Chapter Twenty-Two
Britt was terrified. Camden hadn’t driven into Rockville, as she’d hoped he would.
She’d been planning to scream her head off, get someone’s attention, enough that they’d call the cops and Camden would get pulled over.
But that hadn’t happened. He’d taken back roads that were unfamiliar to Britt, and she was completely lost. Even if she did get access to a phone, there was no way she’d be able to tell anyone where she and Evelyn were.
The ride in the back of the pickup had been petrifying.
Camden had driven recklessly and never stopped trying to get her to lose her balance.
Britt’s fingers hurt from gripping the metal.
She wanted to leap out, grab Evelyn, and run off with her the second they came to a stop, but she found her legs weren’t working properly.
If she tried to run anywhere, she’d fall flat on her face.
Besides, where would they go? From what she could tell, they were literally in the middle of nowhere. She hadn’t seen any neighboring houses as they pulled down the dirt road, and the last thing she wanted was to be lost in the woods with a pissed-off Camden hunting them down.
“Bitch!” he shouted after he’d finally stopped and ripped open the driver’s side door, glaring at Britt as he turned toward her.
Even as she crawled out of the bed of the pickup on the passenger side, Camden reached back through the door and yanked Evelyn toward him. She awkwardly scooted over the console, and if it wasn’t for Camden’s hold on her arm, she would’ve fallen out of the truck.
“Son—” she started, but he didn’t let her get another word out.
“I’m not your son!” He screamed this time, the sound echoing around the trees in the clearing.
At the shrill sound of his voice, Britt frowned. He didn’t seem ... normal. She made sure to keep the truck between her and Camden.
“I’m not going to jail,” he fumed, more to himself than the two women. Then he turned and headed for the ramshackle cabin in front of the truck, dragging Evelyn with him.
Britt was confused. He hadn’t ordered her to do anything, had pretty much ignored her after calling her a bitch.
Scared but not willing to let Evelyn out of her sight, Britt followed behind the duo at what she felt was a safe distance, struggling to come up with a plan.
She wasn’t sure how to get Evelyn away from Camden, and even if she managed that, he was stronger than both of them.
Tears formed in her eyes, but she angrily blinked them away. This was no time for crying. She and Evelyn were on their own. They had to figure this out.
“Camden, can we talk about this?” Britt tentatively asked.
“Sure, we can talk.”
He sounded so reasonable now. So calm. It made Britt even more confused.
“Inside,” he added as he opened the cabin door and practically shoved Evelyn through the door.
She stumbled but didn’t fall, thank goodness.
Camden held the door open and turned to Britt, who’d stopped about ten feet away.
“You coming?” he asked with the strangest smile on his face.
It reminded Britt of a horror movie she’d seen once.
One where a crazed psycho killer lured people into his home like flies to a spider.
Looking around, feeling as if she should run away from here as fast as she could, Britt hesitated. She couldn’t leave Evelyn. She could feel Camden’s anger. It was a tangible thing. There was no telling what he’d do to the older woman if Britt left.
Knowing she was probably making the wrong decision, especially since every self-preservation molecule in her body was screaming at her to flee, Britt took a step forward.
Making sure not to touch Camden as she passed, she entered the cabin.
The second she was inside, the door slammed shut.
Spinning around, Britt instinctively reached for the door handle.
It didn’t move.
Looking down, she realized the knob had been installed backward, with the dead bolt outside. She and Evelyn were locked inside the cabin.
“Camden! Let us out!” she yelled.
His laughter rang through the door. It was muffled, but the glee in the tone was still easy to hear.
“Thanks for making my job easier. I was only gonna use the old broad as bait, but now, I think having both of you is even better. I mean, I wouldn’t have been sad if you’d fallen out of my truck and gotten run over on the road, but this’ll work too.
Sit down, make yourself at home. I’m sure the Young boys will figure out where you are soon enough and come running to your rescue .
.. and I’ll be waiting to pick them off one by one. ”
His maniacal laughter made Britt’s blood run cold.
She turned and found Evelyn standing right behind her. If she thought the woman she’d come to love as her own mother would be cowering in fear, she was way wrong.
The anger on the older woman’s face was easy to read. “What an asshole!” she seethed.
Genuinely shocked, Britt blurted, “Language.”
Then she chuckled. And the chuckle turned into giggles, which morphed into full-out belly laughs. Hearing the usually proper Evelyn call Camden an asshole was surprising and so out of character, it was hilarious.
Evelyn joined in, and for thirty seconds or so, both women laughed their heads off. Then they slowly sobered as the severity of their situation kicked in.
Britt reached out and hugged Evelyn hard. The other woman held on tight.
“Are you all right?” Evelyn asked. “I was so worried about you.” She loosened her hold and pulled back just enough to glare at Britt. “That wasn’t smart. Why’d you get into the truck?”
“I saw him forcing you into the front seat. I tried to cut you guys off. I was going to stand in front of the truck and force him to stop—which in hindsight probably wasn’t the best idea, he probably would’ve just run me over—but I wasn’t fast enough.
I wasn’t thinking, and when that bear came along and I was able to grab the tailgate, instinct took over and .
.. in I went. I wasn’t going to let him take you, Evelyn. No way.”
Evelyn hugged Britt again. For a moment, she was overwhelmed with emotion. She loved this woman. As if she were her own flesh and blood. Lord knew she’d been more of a mother to her than her own had ever been.
Guilt swamped Britt for just a moment. Her mom had worked her ass off to keep a roof over their heads ... but honestly, she would’ve preferred to have been homeless with a mother that gave the smallest shit about her daughter.
From outside, they heard the sound of Camden’s truck starting, then moving away, but Britt had a feeling he wasn’t going far.
Just far enough to hide the vehicle somewhere.
If she and Evelyn truly were being used as bait to get Chad and the others to this remote spot, so he could do harm to them, he wouldn’t want his truck to be visible when they pulled up.
Britt felt Evelyn take a deep breath, then she stepped back once again. “Now what? What’s the plan?”
Looking around, Britt frowned. She’d hoped to find something to use to jimmy the lock on the door.
Or even smash the whole thing down. But the cabin didn’t have much in it at all.
A woodstove with no firewood, a ratty-looking couch that was probably at least forty years old, a table with some rickety chairs . .. and that was about it.
Britt wandered over to the kitchen and opened a few drawers. There was some cutlery. No knives sharp enough to do damage to anyone, but maybe they could still use one to try to break the lock on the door. There were cups, bowls, plates, and a pot and pan or two.
It looked as if the cabin hadn’t been used in a very long time .
.. except by any critters who’d managed to get inside.
There was no bedroom, no bathroom. It was literally one big open space.
A true open-concept design. She supposed if someone had to pee, they did so outside.
She hadn’t seen an outhouse, but she hadn’t really been looking either.
There were two windows, and Britt hurried over to one to try to open it .
.. with no luck. It had been nailed shut, and there were boards hammered across the windowpanes on the outside.
The cabin had obviously been modified to keep someone from getting out, rather than keep the occupants safe from anyone trying to get inside.
But Britt wasn’t giving up. She wasn’t willing to sit there and endure whatever sick plan Camden had devised. She had no idea how Chad or his brothers would find them, but Camden had made it clear that they would. She couldn’t let them rush into an ambush.
Britt wondered about Otis’s role in his son’s kidnapping plot.
Camden said she wasn’t supposed to be there, only Evelyn.
But why? And while she should be happy that he hadn’t simply shot her or Evelyn outright, she was certain his plan was to get rid of them both eventually.
It wasn’t as if he could force Evelyn to give him or Otis their jobs back as if nothing had happened, or just let her go after killing her sons.
The bottom line was, she and Evelyn had to get out of this prison. Now. If they could find their way back to civilization, someone would help them, of that she had no doubt.
Taking a deep breath, she turned to Evelyn and opened her mouth to speak, but the older woman beat her to it.
“We need to get out of here. I’ll start on this side of the cabin, you take the other. We’ll see if we can’t find any loose boards or something we can use to break that lock on the door. Figures it’s the only new thing in this entire place.”
Impressed all over again at Evelyn’s determination, at her unwillingness to sit around and throw a pity party or wait to be rescued, Britt made a mental vow to be just like her when she was in her seventies.
“Sounds good,” she told her, turning back to the kitchen. There had to be something they could use to break out of the cabin. They just had to find it.