Jane MacGuire looked down at the clock on the dashboard of the Toyota rental car.
Fifteen minutes more, and she should be at the lake cottage, which had been home to her since Joe and Eve had adopted her when she was ten years old. As an artist, she had traveled the world, but she always came back because family was everything. But she didn’t look forward to what was waiting for her at the cottage today. She had won the first battle with Eve, but that didn’t mean that Eve would give up. She had always been superprotective and would try to find a way to keep Jane away from any possible danger.
But danger happened.
Death happened.
Death had happened to Trevor.
He had taught her to love and trust, then death had taken him.
Don’t think of that right now. She had thought she’d worked her way through the first agonizing stages of grief in the past months. But all of a sudden it was back again, and her hands clenched on the steering wheel as she tried to push it away.
For God’s sake, no more self-pity. She had come to help Eve and Catherine, and she didn’t matter right now.
She took a ragged breath, and the pain was gradually fading. It would be back but maybe a little less in intensity.
“I’m trying, Trevor,” she whispered. “I know you want me to go on. It’s just hard sometimes. I can’t find anything here for me any longer. It’s all empty. I want to be with you. God, I want to be with you.”
But she couldn’t be with him, she had to stay alive and care for the other people she loved. “Okay, I’m over it for now.” She turned on the radio and ratcheted up the volume. “How about some classic Beatles?”
It was starting to rain, and she turned on the windshield wipers.
Ten more minutes, and she’d be home with Eve and Joe.
Screeching brakes!
Startled, she glanced in the rearview mirror.
A black-and-white police car was careening over the six lanes of the freeway, the front left tire completely blown. It finally collided with a gray Lexus sedan.
Should she stop and go back and try to help?
There were several cars behind her already stopping and a pileup was just waiting to happen. The best thing to do was to probably call 911 and report the accident.
She hoped everyone was okay. What had that police car hit that would have blown his tire like that? Joe would probably call and find out what happened and the condition of the drivers in those cars when she told him about it. She picked up her phone and began to dial 911.
Definitely not a good sign for a homecoming.
VIRGINIA
He was still following her, Kelly thought.
She hadn’t lost him when she had made the circle turn at the dam and started heading back to the campus. She could still hear his footsteps in the brush behind her. She glanced over her shoulder, but he was still too far behind her for her to catch a glimpse.
If she could have seen him anyway. It was fully dark now, and she would only have been able to detect shadows.
Shadows. The whole world seemed to be full of shadows.
And why was he just keeping pace with her? Had she been right about the possibility that he was just trying to freak her out? Well, he was doing it. The darkness, the sound of him, the sheer fear of the unknown. She unconsciously moved faster.
Don’t run.
That might trigger him to escalate his pace. Don’t provoke any change in the pursuit. The closer she got to the university, the safer she would be.
Her hand tightened on the Mace spray.
Listen.
He either wasn’t woods savvy, or he wanted her to hear him. She hoped it was the former. She had a certain amount of control as long as she could hear and judge his movements.
It was when she could no longer hear him …
Don’t worry about that now.
Move. Walk.
Listen.
*
“He’s losing the blood from his shoes the farther he walks,” Sam said. “I’ve only managed to pick up a trace in the last several yards.” He shined his flashlight on the trail ahead. “Soon we won’t be able to pick it up at all. We’ll have to make a decision whether to—”
“We’re almost at the dam,” Catherine said curtly. “We’ll have to go with the assumption that he’s following Kelly and just follow the trail. It was what we thought anyway.” But she had hoped that they would be able to zero in on Weber’s killer long before this. It wasn’t going to happen. She broke into a trot. “Forget about the blood. Just watch out for ambush and hurry like hell.”
*
Kelly suddenly couldn’t breathe.
Her heart was beating so hard it was painful.
She could still hear him, but something had changed. He was no longer directly behind her on the trail. He was somewhere to the left, in the thick brush and trees.
And he was moving faster.
She broke into a run.
For God’s sake, don’t fall.
The beam of her flashlight lit the trail in front of her.
Ruts. Twisted tree roots. Branches.
She dodged and darted.
Faster.
He was coming faster.
She tore off her backpack and let it drop to the trail as she ran.
He must be only yards away.
No, she could hear him breathe.
Only feet away.
A crash of rotted limbs and brush.
Keep control. Don’t let him take her down.
She whirled and raised the Mace.
A blur of a long face, short brown hair, blue jacket.
And a long, curved knife in his hand!
She pressed down on the nozzle and shot him directly in the face with the Mace.
He screamed.
“Whore. I’ll kill—”
Then he was blundering blindly forward, almost on top of her.
She dodged the knife he was swinging wildly.
She sprayed him again.
But the tip of his knife sliced the flesh of her upper arm.
Pain.
His weight was heavy as he brought her down, straddling her.
Spray him again.
Spray him again.
She struggled to get her hand with the Mace from beneath his body.
So heavy …
She lifted her knee and caught him in the groin.
He grunted, cursing, but he was half off her, and she could at least move her arm.
But his knife was coming down—
“Roll to the side. Now!”