“What’s going on?”
“Kit Kat is outside.”
“What?” I looked back out the window to the lake. I didn’t see her boat.
“She drove here,” Matthew said. “She borrowed a police cruiser.”
I groaned. “Why? Why would she—”
“Apparently, my mother invited her.”
We all turned to Mrs. Masterson.
“I have questions that require answers,” she said, not shrinking from our gaze.
“Maybe you could go talk to her?” Matthew suggested. “Given everything that’s happened, I really think it’s best that they don’t mingle.”
“Right. Of course.”
I hurried toward the door, just catching Freddie say, “So, Matthew…’sup?”
The sun was nearly gone now, and the temperature had dropped with it. My eyes scanned the large driveway. Yup, right there, around the last bend, sat a police cruiser.
I jogged toward the car. What the hell was she thinking? Borrowing a cruiser? Grady would just love that. It would do wonders for his reputation.
I slowed the last few feet. I could see she wasn’t in the car. Her white hair and dentures had a tendency to glow in the dark.
“Kit Kat?”
Nothing.
I turned back toward the house and called her name again.
A cold wind spun a pile of dried leaves by my feet.
“Kit Kat! Seriously, where are you?”
The gloom settling over the trees played tricks with my eyes, melding shadows together.
I turned in a slow circle as a bad feeling tiptoed its way up my spine.
Then, in the corner of my eye—something moved. Just by the footpath leading into the trees.
I ran toward it, muttering, “So help me, you had better not be messing around.”
The trees closed in atop me as I entered the trail. I still had the light seeping in from the lake side of the path, but in minutes I wouldn’t be able to see my hand in front of my face.
I walked with slow, deliberate steps, not wanting to trip over any branches or tree roots. Worn bits of gravel crunched underneath my feet. I didn’t like this at all. I should probably just head back and get Matthew and Freddie … and maybe a flashlight.
I balled my fists against the cold. “Kit Kat?”
Nothing.
Yeah, this was getting ridiculous. It was really dark now, and I couldn’t even be sure that I had seen anything. She could have snuck around to the back of the house for all I knew. She could be inside. The path slanted upward. Where the hell did this thing lead? I took a breath and thought, Just to the top of the hill. I’d get to the top, look around, and if there was nothing—which I was positive was the case—I’d go back down and get help. I opened my mouth to call Kit Kat’s name again but quickly snapped it shut. Maybe it was the dark, or the rustling wind—or maybe the fact that there was a murderer on the loose—but suddenly I had the distinct feeling I was being watched.
Just to the top.
I took another step but a sudden scurrying to my left made me jolt so hard I nearly cracked my spine. “Freaking squirrels,” I muttered, wrapping my jacket more tightly around me. Almost there.
I crested the hill. My shoulders dropped in relief as my eyes darted over a clearing with a little stone bench overlooking the lake. It was kind of pretty actually. I walked toward the small seat, looking up at the first few stars darting the sky … then froze.
Something lay on the ground right in front of the bench.
No. No. No.
It wasn’t something … it was someone. Someone with white hair.
“No!”
I launched into a sprint.
My feet skidded to a stop a foot or so back from the bench. It took me a second to figure out what I was seeing. It wasn’t Kit Kat. It was a man covered in blood from a head wound … a fatal head wound by the look of it. My eyes darted to the shovel lying on the ground a few feet away.
My head started to shake of its own accord as my feet moved back.
This couldn’t be happening … not another murder.
I was just about to turn and run when—
“Kit Kat! Oh God, no!”