The Hidden

“Not me. I’m not afraid of them at all,” Jane said. “I think there’s a real and noticeable difference between the feeling you get when the dead are trying to reach you and when the living are watching you, stalking you. Like I said, I don’t fear ghosts, but I definitely fear the living.”


“She’s right,” Lara said. “Ghosts—they’re just lost souls and they need help. But the living...yeah. They can be terrifying.”

“They can be the true monsters,” Jane said, joining Scarlet at the window. “Unfortunately, I think it’s very likely that we are being watched.”

Lara joined them, shuddered and said, “By the living.”

*

Diego and Brett walked all along the streets of downtown Estes Park and spoke to dozens of people.

“I thought I heard a scuffle,” the owner of Louie’s Lounge, Louis Richmond, told them.

“Where? Where did you hear it?” Diego demanded.

“I was on my way to my car, and I was coming up on the alley a few doors down from here,” Richmond said.

“Did you see anyone?” Brett asked.

“No, I looked when I got there, but it was dark, and there’s a Dumpster in the way. I figured it was just a cat going after a rat or something.”

They thanked him and left, hurrying toward the alley in question. It was the same alley Cassandra had mentioned, and they’d been saving it for last, but now, with Richmond’s confirmation, there was no reason to wait any longer before checking it out.

“So,” Brett said, “Cassandra left the Twisted Antler and passed this alley on her way to her car. Whoever grabbed her knew she would be coming this way. He was ready.”

“And since people would notice a guy wearing a bag over his head, he had everything timed and didn’t put it on ’til the last minute. And that strongly suggests he’s familiar with the area and knows exactly where to hide if need be.”

“Yeah, like this damn alley,” Brett said.

They began searching it inch by inch. They’d been at it for nearly an hour when something caught on a brick facade snagged Diego’s attention. “Check this out,” he said.

“What?” Brett asked, walking over to join him.

Diego inspected the tiny fragment of material he’d found caught on the brick, then looked over at Brett. “Burlap,” he said. “I think we’ve just found part of the killer’s mask.”

*

“I think it’s time for Lara and Scarlet to leave,” Diego said, taking his seat at Scarlet’s kitchen table.

Matt and Meg were still gone, but they weren’t expected back until later, probably not until the séance was long over.

Scarlet ordered pizza for dinner, and when it had arrived, she realized that the delivery boy was scared and eager to get away as quickly as possible. Obviously the Conway Ranch had quickly gained an unenviable reputation. She had sympathized, tipped him well and hoped, for Ben’s and Trisha’s sakes, that reputations could be unmade just as quickly.

Everything—pizza, salad and cold drinks—had been ready when Brett and Diego returned. Diego had told them right away about the scrap of burlap, which had already been sent to the lab for analysis.

She hadn’t expected such news, much less his announcement sending her away, and she suddenly felt as if they were in a war zone, and she and Lara were noncombatants who had to be evacuated as quickly as possible for their own safety.

She was ready at first to plunge right into an argument—what could happen to her when she was surrounded by agents? She even thought about getting personal and pointing out that Diego’s macho determination to be chauvinistically protective of her—when he’d actually been home, that is—had helped to end their marriage.

Except that it wasn’t true. Not really. His way of keeping her out of danger hadn’t been by bullying, but rather, was his silence.

She suddenly envied Meg for being an agent. Jane, too. No one was sending them away.