Instead, her car is heading out of town on the mountain road. I check the last thirty minutes of footage for the webcam outside her house.
Dean peers over my shoulder. “You’re checking the bird’s nest webcam? I love watching those little guys learning to fly.”
“Nope.”
Ava walks down the path in her front yard. Her face is so sad that it makes my heart ache. She gets in her car.
Dean’s looking at me. “Isn’t that the girl who you went home with–”
“Shut up, bro. I need to concentrate.”
The angle of the webcam isn’t great, but Ava’s movements inside the car are odd. She’s pressed against the window for a second, almost like she’s struggling, and then the car reverses. I rewind the footage. Parked further up the street is that maroon car.
Cold dread sweeps over me. Silas must have been waiting for her in that car. He made the fake call to get me out of the way and then broke into her vehicle to wait for her.
The radio crackles. “All engines, this is Dispatch. We have another callout. From someone we can trust, Callan Connor. Says he can see a thin line of smoke coming from a cabin down the mountain. They’re high up on some trees looking down.”
“Copy that. Engine 2 on our way. Over.” I start up the engine, my heart beating fast.
“What the fuck is going on?” Dean’s voice is just behind me, but it sounds like it’s miles away.
Silas has made Ava drive out of town. And now there’s a real fire on the same road. She’s in danger and I’m going to save her.
The siren blares as I pump the gas.
I have to find her.
Now.
Chapter Seven
AVA
I’m pressed against the door of the cabin as Silas kicks it. He’s screaming something incoherent, but I bet it involves killing me.
When I got in the car, he held the pistol to my head and told me to drive. I shoved my body over to the door, thinking the pistol was empty, before he smugly informed me he’d loaded it. I had no choice but to drive up the mountain road.
Silas was disgustingly pleased with himself. He said he knew I’d never give him the money back when he saw me at the bar. And the easiest solution was to take me somewhere quiet and make me disappear. Then he’d find Mom and force her to come with him.
I’m strangely calm as I drive, listening to him rant. There’s no way I’m going down without a fight. A herd of deer runs across the road and I brake sharply. Silas rolls down his window and starts ranting at the deer to get off the road, spit flying from his mouth.
As the deer scatter, an old cabin not far from the road comes into view. I press my foot on the gas, then swing the wheel as far as I can to the left, sending us careering into a ditch by the side of the road. The pistol flies out of Silas’s hands and out the window.The car is at a crazy angle on its side. Silas is lying still, pressed against the door.
I scrabble for my door just as he starts to move, jumping out of the car and running as fast as I can to the cabin.
Silas is shouting at me as I close the front door, bolting it behind me. He bangs on the door and kicks it over and over. And then everything goes quiet. I wait, trying to second-guess him. Silas never gives up. Maybe he’s gone to look for the pistol?
I didn’t have time to grab my bag, so I can’t call for help. I’m trapped here with Silas lurking somewhere outside. I put my head in my hands, my back to the door. My stepfather is trying to kill me. The guy I just had the best night of my life with is some kind of stalker. I don’t think my luck could get any worse.
My body sags, all the strength leaving my bones, and I slide my back down the door to sit on the floor. I close my eyes, exhausted, and sit there for what seems like hours. Someone close by must be burning something.
My eyes flick open. There’s a cloud of gray smoke in the air. Inside the cabin.
I leap to my feet and peek out of the shuttered window.
Silas is standing twenty feet from the property, opposite the door. Smoke is rising from the logs stacked close to the house.
“You have to come out now, girl.” His voice has that smug tone again.
