paused at the mouth of the alleyway and then moved slowly toward her. Trying to calm her breathing, with every muscle tense, she fought back a scream as he started to hum. There was no escape and she held up her hands as a large shadow filled the gap between the dumpsters. A low rumbling chuckle made the hairs on her neck raise and she choked out a strangled scream. As a cloud moved away from the moon, she caught the metallic sheen of a knife as he raised it in the air.