Page 19 of The Killer You Know

I shake my head at Nikki. “Are you determined to sleep with every killer in Colorado?”

“The slice of beefcake is innocent until proven guilty. Change my mind,” she says, digging into the wings.

I shoot Jack a look. “We had better change her mind quickly. Secure the footage.”

“He did offer.” He toasts me with a wing.

We make quick work of the spicy treats, and then we make quick work of the burgers, too.

Derek claims not to know what happened to Brittney or Robin, but he wasn’t above lying right to our faces. We already secured that fact.

Derek Russell has a secret, and it makes me wonder if it’s a killer secret indeed.

14

Brittney Walker

“Hello?” My voice croaks from me weakly as my lids do their best to flutter open.

Every last inch of me aches as I struggle to make sense of my new surroundings. Those last few memories flit through my mind in jags, the sound of shots being fired, someone clad in black, their face covered with a ski mask then tackling me.

The needle.

That sharp pain in my chest.

My hand reaches there and it still feels sore.

I’ve been coming in and out for the last few hours. Every time I open my eyes, I refuse to believe what I’m seeing. I just drift back to sleep and hope to somehow rouse from this nightmare. I’m lying in a room that feels more like a tomb than any place for the living.

There’s a chain shackled to my left leg, attached to the base of the impossibly heavy bedframe, and the chain allows enough lead for me to make it to the toilet.

It’s dark, save for the single nightlight emanating from the tiny bathroom. There’s a bed that’s made up, but I haven’t had the energy to crawl onto it just yet. The floors are carpeted with a thick pile and that somehow brings me a modicum of comfort.

The smell of mildew is thick, and the air is cold. It’s the kind of cold that seeps into your bones, making every shiver a reminder of how far you are from everything you know.

The bathroom is devoid of any bulbs in the light fixture, and the mini fridge to my right is stocked with nothing but water and apples. They’re my only companions in this confinement, and a part of me prefers it that way.

Who the heck is this monster who’s brought me here?

I try my hardest to remember even the smallest detail, a grunt, a whisper, but they didn’t say a word before they tossed me into the trunk of their car.

The car was a dark color. That I know for sure. It’s the one thing I zeroed in on before I blacked out. But that won’t get me far.

The only thing I care about right now is getting the heck out of here alive.

There’s a small window to my upper left, letting me know I’m probably in a basement of some sort. But it’s boarded up, stealing even the smallest glimpse of the outside world from me. Not that I can travel to it with the short lead on this chain. Earlier there was a seam of light outlining the window, and for a second I thought it was a porthole to heaven. How I wish it were. But it’s gone.

It must be night. Although I doubt I’ll get a wink of sleep now that I’m coming out of whatever they pumped me full of.

“Help?” I moan as I struggle to get onto my knees. “Anybody? Can you hear me? Please, I need help!”

My heart pounds against my chest as if trying to escape this nightmare. The silence is deafening, but there has to be someone nearby—someone other than that monster.

My mind begins to race.

What the heck could I have done to deserve this?

Was this random?

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