Silver Falls - Anne Stuart [96]
It wasn’t his brother. It was the damaged creature who lived to hurt and kill. And he had to be stopped.
He drove so fast up the winding road that the tires spun, the car drifted sideways, and he ended up stuck in the mud halfway up the narrow drive that led to his house. He got out and ran, not sure why.
The house looked the same when he came around the corner. Bright blue tarp, gaping windows, rickety and ruined. There was no sign of anyone, and he started up the steps, taking them two at a time, all his senses sure of certain disaster.
The huge empty room looked the same in the shadows, the dark stain of blood a reminder. He started down the stairs that led into the room and then stopped as his eyes grew accustomed to the darkness. There was something over by the woodstove, something small and fragile. He took another step, and saw the long blond hair, and he let out a cry, stumbling forward.
He didn’t see it or hear it, but he knew it was coming. And when the blackness closed in he fought, but it was too strong, even against his rage, and he was gone.
David had won.
Rachel ran blindly, not daring to look behind her, terrified that a hand would reach out and grab her shoulder. She needed to get help, and fast, and she yanked her cell phone from her pocket as she raced down the uneven sidewalks in the heavy boots. She fumbled with the keypad, trying to dial Maggie’s number, but she kept hitting the wrong buttons. She forced herself to stop, long enough to catch her breath, long enough to dial 911. Before she could hit Send the phone rang.
She stared down at the image of David’s smiling face for a moment, on the phone he’d given her when she moved in, preprogrammed so that his little photo appeared anytime he called her. Tempted to smash the thing on the sidewalk, she took a deep breath and flipped it open. “Yes, David?” She spoke in a neutral voice, but her hands shook.
“Darling, where are you? I got home and the place was trashed. There were papers all over the place, and someone smashed in the window in my office. I was terrified that he’d come after you.”
He sounded like David, anxious, sweet, concerned, and she wanted to believe him so badly. Not for his sake. But for hers. “Who would come after me?”
“Caleb. They didn’t have enough to hold him, and he’s out. They don’t know where he is—I’m afraid he’s gone after Sophie.”
“Sophie’s with the Bannisters,” she said, her voice numb.
“No, she isn’t. Kristen said she took off before school was over, and Sophie told her to cover for her. She stopped by my father’s, but no one’s seen her since. I can’t bear the thought of anything happening to her.”
It was so easy to believe him. “Why would she stop by Stephen Henry’s? She hates him.”
“I think she was trying to find Caleb. Someone must have told her he’d been arrested, and she’s so blindly infatuated with him she probably thought it was all a lie. He has that effect on people.”
Rachel took a deep breath. She was standing motionless in the rain, holding on to the telephone. She couldn’t let him know her panic. “Have you told the police she’s missing?”
“Of course I have,” he said, and his voice sounded indignant, almost normal. “They’ll find her before Caleb does, I’m sure of it. I don’t want you to worry about it. I just want you to come back home.”
That cold, empty place had never really felt like home, she could finally admit it to herself. “I don’t think so, David.”
“Sweetheart, I know what you’re thinking. I saw the packed suitcases, the barrettes on Sophie’s dresser. What I never told you is that Caleb gave me those barrettes. I was dating someone with long hair, someone Caleb used to care about, and he gave me those barrettes to give to her.”
“Why didn’t you?”
“She disappeared,” he said, his voice, that pale version of Stephen Henry’s, sounded bleak. “I know what you’re thinking, and I don’t know how to convince you that I haven’t had anything to do with these murders. I tried to warn you that there was something wrong with Caleb, but you wouldn’t listen. You almost paid for that mistake