Adam Brandt hadn’t known what to expect, but it wasn’t this.
Approaching Kassie’s house cautiously, he’d slid her door key into the lock and slipped inside. In the gloom, it had taken him a moment to get his bearings. The living room was empty, but there were noises coming from the back of the house. A voice, but was it Kassie’s? It sounded too deep, but who else would be here? Surprised, unnerved, he’d fingered the trigger of his weapon. Moments later, he’d heard movement in the hallway and then, without warning, Joseph White stepped into the room.
Adam recognized him immediately – his face was burned in his memory from that night at Lake Calumet. But what the hell was he doing here? White looked as confused as he did and, for a brief moment, neither man moved. Then, without warning, Adam raised his gun and fired. But White was already on the move, darting back down the hallway, as the bullet slammed into wall.
Adam hurried after him. The man who had been the architect of so much misery, so much bloodshed, was right here. Creeping up to the hallway entrance, he arrowed a look down it. The hallway was gloomy, but appeared to be empty. Adam thought about flicking on the lights, but deciding that that would make him an easy target, pressed on through the darkness. His gun was raised and he was ready to shoot again if necessary, though he could see his hand was shaking slightly.
The floorboards creaked ominously beneath his feet, setting his nerves jangling. He assumed the man was in the back room, but there were doors off to the side before that – fertile territory for an ambush. The house was deathly quiet now, there was no sign of the fugitive. Adam expected him to leap out at him at any moment, to slit his throat …
Screwing up his courage, he reached a door on his left. He eased it open with his foot, and, seeing that the bedroom was empty, spun round, expecting to be attacked from the rear. But the door opposite was still closed, and as he pushed it open, he discovered it concealed only another empty bedroom. Turning his attention to the back room, he took another couple of steps towards the mouth of the hallway.
Reaching the end, he counted silently down from three, then launched himself into the room. Yet again he received a nasty surprise. The intruder was in the room, as he’d hoped, but so was Kassie, standing by an upturned chair and some severed rope. Her clothing was torn, her bruised face smeared with blood, her arms riven with cuts. Worse still, her left thigh had been cut open almost to the bone, blood oozing from the gaping fissure. The man was standing behind her, a huge cleaver pressed to her throat.
‘Take a step closer and I’ll slit her throat.’
Adam stared at him, stunned. He had come here intending to take the girl’s life and now somebody else was threatening to do it for him.
‘Don’t listen to him,’ Kassie suddenly cried, but White dragged the blade down the side of her neck as a warning.
Kassie broke off, gasping.
‘Lower the gun and back away,’ White continued, edging himself and his captive towards the back door.
Adam kept the gun pointed in White’s direction. He was suddenly a riot of emotions – confusion and doubt the principal among them.
‘Not another move,’ White intoned, fumbling for, then opening, the back door with his free hand.
A rush of cold air filled the room, as the darkness beyond was revealed. Then, tugging Kassie roughly with him, White disappeared from view.