Page 62 of The Haunting of Paynes Hollow

“Fine,” I say. “If I get the proceeds of this place, you get… I don’t know. A million dollars?”

“Too high.”

“Too—?”Do not argue.“How much then?”

“A hundred grand.”

“Okay, if I get through this and inherit the property, I promise you, Benjamin Vandergriff, one hundred thousand dollars for your help.”

“I accept.”

I blink. “You…?”

His gaze fixes on me. “You didn’t really mean it?”

“Sure, I did. But… Okay. Yes. Good. It’s settled.”

“It is, and now you don’t need to suspect that I’m trying to sabotage you. You don’t need to question why I’d help you get that money. It’s a payday for me, and I could really use one.”

“Uh… okay.”

“If you insist on walking the beach tonight, I’m going with you. But I would rather be in my tent, reading, if it’s all the same to you.”

“Reading what?” I ask.

“Porn.”

“Liar.”

His brows rise.

“No one reads porn anymore,” I say. “It’s all online.”

“I’m old-fashioned that way.” He makes shooing motions toward the cottage.

“Fine. I’ll go back in.”

“And stay in.”

“Yes, yes,” I say, already walking away.

“Good night, Samantha.”

“Good night, Benjamin.”

I wake to the sound of hoofbeats, and I want to scream. I do not for one second forget what’s happened with Gail, and that sound mocks me, a cruel throwback to my childhood here, when the only thing I had to worry about was a phantom horseman without a head, and even then, it’d been more thrilling than chilling.

I punch my pillow and slam my head back down onto it.

I’m lying there, on my back, glaring at the wood-paneled ceiling, when the pounding of hooves comes again.

I sit up and blink hard, feeling something familiar in my eyes. Yep, apparently, I forgot to remove my contacts.

I jump out of bed and stalk into the living room. I’m not putting up with this shit. I don’t care what everyone else thinks, I know I saw someone in the shed, and I know someone left those mutilated animals on my step. A very human someone who is now playing a prank by making the sound of horse hooves.

A witness sleeps thirty feet from my front door, and I’m damn well going to make sure he witnessesthis.Ben can confirm the sound of hoofbeats, proving someone is taunting me with old stories from my childhood, mistakenly believing the sound will frighten me.

It’s my cousin, Caleb. I declare that with the certainty that can only come at two in the morning and will probably evaporate with the rising sun. But in this moment, I am furious with myself for not pursuing this lead. Sheriff Smits raised the possibility, and I should have mentioned it to Gail, because it makes the most sense.