Exposure (29 page)

Panic blossomed in her chest. Kaycee pivoted and fled.

She tore across the room, thinking
no
,
no
,
get the gun!
, knowing she’d be shot if she tried. She raced across the threshold and flat-footed to a stop, head swiveling. Hannah hunched to her right, fingers to her mouth, still as stone. Kaycee grabbed her arm. “Come on!”

They ran for the front door. Kaycee yanked it open and pushed Hannah onto the sagging porch. Weak light spilled from the cabin’s darkened windows. The night stretched beyond, so very dark. She saw the SUV in the driveway.

Were the keys inside?

Uneven, hard footsteps shook the porch floor. Kaycee swiveled. Rodney lurched from the bedroom, purple-faced, gun in hand.

Kaycee slammed the front door.

She caught Hannah’s shoulder and jerked her sideways. A muted
crack
sounded. A bullet hit the door.

Hannah wailed. Kaycee hauled her toward the side of the porch. They jumped down a foot into dimness and sped for the woods.

Kaycee and Hannah stumbled through blackness, around thick trees, branches whipping their bodies, their faces. Hannah ran with an awkward gait. “My knees.” Her voice hitched. “I scraped them bad.” The close air tanged with dampness and wood. Kaycee pulled Hannah along, panting, not letting her slow.
Run
,
run
,
run
, her mind shrieked, but the more they ran the greater her fear. Where was Rodney?

On they staggered. Hannah fell twice, Kaycee once. They helped each other up, grunting. Hannah couldn’t stop crying.

How far had they gone? What direction? In her mind Kaycee could see the near ninety-degree turn of Shanty Hill. The long rutted trail they’d driven to the cabin had taken them back toward Highway 29, parallel to Shanty Hill above that hairpin turn. But how far? She and Hannah had leapt off the porch to the side and run straight. But then what? Had they gone in circles?

The trees thinned. They burst out into a small open area. A stingy crescent moon dribbled light. Kaycee whipped her head around, seeking a house, a road. Nothing but more woods.

Two green eyes low to the ground stared at them, unblinking.

Hannah yelped. Kaycee jerked her back into the trees. They ran. Hannah clutched Kaycee’s hand. “Wh-what was that?”

“I don’t know. A cat.”

They bore left, skirting the meadow. Hannah was slowing. “I . . . can’t go . . . any more.”

“Can’t stop yet.”

Kaycee slipped and went down on one knee on something hard. Pain shot into her joint. She whooshed out air and forced herself up, limping.

Time stretched on, the forest never ending. No houses, no help. No road. Where were they?

Hannah cried harder. The guttural sounds filled the night. “Shh,” Kaycee squeezed her fingers.

“I c-can’t go any m-more.” She sank to the ground.

Kaycee sat down beside her and drew her close. “Hannah, shh. You have to be quiet.”

Hannah buried her face in Kaycee’s neck and choked her tears into silent gulps.

Kaycee felt a tree trunk at her back. She shifted and leaned against it, exhausted.

They breathed and rested. For how long? Were they far enough away from the cabin? Hannah stopped crying. Finally they huddled, shivering.

How much night remained? They had to find help before the dawn betrayed them.

Noise in the distance. Kaycee froze, head cocked.

A crackle of underbrush. A second and third.

Rodney.

Hannah sucked in a breath and whimpered. Kaycee slid an arm around her shoulder and drew her in. She put her mouth to Hannah’s ear. “Shh. Don’t move.”

The snapping grew closer. Kaycee’s muscles tamped down. Should they run? He’d hear them.

She couldn’t have wounded him as badly as she thought. He might move faster than she could push Hannah. And he had a gun.

The sounds kept coming. Kaycee tilted her head, gauging. They were a little to her right. Twenty feet? Ten?

The noise stopped. Kaycee could hear Rodney’s thick breathing.

Hannah ducked her head farther, shuddering. Kaycee’s arm around her shook. Her heart rammed, her body craving oxygen. She pulled in air through her nose, willing absolute silence.

Time spun out. Rodney’s clothes rustled.

Oh
,
God
,
please, God . . .

Hannah’s fingers dug into Kaycee’s side.

“I smell you,” Rodney said.

Sudden light beamed through the darkness. Kaycee stiffened. It cruised away from them to the right. The left. Underbrush crunched. Kaycee could make out Rodney’s left arm, holding the flashlight. His right hand clutched the gun. The beam arched around, spanning over trees, a bush, a fallen dead trunk, sweeping toward them, twenty feet away . . . fifteen . . . ten.

Kaycee’s breathing stopped.

Hannah lifted her head, saw the light. She squeaked.

The beam swung to her face.

She slapped a hand over her eyes.

Rodney wheezed a long, mocking laugh. “Well, well.”

He made his way toward them, chuckling, so proud of himself. Kaycee watched him come, one leg dragging. This thief and murderer, killer of her daddy and policemen, kidnapper of children. The man who filled her mother’s life with terror.

Kaycee’s mouth hardened. Something within her shifted, then snapped. Like ice flow her fear broke off and drifted away.

She eased her arm from around Hannah’s shoulders. Slid both palms to the ground. The muscles in her legs quivered, gathering energy.

Rodney stopped three feet away. Kaycee could see blood smeared on his face. “Did you really think you could run from me, Tammy?”

“You never caught my mother.”

His jaw flexed. “Where’s the money?”

“She sank the boxes in the Atlantic Ocean.”

Rodney’s head pulled back. “You’re lying.”

Kaycee glared at him.

His gun moved to aim at Hannah. “Try again.”

“Okay, okay, just kidding!” Kaycee raised both hands. “They’re in some cave at a rocky beach on the ocean. Not too far from where we lived. Maybe I could find it . . .”

He stared at her, assessing. “If you’re lying, she’s dead.”

“Would I lie to you?”

He backed away two steps. “Get up. Slowly.”

Hannah shrank against Kaycee’s side. Kaycee pushed to her feet, helping the girl up. “I don’t know how to get back to the cabin.”

Rodney gestured with his head to the right. “That way.”

Even with a gun at their backs, the return trek seemed so short. They
had
gone in circles. Directed by the flashlight, Kaycee helped Hannah in as straight a line as possible, over fallen logs, through thick forest. Along the way, she prayed.

They stepped from woods to a sudden clearing. There sat the cabin, dim light filtering from a dirty side window.

“In the car. You’re driving.”

“All the way to New Jersey?” Obsessed was too tame a word for this guy.

“I’ve hunted you for twenty-six years. Nothing is stopping me now.”

They headed over soft wild grass toward the SUV. Rodney opened the back door for Hannah to crawl in. She collapsed on the seat. He shut the door.

Rodney moved to set the flashlight on its side on the car hood, beam aimed slightly away from his body. He switched the gun to his left hand, aiming at Kaycee’s face. His right hand slid into his pants pocket. Out came the car keys. He held them toward her. She reached to take them —

Sudden light from down the driveway swathed the forest behind her. Kaycee registered the sound of a car engine.

Rodney’s head swiveled toward the light. Survival reflex flared through Kaycee. This was her chance. She rammed her outstretched hand against the long gun, knocked its aim away from her face. Her right foot rocketed into Rodney’s groin.

“Unkh.” He doubled over as car beams cut across their bodies. Kaycee squinted in the brightness. The keys clicked to the ground. Rodney staggered, teeth clenched, clutching his weapon with both hands.

Tires ground to a halt and a door smacked open. “Police! Drop it!” The raucous command wrenched through the air.

Rodney waved the gun toward the sound.

“Drop it
now
!”

Kaycee jumped away from Rodney. Wheezing a curse, he aimed at the light —

Three shots split the night. Kaycee screamed. Hannah’s muffled cries rose from the car.

Holes torched in Rodney’s chest. He jerked in a death dance and thudded to the ground face down. His fingers still curved around the gun.

Running footsteps approached. Kaycee leapt toward Rodney. “Stay back!” the policeman yelled, but her body moved as if yanked by a ghostly arm. For surely, surely this evil being would twitch to life and kill them all . . .

With a grunt, she kicked the weapon away from Rodney’s fingers. It slid beneath the SUV.

The officer ran up, pushed Kaycee aside. His gun remained ready in his right hand. Bathed in light from the car beams, he knelt down and felt for a pulse in Rodney’s neck. Kaycee raised an arm to block the light from her eyes. In a stunning, mind-reversing second her blinking gaze registered two things: Hannah’s whitened face pressed against the car window — and the profile of a man risen from the dead.

“Mark?” The name trembled from Kaycee’s tongue. She squeezed her eyes shut and reopened them, praying she wasn’t imagining the sight before her.

The policeman rose and slid his gun in its holster. For the first time Kaycee noticed the hard rise and fall of his shoulders. Lingering adrenaline and fear shafted across Mark’s face. He gazed at her as if shell-shocked. “He’s dead.”

Her brain scrambled for clarity. It wouldn’t come. “So are you.”

“I am?”

“Rodney said so.” Kaycee swallowed. “No, maybe he didn’t. But I thought . . .”

They surged toward each other. Mark pulled her close, so tightly she couldn’t breathe. A silent sob racked from her chest.

“It’s okay, it’s okay.” He smoothed her hair. “It’s over.”

Was it, after twenty-six years? Even now she half expected Rodney’s glaring eyes to pop open, his zombie arm to snatch up the gun . . .

Hannah cried loudly in the SUV. Mark let Kaycee go and stepped over to open the back door. Hannah spilled out into Kaycee’s arms. She pulled Hannah across the rutted driveway into the grass, away from Rodney’s body. There, beyond the glare of headlights from Mark’s police car, they clung to each other and cried.

Mark tucked his chin down and spoke into his radio. A response crackled back. Kaycee’s eyes followed his every move as he walked to the gaping door of his car and closed it. He approached Kaycee and Hannah. Gently, he laid a hand on the girl’s head.

“We’ve been looking all over for you, Hannah. Your daddy’s been so worried.”

“I wanna see him.” Her words muffled into Kaycee’s shirt.

“You will — real soon. An officer’s with your dad at your house. They’re on their way.”

Hannah trembled with chills. Kaycee rubbed her shoulders. Still Kaycee stared at Mark, hardly believing he stood before her. “She’s got a sweatshirt in the cabin. In the bedroom.”

“I’ll get it.” He turned away.

“And Mark. Somewhere in there is a stuffed brown bear.”

“Okay.”

She watched him step into the cabin of horrors and shuddered.

A moment later he returned. Hannah put on the sweatshirt and clutched Belinda to her neck. A memory surged in Kaycee’s mind of herself at four, clinging to that same bear. Sudden, violent longing for her mother washed through her.

Mark put his arms around them both in a three-way hug. “We’ve had officers out this direction for hours, looking for you two.” His voice sounded gruff. “We saw you on film from the camera at South Lexington, Kaycee. Got the license plate of the SUV.”

Her throat tightened. “He made me lie down in the backseat. I sat up on purpose.”

“Smart thinking. We ran the plate. Owner’s name is Rodney List.”

“That’s him.” Kaycee’s eyes roved toward Rodney’s still form. “But his real name’s Joel Nicorelli. They called him Nico.”

Mark made a sound in his throat. “He killed Officer Nelson.”

Kaycee’s chin dropped. She closed her eyes. An officer dead because of
her
. “How did you know I was gone?”

“Mrs. Foley was watching from her bedroom window upstairs and saw two figures at the opposite corner of your property. Couldn’t tell who it was. I’d never have seen them. Officer Nelson was supposed to cover that side. I checked your house. The side door was unlocked. I couldn’t believe it.” Mark’s arm tightened around Kaycee’s back. “I’d already called the chief. He found Nelson in the barn.” For a moment Mark was silent. “It’s an answer to prayer we found
you
. For all we knew you could have been taken to High Bridge or beyond. We knocked on doors out on the highway for hours, but nobody had seen anything. Finally some guy down Shanty Hill said he’d seen a big car turning up toward this abandoned place — ”