Not until he found her.
Not until he used her for whatever perverted thing that was on his mind.
That kept her going, running, hurtling down the hillside, following the trail until her head was pounding and her lungs felt as if they would explode. Gasping, she finally stopped at a fork in the scrawny little trail. Listened hard. Straining to hear past the pounding of her own pulse in her ears. Leaning over, hands on her knees, taking in big gulps of air, she tried to relax and get her bearings.
The stars were no help…The North Star meant nothing to her. Which way was to safety? She had no idea.
Her breathing slowed.
Sweat ran down her nose, dripping on the dust at her feet. She was so thirsty she could barely breathe.
“God help me,” she whispered and thought of her dad. Where was he? And Mom, oh, man, if she could just tell her mother one more time that she loved her. Tears clogged her parched throat and she felt about to break down completely, but she couldn’t let herself. Being a crybaby now, dissolving into self-pity wouldn’t help a darned thing. She had to keep at it.
Faintly, she heard the sound of bells. Church bells. Tolling through the valley below, but far in the distance. Her heart leapt. She straightened, searching the darkness. Where there was a church there were people; she was zeroing in on civilization! She forced her eyes toward the sound and though brush and trees were in her line of vision she thought she spied lights, a town. Far below. Really far below.
Crap!
How could she get there? She couldn’t just barrel through the forest, she had to stick with a trail or she might come across an impossible cliff. Her progress would be slower and she’d risk the chance of getting lost, running in circles. Though her father had taught her a little about navigating by the stars, she could make out only Venus, the Big Dipper, the Little Dipper and the North Star, but it wasn’t enough, she wasn’t confident to go traipsing though the dark woods where vines and loose rocks and roots could trip her.
So she stuck to the trail and at every fork, she picked the path that seemed to head downhill, though twice she’d taken an upward-swinging trail, planting footsteps in the dust, then creeping back through the brush, careful not to leave any trace, turned downhill again. It was a simple, probably useless ploy that wasted time, but she hoped beyond hope that she might confuse the Beast when he started chasing her.
She didn’t doubt that he would take off after her. He had a purpose for her, something to do with her birth mother, but she had no idea what it was. Something bad. It chilled her to the bone to think about what his plans were, for she knew he was evil. Malicious. And crazy. Obsessed with the people whose pictures he kept framed on his mantel. She reached inside her pocket, touched the one she’d stolen and wondered about the woman in the snapshot. Was she married? Did she have other kids? Why couldn’t she have kept Dani in the first place? That particular thought had an ugly edge. She loved her dad and mom, the people who’d raised her, with all her heart, but still…She had dozens of questions for this woman. The flashlight’s beam was failing, but she started forward again, jogging, trying to put as much distance from the cabin as she could. She couldn’t imagine his rage if he caught up to her, this weirdo who got off on peeing in the fire. Didn’t want to think about it. She couldn’t let that happen. No matter what.
“I have to talk to Oliver,” Shannon said, pushing back her chair. The legs scraped against the kitchen floor as she climbed to her feet. She ignored the remaining three slices of pizza congealing in the box on the kitchen table.
“It’s after one,” Travis pointed out. Still seated at the table, he was finishing a beer, staring at the drawings Paterno had left behind. He was getting nowhere fast. Inside he was still reeling, his guts twisting in the aftermath of hearing Dani’s voice.
He’d been through a lot in his life. Hell, he’d been through enough for two, no, make that three lifetimes, and he wasn’t yet forty. But this…knowing that his kid was out there somewhere in the darkness, alone with a vile, malicious murderer, held against her will and enduring God-only-knew-what nearly broke him.
Yes, he was determined to find her.
Yes, he’d personally rip the killer limb from limb and damn the consequences.
Yes, he’d never give up.
But damn it, yes, he was scared to the very bottom of his soul. Fear was his constant companion. Time seemed to be flying by at a breakneck speed. Frustration made him want to climb the walls.
Not listening to his objections, Shannon was already punching numbers on the cordless phone. “Priests are on call 24/7,” she said, walking past the pen where the tiny pup was curled up and sleeping soundly, yet making little whimpering noises, the result of a puppy dream.
The other dog, Khan, was lying under the table, eyes focused on Travis as he hoped for a handout.
“Damn!” Shannon slammed down the phone. The pup let out a yip but didn’t awaken. “Oliver’s not answering.”
“You could have left a message.”
“If my brother ever hauled himself into the twenty-first century…But Oliver prides himself on being the last holdout. No answering machine. No voice mail. No caller ID. No…nothing.” She rotated her head and rubbed the kinks from her neck. “He should’ve studied to become a monk.”
“I think a priest’s close enough,” Travis offered and noticed how tired she looked. Her skin was pale, dark smudges were visible under her eyes, and she winced a little when she lifted her arm over her head to stretch. “You should take a break. Get some rest. Go to bed.”
“Why? So I can toss and turn all night, hear that tape run through my brain until dawn? Worry myself sick?” she asked, pinning him with an intelligent green gaze. “Thanks, but no thanks.”
“Don’t you have medication that’ll help you sleep?”
“I can’t be a zombie,” she answered.
“I just don’t want you to kill yourself.”
“I won’t.” Finished with her impromp