It was Jenny.
Blood ran from her green eyes and nose, just as it had all those years ago after he’d struck that final blow.
But she was looking up at him and laughing.
His hands fell away from her, and he took a hurried step back.
What was happening? This couldn’t be real.
He continued to back away, squinting at her in the cave’s dim light.
Then, she was suddenly Cara again. She was clutching her throat, coughing and gagging.
“No,” he said harshly. “You’re trying to play your tricks, but you can’t stop me. Nobody can.”
Cara looked at him, puzzled, as she scrambled back to get away from him. But even she seemed to realize he wasn’t talking to her. “Horrible and crazy. Just like Elena said.”
He moved back toward Cara. “You can’t stop me. I’m finishing this, and there’s nothing you can do to keep me from sending her straight to—”
“Stay away from her!”
Walsh spun around. Eve Duncan was now climbing on the ledge with them, holding a gun.
He grabbed Cara and lifted her in front of him as a shield. “After I’ve gone to all this trouble? Put that gun down, or I’ll break her neck.” He smiled. “I’m actually glad to see you. It’s going to save me a good deal of time and trouble.”
Eve took aim with her gun. “Let her go. Right now.”
He shifted in place, moving Cara back and forth in front of him. “Go ahead. Maybe you’ll kill us both.”
“And maybe I won’t have to do it,” Eve tilted her head. “Listen.”
Walsh was listening. It was raining harder outside the cave, but there were new sounds accompanying the thunder and crashing waves. Son of a bitch. There was a powerboat in the distance. And a helicopter.
Fury tore through him. “What have you done, you bitch?”
Eve kept the gun leveled at him. “You’re not getting out of here. Where’s that knife you used before, Walsh? Throw it out.”
“I got bored using that knife today.” He smiled savagely. “I wanted my hands on this one.”
“If you even look like you’re going to hurt her, I will shoot you.”
Laughter, again.
He went still. “No.”
Eve turned around.
“You hear it, too!” he shouted. “You can hear it?”
“Of course I can hear it. She has a lovely laugh, doesn’t she? I haven’t heard her laugh very much.”
Jenny stepped from the shadows behind Eve. Still laughing, still bleeding from the eyes, nose, and mouth. Her clothes were dirty and rotting, as if buried for years.
Still holding Cara, Walsh hurriedly stepped back. “You can see that … creature?”
Eve turned back. “I see a beautiful young girl. Hello, Jenny.”
“She’s hideous. Rotting … Bleeding from her eyes.”
“I don’t see any of that. Jenny?”
Jenny moved past Eve and continued her slow walk toward Walsh. “He sees what he made me. Or what he thinks he made me. We know better, don’t we, Eve?”
“Yes, Jenny,” Eve said gently. “We do.”
His grip tightened on Cara as he backed toward the edge of the ledge. “Stay away from me. Whatever you are.”
“Why? Are you going to hurt me?” Jenny asked. “You fool, you can’t hurt me now.”
“No, but I can hurt her.”
“No.” Jenny’s face suddenly twisted in anger, her green eyes blazing. “Never again.”
Jenny sprang forward and flew toward his face with teeth bared!
CHAPTER
15
“No!” Eve lowered her gun and leaped toward the edge, where Walsh had stumbled back away from Jenny, with Cara still in his arms.
She was too late. She barely stopped herself from going over, sliding on the damp ledge. She struck her head on the rock wall.
Stars. And blood.
Stay awake. Don’t pass out.