Chapter Fifty-One

Raven wrapped Noe in a blanket Edmée had in her Mercedes. She then put them both in the backseat and turned on the heat before calling for an ambulance. Edmée sat beside Noe, still muddy from head to toe but crying happily with her arms around the found boy.

After they were safe, Raven felt her mind slowly begin to slide from its mooring. All she could think of were the snakes, which Edmée had assured her were just harmless water snakes. But she couldn’t explain the man who pulled her from the house because Raven didn’t tell her about him. His voice was beginning to fade, and the words that he had spoken no longer sounded as if they came from this side of the grave.

As for Stevenson, Raven learned that Rita called him, giving him the same news about the soil samples that she had given Raven. He was following a hunch. When he saw Raven’s rental he thought it belonged to the killer. Just like a good little detective, he called for backup before going in. The wail of sirens now cutting through the pounding storm was because of him.

Doors slammed as uniformed officers poured from the police vehicles. Raven knew what Billy Ray would say to her if he were standing here with her now. As he should be, she thought bitterly. He would tell her that going back to Chief Sawyer would do worse than kill her; it would destroy her.

“But you’re not here, are you?” Raven breathed to no one in particular. “So, you don’t get a say.”

As the EMTs gently helped Noe out of the Mercedes, Raven threw all thoughts of her old partner from her mind. She searched through the rain, looking for the mysterious man who pulled her from the snake-infested waters. She could have sworn that she saw a shadowy figure walking away toward the west where her father was born. She studied the figure of her tormentor and savior melting into the rain, moving further and further away from her. She wondered if he were the price she had to pay for the peace she thought she had obtained from killing Lovelle. She wondered if Floyd sent him up from hell.

The chief called her name. He sounded as if he owned her. She gave the man’s retreating figure one more long look. Knowing she was walking back into a hell with Floyd or something worse waiting for her, she turned toward the chief, to the flickering red and white lights. Homicide wasn’t finished with her. She had killed in cold blood, and now there was more work to do in order to make up for that sin. She could only do that if she returned to the chaos.