Chapter 26
26
ALTA
S treetlights and darkened storefronts whizzed by outside the window on our way back home. After Sadie’s comments, the impromptu meeting only lasted long enough for someone to snag the waitress and pay the bill. Even Cas and Chandler couldn’t get out of there fast enough.
“I see what you meant by creepy,” Chandler said while trying to stifle a yawn with a fist against his lips. Wrist on top of the steering wheel, he weaved in and out of the late-evening traffic. “I still don’t think she has anything to do with the case and everything happening with you, but no doubt there’s something going on there.” Switching hands, he shifted in his seat to lean closer to the center console. “I’ll check her out. If not for your sake, John’s. He’s an idiot getting involved with that level of crazy.”
A part of me felt validated that it wasn’t only me who saw her crazy, but another part felt sorry for her. If Sarah’s story was true about Sadie running from a bad relationship, maybe she was just a bit broken like me and didn’t know how to be normal.
The two men joked back and forth about the various crazies they dated in the past, but I tuned them out to stare out the window into the growing darkness as we drove out of town.
Everything had to be linked to me. But why? Who did I piss off so badly in Tennessee that he started abducting women, one of whom was a federal officer, and followed me here? Ever since Chandler brought up going through my files from that final year, I tried to recall anything memorable from those last twelve months, but nothing came to mind.
“Most women go their whole lives without being the object of someone's obsession,” I said to no one in particular. My hot breath fogged a small patch of the cold window. With my pinkie finger, I made two dots for eyes and a frown before it vanished. “And here I am having it happen twice in less than a decade.”
Silence reigned for the rest of the drive. Sadness at the situation I’d somehow found myself in again settled deep, making my thoughts heavy. A single tear slipped from the inside corner of my eye, leaving a damp trail down my cheek. Not wanting the two to notice me quietly breaking, I swiped it away with the back of my hand, removing the evidence of my weakness.
By the time the loose gravel of the drive up to my cabin rattled under the tires, my eyelids were almost too heavy to keep open until the Suburban slammed to a halt, throwing me against the seat belt with a jolt.
“What the?—”
Every nerve shifted from sleepy to high alert at the familiar slide of a gun engaging. Shifting to look around the SUV, my eyes widened at Cas and Chandler situating their clips and handguns like they were about to head into battle.
“Stay in the car, Alta,” Cas commanded. “Chandler, on my six.”
“What—”
“Lock the doors after us,” Chandler said in a tense, no-nonsense tone he hadn’t used before.
First my fingers, then my whole hand trembled. It started making its way up my arms as the two stepped out into the elements. The leather seat groaned as I shifted to watch the two stalk toward the front door of my cabin, using pointed hand gestures to communicate.
Only then did I notice the cabin. A sliver of light from the inside shone through a gap between the door and the frame. I studied the bit of light, brows furrowed, trying to make sense of what was happening.
Either Cas forgot to shut the door when we left, or…
Someone had broken in.
The two men prowled up the steps. Dread dropped in my stomach like a lead weight.
What if the person was still in there?
Hand against my thundering chest, I watched in fear as they entered the house.
I waited. No gunfire, no shouting or them running out. But something was off. I could feel it.
I gasped.
Benny.
I held a breath, waiting anxiously for his familiar snout to pop out the door in search for me. But it didn’t. Seconds ticked by without a single sign of my furry best friend.
Desperation to see his dark eyes and feel his rough tongue forced me out of the SUV. Shoulder against the door, I shoved it open, damning the consequences Cas would rain down at disobeying his order.
One cautious step, then another, I stalked toward the door, internally begging for Benny to bound out and prove my fears wrong.
A dark shimmer of something wet on the gravel beneath my feet snagged my attention. Not paying the ripping wind any mind, I squatted low and pressed two fingers to the dark spot.
Dread churned my stomach as I held those two fingers toward the light.
Blood.
A faint whimper somehow escaped on a pushed breath. The gravel crunched beneath my boots as I swiveled on the balls of my feet in search of more. Two feet away, there was another small puddle, then another a few more feet from that, all leading toward the dark cover of the forest.
The wind howled, shoving freezing air into my already-burning lungs. Phone in hand, I switched on the flashlight feature to follow the dark puddles of blood farther and farther from the safety of the cabin and the two men still inside. The earlier sleet and dusting of snow highlighted the tracks, making them easier to follow. At the edge of the trees, I paused and turned, debating my next move.
It was precisely the type of situation the killer we were after would use to pull me away from Cas and Chandler. I knew it. My head knew it. But my heart… my heart was desperate to find my only true friend.
A faint, pained whine dissolved any building hesitation.
Ignoring the part of my brain screaming at me to turn around and run to Cas instead of farther away from him, I pushed back the low-hanging branches and stepped into the trees. Naked branches and twigs snagged at my coat and pulled at my loose hair. The light trembled along the leaf-covered terrain due to my nerves and the freezing temperatures.
My lungs burned. Pausing to catch a quick breath, I closed my eyes to heighten my other senses and waited for any hint of Benny. The faint rustling of leaves snapped my head to the right.
Shoving forward, I kept an ear open for Cas and Chandler, hoping they’d figure out I abandoned the SUV and came searching.
“Benny?” I questioned with a sob when the faint light scanned over his bloody, prone body. My knees hit the cold earth, dampness soaking through my jeans and freezing my palms as I crawled closer to him.
A low, pained cry pierced my aching heart as he attempted to lift his head toward the sound of my voice.
My heart shattered as I took in the pool of blood he lay in. The tears I held back up to that point drenched my icy cheeks.
“Shh,” I whispered, pulling him close to my chest. Cold. He was way too cold. Falling on my backside, I carefully pulled his limp body onto my legs to get him off the ground. Ripping off my coat, I flung it over his blood-slick body. “Benny?”
No movement. No response
“And here I thought getting you away from those two would be more difficult,” a man's voice said from the darkness.
Terror locked all my muscles; even my lungs stopped working. My vocal cords were silenced by fear, preventing me from screaming out for the guys.
This was it. This was how it happened. I knew coming out here was a bad idea, but still, I did it.
A low, short growl sounded from my lap. I tugged Benny’s large frame closer, feeling somehow protected even if he could barely move. A branch snapped somewhere behind me, but I couldn’t will my body to turn, too afraid of what I would find. Something brushed through my hair, tugging at the long strands like fingers catching on the knotted mess. A cold deeper than Colorado had ever offered chilled my back, freezing my spine.
“So pretty,” the voice said with an evil chuckle. “Soon. I’m beginning to like the hunt too.”
“Why?” I somehow got out, my voice barely louder than the wind. “Why me?”
“Not bright though.” Fabric-covered fingers wrapped around the back of my neck, tilting my head at an odd angle. “We’ll have so much fun. They all did.” The slide of wet fingers across my face forced my eyes closed and my mouth sealed shut.
I was going to die right there in the woods.
“Alta!” Cas yelled from somewhere in the dark. Footsteps thundered through the underbrush, growing closer.
Without the protection of my coat, my teeth chattered, threatening to shatter, and my body seized tighter around the whimpering dog in my lap. What felt like hours later, the ground shuddered beneath me. Frozen and lost in the certainty of my death, I barely registered Cas’s face in mine, hands cupping my cheeks.
“Alta,” he gritted out. The hands holding me trembled, or maybe it was me. “What the fuck are you?—”
Unable to get words out about the killer, the looming threat, I focused on the bloody mass of fur in my arms. “Benny?” I begged. “Benny, wake up, buddy.” Slick wetness coated my hands each time I rubbed down his furry chest.
Still too cold. Tugging him closer, I wrapped both arms around his neck and tucked his limp head beneath my chin. Only the short puffs of air against my neck told me he was holding on.
“Alta.” Sympathy dripped in his tone. “He’s gone.”
“No,” I gritted out. “He’s breathing!” I carefully shifted his heavy frame to the ground so I could stand. “We need to get him to the vet. Now!” I screamed. “Save him. Somebody save him. Please.”
Two hands dipped beneath my arms and hauled me up. I clenched my teeth as more and more anger flowed through my blood. “Get off me,” I yelled. Jerking my arms back, my elbow slammed into something hard, and the hands restraining me released enough for me to squirm to freedom. Before I could kneel, strong arms wrapped around mine like a vise, holding them to my sides as I floated in the air.
“Stop,” I screamed while flailing my legs and shoulders to get out of the person’s hold. Sobbing, my tears mixed with mucus from my nose as I repeated Benny’s name over and over. Maybe he didn’t hear me. He could be okay, just asleep. Yeah, asleep.
“He has to be okay. He has to be,” I repeated.
“Take her back to the cabin,” Cas ordered. His voice cracked at the end, giving away the flood of emotions he wouldn’t let show. “Fuck, where is he bleeding?” With the light from his phone, he searched through Benny’s blood-matted fur. “There.” He tossed his phone to the ground, ripped off his shirt and shoved it against the still-seeping wound. “I’ll get him to an animal hospital.” With that, Cas scooped Benny up with ease and sprinted in the direction of the cabin.
I screamed at nothing in particular, needing an outlet for the fear and sorrow bubbling inside me. “Tell them to save him,” I pleaded. “He has to be okay. He’s my best friend.”
“Okay, Birdie, okay.” All the fight drained what little energy I had left from the day, making me turn limp in Chandler's arms. “Birdie?”
His voice grew muffled in my thundering ears. Every muscle tensed as shock took hold, violently jolting me in his arms. Soon we were moving. My bones and teeth rattled with each stomp through the dead leaves and rocky terrain. The soul-snuffing numbness I never wanted to feel again settled like a thick, impenetrable fog, shutting down each muscle one by one.
By the time Chandler stomped up the cabin steps with me still in his arms, nothing had obeyed my command. Only the involuntary reflex of breathing kept me alive.
And at that point, I prayed my lungs would follow suit, allowing me to slip into the peace only death could grant.