Chapter 104
ONE HUNDRED FOUR
Midnight Ridge Lodge
Someone was outside the lodge.
He’d sensed it a little while ago when he’d heard noises outside. Not only the wind, but footsteps on the icy path, and through the window he’d seen brush moving.
Dammit, he’d spotted two men in the bushes lurking outside.
Were they cops?
He quickly snuffed out the lantern he’d found to help illuminate his way through the dilapidated lodge, dousing any light, then retreated upstairs to the attic to check on Dana Jo.
A quick peek inside, and he noticed she was stirring, so he quickly injected her with another dose of ketamine, and she slipped back into the abyss.
With the dosage he’d given her, she might never find her way back.
Not his most satisfying way of getting rid of her, but it would have to do tonight. The walls were closing in. And he needed her quiet.
His plan now was to escape.
He’d done it before. He’d start all over again. A new name. A new town. Not the one where it had all started. This one meant the most. These mountains. The fucking nutcase locals.
The mother who’d tried to give him a bad reputation.
Of course it wasn’t all her fault.
Her own mother had abandoned her. Been a slutty teenager. Given her up. Moved on with her life.
Yet now… he knew who his grandmother was. Where she was. What she was doing. Acting like a do-gooder. So disgusting.
He intended to expose her for the sinner she was.
He closed the door to the attic, slipped down the back staircase to the bottom floor, then turned on the gas stove in the kitchen.
He lit candles all around, set up near the burners, then tossed rotting wood around the base of the fireplace.
Then he doused the area with gasoline and struck a match.
Flames immediately burst to life, ripping along the baseboards and starting to catch the lower edges of the ancient, frayed curtains.
He took one last look at the interior of his childhood home then smiled as the flames began to lick the dingy walls. Quickly, he ducked down the secret staircase he’d uncovered as a child when he’d sneaked out at night.
The front door burst open. Voices sounded. Footsteps pounded the floor.
He pulled the secret door closed, then ran through the tunnel until he reached the outdoor opening he’d hidden with stones.
He would be free once he climbed out.
Except he had to pay a visit to the woman responsible for it all before he left town and started all over again.
A new face. A new identity. A different job. New targets.
No one would stop him now.
But first she had to die.