Page 35

CHAPTER 35

A gust of icy wind lashed at my cheeks, jolting my senses awake. Each breath felt like a spark of electricity coursing through my veins, fueling me with an unshakable resolve. Though my skin prickled and my lungs burned, the cold sharpened my focus, bracing me for the battle that lay ahead.

If my instincts are right.

I stood atop a sand dune and scanned my surroundings. There wasn’t a soul in sight, an eerie sensation. Half a block behind me, residents and visitors of the quaint beach town were going about their lives, working and playing.

But not here on the beach, under the ominous gray of the winter sky.

He’d taunted me to come here.

The killer … he had to be watching me now.

In an uncharacteristic move—for me, at least—I lifted my middle fingers in the air and turned a full 360, shouting, “I’m here!”

The only response was the whistle of the wind, its silence as majestic as much as it was foreboding.

I sat where I’d been standing, the coolness of the sand seeping through the fabric of my jeans. Then I stood and walked along the shoreline, picking up seashells, the foamy edges of the water almost touching my running shoes, then backing away.

The push and pull of nature was never ending.

But the push and pull of this case needed to end, to be finished once and for all.

I needed my life back.

My phone buzzed with phone calls and texts from, I presumed, Maddie. I ignored them, for now.

Where is he?

Had the note he left me been just another part of the game?

I thought of Cade. And Maddie. Boo. Henry, Kat, Andi—the list was long, my friends and loved ones. And here I was risking my life foolishly … to solve a case that made no sense and a lot of sense all at the same time.

I brushed the sand from my hands and jeans, cursing myself for taking the bait. I had been reacting, a puppet on a string, the whole time.

I was playing his game, not mine.

And it was high time I started.

I picked up my phone and called Maddie.

“Sloane! Where are you? And what’s with the note you left me? What’s going on? I’ve been trying to reach you! You couldn’t pick up the phone?”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to worry you.”

But what had I thought would happen?

Of course she would worry.

The buffeting of the wind was coming through the phone line, something she picked up on.

“Wh-what is that sound?” she asked. “Oh, hell no. Did you go to the beach without me? You said something about needing to do this alone? What … Sloane, what?”

“I’m coming back now, okay? Everything’s fine. I’ll explain when I get there.”

“I would have gone to the beach with you,” she said. “But hey, alone time. I don’t like it, but I get it, I guess.”

“You’re not missing anything. It’s cold, damp, and dreary out here. I’m heading to the car now. See you in a few.”

“But—”

“No buts ...”

As I bent to pick up the cane, she made a noise that sounded like a growl, and I gasped.

The cane was no longer there.