The Lost: Book Two, The Eddie McCloskey Series (The Unearthed 2) (26 page)

Th
e
adrenaline was wearing off and the pain was getting worse.

Eddie tried to ignore it. He bent his elbow and kept it tucked against his side as if it were in a sling. That helped marginally.

Sean was making a lot of noise in the trunk.

Eddie kept driving and on a straight stretch of road quickly searched the interior of the car for a cell phone. There was nothing in the front. First thing he’d do after this investigation would be to go out and finally buy a cell phone. Second thing would be to learn how to use a gun.

It was already five-thirty and dark.

He had to think.

Before Sean had tried to kill him, Eddie had thought Kindler or someone else had killed Colin to ensure the paranormal fraud would never come to light.

But that meant either Bernie or Kindler would have had to kill him, and both men had alibis for the night in question. Possibly there was someone else in on the fraud, but that was a long shot. Invite too many people in, and you increase the chances of exposure.

No, something else was going on. And there were only two people Eddie could think of who would feel compelled to murder Colin, Bernie, and Kindler.

One of them was Ana. But Eddie didn’t buy that for a second.

He sped dangerously along the ice-slicked roads. By the time he got to the lake, the gathering would have already started. And it might be too late.

An
a
didn’t like Jimbo’s arm around her.

She’d tried explaining the situation to him. Her sister was possibly responsible for killing Colin and almost Bernie, and who knew what she would try tonight. When she’d told him, Jimbo had shrugged it off and said that was a stretch.

He didn’t get it. Even if Tessa wasn’t doing this, the last few days had clearly worn on Ana but Jimbo couldn’t be bothered.

All he did, maybe all he could do, was put his arm around her as an afterthought. But even that seemed more a result of the emotional distance between them rather than his attempts at comforting her.

She’d resolved to end it tomorrow. But now a mere twelve hours seemed an eternity. She wanted to cut ties that evening. She could spend the night at a friend’s, or even with Eddie, give Jimbo the morning and afternoon tomorrow to get his stuff out of the apartment.

But there was just too much going on. The investigation had taken so many turns. She had reason to believe that Marty Kindler was in serious danger, but her efforts to speak with him were met with curious indifference. Eddie was nowhere to be found, and it had her worried. And now this gathering or whatever they were calling it had grown into something else entirely.

It was an event.

People she hadn’t seen in years had flocked here. Everybody was calling it Lake Tessa. Jimbo told her that was pretty cool, but Ana thought it was tacky.

“It’s dumb. It’s just a constant reminder,” she snapped at him.

Jimbo raised his eyebrows. “Isn’t it already a reminder? You’re saying you don’t look at that lake and think of—”

She shot him the nastiest look she could muster. He might have had a point, but as usual, he must have removed his sensitivity chip and replaced it with his better-programmed, more sophisticated, asshole chip.

“Look,” he said, and she knew this was going to be one of his ill-advised, ill-timed remarks. “I know this is about your sister and everything, but why you gotta be such a bitch?”

Ana wanted to slap him. Wanted to scream. Wanted to push him onto the lake. But none of that would have hurt him.

Jimbo, never quite able to read her moods, kept on. “Everybody came here to have a good time, you know, so why you gotta be the fly in the ointment?

She felt her nails digging into her palms. “Fly in the ointment?”

“Yeah. All mean and …”

His voice trailed off when he got a good look at her face.

“You’re going to stand there and tell me to cheer up?” she said.

“Well … yeah.”

“Take a long look in the mirror.” She shook her head. “No, wait, don’t do that. You already do that all day long. You’re the mopey asshole, Jim. All you do is sit around and feel sorry for yourself, when you’re not getting high with Tony and that dumbass Liam.”

“Hey!”

She expected him to say more, but there was no more he could say. She had him pegged.

And he knew it.

“Hey, guys.” Tony appeared out of nowhere and wrapped his arm around Jim’s shoulders. “Everything okay?”

Ana ignored Tony. “Jim, we’re done. Forever. That’s it.”

“Ana, take it easy, you’re just emotional right now—” Jim started to say.

Tony interrupted him by backhanding him in the chest. “Jim, maybe this is for the best. You don’t even want to date this nutter anymore anyway.”

So they’d talked about this behind her back?

In breaking up with him, Ana hadn’t felt anger. It was more relief, even regret at hurting him.

But now that she knew Jim had talked to that asshole Tony about breaking up with her? After she’d supported his unemployed ass for the last six months? After she’d only been encouraging and had accepted his lack of affection and ambition and …

She was angry enough to knock down one of these trees without an axe.

Jim said, “Ana, I never said that … I mean, I did, but it was just me and Tony talking hypothetical … you know, like, what if? You know? Please.”

He put his hand on her shoulder. It was an awkward, clumsy gesture. His hand felt out of place.

“Don’t touch me.”

“Come on.” Tony leered at her, and she could tell he’d been wanting to say this for a long time. “Just leave her, dude. She’s no good for you.”

“Fuck you, asshole!”

“Yo, Ana, don’t talk to him like that, that’s not cool. Say what you want about me but—”

She pointed at Tony, who was all smiles. “You’re going to let him talk like that about me, but I can’t say a word about him? Do you see how fucked up that is, Jim? Do you get it now? Why I’m breaking up with you?”

Jim looked away from her, then at Tony, who was still smiling and nodding encouragingly.

As if steeled by his friend’s support, Jim faced her and stood taller. The pathetic, sad-sack look was gone and now hate filled his eyes. “Fine, bitch, if that’s what you want. Whatever.”

Ana shook her head and wanted to kick him as hard as she could. But she thought of something better.

“I fucked Eddie. And it was great. The best sex I’ve ever had. Just wanted you to know.”

It wasn’t true but she didn’t care. She just wanted him to hurt for all the hell she’d endured.

The hate left Jim’s eyes and a pathetic  look took its place. His jaw hung slack and the little life in him disappeared.

“You …”

But Jim couldn’t speak. He had no force of will left.

Tony said, “You’re a fucking slut.”

Ana told them both to fuck off and wandered away.                      

She wanted to get in her car and drive, but she couldn’t leave with all that was going on. She needed to find Eddie. She was already regretting the lie she’d told Jim.

The woods were alive. Everybody was having the time of their life, which only pissed her off more. Bonfires raged around the lake and portable heaters and thermal lamps from the driving range had been set up. Add in nearly a thousand warm bodies and it was enough to battle the natural cold.

Everybody was drinking.

Some were doing more than that too.

Ana nearly got a contact high as she walked through the trees. A group of older teens were brazenly toking up. Whitmore’s small police force couldn’t maintain control over this environment and so many people.

She hugged herself and kept her eyes lowered and trampled through the woods, avoiding eye contact. She went to the lake and stood on the shore.

A thin sheet of ice covered the water. She could see right through it. Somebody on the other side stepped onto the ice and immediately slipped, landing on his ass. His buddies drunkenly applauded his lack of coordination and sprayed beer on him.

Ana’s eyes tracked across the lake. Vendors had set up near the shore. Smoke curled into the night sky, and she could hear the sizzle of deep-fried food.

She spotted familiar faces. People from the past. Many of them said hi. But she was throwing out the don’t-approach-me vibe in spades.

She wandered around to the other side of the lake. Where the hell was Eddie?

There were so many people and it was so dark away from the fires, she practically walked into a couple that was making out against a tree. The girl’s hand was down the guy’s jeans. They didn’t notice her.

Ana kept walking. The crowd thinned. She passed the orange glow of cigarettes or joints a little ways off. She just needed to be alone for a few minutes. She was relieved her relationship with Jim was over, but she was also sad. She didn’t know why. It felt like she’d lost something of herself in dating him. Maybe she was upset because a part of her life was over and she realized she’d never get it back.

Where was Eddie?

She wanted him there for the wrong reasons. Not to solve this case but to be a shoulder. No, to be more than that … but what was she thinking? The guy was eleven years older than her.

She wandered. She hadn’t been this far out before. She could still hear the huge crowd that had gathered, but she was alone.

“Ana.”

She jumped at the voice and turned and saw a dark figure silhouetted against the firelight from the lake. The voice was deep, old, uncultured.

A cold finger slid down her spine. “Who is that?”

The man stood his ground. And he was holding something.

“Hi … Mr. Hollis.”

He stepped forward. Without a limp.

Hollis said, “You talk to Eddie?”

He was four feet away. She could almost see his face. And there was definitely something in his hands. Maybe a gun.

Her stomach turned to liquid. Her legs weak. She thought about her answer. It took her too long. Hollis would know she was lying.

“Yes.”

She couldn’t see his ugly smile, but she could feel it in the darkness. He hmphed and took another step forward and now she could see his features. The hard eyes, the deep age ravines creasing his face, the perpetual scowl.

“No, you didn’t.”

She stepped back. He grabbed her arm.

“Don’t move. Don’t scream. This is a gun. You understand?”

She nodded.

“Good.”

“Are you going to—”

“Shut up.” He wrenched her arm and spun her around. Then he was pushing her away from the lake, deeper into the woods. “Just shut up, you little bitch.”

“Please don’t.”

He herded her deeper into the woods. She couldn’t see a thing. Could barely hear anything from the lake. He marched her. She wondered how he could see in this darkness.

His pace was relentless, dangerous even in this blackness. When she tripped, he moved with unexpected speed and saved her from falling. He was a lot stronger than he looked. And younger than his years.

“Looks like you’re as clumsy as your sister.” He shoved her forward. “Quit fucking around.”

They went farther than they needed to, then farther still, until the lake was just a memory and the raging bonfires were barely a thin smear in the sky.

“Okay.”

She stopped. Didn’t know whether to turn around or not, but she feared he was going to kill her.

Or worse.

“Turn around. Put your ass up against that tree.”

Expecting the worst, Ana slowly turned. “Plea—”

Hollis moved quickly. Smashed her against the tree and forced her to sit in the cold snow. Then she heard the stretch and tear of duct tape.

“Please, Mr. Hol—”

The tape went over her mouth. He duct-taped her hands at the wrists, then her feet at the ankles.

She couldn’t help it. She started crying.

He disappeared behind the tree, and she squeezed her teary eyes shut. She was totally helpless. The fact that there were hundreds of people less than a mile away only made her isolation worse. She had no idea what Hollis was going to do, but her imagination filled in the details for her …

A rope whipped around the tree and tightened against her chest. She was pulled violently back against the trunk. Hollis jerked the rope and tightened it until it crushed her chest and she could barely take a breath.

She was tied to the tree now.

Another rope shot around. Then more painful tightening.

She was held fast to the trunk, her hands and feet useless. She was at Hollis’s mercy.

He came back around the tree and stood above her. She couldn’t see his face in the darkness.

Thank God she couldn’t.

He knelt so their eyes were level. His breath stank of alcohol, but based on how  well he’d moved through the woods and handled her, she knew he wasn’t drunk. She tried to speak, but he grabbed a handful of hair and yanked her head sideways.

A knife appeared in his other hand.

He drew out the moment. She shut her eyes and cried. Squirmed against the grip of the rope and tried to inch away from the blade.

He let go of her hair and yanked her scarf down, exposing her neck.

The cold steel of the blade met the still-warm skin of her throat. Then, pressure. Not enough to cut. She hoped.

“Now listen to me, you little cunt.”

She shuddered. The movement almost cut her throat, the knife was so flush against it.

“Shut up,” he whispered. “If you stay quiet, you’ll live.”

She forced herself to open her eyes and look at him.

“You’re my insurance policy tonight. So long as your friend Eddie behaves, you’ll see the dawn.”

She tried not to cry.

“So stay here, keep quiet, and pray. And thank me for even giving you the chance to live.”

Her eyes went wide. He wanted her to thank him?

“I’m a hard man, but I’m fair. That’s the only reason you’re still alive, even though I oughta slit your throat on account of your cunt sister.”

Hot tears ran down her cold face.

Hollis applied more pressure with the blade. It terrified her. She felt the point of the blade indenting her skin. He could kill her so easily. One quick swipe would open a blood vessel and she’d be dead in moments.