Jason had saidboth,but he was looking only at Patrick. A lump formed in Patrick’s throat. “I’m glad you’re okay, too.”
Carrie wrapped her arms around her blood-stained middle. “Jason, I’m so sorry. It’s Tiffany. I—I couldn’t help her.”
Jason nodded and pulled her into another hug, his own eyes brimming with tears. “I know,” he said, his voice cracking in a way that broke Patrick’s heart. “Mikey told me what happened.”
A slow prickle crept across the back of Patrick’s neck.Mikeyhad told Jason how Tiffany had died.
“Where is he?” Carrie asked, glancing up from Jason’s chest and wiping the tears off her cheeks with the back of her hand. “I thought I heard him calling my name.”
Jason glanced over his shoulder. “He was right behind me.”
The prickle ripened into a shiver. “Carrie,” Patrick said. “What’s your ex-boyfriend’s last name?”
“You mean Daniel?” The furrow in her brow straightened as understanding hit her. She untangled herself from Jason’s arms. “Do you thinkhe’strying to kill us? I thought it was Russ.”
“I’m not sure. What’s his last name?”
“I don’t see how that’s important—”
“What’s his last name?”
Carrie blinked. “Williams.”
Patrick drew in a sharp breath. The man who’d been found murdered in Fairvale. Hacked to death with a cleaver. It could still be a different Daniel Williams, but—
“Age twenty-two?”
She looked confused. “Yes.”
“And he lives in Fairvale?”
“Yes, he’s got a summer internship at an ad agency there. What’s this all about?”
The confirmation stunned Patrick, his earlier suspicion gelling. The smugness on Mikey’s face, and his newfound alpha male posturing. Mikey would do anything for Carrie. He’d told Patrick once, back in high school, that he was going to kill the person who’d spread her photo if he ever found out who it was. At that time Patrick hadn’t taken him literally. Who would? People made hyperbolic promises every day, especially Mikey.
But Patrick had always suspected Tiffany had leaked the photo, to punish Carrie for having the gall to act on her crush on Jason.
Shit. Jason would probably be Mikey’s next victim, because with Tiffany out of the way, his cousin was now free to date Carrie.
And Mikey had proven himself proficient with the axe earlier, chopping wood.
A man-shaped shadow detached itself from the darkened doorway. It held something over its shoulder.
Jason turned. “Oh, there he is.”
“Jason!” Patrick shouted. “Get away from Mikey. It’shim.”
“What are you talking about?”
Patrick swung his flashlight toward Mikey with a shaking hand. Mikey squinted and shielded his eyes. Patrick aimed the light at the object Mikey had propped over one shoulder, and the earth stopped turning.
He was holding an axe.
24
Carrie
Carrie hugged herself again, both unsettled and heartened by the warmth of Jason’s arms. His earlier apology hadn’t healed the old hurt like she’d hoped, but she was glad they were on the path to developing a new understanding.
