“If you take her into that forest, she’s dead,” Anders says. “You’ll kill her as soon as the way is clear.”
“No, I’ll keep her, like I kept the others. That’s why she’ll come with me, and it’s why your sheriff will let her leave. Because they’re both arrogant enough to think they can get out of this. She thinks she can escape. He thinks he can find her.”
“Kind of tipping your hand, aren’t you?”
Benjamin chuckles. “I could show my whole hand, and they’ll still think they can beat me. That’s what happens when you’re thirty years old and run your own town. Thirty years old and a big-city homicide detective. A guy like me doesn’t stand a chance against them.” He shifts the gun. “You’re going to find out what a man like me can do, Casey. What an ordinary man can do. How he can outwit you. That’s how this whole thing started, a test of wits you never even realized you were having.”
“How’s that?” I ask, and like Anders, I’m not really hoping for useful answers—I’m just stalling as I struggle against the sedative.
“The cave,” he says. “You were going to explore my cave.”
I glance at Anders, my brow furrowing.
“Bear Skull Mountain,” Dalton says, his voice cracking as if it’s been hours since he spoke. “I promised to take you spelunking on Bear Skull Mountain.”
It takes a moment. Then I remember—we’d been having drinks at the Lion after a caving expedition. I’d declared I wanted to explore new territory. Dalton suggested we head over to Bear Skull next time.
“You were there,” I say to Benjamin. “In the Lion. You overheard us. Bear Skull is where you were keeping Nicole and the bodies, and you were worried we’d find them. So why not just move Nicole?”
“Because I liked where I had her. And I wasn’t going to let some stuck-up whore make me do anything. So I engaged you in a battle of wits. You were just too witless to realize it.”
“You were luring me,” I say. “That day of the storm. You made a point of running when Eric was away. You knew I’d still go after you.”
“Arrogance, like I said.”
“I’d go after you, and you’d lure me in that direction. Then you’d take out Will or separate us. That’s why you led us toward the cave. Get me close, make it easier to transport me. Only you didn’t anticipate the storm.”
The gun barrel rubs against my scalp. “Of course I did. I knew it was coming. I used it.”
Which is bullshit. The storm disrupted his plans. He still managed to get into his snowmobile suit and balaclava, and bloody his toque, but I recall him standing there—just standing there, watching. We’d had our guns on him, and we were alert and unharmed enough that he’d seen no way of taking me.
So he’d dropped the hat and withdrawn. I don’t know if he lost us after that or if he’d been keeping an eye on us the whole time—and just never saw a window of opportunity he could use.
We hadn’t even known a game was in play, and we’d still won.
“That was you in the forest,” I say. “During the storm when I was alone. You attacked me. I—”
“It wasn’t the time. I realized that, which is why I let you go.”
Not quite how I remember it, but I let him have that and then say, “It was you in my house, too.” My words are starting to slur, but I push on. Keep him talking. “You planned to fake your escape and show up in my house and take me captive from there. Yet it wasn’t that easy, was it?”
“Again, I made a slight misstep. Roger’s fault. I decided it was too risky, grabbing you and getting past him. I also decided I was missing an opportunity. The chance to snatch Nicole back from under your nose. You’ve been beaten, Detective. Leave it at that. Now you’ll come along quietly, confident in your ability to escape.”
“No.”
The gun going still. “What?”
I struggle to speak clearly. “I saw that hole. There’s no way I can go with you and expect to live. I’ll die slowly and horribly in a cave somewhere, and Nicole will die, too. I’m her replacement. So, no, I’m not going with you. For her sake.”
This isn’t what he expected, and he’s thinking fast.
“Will?” I say, fighting to keep my words clear as the drug threatens to silence me. “I’m going to ask you to take the shot. Benjamin will try to kill me. He might even succeed. But shoot to wound him and then keep him alive and in pain—horrible pain—until he tells you where to find Nicole. Can you do—”
Benjamin shoves me. Hard. I’m stumbling, trying to right myself. A gun fires. Something hits me in the back. Hits me hard. Another shot. Shouts. Footfalls. I’m falling, and I hear shots and shouts and then …
Darkness.
SIXTY-FIVE
I wake in bed. My brain feels like a poorly tethered balloon, threatening to float off.
There’s a voice. It seems to be coming from miles away. I can’t quite make it out, but it sounds urgent, anxious.
Huh. Something must be wrong.
A face appears in front of the ceiling. It’s Dalton. He looks worried. Shit. What happened now?
“Casey? Can you hear me?”
I close my eyes.
“No! Wait! Casey!”
I drop back into dreamless sleep.