Chapter 23
Chapter Twenty-Three
GRANT
W hen I wake up something’s wrong. My four o’clock alarm is beeping softly like normal and I can hear the heavy sound of Rafe’s breathing but there’s something off. I frown and reach for Kit but my fingers hit nothing but tangled sheets. I take a second and listen carefully to the cabin and all its creaks and groans. Outside, the wind blows and I hear the shifting of the cabin, but that’s it.
I hit the alarm and it falls silent. I strain my ears for the sound of anything but there’s nothing. Houses have a sound when they’re empty, when there’s no other person there but you and that’s what I hear now.
Kit isn’t in the bathroom or getting a glass of water. She’s gone.
“Fuck,” I whisper and shove Rafe. “Wake up. Now!”
I vault out of bed and nearly trip over my own feet while I yank on a shirt and take off for the front door.
“What is it?”
I hear Rafe behind me and he’s not missing a beat, not even if I just woke him up from a dead sleep. He’s just a step behind while I pull on shoes and throw the door open.
“Kit’s gone.”
Rafe swears and fumbles with his shoes before we’re both outside and sprinting down the trail to the lodge. “Did you see her?” he asks.
“No, woke up and she was gone.”
We’re both silent as we run up to the lodge and when we get there, we see it ablaze with lights. Out in front of the lodge the firepit is burning bright with a fire that looks far too big for it. Everyone is awake and the space has the heavy feel of a party that was interrupted unexpectedly. There’s a couple of sound guys that I know smoking a cigarette out on the wrap-around porch and another girl quietly crying while someone rubs her shoulders by the rocking chairs a few feet away.
“This is bad,” Rafe tells me and all I do is nod. He’s right but he’s wrong too. It’s not bad, it’s worse than that. It’s terrifying, because Kit’s missing. What if she’s the reason people are up right now? It’s early, the sky is starting to turn light with the telltale signs of sunrise. Not at all the normal hour for people to be awake the way that they are. Not when we have a day of filming to catch up on and everyone turned in early in preparation of it.
“Hey, what’s going on?” I keep my tone neutral, concerned but not overly so. Not like I’m about to fucking lose my shit if I don’t see Kit in the next second.
“It’s Jane,” one of the guys calls to me but I can tell he’s trying to keep his voice low. It doesn't matter though, because when he speaks the woman that’s crying starts to sob.
Rafe grabs my shoulder and drags me forward so we’re closer but I keep an eye on the crying woman. She stands shakily from her chair and I see her face. She’s the makeup artist that does Kit’s makeup sometimes. I’ve heard Kit say her name a few times, even though I don’t use it.
“Alexia. Wait, please,” the woman with her calls out to her but Alexia doesn’t listen. She runs straight for the lodge and slams the door behind her.
“She found blood in Jane’s room,” someone whispers.
“That’s so fucking fucked man. There was so much blood, I fucking saw it. There’s no way she’s alive.”
Rafe goes still beside me, it’s not noticeable to anyone just looking at him but I know him. I know him inside and out, so I track the movement and look his way. His eyes are on the lodge but a second later they come to me. I see the question there.
Was it you?
I narrow my eyes and grab his shoulder, dig my fingers in and squeeze. Hell no, it wasn’t fucking me.
Before I shoved a knife through that photographer’s head it had been months since I’d done shit. The urge had been there, quietly rising up when I saw a mark that was deserving, but I didn’t do a thing because I had Kit. I knew how it would make Kit feel if I killed someone so I beat that urge back and focused on the good she brought to me.
Rafe had gone even longer than me without acting, but he had a pattern too. This wasn’t it. Killing a defenseless girl and leaving a goddamn mess. The man was meticulous in what he did. It aggravated me with how high and mighty he was about it but he never left evidence behind. There’s no way he was going to start by bleeding Jane out for someone to find.
This was someone new hunting in our territory.