Page 99 of Guess Again

Lake Morikawa, Wisconsin Tuesday, August 5, 2025

MADDIE BOLTED FROM THE BACK DOOR AND RAN THROUGH THE cabin.

Harriett had made it onto her knees and tried to hinder Maddie’s progress.

But a visceral fear coursed through Maddie’s body that made her feral and unstoppable.

She ran through Harriett as if the woman were a sack of suds.

She reached the front door and yanked it open before she heard the blast from her Glock and felt a searing pain pierce her left side.

The force of the bullet caused her to fall forward, slamming the front door closed.

When she pushed away she saw the exit wound in her lower left abdomen where her T-shirt was painted red.

Blood, too, spattered the door.

The pain came and went, overshadowed by the adrenaline that flowed through her veins.

She twisted the handle to the front door and started to pull it open again when she felt Francis grab the back of her shirt.

“Now look what you’ve made me do,”

Francis whispered in her ear.

“This won’t be nearly as fun if you die quickly.

I was hoping to take my time.”

Francis spun her around and, with a violent jerk, ripped the front of her shirt so that her breasts were exposed.

His head tilted to the side as he examined her chest.

Then, he traced the spot on her left breast where he had years ago etched a black heart into her skin.

The heart was gone, replaced now by a jagged scar.

“You erased my work,”

Francis said.

“We can’t have that, now can we?”

The burning pain in her side had taken on a life of its own, and the blood loss was making her drowsy.

As Francis continued to stare at the scar on her breast, Maddie reared back and drove her forehead into his nose.

She heard cartilage crunch and bone break.

Blood shot horizontally from Francis’s nostrils as he stumbled backward.

A stream of blood poured into Maddie’s eyes from the newly formed gash that ran from her hairline to the bridge of her nose.

Combined with the bullet that had pierced her side, the concussion of the impact with Francis’s skull made her dizzy.

She staggered two steps forward until she was in striking distance again.

Then, she delivered an upward kick to Francis’s groin.

He howled in pain and fell to his knees.

Maddie turned and, like a drunk leaving the bar, zigzagged for the front door. Before she made it, though, Francis lunged forward and grabbed her ankle. It was all it took to send her face first into the doorframe.

Exhausted from blood loss, Maddie closed her eyes and willed her brain to power down and take her far away.

She had nearly succumbed to the urge when she felt Francis pull on her leg as he dragged her back toward the kitchen.

His voice was nasally when he spoke.

“I’m going to return you to the black heart club before I kill you,”

Francis said.

She felt him grab her by the hair as he lifted her off the floor and forcefully shoved her onto the kitchen chair.

Maddie was helpless now as Francis secured her wrists to the chair with zip ties.

She opened her eyes when she felt him unclasp the front of her bra.

He touched a knife to her left breast.