I ached to scream out my fury, my love—the two mixing together often. But I wanted her to discover me on her own.
She would. She had to. She was too smart not to realize I was her shadow—glued to her forever. Then she’d appreciate the depth of my love for her, far deeper than Joel Brunswick could muster.
Riffling through Heath’s bag, she dumped it out, the items clanging on the wooden floor. She sank back on the bed, confusion on her beautiful face. She hadn’t found what she wanted.
Her gaze fixed on my pack, and I rubbed my hands together.
Footsteps sounded in the passageway but on the ground level. Joel had no clue. Poor Sheriff Brunswick, unable to get his man.
Her flashlight flickered, the faint light starting to fade. Soon it would extinguish. And they’d find no batteries. I’d seen to that. Soon it would be just me and her in the dark. A smile tugged at my lips.
Cassie bent over, lifted my pack, and laid it on the bed, her back to me.
This was it—the defining moment of our relationship.
She opened my pack and reached inside. I stepped through the passageway opening and slipped into the room behind her—the cloth soaked with chloroform ready in my hand, but she wouldn’t find the bottle of it in my pack. I put it in a bottle labeled lotion. That wouldn’t alter what was to come, but my letter materials most certainly would.
She smelled of rosemary and lilacs. A new perfume for a new life.
I longed to smell her neck but refrained. Longed to touch her so very close in front of me, but I restrained.Discover me.
She continued riffling through the pockets of my pack. Suddenly, she stilled.
She finally knew. Pulling out the paper and envelopes I’d chosen just for her, she gasped. “No way.”
How could she not know it was me after all I’ve done for her?
She turned. Terror blanketed her face. “You?”
I smiled and reached for her face.
She stumbled back, and I advanced.
“I’m your shadow. With you always. Don’t you know me?” I reached to brush the hair away from her face, and she pulled back again. Anger pulsed hot through me. How dare she? “You’remine. Don’t you understand that?”
“I-I...” She widened her mouth to holler, but I grabbed her before it could come out and smothered her nose and mouth with the cloth. It only took a moment, and she acquiesced to the sleep overcoming her. Such a good girl.
I wanted to take Joel out before the escape, but she was in my arms, and I had a way out, so I’d take it. There would be ample opportunity to kill Joel if he followed, and knowing Joel, once the loser figured it out, he’d surely follow.
Twenty-One
NOT FINDINGCASSIEin the passageway, Joel exited by the parlor, assuming she’d gone back to the group after getting separated. One minute she was following him. The next, she was gone. He’d searched the lower passageway, where they’d gotten separated, multiple times but no Cassie.
Arguing still roared in the parlor.
He stepped inside. “What’s going on?”
“He’s keeping us prisoner,” Amy said, gesturing to Jayce. “And I have to use the bathroom.”
Jayce linked his arms across his chest. “I asked her to wait until you were back. You said not to let anybody leave.”
“Thanks,” he said to his bro, then shifted his attention to a very impatient, bouncing-in-place Amy. “It’s okay. You can go.”
“We need to go too,” Savannah said, gesturing between her and Kendra.
“Fine.” He nodded. With Amy and Savannah with her, Kendra couldn’t go anywhere—if she was their culprit.
Plus, their exit would give him time to converse with Jayce about their suspicions of Kendra. He’d question her when she returned, along with Heath, who stood holding up the wall, one foot braced on it behind him. At least Cassie would be safe with Heath stuck in the room with him. Unless it was Devon ... who was not in the room. He turned to Jayce. “Where’s Devon?”
