Page 103 of Deadmen's Queen

“I had a call from my detective today,” he began, looking over at me. I nodded and took a deep breath.

“Go on.”

“They’ve completed the excavation on the cottage garden, and so far they’ve found sixteen bodies of young women, dating back about twenty years, they think.”

“Oh God, sixteen?”

“They’ve confirmed one of the bodies was Amy.”

I gripped my bottle staring down at it as the tears fell down my face. I’d known she’d be there, after seeing her jacket, but I’d still hoped that it was only a coincidence.

“The detective’s team believes that he came to our house wanting to take you, and found your mother who was visiting us. She put up a fight, and he killed her, before attacking Tristan and fleeing the scene. The knife that was used on both her and Tristan was found at the house, with the killer’s prints on it.”

I nod, taking a sharp breath as the reality of what he just said sinks in. A shiver runs down my spine, an icy dread settling into the pit of my stomach. It could have been me that ended up in that garden. I would have ended up in that garden, if not for Bast and Nate.

That fact rings in my head, solidifying the terror that's been haunting me ever since... him. Sixteen young women, and it could have easily been seventeen.

“Are they going to release their names? The girls?” I ask. It seems like such a small question in the face of everything else, but I need to know. Amy was a person, not just another body found in a deranged man's garden. They all were. They all had names, they all had lives and dreams. Just like me.

“Yes, once their families have been contacted first,” he answers quietly. “There'll be a press conference.”

A moment passes as we sit there in silence, the only sound being the far-off crash of waves on the beach and distant calls of seagulls overhead.

“Is there anything else I should know?” I finally ask.

Bast glanced back through the door, and I thought I heard a door close inside the house.

“Actually, yes, there is one more thing. You have a visitor.”

I frowned. “Doctor Harper isn’t due for another two days.”

“Well, my name isn’t Harper, but I’m always happy to play doctors and nurses with you, sunshine.”

My heart leapt at the sound of the voice in the doorway and I jumped up from the chair, running across the deck and throwing my arms around him.

“Tristan!”

He gave a quiet grunt as I collided with him, and remembering his injuries, I tried to pull back. He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me in close, squeezing me so tight I could barely breathe.

“God, I’ve missed you, Paige,” he said, burying his face into my hair.

“I’ve missed you too,” I whispered, my voice choked with tears. He was thinner than before, and there were dark circles under his eyes, but he was here in front of me, alive, and that was enough.

I laughed, a sound of pure joy, pulling back to look at the man I’d missed so much. “You're out of the hospital,” I stated, more a confirmation for myself than a question.

He nodded, his face serious. “Yeah, they finally let me go. Nate picked me up and we came straight here.”

“But your family… didn’t you want to go and see them first?”

“They visited me in hospital, and we stopped off on the way here to pick up a few things, but I needed to see you, Paige. That image of you on the floor in a pool of blood, it’s haunted me for weeks.”

“That wasn’t me, Tristan,” I reminded him.

He nodded. “I know, but in my dreams it was you, and I just couldn’t wait any longer to see you. To hold you again.”

I looked up at him, tears filling my eyes. “He told me he killed you,” I said. “He soaked up your blood with cloths and brought them with us. He painted me with it.”

“Fuck,” Bast said behind me. I hadn’t told them every detail yet, I wasn’t sure if I ever would.

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