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“ W hat did you do?” Henry stared at the unconscious women on tables that matched the one in his basement and almost lost it. If he wrapped his fingers around T’s neck, death would take only a few minutes. He’d be doing the world a favor by putting a monster down.

“What you should have done before.” T stepped close to the first table set up inside the basement of T’s house, where Dawn was still unconscious. “Did you really think I didn’t know you hadn’t killed her? I overheard you speaking to Sierra about it before you destroyed the camera in the basement. Maggie made you soft. When I went up to the mountain near your mine, I spotted Dawn and Sierra escaping through the woods. I couldn’t let that happen, so I shot at them. Only I missed.” T smiled slowly. “It was pure luck when they wandered up to my house.”

T glanced down at Dawn. “Isn’t she perfect? She reminds me of Colleen.” T looked his way. “You remember her don’t you, Henry? You’re the reason she died.”

“That’s not true.” Henry had done everything in his power to protect his first love, Colleen, from T’s jealous rage. He thought he’d kept their relationship secret. But T had spotted them one night together and lost it.

“I turned Lindsey over to the police. I told her to tell them everything. The FBI and Sheriff Taylor will be here soon.”

“You fool!” T screamed and charged toward Henry with one of Henry’s tools. Henry clasped T’s hands together. It took all his strength to keep from being stabbed. The darkness was taking over more and more. The truth stared Henry in the face just as clearly as it had when this all began. He’d have to take care of T.

“Let me go,” T snarled. “I have more pretty girls to take care of. They deserve to die. They all do.”

T’s jealousy had been a problem for years. When they were kids, T resented anyone who laid claim to Henry’s affections.

Henry wrestled the scalpel out of T’s hand. “It’s over. It’s time to go to the police and tell them everything.”

“Never. I will never turn myself in.” T jerked away from Henry’s grasp. Henry followed. It was time. Time to put it down and beg God to forgive him for letting such a monster exist for so long.

T reached a set of shelves and grabbed something.

Before Henry knew what was happening, T pointed the handgun straight at him.

“No.” The words barely cleared Henry’s lips when the hot lead of the first bullet entered his body, striking his midsection.

Shock warred with pain. He couldn’t believe T shot him.

He dropped to his knees. He grabbed his midsection. Something warm covered his hand. Blood. He was bleeding out. T had done what Henry could not.

Henry fell forward. Someone screamed. He tried to hold onto consciousness, but it was a losing battle. His eyes slowly closed. The things around him faded. Maggie’s smiling face appeared through the cottony darkness. He smiled. “I’m coming, my love. I’m coming.”

*

The rubble that greeted them was the worst possible sight. There’d been several collapses. Could Sierra and Dawn have survived all of them?

“Where do these tunnels lead to?” Zeke turned to Patrick and waited while trying not to give into the panic spiraling inside him.

“The other side of the mountain. But I don’t see how anyone could have survived this.”

Patrick didn’t know Sierra. “Are there houses on the other side?”

Patrick eyed him before saying. “Yes, a few.”

“Then we start knocking on doors.” Zeke headed back to the cruiser.

After some heated words between Jack and Patrick, the sheriff gave in.

“I sure hope you’re right,” Patrick said quietly. “Believe me, the last thing I want to find out is that those two fought so hard to survive only to die in a blast.”

Zeke didn’t answer. He watched his side mirror as the fire site became distant.

Patrick turned off before they reached town and made a series of turns before telling them they were heading toward the back side of the mountain range. “There are about five houses this way. Most people don’t like to be bothered. Plenty are armed.”

“Let’s start at the one closest to where they might have crossed over.”

“That place is vacant,” Patrick told them. “Has been for years.”

Zeke looked his way. “Sounds like the perfect place for a killer to take his victims.”

Patrick clamped his lips together and punched the gas.

When they reached the vacant house, it soon became clear it was anything but.

“There are lights on.” Zeke barely waited until they’d stopped before jumping out. He purposely headed toward the house when Jack grabbed his arm.

“Hold back a second. Let us assess the place. If you go charging in there, it might cost Sierra her life.”

All the wind went out of his sails. “You’re right.”

“Come with me.” Jack motioned for him to follow. “We’ll take the front.”

Patrick nodded. “Cooper and I have the back.”

Zeke kept close to Jack while every little sound had him on edge. They reached the front. A single sliver of light reflected a cozy scene. “Looks like any normal house except that no one is supposed to be living here,” Zeke said.

“Yeah. So where are they?” Jack peered through the window. “I don’t see anyone.”

“I don’t know, but the only way we’re going to find out is to get inside.”

Patrick and Cooper came around to them.

“I’ve got the warrant,” Patrick told them. “We can enter the residence.”

“We can’t see anything from the back.” Cooper peeked through the window where they were standing close. “Can we get inside without alerting whoever’s in there?”

Patrick moved to the door. “It’s locked. We’ll have to break it.”

“Hang on.” Zeke remembered Sierra had taken a class about picking locks and had shown him what she’d learned. There were several methods. The one using the credit card was the one he hoped would work here.

He took out a card and slipped it between the door and the frame and worked it around until he heard the a click. That click as the lock disengaged.

He returned the card to his pocket and carefully opened the door. It made a squealing sound that had him cringing. Nothing could be done about it.

He stepped inside. The men with him followed. Patrick gave the silent command for them to spread out.

Zeke and Jack took the upstairs, where there were a couple of bedrooms but no sign anyone had been living in them.

When they returned downstairs, Cooper and Patrick had finished checking there.

Patrick shook his head. “The basement.” He indicated the kitchen, where a door that presumably led to the basement was located. With Patrick leading, the team went in single file. Patrick opened the door.

The room was filled with light. A single voice could be heard. When it finally clicked where he recognized the voice, Zeke almost couldn’t believe it. “That’s Inez.” He grabbed Patrick’s arm.

Patrick listened before he whipped his head around. “You’re right.” He indicated they needed to go now.

Zeke almost tripped over Patrick, trying to get down to the basement before Inez realized they were there.

Patrick reached the floor first. “Drop the scalpel, Inez.”

The sweet woman that had offered him coffee and cookies—who had appeared so helpful in trying to solve the case—was the unknown partner to Henry.

Inez whirled toward the sound of Patrick’s voice with the scalpel held high over Dawn Collins.

“Drop it, Inez,” Patrick repeated.

Dawn’s frightened gaze shot from the scalpel to Patrick. She was gagged and unable to speak, but she made grunting sounds.

“It’s going to be okay,” Zeke did his best to assure her. A man lay on the floor bleeding out from two gunshot wounds. Beyond Dawn’s terror, on another table, lay Sierra.

He started toward her when Inez drew the weapon closer to Dawn’s neck. “Stop right there, Zeke. I’ll kill her.”

Zeke stopped dead. “You don’t want to do that, Inez.”

“I do. I want to kill her and Sierra and anyone that tries to stop me.” She edged the scalpel closer to Dawn’s throat, nicking it. A thin trail of blood appeared where the knife had been.

The woman he’d met was almost completely gone. “Is Henry your brother?” Zeke wanted to keep her talking as Patrick edged closer.

“Brother? Henry’s not my brother. He’s my cousin.”

“But you lived with him at one time?”

Patrick took a step closer without Inez realizing it.

“Yes, before. I was a teenager. My family wanted to move us away from Pinedale. But I couldn’t. I’d gone to school here all my life. I couldn’t let them take me away from Henry.”

It was sick the way she talked about Henry as if he were her boyfriend instead of a cousin.

“So you stayed with Henry. He was older.”

“Henry took care of me. Until he started seeing my friend Colleen. She wanted all his attention. I had to kill her.” She spoke of killing her friend as if it were nothing.

“What did you do with her body?” Zeke glanced around the basement and noticed something in the corner of the room. Two barrels. Not clear the way Lindsey had described the others. But Zeke had no doubt Colleen’s body was inside one. And the other? He believed they’d find Terrance inside it.

He caught movement from Henry. The old guy was still alive. From the amount of blood loss, Henry was in grave danger. He needed immediate medical attention.

“Inez, you can’t get away. It’s over,” Patrick told her. “I don’t want to have to shoot you.”

Inez’s mouth thinned. “Henry and I moved away after Colleen died.”

The way she spoke about Colleen it was as if she’d merely passed away instead of being murdered.

“Where did you go?” Zeke continued his questions to keep her talking.

“I went with Henry to Boston, where he got his education. I worked while he studied. We were happy.”

But something must have happened.

“And then he put me in that awful place.”

Zeke guessed Henry committed her. “Why would he do that?”

“Because of what I’d done to that girl in Boston.” Inez spat the words out. “She was interested in Henry. I couldn’t have that. I killed her.”

A picture was becoming clear. Inez wanted Henry all to herself. Any woman who threatened to get in the way had to go.

Zeke remembered Henry had been married. “What about Henry’s wife?”

Inez’s anger appeared to grow. “I told him not to marry her, but he did it anyway. He threatened me. He’d put me away again if I did anything to Maggie.”

So, she’d tolerated the relationship. Married Terrance and had taken a hiatus from murder for a while. Something must have happened to start it up again. Maybe Terrance found out about her past and she killed him?

“I’m tired of talking.” She raised the scalpel again, ready to plunge the knife into Dawn’s chest.

Patrick didn’t hesitate. He fired once.

Inez’s face registered surprise as the bullet struck her back. The scalpel dropped from her hand. Her eyes slammed shut, and she fell to the floor beside her precious Henry.