About an hour and a half later, she stopped her car around the block from Eddie’s place. She didn’t want to make the mistake of parking too close and it giving her presence away if he pulled in early. She climbed out of her Civic and walked down the sidewalk until she reached his address. She stood behind a tree and watched for several minutes before approaching the house, but if Eddie stuck to his original M.O., he'd hang around the cabin until the police showed up. That gave Ness a few hours to find a way inside.
She moved toward the front entrance; she knew from her time inside that Eddie didn’t have an alarm system, but that didn’t rule out other hidden measures that he may have in place. She peered in through the small square windows surrounding the door and couldn’t see much on the inside. There is of course the possibility that he’s waiting inside the house because he predicted that I’d come here looking for him, Ness thought to herself.
After several seconds of deliberation, she decided that she couldn’t waste more time outside and she broke one of the windows close to the door and stuck her hand inside feeling for the lock. Her heart drummed in her ears as she felt for the release. She felt the small handle and flipped it, unlocking the door. Ness walked inside and looked around in the darkness. Get to the garage, Ness.
She walked quickly through the hallway and through the kitchen. She opened the connecting door quietly and peered inside. Because there were no windows in the garage, it was pitch black, and Ness couldn’t see anything inside. She closed her eyes, expecting a sudden attack and felt for the light switch. Her fingers brushed over the metallic switch, and she flipped it on.
The Contour isn’t here. Got lucky, Ness. she moved quickly to the light switch on the other wall and looked for the keypad. Although she only saw Eddie type it in once, she remembered the code. Most people wouldn’t remember a 12-digit code if they only see it once, but one thing that Eddie didn’t know about Ness was that she had an eidetic memory and was able to remember things in vivid detail. She closed her eyes and typed in the code. The tool shelf started moving and Ness had access to everything that she needed. She grabbed a duffel bag from inside the room and loaded all of Eddie’s alias passports, cash, electric lock picks, and several firearms into the bag. She was about to zip it closed when she spotted something else—she picked the item up and held it in her hands. Oh, yes, this will work very nicely, she smiled and packed it into the bag. Once she was finished, she grabbed the gasoline canister from the back of the G-Wagon—which was still three-quarters full—and poured it round the garage. She then moved into the house and poured the gasoline into areas that would ignite easily like carpets, curtains, and furniture made of wood. Once she was finished, she carried the gasoline canister and duffel bag to the front door, and with a box of matches that she grabbed from the kitchen, she ignited the fire and walked out the door. As she moved up the sidewalk, she could see the smoke billowing into the air behind her. She put the canister and duffel bag into her car and drove past 397 Riverview Road, that was now being engulfed by flames. She continued driving—Ness had one more stop she had to make.
She drove on the interstate until she found a gas station and she pulled in. She filled both her car and the canister up, paying for it with her credit card. Once she’d filled up, she hit the road again and drove straight to Eddie’s Bar. She parked her car on the street, and because it was late on a Sunday night, the area was relatively empty. Even the bar was closed. She reversed her car into the alleyway and walked toward the metal door that led to Eddie’s Bar. She pulled out the electric lock pick and held it in her hand. She wasn’t entirely sure how to operate it, but she pushed it into the lock and turned it on. The machine vibrated, and Ness started to wiggle the machine and then twisted it, like she would be unlocking it with a key. The door unlocked. Bloody hell! It worked! Ness opened the door and listened, but everything remained silent, so she assumed that there wasn’t an alarm. However, she wasn’t going to hang around either in case it sent a silent signal to an alarm company.
Ness walked through to the freezer room and had to use the lock pick again to access the door. Once she was inside, she started looking for anything that she could use as leverage against Eddie. She started opening the freezers but found nothing. There was only one left. She opened the lid. Well . . . this is going to be problematic for you, Eddie, Ness shut the lid of the freezer and ran out. She grabbed the canister of gasoline and went through to the bar. She didn’t pour any gasoline in the back room because she was hoping that the police or arson investigators would discover what was in the last freezer. Ness poured the gasoline everywhere and set the place on fire. She ran out into the alleyway, shutting the door behind her and she drove off.
Wyatt drove his truck up the windy terrain of the Illinois woods and could see that there were multiple blue lights flashing up ahead. Wyatt’s heart sank as he approached the cabin. It seemed surreal that his grandfather—who he only just saw a few
