Chapter 17
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Ishot up, fumbling for the gun I kept in the nightstand. The sound of boots hitting the deck jarred Charlie upright as well.
“What the fuck is that?” he yelled, confused.
I slammed the clip into the gun and made for the exit. “Stay inside!”
“Wait!” he yelled, just as I opened the door. Judging by the sound of the man’s steps, he was already on the stairs. “Don’t!”
His voice was desperate enough to make me pause. “He’s getting away!”
“He wants you to follow him, you idiot!” He untangled himself from the sheets and lurched forward to grab my arm. “Don’t.”
I shook him off and ran out onto the deck just in time to hear a loud metallic bang, followed by a pained shout. The whole tower shook.
“I think he tripped on the stairs,” I hollered back to Charlie. “I’m just going to go—”
Charlie’s nails dug into my arm. “It’s a trap,” he snarled. “If you go out there, he’ll kill you.”
Just then, the beam of a flashlight lit up a small strip of the ground below, erratically bobbing back and forth as it moved away from the tower and into the trees at a fast clip.
“He’s getting away again! I could catch up, I could—”
Charlie yanked me by the nape of the neck back into the tower and slammed the door, throwing the lock into place. He strode over to the solar light panel and flicked off the switch, plunging us into darkness.
Then his hands were on my shoulders, holding me fast. “You could catch up, because he wants you to catch up. He’s been luring you and me and Janine and probably every other poor, na?ve hiker he’s killed into a trap.
He’s a predator. He knows those woods better than you, and he’s hunting you. Don’t let him.”
I breathed through my rising panic long enough to see the sense in Charlie’s words. “You’re right,” I said, voice scratchy. “I’m sorry.”
“Of course I am,” he said, and then he threw his arms around me, clutching on as if his life depended on it, trembling violently.
I shuffled backward to where I knew the bed would be, keeping an eye on the door and holding him close with one arm until we tumbled down. Setting the gun on the nightstand, I tucked Charlie under my arm.
“We’ll sit here together,” I whispered. “And we’ll watch—all night long. If he comes back up those stairs, I’ll shoot him.”
Charlie nodded.
“I should call Tate,” I said, reaching for my phone.
He picked up on the fourth ring. “This had better be an emergency,” he said with a yawn.
“He was just here.”
“Fuck.”
I put him on speaker so Charlie and I could fill him in on what happened, and I swore I heard a faint “Who is it?” whispered in the background before Tate prompted us to continue.
He sighed once we finished. “And he’s not trying to get in? He ran off?”
“Yeah. Not sure if he’s still out there waiting or if he left. I didn’t follow.”
“It’s probably best that you didn’t. Stay in the tower, I’ll call the station and have a response out to you in—”
“Wait,” Charlie cut in, a hand on my arm. “Let’s think about this.”
“What do you mean?” Tate asked.
“Other than the three of us, does anyone else know about me? Have you said anything about having a guest up here with you? Maybe that someone hiked in to stay?” he asked me.
“No. I didn’t want to lie, I’m just not sure how to approach that conversation with Dad or Bobby.”
He soothed his hand along my arm. “I understand that. What I’m saying is, he saw… us.” He shuddered, and my blood boiled that such a tender, intimate moment had been tainted and violated.
“Tate is the only other person who knows you’re not alone,” Charlie continued. “Tate, and him. If we are the only ones who know, the killer could slip up and admit to knowing something only the three of us do.”
Tate hummed, considering. “Did you see him? Or what he was wearing? Is there anything more you could identify him by than the first time he lured you into the woods?”
“No. I only saw an outline, and then he ran.”
He sighed. “I need to think about this. If you can’t help, it might be beneficial to keep it to ourselves for now. Even the information that he was out there at all, never mind Charlie, would be a secret. I’ll talk it over with Waters, see what he thinks about divulging this more widely.”
“You two working better together now, are you?”
I could hear the scowl through the phone. “I don’t know what you mean. I’ve always been perfectly cordial.”
There was a whisper of a chuckle in the background.
We decided that, given a response would be at least a half-hour out by helicopter and the killer had already fled, Tate would consider what was shared more widely in the morning. For now, Charlie and I would hole up and hike out at first light.
After we hung up, I ran a hand through his hair, tangling my fingers in the soft strands. “That was a good idea. You’re so much smarter at all this than I am.”
He kissed my shoulder. “And you’re hellbent on charging into danger to protect the people you care about.”
“You sound irritated by that.”
“I am irritated by that. Irritatingly perfect, remember?”
How could he make me want to laugh in a moment like this?
“I love you,” I whispered, voice warm and adoring. The confession just slipped out, and it was shitty timing, but I’d never felt more sure about something in my life. Judging by the way the emotion swelled in me, sudden and overwhelming, I knew I’d felt it for far longer than I realized.
Charlie scoffed but leaned in to kiss me, hard and quick. “I’m not saying it back until it’s romantic again. Huddled in the dark with a serial killer outside is not how I want my first real love confession to go.”
I grinned even though he couldn’t see and kissed his temple. “Alright.”
“But I do, you know.”
“Mmhmm.”
“I’m just not saying it until my twinkle lights are back on.”
“Whatever you say, baby.”
“And maybe you should roast me another chicken.”
“I’ll spatchcock for you, any day.”
“Okay, now I’m not saying it until you promise to stop saying spatchcock.”
“I’m afraid that one’s a deal-breaker for me.”
He huffed and linked his fingers through mine.
We sat in silence that couldn’t ever be called peaceful, ears strained.
My hand was at the ready to reach for the gun again.
But even with all of that, it wasn’t anywhere near as horrible as the last time I’d sat frozen in this lookout, afraid of the killer waiting for me in the shadows.
And that was entirely because the man I loved was right beside me.
Charlie and I left shortly after dawn the next morning.
I packed light, shoving only the essentials into my backpack before strapping the firearm to my shoulder holster and departing.
I’d called and left Leonard a message that I’d be hiking out early, citing a shortage of groceries.
It left the entire west side of the national park unmonitored, but Tate was anxious for Charlie to meet with his grandmother, and neither of us wanted a repeat of last night.
I turned back just before entering the tree line and peered up at the lookout. Sunlight poured through the eastern-facing windowpanes, casting a glow inside the tower, almost like magic.
A part of me wanted to climb back up and live with Charlie in that ethereal light forever.
We couldn’t, though, and nothing was more of a stark reminder than the darkness that waited when we stepped under the thick canopy of trees.
A monster had robbed me of the joy I felt beneath the pine-laden branches of this forest, and while small compared to his other transgressions, it was one I personally resented him for.
I took Charlie’s hand, linking our fingers together, and stepped into that darkness.
“How are you feeling?” I asked once we’d walked for a bit.
“Good. No different than I do at the tower.”
I nodded, thankful for that at least. I had many worries about what awaited us in the next few days, but it was a relief to know Charlie wasn’t trapped inside the lookout anymore.
“Let’s practice for when you go to rest, and see if you really can find me.”
He squeezed my hand. “Alright. Be right back.”
And then he blinked away.
I slowed my pace, already mentally preparing to hoof it back to the tower if he didn’t appear in the next minute or two. Without him next to me, the reality that I now hiked through the same woods a serial killer disappeared into last night slithered into my mind.
What if he were still here? Watching? Waiting until I was alone?
My breath shortened, and my gaze darted around, looking for any sign of movement. How long had it been since Charlie disappeared? Ten seconds? Twenty?
He should be back by now.
“Charlie?” I called. My voice carried through the trees, dead pine boughs and twigs crunching under my boots as I turned. “Charlie—ooph!”
I toppled to the ground, weighed down by the man who’d suddenly appeared out of thin air nearly on top of me.
“Found you!” Charlie said, coughing.
“You certainly did,” I wheezed.
He cringed down from where he sprawled over me, limbs a tangled mess and covered in dirt and leaves. “Sorry. I was in a rush to get back; it’s usually easier to tell what’s going on around me before I fully show up.”
“As much as I don’t hate this,” I said, picking a twig out of his hair and shifting my hips into his, “your elbow is somewhere in my abdominal cavity, and I stopped romanticizing outdoor sex years ago.”
He scrambled up and brushed himself off before offering me a hand. We both grunted with the effort.
“What if I wanted to try outdoor sex?” he asked when we were both upright again, grinning.
I raised an eyebrow at him. “Do you?”
“Maybe I’d like to be a little adventurous one of these days.”
I huffed a laugh and swung my arm over his shoulder, moving us along. “Fine. But you’ll need to rub Biofreeze all over my back for a week afterward.”
He smirked. “I’ll take care of you, old man.”
I tried not to focus too much on that flicker of hope his words ignited, a brief glimpse of a future we might have together.
Even if it involved dirt in places I’d never be able to scrub clean.
If he wasn’t trapped in the tower, if he could exist the way he was now, indefinitely, didn’t that mean we had a shot at something close to a normal life?
He’d have to start over in a town that wasn’t so familiar with his face, yes. I’d happily go with him, though. Our lifestyle would be unconventional and probably very isolated, but if he were content to have that with me, to live with me…
I’d go to the ends of the Earth for you.
I would snatch that future with him in a heartbeat. Absolutely.
Would he want that, though?
I shook my head, focusing back on our surroundings. Charlie and I kept our heads on a swivel for the rest of the hike, but it was becoming increasingly clear to me that for whatever reason, the killer wasn’t going to confront us in broad daylight.
Actually, I didn’t think he wanted to confront us at all. His modus operandi appeared to be luring unsuspecting people into a situation where he had the upper hand, where he was in control.
I shuddered. He couldn’t keep going on forever. With modern technology and testing, it was only a matter of time before he slipped up or was backed into a corner.
I just hoped no one else was around when he lashed out, the way cornered and wounded animals would just before they were caught.
We stopped off at Lake Sapphire on our way down. As beautiful as ever, she greeted us with stunning views and a nice, cool breeze. Charlie was quiet as we rested in the shade, peering out at the wide stretch of glacial-blue water.
Seeing the wonder in his eyes, I realized… This was the first time in thirty-nine years he’d gazed at something other than what could be seen from the lookout.
“Is it different?” I asked quietly.
He merely shook his head no. A single tear tracked down his cheek.
I wanted this moment to last forever. Under any other circumstance, I would’ve thrown my nonsense about disliking outdoor sex out the window and taken him skinny dipping, before laying him out to dry in the warm sun while I drew as much pleasure from his body as possible.
As it were, we were technically in a public space, and I was not an exhibitionist. Especially for a serial killer.
So I clung to his hand, instead, until it was time to depart.
Another two hours later, Charlie and I stopped about a hundred yards away from the small dirt lot where I parked my truck.
“I’ll be fine,” he said, reading my mind. “I need to rest, and so do you, Reece.” He brushed a thumb across my cheek, probably noting the dark circles that’d formed from another sleepless night.
I could sense a migraine in my very near future.
“I’ll find you later when you’re alone at your Dad’s. Don’t worry about me.”
I pulled him into a fierce embrace and pressed my face into his hair. “Promise?”
He kissed me. “I promise.”
I released him, not ready to part but acknowledging it was time, when his eyes caught on something over my shoulder. His brow furrowed.
I spun around, hand going for my gun, ready to confront whatever waited behind me.
But there was nothing.
“I saw something in the leaves over there,” he said, pointing just off the trail. “It looked shiny.”
“Shiny?”
“Like a reflection.”
My stomach twisted and tumbled, already sensing something was off. He softly tread over with me just behind him, looking all around us. This didn’t feel right.
Charlie tilted his head this way and that, as if trying to catch the light again, picked up a stick, and began scratching around in the leaves and dead pine needles.
“Baby, we should go. I don’t like this.” I stood behind him, head on a swivel, afraid someone would sneak up behind us. My skin prickled like we were being watched.
Charlie gasped, the stick tumbling to the ground. He quickly backed away, bumping into me.
“What?” I asked, frantic. “What is it?”
“I saw hair. Someone’s hair.” He bent over, dry heaving even though there was nothing in his body to expel.
I didn’t want to look. I didn’t.
But I had to see. I had to know.
Without releasing him, I took a few steps toward where he’d moved the debris around, squinting, trying to make sense of what I saw…
I picked out her hand first.
Then her skull, beneath a waft of white hair matted with blood and decomposition.
Her face was unrecognizable, whether from the elements or scavengers or the monster who’d murdered her, I wasn’t sure, but I knew who she was based on the glasses that still sat askew on her nose, and the sleeve of the light blue zip-up hoodie from the missing persons posters.
We found Janine.