Page 21 of The First Hunt (The Final Hunt)

HOLLY

A n hour later, Holly pushed her cart of bagged groceries toward the Albertson’s exit.

She’d called Laurie and told her about the poem as soon as Laurie had gotten home.

Unlike Holly, her publicist wasn’t convinced it was Jared, reminding Holly that she’d gotten weird hate mail before.

Laurie’s words echoed in Holly’s mind. Not everything is a mystery waiting to be solved.

Holly didn’t consider herself ‘famous,’ but the letter could’ve been sent by some crazy fan like in Misery, the Stephen King novel that was being made into a movie. But in her gut, she knew it wasn’t a fan. She hoped Jared only wanted to scare her, not finish what he started.

After hanging up with Laurie, she’d been too disturbed by the poem to write. To fill the time, she’d run out to get groceries at a store less than two miles away, hoping the errand would clear her mind to work on her novel when she got back.

She exited the grocery store through automatic doors, passing a twentysomething blond woman on her way in.

Their eyes locked momentarily as the young woman pulled back the rain- soaked hood of her jacket.

A cool drizzle hit Holly’s cheeks as she pushed her nearly full grocery cart out into the parking lot.

Too bad you can’t have groceries delivered, she thought, pushing the cart through a puddle to get to her Civic near the back of the parking lot.

She glanced at the bags of food, reminded of her mother’s words: You should never go shopping when you’re hungry.

At least it was mostly healthy, aside from the bag of Cheetos she’d seen on the end of an aisle and couldn’t resist.

In the time she’d been in the store, the parking lot had thinned out.

Holly spotted her Honda. The cars that had been parked around it when Holly had gotten to the store were now gone.

She shivered from the damp air and the raindrops bleeding through her thin sweater, wishing she’d thought to bring her rain jacket when she dashed out of the house.

She quickened her pace, eager to get back to work.

After unloading the bags into the trunk, Holly looked around the dimly lit lot for where to return her cart.

She strained to see in the dark. She’d tried to find a spot under a streetlamp, but those spaces had all been taken when she’d arrived.

She closed the trunk, spotting a cart return a few spaces up.

Headlights rolled down the row as Holly pushed the cart. She stepped aside, giving the car room to move past as she walked back to her car. But the vehicle didn’t accelerate. It crept behind her, illuminating her from behind with its bright beams.

Holly turned, squinting from the light. It looked to be a car, not a truck, but it was too dark for her to make out much beyond that. She walked faster, acutely aware of the engine’s hum behind her. When she reached her car, she hurried to the driver’s side.

She dug a hand into her purse for her keys, glancing up at the headlights, willing the vehicle to keep moving.

Instead, it stopped, idling behind her Civic, blocking her path out of the parking spot.

The figure behind the wheel looked male, but the darkness made it impossible for her to be sure.

Could it be Jared? She wasn’t going to linger long enough to find out.

She frantically felt for her keys, cursing herself for having so many lipsticks.

The driver’s door of the idling car opened as Holly’s fingers closed around her key chain.

Holly thought about screaming for help as the figure stepped out, but there was no one in the nearly empty parking lot to hear her.

She withdrew her keys and fumbled them, missing the lock on her first attempt and scratching her key against the door.

The stranger moved toward the front of his car as Holly thrust her key into the lock.

She shot a glance at the dark outline of a man before she flung open the door and climbed inside, pushing down the door lock as soon as she closed the door.

She kept her gaze on the unmoving figure in the rearview mirror as she shakily inserted the key into the ignition.

Heart pounding, she pulled forward through the empty bay in front of her as the man got back into his car.

Holly gripped the wheel with both hands and peeled out onto the street, glancing over her shoulder to see the car still idling in the parking lot.

She sped through a yellow light just as it turned red, holding her breath as she floored the gas pedal.

By the time she’d reached the neighborhood gate, the drizzle had turned to rain, drumming against the windshield in a rhythmic cascade.

She collapsed against her seatback. It had to be Jared.

Which meant he likely knew she was staying nearby.

She checked the rearview mirror as the gate slid open.

There was only darkness. She thought of Andy’s offer to help her get a restraining order, berating herself for not getting a look at the car’s license plate.

She couldn’t even say for sure that it was Jared, even though she knew it had to be.

She pulled through the gate as soon as it opened, then waited for it to close behind her before turning onto the street that led to her cul-de-sac. Even if Jared had followed her to the neighborhood gate, he wouldn’t know which house she was staying in.

As she pulled into the driveway, she felt around the passenger seat beside her purse for the garage clicker.

She didn’t want to leave her car outside for Jared to recognize.

Not finding it, she flicked on the dome light as she idled in front of the garage.

She thought she’d grabbed it on her way out of the house, but in her rush, she must’ve left it on the kitchen counter.

“Shoot.”

She found the house keys inside her purse and left the engine running while she jogged to the front door, bowing her head in the rain. She unlocked the door, and her nerves started to calm as she moved through the house to the kitchen where the garage opener lay on the counter.

She grabbed the clicker and hurried outside. When she opened her driver’s door, a hand clamped onto her shoulder. She screamed.

She whipped around in the glow of the exterior garage lights to see the wide, surprised eyes of a man as he threw his hands in the air.

He took a step back, offering her a disarming smile. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you,” he said over the rain. “I called out to you, but you must not have heard me. I’m Clint.” He pointed to the house next to hers. “I live next door.”

“Oh.” Holly exhaled, placing a hand over her heart. He was attractive, she noted, his broad shoulders filling out his plaid button-down shirt. She swallowed. “Hi. Um. I’m Holly.”

“Laurie told me you were moving in. The author, right?”

She nodded, trying to hide her annoyance. Laurie always had to overshare. She wondered what else Laurie had told him.

He wiped a damp piece of hair to the side of his forehead. “I won’t keep you in the rain. I was just taking my garbage out and thought I’d let you know that tomorrow is garbage day.” He gestured behind him to a trash can on the curb between their two houses.

“Thanks.”

“No problem.” He backed away, flashing her another friendly smile. “Nice to meet you, Holly.”

His shirt, now wet from the rain, clung to his muscular upper body as he turned to his house. Holly climbed into her car and opened the garage.

She waited for the garage door to fully close before getting out to retrieve the groceries from the trunk.

She relaxed her shoulders at knowing Clint was next door, glad now that Laurie had told him she was moving in.

He would, after all, know the normal comings and goings of the neighborhood and be more likely to spot a strange vehicle—or someone who didn’t belong.

Once inside, Holly caught her reflection in a decorative mirror hanging in the hallway. She cringed. The rain had made her mascara bleed beneath her eyes, and her wet hair clung limply to the side of her head.

Hopefully it had been too dark outside for Clint to get a good look at her, she thought. Because Laurie had been right. He was easy on the eyes.