And that included his old friends, no matter how much he didn’t want to believe that one of them could be guilty. Even Haley—she hadn’t been with them, but they had all talked about it immediately after, probably describing far too graphically what they had seen.
He stopped trying to fathom the possible association between his own past and the recent murders, because he’d reached Devin’s house.
Her door stood wide-open.
As he jerked the car into Park and jumped out, he heard a terrible, high-pitched scream rip through the air.
It didn’t sound human!
“Devin!” he shouted, and ran to the front door. “Devin!”
He saw Mina, hovering just inside, her eyes enormous with fear.
He didn’t waste time asking questions she probably couldn’t answer, anyway; he just raced into the woods that bordered the house.
*
Devin never had the chance to scream, because a chilling sound tore through the air before a sound could burst from her lips.
It was a terrible shriek—as if some ancient god had let out a horrible cry.
For a split second she was stunned, unable to move or even to think.
Then she recognized the sound. She knew what it was.
The scream of a crow.
Suddenly she heard a man screaming. “Stop it! What the hell?”
She knew the voice—just as she had recognized the crow.
Devin stepped back onto the path. Just as she had suspected, the man standing in the green shadows of the path was Brent Corbin.
“Devin!” he cried. “Get him off me!”
“Brent!” she shouted. “What on earth—”
“Your raven! That stupid bird attacked me!”
Poe was about to dive-bomb Brent again. “Hey, mister—come here,” Devin called.
“Sweet Jesus!” Brent cried. “He’s a monster.”
“Well, what the hell did you expect, sneaking around the woods?” she demanded.
“Sneaking? I was coming to see you, and then I saw you out here and followed you.”
She looked and saw that he was holding a cardboard poster tube, and in her fear she had seen a knife. Okay, maybe she was getting just a little paranoid.
But a woman had recently died here....
Just as Poe settled on her shoulder, Rocky came rushing through the trees. He had a gun out, ready to shoot.
“What the hell?” Brent demanded. “You people are crazy! Put that thing away, and get that wretched bird out of here, too.”
“Brent, he’s fine now,” Devin said. “He’s on my shoulder.”
“What’s going on here?” Rocky demanded harshly.
Poe cawed loudly, and Brent flinched. He didn’t seem to know where to turn. He didn’t want to take his eyes off Poe or Rocky.
Rocky looked at Devin. She widened her eyes and lifted her shoulder in a shrug. Poe squawked again.
“Get that monster away from me!” Brent said.
“Calm down,” Devin said. “He only went after you because he was protecting me.”
She almost smiled; she might not have a big dog, but she did have an attack bird.
“From me?” Brent demanded. “Rocky, please. Lower that gun.”
“Tell me what the hell is going on here,” Rocky snapped. “Why are you two out here in the woods?” He looked from one of them to the other. “Well?”
“I saw the— I thought I saw something, so I came out to investigate,” Devin said. Rocky’s eyes darkened, and he opened his mouth to speak. She quickly explained. “I know, I know, but I wasn’t thinking. So anyway, I came out here, and everything was fine, but then I heard...I heard Brent.” She turned to face him. “You should have said it was you instead of scaring me like that. Poe was just protecting me.”
“From what?” Brent demanded.
“You. I thought you were coming after me.”
“Coming after you? I came out to see you, so I was just following you,” Brent said. “And now your boyfriend is here—and he’s still aiming a gun at me.”
“Why?” Rocky’s question sounded like a gunshot. “Why did you come to see Devin?”
“I brought her a copy of a map she asked me about. A map of Salem with the location of the real Gallows Hill according to Sydney Perley.”
At last Rocky put away his gun. She noticed that beneath his casual denim jacket he had a shoulder holster.
At the moment she was glad that Agent Rockwell was armed.
This is a good thing, she told herself. When homicidal maniacs with knives were running around in the local woods, a fed with a gun was a good thing.
But Brent still looked terrified.
“Rocky?” she murmured.
“Your front door is wide-open,” he told her.
She winced. “Let’s go back so I can close it, then.”
“I think I’d rather just go home,” Brent said. “I know people are afraid because of the murders, but...” He looked at Rocky. “You’ve been away. We have pretty strict gun laws.”
“I’m an FBI agent,” Rocky informed him.
Brent looked stunned. “Agent?” he asked, and turned to Devin.
“Hey, everybody has to make a living,” she said lightly. It didn’t work. Brent still looked ready to collapse.
She set a hand on his arm. “It’s all right. You just scared the hell out of me. Poe saw me come out here, and he followed me to protect me,” Devin said.