Chris looked around. “I wait. When there’s a pretty girl here and I see the two women with a strange looking guy—kinda long hair, kind of...out of time, I know. A day later, I’ll find a knife. Buried deep. But I find it.”
Rocky stood. “Thank you, Chris. Your food is coming. My friend there—” he pointed at Sam and Sam waved “—is going to take care of you.”
“Thank you, man, thank you,” Chris said.
Rocky hurried back to the bar. “We finally have a real clue. I’m going back to Devin’s. He found knives—athames—buried in the woods by Devin’s house. I know Jack is there but...I’m not leaving her again until this is over. I’m pretty sure that it’s Theo. Make sure that this guy eats—and keep him in custody. I’ll get Jack to see how we can hang on to him, sober him up and get him to hand over the knives.”
“Gotcha,” Sam said. “Call when you get there.”
*
Devin liked Jack and it wasn’t a terrible thing to be stuck with him at the house.
He spent a good thirty minutes after Rocky left just showing her pictures of his little boy. He seemed to be an A1 father.
“When this is over, I’m taking him and Haley to Disneyland,” Jack said. “It’s been rough—I’ve hardly been home.”
“Haley seems like the type to understand,” Devin said.
“Haley’s great,” Jack said. “She always wanted marriage and children, and she’s bright and fun and has her own career. I’m a lucky man.” He grimaced. “Strange, because for years, it was Haley and Rocky. They were one of those perfect couples.”
“Aw, come on. You’re not exactly a dud,” Devin teased.
“Maybe not, but Rocky...he was a star. He was unstoppable on the football field, a great son, great student...he just had something else in mind than settling down in his hometown, and doing the wife-and-kids thing. Worked out for all of us in the end. There’s something pretty special about the two of you together.”
Devin flushed. “Thanks, but who knows what will happen, you know? What about Vince? He never married, huh?”
“Don’t worry about Vince. He does just fine. Great career and all the women he wants. Go figure. He was the one we worried about the most when we were kids. He had no ambition to do anything, but look at him now.”
Devin’s phone rang, and she nearly jumped out of her chair. When she answered it, she heard Rocky’s voice. “We may have a real lead,” he told her. “Let Jack know I’m on my way back. Sam is staying with the guy here at the bar. I’ll be there soon.”
“Sure.”
“Devin.”
“Yeah?”
“It’s looking more and more like Theo’s involved somehow. If this guy can give us something...we may get the physical evidence we need to close this case.”
Devin hung up and told Jack what Rocky had said.
“Rocky thinks he can lead us to the killer, huh?”
For a moment Devin felt a sense of fear.
Had Jack’s question been strange? Was he afraid that the evidence was going to lead to him?
The thought occurred to her just as a terrified shriek sounded from outside. Devin and Jack leaped to their feet simultaneously.
They stared at each other for a split second as if frozen.
“Angela? Jane?” Devin said, her heart seeming to leap into her throat.
The scream sounded again—and again.
Then they heard a desperate cry, “Help me!”
“Fuck!” Jack muttered.
“You’ve got to go out. I’m inside—locked in. Someone could be dying out there!” Devin said.
Jack was torn. He looked at her, expression uncertain.
“You’ve got to go out there, Jack. Dammit—you’ve got a gun. Get out there and use it!”
Jack pulled out his radio, identified himself and where he was, requested backup and walked to the door. He turned and looked at Devin.
“Jack, get out there. I have the pepper spray. I’ll be fine in here.”
“Lock the door behind me,” he told her.
“Immediately, I swear—you’ll hear the bolt slide,” she promised.
Jack drew his gun and left. Devin locked the door behind him, as promised, then stood there, her pepper spray in her hand, waiting.
Poe let out a squawk. She spoke gently to the bird. “It’s all right, buddy. Any second now we’ll be surrounded by cops. And Rocky will be here.”
She waited, barely daring to breathe. Jack was out there. Rocky was on his way. She just had to hold on.
But just as she leaned against the door and assured her thundering heart that she would be okay, she felt something slam forcefully against the wood.
“Help! Oh, my God, help me!”
Devin recognized the voice. It wasn’t Angela or Jane, it was Gayle Alden. The pounding on the door increased. Gayle was hysterical. Devin looked out the peephole and saw that Gayle was alone and clearly terrified. She kept looking back over her shoulder as if she thought the devil himself was behind her.
Devin threw open the door, dragging Gayle in. Then she slammed the door closed and quickly slid the bolt.
Poe screamed again, and Gayle jumped and screamed, then gasped and leaned against the door, looking at Devin with huge, panicked eyes.
“He’s out there,” she said.