“Stop fighting. I won’t lose my brother to prison over a stupid gang rivalry. Are you listening?”
LeVar blinked and glanced down at his bloodied hands, realizing he would have murdered Rev had Darren and Raven not stopped him. He thought of his new family—his mother, Scout, Naomi, Thomas. He couldn’t let them down. This wasn’t who LeVar was. Not anymore.
A choked sob came from his throat. He threw his arms around Raven’s shoulders and cried for a long time.
CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
Sunday, August 15th
9:20 p.m.
Thomas checked his mirrors. Since he’d driven out of Wolf Lake into the depthless night, he’d sensed eyes on him. The road lay empty, the distant hills black monstrosities looming over the horizon. He had Aguilar on speaker phone as he rushed toward Cathy Webb’s address on County Line Road.
“I’ll arrive at the courthouse in fifteen minutes,” said Aguilar. She would get the judge’s signature at the courthouse to expedite the warrant. “Don’t make a move until I join you.” He didn’t reply. “Thomas?”
“I heard you.”
The centerline extended into the unknown, a line pulling him toward hell. For six years, a murderer had lived outside Wolf Lake with no one’s knowledge. As he directed the cruiser around a curve, he remembered the real Cathy Webb’s face. Except for the teenager’s overbite, she looked exactly like her cousin, Dawn Samson. Dawn’s suicide had driven Alec mad. The boy murdered his cousin, the kind woman who’d invited him into her house, because she was a carbon copy of his dead sister. A chill slid through Thomas.
Killing the headlights before he reached the decrepit home, he eased the cruiser onto the shoulder behind a stand of trees. He slipped into the night and watched the house through the branches. The screaming face of a full moon hung over the rooftop, the garage colored in deep azures. Silencing his phone and radio, he followed the tree line along the driveway. One light shone on the second floor. The silhouette of a woman brushing her hair played over a drawn shade. Thomas squinted at the figure. Inside, a speed metal rock song rattled the windows.
When the silhouette moved away from the window, Thomas crept down the driveway to the garage. Checked the door. Still locked. He rounded the garage and felt along the walls until he found what he sought. A crack in the wood, just large enough for his flashlight. He cast an eye at the house, worried he’d attracted Alec Samson’s attention. Then he directed the light inside the garage. He stopped the beam on a dark blue Honda Odyssey. Flicked the light at the windshield and read the registration sticker—expired four years ago. No license plate. Just a paper copy mimicking the temporary license plates car dealerships placed on their vehicles.
Thomas doused the light and stepped away from the garage. He couldn’t wait much longer for the warrant.
* * *
Alec Samson applied lipstick at the bedroom mirror. One leg crossed over the other with black fishnet stockings ending at mid-thigh, he puckered his lips and turned his face one way, then the other. He grinned at his profile.
The girl bleated from the neighboring bedroom. He turned the music louder to drown her out.
“You can’t keep me locked in here!”
She pounded a fist against the bedroom door. Normally, he allowed his pet to wander the house as she wished. The doors locked from the inside and required keys. Concealed behind the blackout curtains, steel bars covered the first-story windows. Without a lower roof overhang, a leap from the second floor would guarantee shattered bones. It had been a few years since the girl last attempted escape.
But tonight was different. She raged against the bedroom door, screamed for release. He’d made a mistake last week, forgetting to lock the basement. She’d seen Justine. It snapped his pet out of her submissive state and reminded her of who she was, of what she once had. During her teenage years, she’d stood idly by and allowed Paige to torture his sister. He required repayment for her sins. A lifetime’s worth.
Alec’s hands curled into fists. His body trembled as he struggled to contain his fury. So many times he’d wanted to slam the girl against the wall and strangle the life out of her, glaring into her panicked eyes as he squeezed.
“You will be quiet now, or there will be punishment.”
The pet turned silent for a moment. Then the pounding began again. This time with greater purpose, as if she meant to smash through the wood. The corner of his mouth twitched.
“Silence!”
His command had no effect. The walls shook as she threw her weight against the door. The sound like bombs exploding. Boom, boom, boom. His hands shook as he ran the brush through his gnarled hair. This is the way Cathy had responded after he locked her in the bedroom. She’d discovered his secret—the shack in the woods where he chained his pet and kept her hidden. Cathy finding out turned out to be a blessing in disguise. By eliminating his cousin, the girl who looked so much like Dawn, he had the house to himself. No more need for the shack. He moved his pet into the house, secured the doors and windows, and beat the girl into submission whenever she tried to flee.
But his world was falling apart tonight. It wasn’t the infernal pounding that drove him mad. He sensed a change in the pattern. A drop in the pond, pushing concentric waves across the water, disturbing what lay hidden. His instinct told him to move away from the window.
Now he stood in the bedroom entryway as the girl hurled her emaciated frame against the locked door across the hall. By now, she must have thrown her shoulder out of socket or cracked her collarbone. Yet her fervor intensified.
“Let me
