Chapter 27
The soft sound of Faye’s crying echoed behind everything Roscoe said. It wasn’t loud enough to drown out the frustration in the director’s voice, but it was noticeable.
Emily’s nails bit into her crossed arms, the cool breeze from the forest making goose bumps rise over her skin.
Despite Ryan’s team searching all night, they hadn’t found Preston.
Emily looked at Faye. Her eyes were red and puffy, her cheeks wet from the constant tears that had been rolling down her face all morning.
Was she telling the truth? Had she really just pulled over in the middle of nowhere so Preston could pee, only to lose him?
Or was she lying?
Emily had no idea what to believe anymore.
As if he could sense her turmoil, Ryan’s arm tightened around her waist. While he’d learned about Preston’s disappearance last night, he hadn’t told her until she’d woken this morning.
How had his team not found him? They were great at their job. And if Preston had actually gone missing where Faye had claimed, surely the SAR guys should have located him by now…right?
Unless he hadn’t just wandered off. Or Faye was lying.
Jesus, there were too many possibilities.
Faye moaned, and a crew member slipped their arm around her.
Emily’s gaze shifted to Roscoe. Then to Ward, who stood to the side, arms crossed over his chest. What was the sheriff even doing here? Shouldn’t he be out looking for Preston? Shouldn’t he be working closely with Ryan’s team?
When she glanced at her mother, she noticed her mom wasn’t looking at Roscoe. Her gaze was directly on Ryan’s arm around Emily’s waist. And if the frown on her face was anything to go by, she didn’t like it.
Surprisingly, there’d only been the odd text here and there from her mom since Emily’s hospital admission. No unannounced visits. No demands that Emily come back to the inn. It was strange but also kind of liberating.
“So, yeah.” Roscoe threw up his arms. “That’s it. We’re done. The studio’s shutting us down, and the film I put years into getting greenlit is finished. You can clean out your trailers.”
“What about Preston?” Faye called between hiccups. “Is there any news?”
“You mean since you dumped him in the middle of nowhere and caused production to shut down?”
She paled further.
“Stop it.” Melanie stepped forward. “This production was finished a long time ago, Roscoe. If you want to blame anyone, blame local law enforcement for not finding this idiot.”
Ward seemed to pull himself out of his boredom. “Ma’am, we have been doing everything we can to find this person.”
“So why aren’t you out there?” Emily asked.
His cheeks reddened. “My team is out there.” His eyes narrowed on Ryan. “Besides, this disappearance happened in the forest. This is SAR territory. Why haven’t they found him?”
“My guys have been searching all night. If there was no foul play, and we have the right location, Preston should have been located by now.”
“You think I lied?” Faye gasped. “Wait, do you think it was me?”
Silence passed. No one spoke. Not Ryan. Not Roscoe. Not Ward. Not even her mother.
Faye glanced around, wide-eyed. “I didn’t! I didn’t do anything!”
“Let’s go.” Ryan encouraged Emily toward her trailer, but Faye marched toward them and blocked their way.
“No! Say it first. Say you think I killed him. You think I took him to some random location, killed him, then came back to the inn and gave some fake spot for you guys to search.”
“Faye, stop,” Emily said.
Faye’s gaze switched to her, black with rage. “Bet no one suspects perfect Emily Prior. Because what wrong could the golden girl of Hollywood ever do?”
“No one suspects her because she was with me,” Ryan said.
“You got proof? Or we’re just supposed to take your word for it?” She looked back at Emily. “How about this for a story—golden girl Emily Prior gets bored after conquering everything in Hollywood. Decides to make her life more…exciting. She decides to bring the horror story to life.”
“I don’t need to make my life more exciting. I have everything I need.” Emily stepped around the woman and moved toward her trailer, Ryan by her side.
“You okay?” he asked, the warmth of his hand penetrating her back.
“Yeah. Considering how crappy this whole situation is, I am.”
She was about to walk up the steps, when her mother called her name.
“Emily!”
She barely held in the groan.
“Want me to tell her to go away?” Ryan whispered.
She turned to see her mother striding toward them and shook her head. “No. It’s fine.”
Ryan’s phone rang.
Emily nodded. “Answer it.”
He pulled out his cell, Ethan’s name flashing on the screen. He looked back at her. “I’ll be watching.”
“I know.”
Ryan had just stepped away when her mom stopped in front of her, slightly out of breath. “Are you okay?”
Emily raised her brows, because that had to be the most monotone way anyone had ever asked her if she was okay. “I’m fine. I’m not missing.”
Her mother pursed her lips, looking away before focusing back to Emily. “Look, I think we need to talk.”
“We are talking.”
“No. Breakfast. Something with just you and me.”
“There’s nothing to talk about, Mom. I’m staying here. I spoke to the director of the next movie and he’s not suing. He was actually really sympathetic to my situation. He let me out of the contract without a fight. I’m not taking any more parts right now. I’m finished being in the spotlight.”
“Just like that. You’re just going to throw it all away?”
“No. I’m not throwing anything away. I’ve done it your way, and I wasn’t happy. Now it’s time for me to live my life. And I want this. I want the small town. The authentic friendships. Ryan. I want real.”
“Who are you?”
“I’m your daughter…I’m just not you.” She turned and climbed the steps to her trailer.
Inside, she sucked in a deep breath. Because that felt good. In the middle of a really crappy situation with Preston, she’d told two people exactly how she felt, and it was like a weight off her shoulders.
She grabbed a bag from beneath the desk and started throwing things inside. Makeup. Hair pieces. Little trinkets she liked to keep with her on set.
She’d just opened the second drawer when she saw a phone. Not her phone. It was a black iPhone sitting face down…with a small PP engraving in the center.
Preston’s phone.
What the hell?
With shaking fingers, she reached down and lifted it. She turned it to see the screen wasn’t only alight, it was also paused on a video. Paused on trees cloaked in darkness.
Don’t do it, Emily. Don’t hit play. Nothing good could come from this.
But the need to know if this would lead to Preston won, and she hit play.
“Help! Please help!”
Preston’s terrified voice made Emily’s heart thrash against her ribs. Whoever held the phone was running, the phone shaking in their hold, filming the dark ground of the forest.
The camera suddenly lifted and focused on Preston. He was running, but only for a second before he was hit in the back of the head. He cried out and fell, dropping to the dirt hard.
The person carrying the phone was the attacker.
Air caught in Emily’s lungs, her stomach swirling.
For a moment, there was nothing but the sound of Preston’s heavy breathing. Then the phone started to move. Hope lit Emily’s chest that the attacker was moving away. That they were leaving Preston alone.
The person set the camera up, leaning it against something so just Preston’s prone body was on the screen.
Her mouth instantly dried when she saw a knife flashing in the corner of the frame.
Run, Preston. God, please, run!
Blood roared in her ears.
The knife left the frame—then it plunged.
Right into Preston’s back.
Emily screamed.
“We’ve searched the grid top to bottom,” Ethan said over the phone, frustration weaving through his words. “Every trail, every drainage, every ridge. There’s no sign of him, or any sign that he’s even been here. No boot prints, no dropped items. Nothing.”
“You went down to the river?”
“Twice. Walked it both directions.”
Ryan watched as Emily stepped into her trailer. “So either he was picked up or—”
“He was never here.”
Ryan switched his attention to Faye as she spoke to a couple of crew members, eyes red-rimmed, a thick jacket wrapped around her shoulders. “Go home, Ethan. Get some rest. I’ll talk to Faye again.”
“Copy that.”
Ryan had just hung up when a scream cut through the air.
Emily.
He sprinted to her trailer, pulling out his Glock as he ran up the steps and crashed inside, clocking the entire trailer in one glance.
He expected to see an intruder. Someone with a weapon. A masked man with a knife.
It was just Emily.
Her back was toward him, head down.
“Emi?”
She didn’t move. Not a single muscle.
In three strides, he closed the distance between them, ignoring the noise from Ward barging into the trailer behind him.
Then he saw what she was looking at.
Preston. On the ground. Choking on his own blood as someone stabbed him from behind.
He pulled the phone from her hand and silenced the video before handing the device to Ward.
Ryan would watch it himself. But not this second. Right now, Emily was his priority.
He cupped her cheeks. “Hey. Breathe.”
“He…someone…I can’t…” Her chest heaved, her eyes unfocused. “I’m going to be sick.”
“Look at me.”
It took her a second, but finally, she did.
“Deep breath.” He sucked in an exaggerated breath himself, and she did the same, her chest rising on a deep inhale before falling with his.
Three breaths later, and she whispered, “He’s dead.”
“We don’t know that.”
“They stabbed him. They just kept stabbing him!” Her voice cracked, and he pulled her into his arms. He held her tightly, as if that could erase what she’d just watched.
This asshole. This fucking asshole. Ryan was going to kill them.
He wanted to keep holding her, but he also needed to get them out of here. He led her outside and down the steps to see Ward, now with three deputies, watching the clip by the patrol cars.
He helped her sit on the bottom step before crouching in front of her. “Are you okay if I go talk to Ward?”
She nodded.
“I’ll be right back. Don’t move.” He kissed Emily on the head before heading toward them.
Ward glanced up. “This is wild. The person set the phone up and filmed themselves committing a murder.”
“I need to see.” Ryan expected an argument. Some statement about this being police business.
Maybe Ward was in shock, because he handed over the cell. He should be wearing gloves, but hell, he’d already touched the thing.
Ryan watched it, paying close attention to the killer. The frame only allowed for a slight bit of the black cloak, and the hand holding the knife. It could have been a guy or a woman. They wore black gloves.
His eyes narrowed on the small piece of jewelry not fully covered by the cloak, on top of the right glove.
He paused it and zoomed in. “There.”
Ward frowned at the screen. “What is that?”
“A bracelet. There’s a pendant on the end.”
A deputy glanced over Ward’s shoulder. “Is that a leaf?”
“It’s a flame.” He looked up, eyes narrowing on Faye. He was moving before he could stop himself.
“Where are you going?”
Ignoring Ward’s call and the footsteps that followed, Ryan crossed the lot to Faye.
Her eyes widened and she straightened. “What?”
“Are you wearing a bracelet, Faye?”
“A bracelet?”
Ward stopped beside them, out of breath. “Ryan, stop trying to do my job.”
“Bracelet,” Ryan repeated.
She frowned. “I’m wearing the same bracelet I always wear.” She pulled up her sleeve, and there it was, the bracelet with the flame pendant. The same one the attacker wore while stabbing Preston.
A deputy swore under his breath, while Ward almost looked too shocked to move. He pulled himself out of it pretty quickly though.
“Faye Parker, you’re under arrest,” Ward said.
Faye gasped. “What?”
As Ward read Faye her rights, Ryan stepped back, glancing at Emily. She was standing now, face still pale. He headed toward her, even as he texted the team.
Ryan: Anyone still out there and have the energy to check a location? Preston was stabbed, possibly killed, and I know where.
Zac: In the forest?
Ryan: Yes, but not where we were looking. The twin trunk near the Outer Banks Trailhead.
Zac: Going now.
The twin trunk had been in the background of the video. That was where Preston was stabbed. It wasn’t surprising that Faye had lied about the location. She hadn’t wanted anyone to find him.
He reached Emily, who was watching Faye being cuffed.
“It was Faye?” she gasped.
“Her bracelet, the one she’s wearing, was poking out from the cloak in the video.”
“Oh my God.” Emily covered her mouth.
“I didn’t do it, I swear!” Faye’s chest heaved as she was dragged to a patrol car.
The deputies drove away with their suspect. Five minutes later, Ward was just about to get into his patrol car when Zac’s call came through.
“Ward, hold on.” Ryan answered the call. “You find him?”
“Yeah.”
Something about Zac’s voice almost made Ryan not want to ask. “Is he dead?”
“Not yet. But the heartbeat is so faint, I’m not sure he’s going to make it to the hospital. He’s lost a lot of blood. Ambulance is on their way.”
Not dead…not yet.
“What is it?” Ward asked.
“Zac’s with Preston. He’s alive.”