Don’t trust him. He’ll hurt you.
She couldn’t answer Jake, not and focus on Carter.
Open to me,she begged the unconscious man.Let me show you what it can be like.
She wasn’t sure what she was doing. She only knew she was showing him possibilities he had never even considered. Each bad thing could have come out differently. Each decision could have been the turning point.
As she tried to show him that, she felt him pulling back from the abyss.
The dark forces clawing at him loosened their hold, and his spirit came back to the body lying on the bed.
Her own body jerked as life swooshed back into him. Blinking, she looked down at him. He was sleeping.
Tell him what will make a difference for him,Jake whispered in her mind.
Go to the police, she said to Carter.Tell them that you were trying to question Evelyn Morgan. Tell them that she died trying to get away from you. It was an accident. You didn’t mean to do it.
He moaned.
I know you don’t want to go to the police, she soothed.I understand. But you don’t want to go to the dark place when you die. You want to change your life. Take your punishment. Then find a job where you work for humanity.
She didn’t know if it was possible. Maybe he’d already gone too far down the wrong path, but she desperately wanted his life to come out differently.
And she knew he believed that.
You think he’ll go to the cops?Jake asked.
Maybe. If we reinforce him.
Carter still slept, and she was exhausted from connecting with him. Jake came over to her side of the bed and caught her in his arms, carrying her to the chair by the window, sitting with her cradled in his lap. She closed her eyes and leaned her head against his shoulder.
“Tell him to stay asleep,” Jake murmured.
She did as he asked, sending Carter soothing, restful thoughts and the suggestion that he didn’t want to wake up yet.
“We have to get him back to town,” she said to Jake.
“We’ve got other problems first. Like, there’s a dead woman lying in front of the cabin.”
She dragged in a strangled breath. “Would you believe I wasn’t thinking about that?”
“You were a little busy.”
“What are we going to do?”
“What they would have done to us. She’s already dead. I think we can leave her for the alligators.”
Rachel fought a wave of sickness, but she didn’t have a better suggestion. He was right. Mickey and Kira would have killed her and Jake and let the creatures of the swamp cover up the crime.
Still, she didn’t offer to help when he strode outside. Through the window, she watched him pick up Kira and carry her into the underbrush where they’d taken refuge when the other couple had attacked.
When he disappeared from view, she waited tensely until he returned–alone.
“I put her in the water with Mickey,” Jake said when he reappeared.
“Did you see him?”
“No. But I saw a couple of gators.”
