Reyes nodded. “It’s a small town, but you’d be surprised how easy it is to get lost.”
They pulled into the dirt driveway. Then they stopped in front of a metal gate. On either side was a tall, wire fence with coiled barbed wire lining the top.
Nic stared at it for a long moment, then got out of the car.
Reyes joined her.
He went to the gate and swung it open. It was not locked, though a loose chain hung from one side.
“Strange,” he said. “Why go to all this trouble to hang a lock on the gate but not close it?”
Nic looked up at the fence, then touched one of the wires. She could feel the small barbs.
“This is the same fence!” she said.
Reyes started walking back to car. “I guess you were right about it.”
They got back in the car and drove up the long driveway to the top of a hill. They stopped just past the front porch of a house. It was exactly as Booth had described it. An old ranch with a partial renovation.
“Stay here,” Reyes said.
Nic didn’t argue. He walked around the car, but then stopped by her window. She rolled it down.
“What?” she asked.
He leaned in and gave her a kiss. It was the first kiss all morning and it made her want more.
“Is that okay?” he asked.
“Yes,” Nic answered.
She leaned out the window, watching as he walked to the porch steps, then up the steps to the front door. He rang the doorbell and waited. He knocked, and waited. He looked back, shrugged. Rang again. Knocked again. Waited.
He placed his hand on his holstered gun.
Then he turned the doorknob. It opened. He looked back to motion that he was going inside. Nic nodded at him, and watched as he disappeared into the house, closing the door behind him.
33
Day sixteen
Ihear a car in the driveway. Mick has been gone for two hours. Alice has not come to me, not even to bring me food. I have listened to her play alone in her toy room, making the voices for both Hannah and Suzannah. I cannot hear what they say to each other but it worries me that she stays away.
I get up and walk to the window. I look out the hole to see what it is Mick wants me to see. There is no point in avoiding it.
I have been looking out all morning and I have already turned his plan to my advantage. Beyond the driveway, I see my new weapon.
A row of apple trees flank the side of the driveway. They are mature trees and I imagine they were planted before Mick took over this house. He does not seem to have an interest in property maintenance.
The apples have ripened and fallen days, maybe weeks ago.
Apple seeds contain amygdalin.
Amygdalin can convert to cyanide.
Cyanide can make you sick. It can even kill you.
I have been back and forth to the hole in the window, studying the trees, counting the apples that have fallen to the ground.
