“You smashed your mom’s head off the counter. What did you expect?” Adam said.
“He came after me, tried to hit me,” Rory explained. “Holly jumped on his back to try to stop him. He threw her off and she hit her head. That’s when I grabbed his penknife from his belt and stabbed him. He went outside. Holly was okay. She got up. She was talking. Then he came back inside with the gun. He shot our mom. Holly and I ran out to the woods to get away.”
“It was your shoe prints in the kitchen and out back,” Josie said. “Size ten.”
“Yeah,” Rory said. “I went with her to get away from him. I thought she was okay, but then she fell down and… stopped breathing.”
“She had a head injury,” Josie said. “I’m sorry.”
“I’m not,” said Adam. “One down, one to go.”
“Just one?” Josie asked. “You really didn’t know about Emily?”
He gave a harsh laugh. “I had no idea. Never saw her. Lorelei was damn good at keeping secrets. But the kid’s eight, and I stopped seeing Lorelei before she was born. I only went over there a few times after that when this monster was out of control.”
“You were going to kill Emily, too!” Rory accused.
“Only if she recognized me,” Adam said. “And she didn’t.”
“Does Celeste know?” Josie asked. “Does she know what you’ve done? She gave you your alibi for Friday morning.”
Again, he laughed. The sound sent a chill down Josie’s back. “Celeste alibied me because she thought I was at home asleep. I was, when she left to go meet Tom. They’ve been screwing around together for years now. They think I don’t know. She left, Lorelei called, and I knew Celeste would be busy with Tom for a few hours, so I went to settle things with Lorelei once and for all. Celeste never caught on—not to any of it—and I’m keeping it that way. I’ve just got this last bit of clean-up to do.” He lifted his chin in Rory’s direction. “I’ve been looking for this little prick out here in the woods for days. I almost hit you that one day—hit a tree instead. You’re always in the goddamn way.”
“You were looking for Rory when my grandmother saw you,” Josie said, trying to keep her voice from shaking.
“I couldn’t exactly come out of the woods, could I? Especially not with this in my hands. I thought if I shot the two of you, I could just blame it on the kid. Then I’d find him, snap his neck, and make it look like an accident. Lots of places to fall out here.”
Tears stung Josie’s eyes, but she bit them back. The hand that was not holding onto Rory’s arm tapped his other side, searching for the flashlight. He didn’t seem to understand at first. Josie didn’t want to make her movements too big and alert Adam, but their only chance of getting out of this alive was the flashlight. There was no reasoning with Adam. Unlike his son, he didn’t have remorse for anything he did. Unlike his son, he didn’t require rage to kill, only an opportunity. She tapped against Rory’s arm again then used two fingers to walk her hand down toward his wrist. He shifted and her hand closed around the handle of the flashlight.
“Anything else you nitwits want to talk about while we’re out here?” Adam asked. “Last chance. I can’t wait for this to finally be over.”
He lifted the shotgun and pointed it at them. Josie’s finger found the button on the side of the flashlight. Out of the corner of her mouth, as quietly as she could, she said to Rory, “Run.”
“What was that?” Adam asked. The gun quivered slightly. Josie swung her arm around and flicked the light on, shining it directly into his face.
One hand let go of the gun and flew up, shielding his eyes. “Bitch,” he said.
Rory took off. Josie closed the distance between her and Adam at a run, leaping upward at the last moment and bringing the flashlight down on his head. He cried out but didn’t drop the gun. Josie kicked where she hoped his knee was but nothing happened. She tried again. This time, he buckled slightly. Josie’s hands reached out into the darkness until they found the barrel of the gun. She grabbed onto it and turned her body, hooking an elbow over the barrel of the gun so that it was beneath her armpit. Adam straightened up and pressed in behind her, his hand coming around and grabbing at her face. One of her hands let go of the shotgun and grabbed his fingers just as they dug into her chin. She twisted his fingers backward with a jerk. Bone cracked. Adam let out a high-pitched cry and fell to the ground.
Josie muscled the gun out of his grip. Choking up on the barrel like it was a baseball bat, she swung the stock at him. But in the dim light, her aim was off. The gun sailed through the air. With all her weight behind it, she was off-balance. Adam rose up behind her and tackled her. Josie went down hard but they were on a slight decline, so she used his momentum to roll him under her, and started punching. Her fists pummeled anything solid. It was too dark to choose her targets.
He muttered another curse. One of his arms flew up and backhanded her. Stars flashed across Josie’s vision. Then she was on her back again but only for a second because they were rolling, rolling, and then falling.
Lots of places to fall out here.
She landed on top of him and felt the breath rush out of his body. Flailing, he tried to grab onto her but she crawled away, hands scrabbling over leaves, brush, and tree roots until the ground seemed to rise up, a slanted wall in front of her.
She had to climb. Coming to her knees,
