Page 131 of Last Seen

She knows this, and yet ... the light is not on in the laundry room. Anything could be lurking in that darkness. The door to the backyard, though dead bolted and barricaded, could have been eased open. The glass could have been broken through, the lock turned. He could be waiting for her there, in the dark. Waiting. Breathing.

“Shit,” she mutters, hurrying to the laundry room and slapping on the light. The room is empty. The back door is closed, bolted, the glass intact. No one is there.

Her rational brain says “See? Told you!” while her irrational self cowers. She is thirty-five years old, and terrified of being alone in the dark.

When Theo is out of town, she could go home. Should go home. It would be so much easier. Her dad would welcome her without a word, just pull her into his arms and offer to make her dinner. Maybe he wouldn’t say anything at all, and she’d be able to revel in the sense of safety she used to feel any time he was near, before she found out how he’d deceived her. She blamed him for what happened; of course she did. If he’d been honest with her from the start, she would never have gotten herself into the mess she did.

She could call Theo and ask him to come home early. He would. He’d drop everything if she asked.

She could ask Noah Brockton to drive north from his home and be by her side.

No. She can’t do any of that.

None of that will work until she forgives herself. She created this situation. She made herself into the person she is now.

But all those victims would still be lost and hurt, Halley. What you did was brave. It was good. You saved them.

But I lost myself.

But did you, Halley? What did you lose, and what did you gain?

The boy cries out from his room, and the darkness and fear flee. She hurries to his side.

She is his light now.

Come here. Come with me. Look at the charred remains of my father’s legacy.

No, not the farm, not his beloved town, his ruined reputation. His investors fleeing when they realized he was conning them all. The townspeople moving away en masse, unable to stomach the sublime horrors they lived above. They were complicit. The very food their bodies craved was tainted by the blood of the innocent. Imagine that.

Oh, he is so broken. Standing alone, screaming, at the cliffside of the mountain, looking at all he built crumbling at his feet. Cat used to go there, once she was tamed. She cried. She screamed. She pulled her hair. She went mad, then she came back to me. She always came back to me.

No, as much fun as it is to watch that all burn, I’m interested in something else.

Someone else.

Her.

The lights go on one by one, the same every night. She thinks she is so strong, that she has won. That she has beaten me.

Arrogant, traitorous creatures. I gave them both life. And they repay me with death?

Well, they screwed up. They thought they had me.

They were wrong.

I will take back what is mine. Maybe tonight. Maybe tomorrow. Maybe a year from now. Who knows. Just when they think life is perfect, I will strike.

Until then, I will watch.

I like to watch.