He radioed in, got a confirmation of the address, and sped up. We turned onto another road, this one narrower and filled with potholes.
The road curved sharply to the left, and soon we pulled into a driveway covered in pine needles, as if it hadn’t been used for some time. At the end of the drive, the car’s headlights illuminated a cabin that overlooked a lake. Moonlight reflected off the rippling water. Officer Gardener pulled a radio off his collar and spoke quietly into it.
“Dispatch, this is Officer Gardener. I need a confirmation of correct location and address, over.”
Static filled the line for a moment, and then a female voice came through. “Ten-four, Officer Gardener. Address is 105 Greenbriar Drive.”
I focused on the cabin and found the numbers 105 tacked to the doorframe.
The officer radioed back, then shuffled through a few papers stacked on the passenger’s seat. “Surely this can’t be right,” he muttered to himself.
Something about that cabin sent shivers down my spine. Didn’t serial killers always flock to these sorts of places in movies?
A light rain began to fall, covering the car in a mist that pattered against the windows. Officer Gardener absentmindedly turned on the wipers.
After a few minutes of sitting in the rain, Officer Gardener grabbed his flashlight and stepped out of the car. “I’ll be right back,” he told me, then slammed the door shut behind him. I watched as he circled the cabin, the steady back-and-forth swishing of the windshield wipers the only sound breaking up the silence.
The darkness and rain-covered windows made it hard to see anything outside, but I focused on the flashlight’s beam as he circled the cabin and then knocked on the door.
When no one came to the door, he went inside. A hazy yellow glow appeared in the cabin’s window as he turned on a light. I watched but saw no signs of him for several minutes until he came back outside and walked to the car.
He wore a sour expression as he opened the door and grabbed my arm. After helping me out of the car, he led me toward the front porch as the rain fell in a slow drizzle.
“What are we doing here?” I asked.
“Not a clue,” he answered. “Fifteen years in the armed forces taught me not to challenge my superiors, but I can’t for the life of me figure out why Officer Sanchez requested you be sent here.”
“Officer Sanchez requested it?”
He nodded.
“Is that like him to send potential suspects to some cabin in the middle of the woods?”
“To be honest, I don’t understand the man at all. You, for example, should have been detained after the first murder. Now this whole investigation is just laughable. He’s broken every procedural code in the book. In my opinion, Officer Sanchez ought to be fired.”
“Fired? Don’t you think that’s a little harsh?”
“Not at all. And now I’m just supposed to leave you here until the investigation starts again. But why? None of this makes any sense.”
I had to agree with him. I was just as baffled as he was, and I didn’t know how to make sense of it, except that if Brent wanted me here, then maybe this would be my way out. In truth, escaping from this tiny matchstick cabin would be much easier than burning down an entire county lockup.
Maybe that’s exactly what Brent had intended.
Chapter 20
My head was resting on Kull’s shoulder, and my fingers were threaded through his. For a moment, I panicked. How had I gotten so close to him without realizing it? But then my brain informed me I was dreaming, so I brushed my fear aside. Instead, I enjoyed an episode from My Life That Should Have Been.
I stood with Kull on the terrace, overlooking the Rheic Sea. We were in the stronghold on the eastern peninsula, and I’d decided it was the most beautiful place in Faythander. The water here, unlike so many other places, sparkled glacier blue. A thin layer of snow blanketed the water-worn pebbles along the seashore, but I didn’t feel the cold up here. The room’s enormous fireplace put off a heat strong enough to combat the outside air.
“It’s very pretty here,” I said.
“Yes.”
“Why have you never brought me here before?”
He shrugged. “My family has so many strongholds it’s hard to keep track of them all. I haven’t been here since I was a child. Do you like it?”
“I love it. I think I could spend the rest of my life here and be happy.”
“Then we shall not leave until you are ready.”
He gently stroked his thumb across my cheek, then brushed away a stray strand of hair that glowed auburn in the morning sunlight.
He leaned close to my ear, whispering, “It’s not as beautiful as you.”
“Stop it. You might make me blush,” I whispered back.
“Good.”
He cupped my face, smiling that grin I hadn’t seen in so long, yet when he smiled now, it didn’t seem so long ago.
“It is my life’s mission to see you blush. My work is not complete until I have made you blush at least once every day for the rest of your life.”
“That might be a very long time, you know. I could live well past your lifetime.”
“No. We will die together in each other’s arms.”
“How could you possibly know that?”
“Because that is the only way it can be. The gods will allow nothing else but for us to be together until we make our final voyage together to Valhalla.”
I wished it were true. But then I realized that in this world, it was.
His lips met mine, catching me off guard. He kissed me slowly, but with a passion that made excitement ripple through my body. The warmth of his body engulfed me, and all my thoughts disappeared. It was just him and me, alone, and nothing else.
When he pulled away, a twinkle lit his eyes. He left me breathless, speechless;
