Chapter 40
CHAPTER FORTY
CORINNE WILDE - PRESENT DAY
The house is empty, the front door standing open. I dart outside with Lewis in tow, running, searching. Rain pelts me, making it impossible to see.
“Greta!” I shout, trying to determine which direction her scream came from.
I hear it again, this time louder.
It’s as if it’s everywhere, filling the air. Where is Conrad? Where did they go? Did they leave her? Their car, along with Lewis’s, is still in the driveway. Wherever they are, they’re close.
Greta’s cries grow fainter. Weaker.
“She’s hurt…” I spin in a circle. “It’s coming from this way.”
“Wait, Corinne! Wait!” Lewis lunges for my arm, trying to stop me, but he can’t.
As I round the house, someone grabs me.
I yelp, preparing to fight, but Mom’s voice is in my ear. “Shhhhhh.” She squeezes her hand over my mouth tighter. “It’s not her.”
Slowly, finger by finger, she releases her hand, staring at me. Lewis is looking at us both as if he’s in a dream. I don’t have time to catch him up.
“Billie? What are you doing here?”
“It’s not her,” Mom says again, looking only at me. She shakes her head slowly. Her fear-filled eyes drill into mine. “Honey, you have to remember what I told you—he can be anyone he wants. Anyone, anywhere, any time. You can’t trust your ears right now, only your eyes.”
“What is going on?” Lewis whispers, his voice trembling. “What happened to you?” He looks at me. “What is she talking about?”
“It’s EJ,” I tell him. “Not just tonight, chasing you. All of it has been EJ. He led Taylor away, pretended to be Mom and Greta. He’s…he’s using AI to mimic people’s voices. Taylor’s, Mom’s, Greta’s.”
He shakes his head. “No. That’s ridiculous. Why would he do that? He doesn’t know us.”
Mom’s eyes meet mine, and there’s a warning there that I don’t quite understand. As if she doesn’t want me to tell him everything. It’s as if I can hear her voice inside my head, saying he only needs to know the necessary parts.
But it’s ridiculous.
We can trust Lewis. He’d never hurt us.
My mind goes back to the divorce settlement, and all the ways we fought over money and the division of our assets. I would trust this man with my life, but can I trust him with this cabin? With the fortune it’s apparently worth?
I swallow, the truth buried so deep within my bones I don’t really have to contemplate the question.
It’s as if every one of my ancestors, every woman who has ever lived within these woods, whose blood and bones rest beneath the earth here, is screaming at me. Leading me.
“He’s not a good person,” I finally say. “We have to get everyone out of here. Can you help Mom to the car?”
“What? No. I’m not leaving you.”
“You’re not. I’m going with you.” I glance at Mom. “Did you call the police?”
She gives me a quick nod, eyes darting to Lewis and then back to me. She doesn’t want to mention the tunnels. “Service isn’t great with the storm, but they’re coming.”
I turn around, facing Lewis. “Do you have your keys?”
He pats his pocket. “Yes.”
“Good. You and Mom wait for me in the car. Keep her safe. I’ll find the others and meet you there.”
Reluctantly, he takes Mom’s arm and eases it around his shoulders to steady her as they head for the driveway.
I watch them disappear around the house.
“Psssst…”
I look up when I hear the sound, Mom’s warning haunting my thoughts. Just because the voice sounds like Greta doesn’t mean it—
It is.
I catch sight of her peeking out from the woods, and it sends my heart into a spiral. “Oh, thank God.” I rush forward and into her outstretched arms.
“What is going on?” she asks, pulling me into a tight hug.
“Why is your mom here? The power went out, and then it was chaos. Someone screamed, and then everyone screamed, and there was pushing and shoving and—Conrad got me out, but I didn’t want to leave you.
I swear I saw someone in there with a gun. ”
“I know.” I release her and step back. “You’re right, and I know.” I look behind her, to where Conrad and Benji are waiting. Conrad looks positively shell-shocked, while Benji appears hardened. Ready. “Are you guys okay?”
“The police are on their way,” Benji says. “I called them, but with the tree down…”
“I know. It’s okay. We called, too. We just need to get to the car and get as far away from here as we can. Can you help Greta?”
Benji gives a resolute nod and takes hold of her. “I’ve got her.”
After a quick check around, we head for Lewis’s car where he and Mom are waiting. A light flicks on inside the house, and I flinch.
“Power’s back,” Conrad mutters.
I don’t stop to investigate why. Together, we keep moving.
Is EJ inside? Did he turn the power back on? Or was Lewis wrong? Was it actually the storm that knocked it out to begin with?
As we near the car, I shake water from my hands and wring out the bottom of my shirt, though it does no good. The rain continues to pour.
In the driveway, I open the car door and squeeze in next to Mom in the front seat while Conrad, Benji, and Greta slide into the back.
Once the doors are closed, Lewis locks them.
“Let’s go,” I say, though I’m not sure where we’re going. We’re trapped here.
Lewis glances at the house. “The lights are back on. Did you see him?”
“We should go before he sees us,” Mom warns.
“Who are we talking about?” Greta asks.
We drive down the gravel road as I tell Greta and the others what I can. That EJ wants the property. That he’s been impersonating people in order to get us to leave. That he has a gun, and no one knows his plan.
“At some point, I think he switched from just wanting you to leave to being willing to do whatever it takes to scare you off,” Mom says softly, tears in her eyes. “Foxglove is in both our names, Corinne, but I’m the only married one now. If we die, it might go to him. This is all my fault.”
I take her hand. “It’s not. We’re going to make it out of this.”
When we reach the tree in the road, Lewis slows down, coming to a stop just in front of it. “What do we do?”
“We can’t just stay here,” Mom whispers, terrified. Her eyes flick around the car to every window.
“We can walk,” Conrad says. “Going home might’ve seemed safer before, but now the woods are the best option. We’ll stay away from the flooding as much as possible. We can cut through the woods, wait for the police up ahead.”
“They should be here soon,” Lewis says. “Maybe we’re safer in the car.”
“He could be anywhere,” Greta says. “If he comes up to the car with a gun, we’re sitting ducks.”
“The woods,” Benji says. “The storm will make it hard for him to see. We’ll stick together—move together—unless we can’t. He can’t shoot all of us at once.”
His words seem to echo in the car, as if we’re standing at the edge of a canyon, waiting to jump. An impasse, deciding what’s next. Any decision made here could cost me someone I love. Even not choosing could cost everything.
Finally, I nod. “Conrad and Benji are right. We can’t just sit here.
We’ll go through the woods. Stick together.
Once we make it to town, you guys can go to the police station.
Or, if we can’t make it all the way there, we’ll find a safe place to wait for them.
If we do make it, I’ll go downtown to find Taylor. ”
Lewis shuts off the car. “I’ll go with you. We’ll find her together.”
I don’t argue. I’d rather not be alone anyway.
We file out of the car, the decision behind us and only the woods and uncertainty ahead. I’m on high alert, watching for any sign of EJ. My body is tense, braced for the sound of a gunshot.
We set off for the woods, sticking close together as we make our way through the muddy forest. My feet catch on brambles and bushes, and I trip over tree roots as we go.
I pause when I hear something, though no one else seems to.
“What’s wrong?” It’s Mom who notices I’ve stopped walking first.
“Did you hear that?”
Heads swivel as everyone looks around. “What was it?” Lewis asks.
“It sounded like…”
“Mom!”
There it is again. The soft sound of her voice, barely carrying over the storm.
“Taylor.” I don’t hesitate long enough to say anything else. I turn on my heel and run. My feet slip in the mud on my way, but I don’t trip.
By some miracle, I don’t trip.
I hear them racing behind me, trying to keep up.
“What is it?” Lewis whisper-shouts, breathing heavily. “Did you see her?”
I stop when we reach the tree line, searching for her. I didn’t imagine it. I know I didn’t imagine it.
“Taylor.” Mom whispers her name.
“You heard her, too?”
I look over, but Mom isn’t looking at me. Her eyes are trained straight ahead. She lifts her finger, pointing, and I follow the path.
No.
My chest turns to ice as I watch Taylor—completely drenched and muddy from the storm—cross the porch and walk right into Foxglove.