The Girl in the Mist (Misted Pines 1)

And I’d bet dollars to donuts that Shelly did Betty’s hair. So Shelly might be the one person outside Tony in Misted Pines who knew that Ed had cheated on Betty. And Tony knew because Shelly told Ray.

He ran like the wind, and yet could not catch Tony.

His girlfriend wore a T-shirt that encouraged Make Love Then Make More Love, along with the bent of his job, a subtle hint to anyone who knew them that they were kind and gentle people. But in actuality, it was an overt attempt to throw people off the scent.

He’d been staring at me in Aromacobana.

He was an exceptional actor.

He’d insinuated himself as an important, but secondary part of the story.

And he was smart.

Very smart.

A mastermind.

A god.

I knew this because I also knew he knew that I’d figured it out.

He was blocking my way into the shop, and there was nowhere else to run.

So I turned and ran the short distance back to my car.

I did this screaming repeatedly and as loud as I could, “HELP! HELP! HELP ME!”

Ray slammed me up against my car so hard I dropped my keys.

I felt him take hold of me, and I knew I had one second to do something.

So in the dust on the door of my car, I started writing.

I got one letter written.

R.

Then he whirled me, his fist hit my face…

And I was out cold.

He dropped me to the pine needles, my back to a tree.

It came as no surprise Ray was very good at tying people up.

Face to face, hip to hip, he dropped down to sit beside me.

My temple throbbed, my skin was swelling, pressing inwards from the side of my left eye.

Bohannan hadn’t given me any impression he still had doubts there was more to the story.

But I knew Ray was not unknown in that sex shop, considering whoever owned it let him use their boat.

And if Bohannan went there, he’d take one look at that boat and know what I knew.

There was more to the story.

I had a feeling I came to shortly after I blacked out, and when I did, I was tied up in the back of his truck, which was moving, so he couldn’t have had time to move my car.

But he did bring my purse, having no clue I still carried my GPS fob.

Though, no one was actively tracking it.

Even so, this was good.

Because all they had to do was start tracking it.

Except once he’d parked on what I would find when he pulled me out was a one-lane, dirt road in the middle of nowhere, he’d hiked into the woods a good forty-five minutes (yes, with me on his shoulder, yes, he was that fit, yes, he was that comfortable hiking through the woods, yes, he fit the profile).

And, due to this, I figured by the time anyone figured out he had me, by the time they tracked us into that forest (because he was not making any effort to cover his tracks), I would probably be dead, and he would have more time to get away.

I figured this because he hadn’t only brought me along.

He’d brought a shotgun.

“I was gonna let it lie,” he said. “I’d won.”

I sat there staring at him, wondering if Camille and Fenn would stay in touch with Bohannan and the kids.

Camille, probably.

In her pain, Fenn would likely lay some mistaken blame on Bohannan before she got over it.

But they’d never have Christmas together.

Our families would never spend summers in our respective houses on the lake.

I hoped he gave Celeste my bracelet, and added a D.

Even though her mother didn’t love her, her brother and father did—I did—and she needed to know she belonged.

I also hoped Bohannan found another woman to love, where the sex was not quite as great as it was with me.

And she made him just a smidge less happy.

But she made him happy.

“I’m kinda pissed I can’t. Now Shelly and me are gonna have to find somewhere else to be. She probably won’t mind. She hates her family, and they still drag on her all the time, even though I tell her to tell them to piss off. Though, she loves Misted Pines.”

I just stared at him.

He cocked his head.

“He didn’t figure it out,” he noted. “I thought for sure when that video came out, he’d figure it out. He’d figure out that it’s all about dick.”

I said nothing.

“The first girl I fucked, man, I did not know what I was doing. We were both sophomores in high school. But that bitch still keeps in touch with me. Followed me around like a puppy. That’s when I knew, you get good at using your dick, you can make anybody do anything for you.”

Was he…?

Was he really going to James-Bond-villain-monologue tell me all his motivations?

I did not mind this.