Hannah sighed as she slid her key into the lock on her office door and pushed it open. Minutes after Jed left to find Alyssa Abbott, Hannah had gotten called out on an emergency for one of her teenaged patients. The poor boy had attempted suicide, and Hannah had spent the rest of the afternoon with him and his family at the hospital.
Caleb’s issues had kept her engaged and busy all day, but the thumb drive in her laptop had occupied one corner of her mind throughout the ordeal with Caleb. While at the hospital, she’d realized that the security footage on the file belonged to Jerry’s 24/7, the convenience store where Jed had gone the night Zoey accused him of rape.
The Dead Falls Sheriff’s Department couldn’t verify Jed’s alibi for that night because Jerry’s security camera had malfunctioned and law enforcement couldn’t view his tapes. What was her father doing with security footage from Jerry’s 24/7 if it wasn’t any good?
She dropped her bag on the floor at the corner of her desk and folded herself into the chair, dragging the computer into her lap. She tapped the keyboard to wake up the laptop and clicked on the security footage file.
The grainy images appeared with the lights of an occasional passing car illuminating the front parking lot. One set of lights grew bigger and brighter, and the footage showed the nose of a pickup truck parking in front of the store. Hannah sucked in a breath.
Seconds later, a figure emerged from the truck. The young man scooped a hand through his dark hair, pushing it back from his handsome face. She’d know that face anywhere.
Jed took a few steps toward the entrance of the convenience store, patting his back pocket. He stopped, felt in his other pockets for the missing wallet and pivoted back to his truck.
Hannah whispered under her breath, “Keep going, Jed. Go into the store so Jerry can see you.”
The lights from Jed’s truck blazed on again and dimmed as he pulled out of the parking lot.
Hannah’s gaze darted to the timestamp on the video. She fell against the back of the chair, her hand over her mouth. The time gave Jed his alibi. Her father had stolen the tape from Jerry’s 24/7 and replaced it with a bum tape to frame Jed for Zoey’s rape.
A sharp rap on the door of her office made her jerk upright. Could it be Jed already? He’d texted her that he’d found the location of Alyssa’s group home and was heading out there. She hadn’t heard from him since.
She clambered out of the chair and flew to the door. She threw it open, and the disappointment of seeing Bryan Lamar on her porch punched her in the gut. She’d forgotten about the meeting today.
“Oh, hey, Bryan. Come on in.” She peered over his broad shoulder into the darkness. “Are the kids’ teachers coming?”
“Yeah, they’re right behind me.” He stepped across the threshold of her office and gave her space a quick glance. “No patients, I hope.”
Tilting her head, she said, “I wouldn’t have invited you in if there were.”
How was she going to sit through this meeting with the knowledge she had about Jed’s alibi weighing down her heart? She had to tell him before she did anything else.
Holding up her index finger, she said, “Just give me one minute before we start. I need to make a quick call. I’ll be done before the others get here.”
She turned to grab her bag from the floor, but Bryan brushed past her and kicked the bag out of her reach.
She gave a nervous laugh. “Are you okay? Did you trip?”
Bryan scooped up the bag and snatched her phone from the side pocket.
She extended her hand, wiggling her fingers. “Thanks, Bryan.”
He pressed his thumb against the side of her phone and tossed it onto the chair.
She blinked. What the hell was he doing? Did he think she was one of his students or something?
“I really need to make a phone call, Bryan. Just before the others come.” She made a move toward the chair, and he moved his bulky frame in front of her.
“The others aren’t coming, Hannah, and you’re not getting your phone.”
Her mouth dropped open as the hair on the back of her neck quivered. “Wh-what are you talking about, Bryan? What are you doing?”
She shuffled back toward her desk and the heavy paperweight on the edge.
Bryan pulled a gun out of his pocket and aimed it at her head. “Just stop, Hannah. That little rock on your desk is no match for my weapon.”
“I don’t understand what’s going on.” But the terror throbbing at the base of her spine told her it wasn’t good.
“Really? At the moment of truth, you play dumb? Did your jailbird boyfriend find my sister? Did he think her home wouldn’t call me to ask me about my friend paying her a visit?”
Knots twisted in her gut, and she put a fist against her midsection. “You’re Addison Abbott.”
“And you’re not going to tell anyone.” He waved the gun at her. “Get moving.”
Her hands clenched into fists as she eyed her phone on the cushion of the chair.
“Don’t even think about it. I turned it off, anyway. You’re not going to make a grab for it and call 911—not before I shoot you.” His hand steadied, and he nodded toward her purse on the floor next to her bag. “Get your purse and walk out the door ahead of me. Lock the door behind you.”
“You’re going to make this look like I left on my own?” She pointed to her dead phone. “Not without my cell phone.”
Shrugging, he said, “People leave their phones behind all the time. Go.”
She turned and crouched to pick up her purse. She could turn and swing it at him, but if a rock was no match for a gun, then a purse was even less of one. Bryan didn’t want to shoot her here and leave evidence behind, and that was going to buy her some time.
Hitching the purse over her shoulder, she shuffled toward the door. If only she had talked to Jed when she got back instead of pouncing on that thumb drive. If he had talked to Alyssa and discovered Bryan’s identity, he could’ve warned her, and she never would’ve let Bryan in her office.
She opened the door and peered outside, hopeful that Jed was on his way back to Dead Falls right now. Maybe they’d pass him on the road, even though she had no idea where Bryan was taking her.
Her low-heeled boots crunched on the gravel as she walked toward the car parked on the side of her house. Nobody could see the car from her driveway, and her security cameras didn’t include this area. She’d wanted to afford her patients some privacy and had never had cameras pointing at her office. Jed would have no idea what happened to her or where she went.
A sob caught in her throat, but she stifled it. She had to stay on an even keel while dealing with Bryan. Maybe she could talk him out of killing her. Give him a chance to get away.
As she got in the passenger side of his car, Bryan crowded behind her and pushed her forward. “You drive, and if you try to veer off the road or into another car, I’ll shoot you.”
She believed him. She crawled over the console with Bryan’s gun jabbed into her back and settled behind the wheel. “Where to?”
“I’ll give you directions as we go.”
Her attempts to engage him in conversation and ask questions hung between them in the car, as the only words he spoke were curt directions. After several minutes of seeing no other cars on the road, Hannah didn’t need Bryan’s directions anymore. He was taking her to the falls.
As they crossed the bridge, she debated briefly aiming the car into the guardrail, but there was something very attractive about staying alive right now, for as many minutes as possible.
Once across the bridge, he directed her to an overhang where his car would be out of sight of anyone crossing the bridge. She parked.
“Now what?”
“Out of the car.” He backed out of the passenger side, keeping the gun trained on her, and motioned for her to crawl across the console again. He pointed to the path that led to the back side of the falls. “You know the way.”
She was sure she knew this path a lot better than he did. As they got close to the water, the cold spray tickled her face and clung to her hair.
They faced each other on the narrow path behind the falls, the water roaring in Hannah’s ears. They each had one of the caves behind them. Hers was farther away, but she might be able to take a few steps back and throw herself to the side. Of course, that could all go horribly wrong if she slipped on the slick path beneath her feet or Bryan shot her before she could gain the safety of the cave.
She licked her lips, the moisture giving her dry mouth a much-needed salve. “Why, Bryan? Why did you kill Zoey and Stephanie? What did they ever do to you?”
Bryan rolled his shoulders, his grip on the gun relaxing. Now that he had her where he wanted her, he had more confidence, and that confidence would loosen his lips.
“They didn’t do anything to me, but they were harming their children, day in and day out. I could see it at school, and I saw the CPS reports.”
She asked, “Why did you pick on single mothers? What about the terrible fathers?”
“Their dirtbag fathers were already out of the picture, had already abandoned their kids. Believe me, if I found a single father neglecting his child, I would’ve taken him out, too. You’re a child psychologist. Tell me that neglect, that abuse, doesn’t bother you.”
Bryan was lying. He’s too cowardly to confront a man. Vulnerable women were so much easier to kill, but she didn’t want to anger him. “Of course, it bothers me, but there are methods.”
He snorted. “Methods. The only surefire method is to take out the abuser.”
“Like you took out Chet Keldorf, your foster father?” She held her breath and inched back a little toward the cave behind her.
“Damn right.” His hand gripped the gun harder, and a muscle twitched in his jaw. “He didn’t want children. He wanted victims. He locked us in that pen in the barn. You know. You saw it, didn’t you? H-he sexually abused my sister and the other girls. That’s why my sister is in that home. He ruined her life. He had to pay.”
“And Mrs. Keldorf? Sheila?”
“She helped him. She was as evil as he was—and those damned birds. He cared about those birds more than his foster children.”
“But what about the little ones? Why Selina and Jacob?”
“They were innocents, but they didn’t have a chance at a life after being with the Keldorfs. I showed them a mercy.”
Hannah’s stomach turned, and she shoved her hands in her pockets. Her fingers touched a small disk—the GPS tag meant for Sheldon. Her heart leapt in her chest. Her phone was tracking her location. She had to keep him talking.
“I—I can understand that, Bryan. I’ve seen it myself. Some children are just too far gone to be saved, but you saved your sister.”
He narrowed his eyes at her unexpected response. “I did save her.”
“And you can save her now. If you kill me, you’re not going to get away with it. What’s going to happen to Alyssa when you’re in prison?”
“You’re wrong. I will get away with it and the others.” He glanced at the rushing water, and Hannah knew she had only a few minutes.
“Nate Keldorf.”
Bryan shrugged. “He suspected me. He knew what went on in that house and did nothing.”
“You killed him on a busy street. Do you really believe the police aren’t going to find some clues to connect you to that murder?”
He gestured toward the water crashing next to them. “You’re going to jump. Suicide. Happens all the time out here. Maybe you discovered your ex-con boyfriend was really guilty of rape, and you couldn’t handle the truth.”
“We took your car. When you drive away, law enforcement is going to wonder how I got here.” Could she reason with a madman?
The slightest movement behind Bryan caught her eye. The relief she felt at seeing Jed poke his head from the cave behind Bryan almost made her knees weak, and she had to place a hand against the damp rock beside her to steady herself.
Jed had snuck into the caves from a path where the falls gathered for their descent. Not many people knew about that path and fewer attempted to traverse it.
“Y-you could’ve walked here, or maybe they’ll never find your body.”
She’d rattled him and his little plan. He hadn’t thought of everything. He had to be wondering what else he missed.
“Bryan, we can work this out together. I was no fan of Zoey’s. She lied about Jed, almost ruined his life. I could see that Stephanie Boyd was a terrible mother. I can help those kids now. I won’t tell anyone, but you have to promise you’ll stop. If you stop, I can let the others go.”
He took a step toward her. “You can jump, or I’ll shoot you first and you’ll topple over. Your choice, Hannah.”
Jed emerged from the cave but if Bryan sensed him there, they’d all die.
“Wait!” She thrust out a hand to stop Bryan’s forward movement. “What about Astrid? Why’d you kidnap Olly?”
“I wasn’t ready for my next kill yet—Vera Allende. She left the island in the middle of my planning stages. Astrid was just to keep the cops on their toes. She needed a warning, anyway. She had a record with CPS. It could’ve been true. She’s keeping her son from his father.”
“You had access to all the CPS records, didn’t you? As principal, you have your kill list at your fingertips.”
“I’m tired of talking, Hannah. We both know you’re not going to help me or keep quiet. And that boyfriend of yours will never keep quiet, either.”
Jed took that as a signal and launched toward Bryan on the narrow, slippery path. “Hannah, move!”
As the two men fell to the ground, Hannah jumped back and threw herself to the side to reach the cave. Her hip hit the edge, and her feet scrambled for purchase on the path.
She screamed as Bryan, with Jed on top of him, rolled toward the cliff’s rim. Bryan still had the gun clutched in his hand, but Jed had his knee on Bryan’s elbow so that he couldn’t move his arm.
Bryan bucked beneath Jed, lifting him in the air. Jed grabbed on to a branch jutting from the hillside as Bryan clambered to his knees and freed his arm. He swung the gun toward Jed.
Hannah screamed again, dropping to a crouch, ready to crawl toward Bryan.
As Bryan took aim, Jed kicked out with one leg, his foot landing in the middle of Bryan’s chest. Bryan’s eyes rounded, both of his arms windmilling at his sides as he attempted to keep his balance.
He failed, and the waters of Dead Falls swept him into their embrace.