44 Book Four (16 page)

I said it with little emotion, but my eyes watered up as I looked off in the distance. It was the thing I feared most, the horror that kept me up at night.

“I mean it,” I said. “I think he’s coming back to get me.”

Jesse got up and stood in front of me. Then he pulled me close, wrapping his arms around me.

“Craigers, it’s not him. Nathaniel’s not here. I know his energy and he isn’t around you. I’m sure of it.”

I pressed my face against his chest, praying he was right.

“How can you be so sure?”

“Well, I can’t be one hundred percent sure. But I’m pretty sure.”

“Really? But what about those visions I’ve been having?”

“Did you really see him? His face?”

I shook my head.

“Close your eyes for a minute and think about him,” he said. “How he feels.”

I did as Jesse asked, the darkness closing in all around me.

“Now release it. Think about the vision. Is it the same energy?”

A group of geese flew somewhere above us, honking. But I kept my eyes closed, thinking about the dark figure in the fire.

“I don’t know. I want to say no, but it seems like it’s him.”

“That’s your fear talking, getting in the way. I don’t think it’s him. But I’m not leaving you until I know you’re safe, Craigers. Call me anytime you need me and I’ll come.”

I held him tight.

“But this other thing I’m talking about needs your immediate attention. It’s important.”

Then he smiled, kissed me, and walked away, fading slowly until there was nothing left.

CHAPTER 36

Ty pulled up to Back Street and kept the engine running while I got out.

“Bye, Abby,” he said.

“Thanks for the ride,” I said, closing the door.

He looked kind of sad, but I couldn’t think of anything to say to lighten the mood. That small silence between us wasn’t so small anymore, but I couldn’t spend time thinking about it right now. There was too much to do.

“Hey, I could swing by on my break and take you home after work,” he said.

“That’s all right,” I said, talking through the crack of the open window. “I’m picking up the Jeep with Kate today. Thanks anyway.”

“Okay, I’ll call later.”

I watched as he left, exhaust fumes trailing from the back of his truck and then went inside.

I appreciated that Mike and David didn’t make any jokes about me forgetting to set the emergency brake. They both asked if I was okay, sounding sincere. Mike asked when I was getting my car back and David told me that he was glad I wasn’t hurt.

“I don’t think it’s connected, but Steve signed on as a partner this morning,” Mike said before he walked away into the back.

“Probably just doesn’t want to get sued,” David said, half joking.

“It was completely my fault,” I said. “I was a space cadet yesterday.”

“Just yesterday?” he said, that one eyebrow going up high again.

I was waiting for Mo to come in. We needed to talk and I wanted to ask if she had any ideas where I might find Spenser, like an old hangout or place he liked to go. She was scheduled to start at two. I was surprised to see Lyle walk through the door instead.

“Where’s Mo?” I asked David.

“Sick,” he said. “She called in right before you got here. I gave Mike the message.”

“That’s weird,” I said.

“It’s not
so
weird. She’s been known to sleep one off now and then.”

Still, I shivered at the thought that she might have gone over to Devin’s house. The last time I had seen her she had been able to rein in her anger. But for how long? I knew it was just a matter of time.

“Damn it,” I said, wishing I hadn’t said that out loud. David looked at me.

“Why?” he asked. “You two girlfriends now?”

“No,” I said, shaking my head. “Nothing like that. But we talked it out the other day. I just wanted to make sure we were still okay.”

I helped a woman with long hair that reached down to her butt. She had been standing and reading the menu for five minutes, trying to figure out what to order.

I called Mo a few times during my shift but she didn’t answer.

“Damn,” I said under my breath this time. “Damn.”

CHAPTER 37

Kate picked me up at four and we went over to Midas.

I saw the Jeep sitting in the parking lot.

“We did a front end alignment on her and replaced a broken tail light,” the man behind the counter said. “And you probably want to have those shocks replaced one of these days. You’ll have to take it to a body shop to get the door fixed.”

I paid the bill, handing over my credit card. The whole thing, including the tow truck, had cost just over $200. Not pretty, but it felt like I was getting off easy. It could have been a lot worse.

“Thanks,” I said.

“Be careful out there.”

It felt good to be sitting behind the wheel again.

“Pay attention this time,” Kate said, reaching in and rapping her knuckles on the top of my head.

“I will.”

I watched Kate drive off and got Mo’s voicemail again. Then I headed toward China Hat Road.

CHAPTER 38

China Hat was a long, two-lane road that shot out from the edge of Bend and wound through the Deschutes National Forest south of town. The houses were spread farther and farther apart as the ranches took over the landscape.

As I drove I couldn’t stop thinking about how Jesse and Spenser had both said that I was running out of time. I worried now that they might have been talking about Mo. I didn’t know what I was going to do when I got there. I just knew I had to look for her. I stepped on the gas, hoping she hadn’t crossed some line from which there was no coming back, praying that I wasn’t too late.

But I wasn’t just looking for Mo. I needed to talk to Spenser again too. I thought that I might find him along the road where he died.

I didn’t know exactly where that was or where I was going. But I had some clues to work with. I knew Mo lived somewhere near the Knott Landfill. I had heard her complaining once to David about how she could smell the trash when the wind blew the wrong way. I had been surprised she could smell anything with all the cigarettes she inhaled. I also remembered she had told me that Devin’s house was about three miles away and that her family had put up a cross marking the spot where Spenser had been killed.

The sky was heavy with dark clouds and the promise of rain. The Jeep bounced hard over the railroad tracks. I remembered what the mechanic had said about replacing the shock absorbers. I kept my eye on the odometer, making sure not to go too far. The cross, if it was still there, should be coming up. Large drops began to beat down on the windshield.

I suddenly realized I didn’t even know what type of car Mo drove. I didn’t even know if she had a car. She had mentioned that she had her parent’s car the night that Spenser died, but she hadn’t said what it was. I supposed she could have even walked over, taking the same route her brother did.

“C’mon,” I said, starting to lose hope. “C’mon.”

I slowed down, thinking I had gone too far, when I saw the cross. I pulled over, parked, and got out, walking over and touching it.

The white paint was faded and his name was written vertically in black. There were a few old, dead flowers under it, crumbling in the rain.

“Spenser,” I said. “I need to talk to you.”

I looked around, but he wasn’t there.

“Spenser.”

Nothing.

The rain started falling in sheets.

I squinted, looking around at the fields around the marker. I could only see one house nearby. It had to be Devin’s, I thought. But something was off. The cross, the spot where he had been killed, was on the wrong side of the house. If Spenser had been hit while he was heading back home, his body should have been found in the opposite direction, closer to town, not farther out toward the forest.

Of course it was all in line with what Spenser had told me. He had been running away from Devin, not even sure where he was going, not back home.

I wondered how the police had explained this, or if they had even noticed it. I would have to remember to ask Kate about it when I got back. It might be enough to reopen the case.

I stared back at the house again. It was rundown and almost looked abandoned. And then I saw it. The shed.

The little shack behind the house Spenser had talked about. The place where Devin played his sick games, cutting up cats and nailing their little heads up on a wall to display.

I started shaking uncontrollably in the pouring rain.

CHAPTER 39

I wasn’t sure what to do.

A faint whiff of smoke lingered in the air. I knew they were always burning things out in the country, but Mo flashed through my mind.

I had a bad feeling, a real bad feeling, that she was connected to this.

I left the Jeep by the cross and started walking, staying on the road. I stopped at the dirt driveway and studied the house, which wasn’t so far from the street. Dark sheets and foil covered most of the windows. Paint was peeling off the wood and the railing on the porch was broken in parts.

It didn’t look like anyone was around. There weren’t any cars parked out front. And except for the sounds of the storm and an occasional passing car, it was quiet.

From where I was, I could get a better look at the shed. Or what was left of it. I could see now that it was a burned-out shell, broad, black marks staining the wood that remained standing.

Half of it was gone.

I thought about getting closer, but the evil coming off the place kept me away. It wasn’t solid or liquid or gas, but was just as real, as if it had a chemical formula all its own like water or sulfur.

Suddenly my phone rang and I almost jumped back into the street. My hand was shaking so badly I could barely read the name on the screen.

“Mo?” I said.

“Yeah,” she said.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

“What?” she said, the anger coming through in her voice.

“Never mind. What’s up?”

“Seriously?” she said. “You called me like a thousand times today. What do
you
want?”

I laughed nervously.

“Oh, yeah. I… I just wanted to see if you need anything. David said you were sick.”

I could hear her sigh loudly.

“I swear, the mouth on that guy. One day someone’s going to show him what that hole is for,” she said right before sneezing. “No, I don’t
need
anything.”

The line went dead.

I slid the phone back in my pocket. And then I saw the sheets moving behind one of the front windows.

I ran back to the Jeep, the skin on my arms alive with fear.

CHAPTER 40

I got in and was about to start the engine when I saw him in the rearview mirror.

He was staring at me, those dark eyes looking even more troubled than the last time. There was an urgency in his expression that was building.

Water ran down my face as I tried to catch my breath.

“Spenser,” I said.

Our eyes met again in the mirror.

“Did you see it? The shack? Did you see what he did?”

“I saw it,” I said, confused. “Wait, you mean Devin did that? He burned it down?”

But he didn’t answer, just grabbed his head with his hands.

“Spenser, I’m trying to figure out a way to prove that Devin is responsible for your—”

“NO!” he screamed, looking at me again. “Don’t you understand? You’re running out of time!”

My blood ran cold through my veins at the desperation in his voice.

“It doesn’t matter what he did to me now. It’s what he’s going to do.”

“Okay, but—” I said.

But before I could finish he faded away, those dark, worried eyes the last part of him to disappear into nothingness.

CHAPTER 41

I drove home, hot and cold at the same time, thinking about Spenser and what he said. Understanding now.

Devin was planning something, something terrible, and somehow I had to stop him. But I had no idea what it was or how I could prevent it.

When I got home, Kate wasn’t there. I found a note on the table. She was working late but would call later. Just as I finished reading it, my phone rang.

I picked up without seeing who it was.

“Abby, it’s Dr. Krowe.”

Great
, I thought.

“Oh, hello.”

“I wanted to see how you were doing,” he said. “I don’t make a habit of calling patients, but I wanted to make sure you were okay.”

“I’m doing fine,” I said.

“Oh, okay then. Good. How are those pills working out?”

I wasn’t going to lie.

“I haven’t taken any yet.”

“So you’re sleeping better now?”

“No.”

He paused for a moment.

“I have some openings tomorrow. Do you want to come in?”

“Tomorrow?” I said. “I’m working.”

“Well, I have a few openings at different times of the day.”

I heard pages turning in the background.

“Let’s see, I have an eight, a one, and a four o’clock.”

I knew he meant well, but my sleeping problems were the least of my worries now. There were too many things going on and they were all starting to spin out of control, close to colliding and shattering to pieces.

I thought about Spenser telling me that the past didn’t matter and that time was running out and about how Jesse had said the same thing. About Mo wanting to confront her brother’s killer. I thought about that evil old house and how the sheets in the window had moved. I thought about Devin and what he might be planning.

And about how I couldn’t put things together fast enough and how I didn’t know if I could stop what was coming.

“Sorry,” I finally said. “I can’t. It’s a busy time.”

He cleared his throat.

“Well, you call me then when you’re ready, Abby. I hope to hear from you soon.”

We said goodbye and hung up.

I thought about Nathaniel and Devin and about how in some ways they were the same. Neither of them cared about other people. They took what they needed and left the rest, leaving behind broken lives. The image was strong in my mind of Devin taking pictures of Spenser while he lay there dying. It was the same thing. It was like Nathaniel and his research team taking those notes as they watched me drown.