Chapter 31
THIRTY-ONE
Gun at the ready, Ellie moved to the right looking for an intruder on her property, but Cord touched her arm.
Cord spoke quietly, “Wait. Let me go.”
“Only if you stay behind me,” she whispered. “You’re not armed.”
He growled. “We’ll discuss that later.”
He inched up behind her and they crept forward, staying close to the edge of the house, flashlight off.
Brush crackled again. Lightning streaked the sky.
A tree limb snapped off in the wind and sailed down.
Ellie darted sideways to avoid it as they continued.
With the streetlight out and her porch light broken, the side and backyard were bathed in darkness.
She paused, listening. She definitely heard footsteps.
She raised her weapon and aimed it as she rounded the corner. The trash can rattled and rolled to the ground and she yelled, “Stop. I have a weapon.”
Cord flipped his flashlight on bright and shined it across the yard.
Bushes waved as someone ran through them.
She took off running and Cord followed close behind.
It felt like hours but was only a couple of minutes until she reached the edge of her property.
A dog barked, somewhere deep in the woods.
A stray cat shot across her yard, screaming into the night.
“The cat’s bleeding,” Cord murmured.
Ellie’s stomach knotted as she inched closer and scanned the area where the cat had been while Cord raced to the edge of the woods to search in case there had been a person, not just an animal in the backyard.
She aimed her phone flashlight across the ground and her body went stone cold still. Another crow with its head severed lay on the ground, blood oozing from the gaping wound.
Nausea climbed her throat, and she had to turn away for a moment and take deep breaths to stem the nausea.
Had the cat killed it or had the man who’d left feathers on her driveway?
Finally the anger kicked in, replacing the chill of fear, and she yelled out to Cord, praying he hadn’t been ambushed.
Seconds later, he raced back, his breathing heavy. “You okay?”
“Yes, I… just don’t want you dealing with this guy unarmed.”
“I have my knife,” he said.
“I know. But we’ll catch him another way.” Fear had a stranglehold on her. Not fear for herself. But fear of losing Cord to a monster.
She pulled her phone and snapped a photograph of the dead animal. “Let me tell ERT about this and have them collect it.”
“I’ll keep watch back here,” Cord said. “And El?”
“Yeah?”
“You’re staying at my house tonight. Non-negotiable. Tomorrow you can arrange a cleaning crew and have the locks changed.”
“And buy a new bed,” Ellie murmured.
Ellie couldn’t sleep in that bedroom, especially in that bed. Not ever again.