Page 51 of Girl, Reborn

Ella's hackles rose faster than a cat in adog pound. ‘I did.’

She was at the window in two heartbeats,gun already in hand. There, in the gathering twilight, stood a figure. Shadowyand indistinct, but undeniably there.

And it was the same silhouette she'dglimpsed outside Creed's place, watching her with the patience of a spider inits web.

‘Son of a bitch,’ she hissed. She was outof the back door before her brain could form a coherent thought, her feetpounding the gravel like she was running from the devil himself. She hoppedback over the wall, rushed around to the front of building and – nothing.

The figure had vanished.

Melted into the darkness like a bad dreamat sunrise.

She spun in a slow circle, every nervescreaming for action. But there was nothing. Just an empty lot and the naggingfeeling that she'd missed something crucial.

Who the hell was following her?

And more importantly, why?

Ella's phone suddenly shrieked like abanshee, nearly giving her a heart attack. Luca's name flashed on the screen,probably checking in like the good partner he was.

She swiped to answer, words tumbling outbefore he could get a syllable in edgewise. ‘I'm fine, Hawkins. False alarm onDawson. Guy's about as dangerous as toilet paper.’

‘Yeah, about that...’ Luca's voicecrackled through. ‘ Dawson's definitely not our killer.’

‘I know. I just told you-’

‘Because another body just dropped.’

Ella wasn’t sure she heard him right. Herbrain short-circuited, struggling to compute.

Two victims in one day?

‘Are you kidding me?’

‘No. You better get here. Things just wentfrom bad to biblical.’

Liberty Grove's psycho wasn't just makinga statement anymore. They weren’t just escalating – they were going supernova.

CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN

Ella stood in the middle of what might aswell have been a graveyard. Rows of skeletal trees stretched as far as the eyecould see, their gnarled branches reaching for a sky that hadn't dropped a lickof rain in months. This orchard used to be the pride of Liberty Grove,apparently, and now it was just another casualty of the drought that wasstrangling the life out of everything it touched.

The sun beat down like a sadistic prisonguard, baking the cracked earth and turning the air into a shimmering mirage.Ella could feel sweat trickling down her spine, soaking into her shirt like ajunkie's last hit. But it wasn't the heat that had her stomach doing backflips.

No, that honor belonged to the poorbastard sprawled out at her feet.

Another vic. Another life snuffed out bytheir mystery killer with a hard-on for drowning folks. Ella's eyes swept overthe body, cataloging details in her machine-brain that unfortunately didn’thave an empathy off switch. No matter how many stiffs she'd seen over the years– and Christ, she'd seen enough to fill a small town cemetery – it never goteasier. Each one was a grim reminder of how cheap life could be in a world gonemad.

The victim was mid-thirties if she had toguess. Lean and wiry, the kind of build you got from honest work, not someoverpriced gym membership. His clothes were filthy, caked with dirt and sweat;the calloused hands of a man who'd never known a day when he wasn't busting hisass just to keep food on the table.

And he was soaking wet. Every inch of himdrenched, like he'd decided to take a swim fully clothed. Only there wasn't abody of water for miles, and the only liquid this poor sap had been swimming inlately was six feet of terror before his lungs filled up and the lights wentout.

She tore her gaze away from the corpse andscanned the crime scene. Luca was there, swapping details with some officers.Sheriff Tucker and his boys milled around, faces grim as pallbearers at afuneral. They all knew the score. This wasn't just another body; it was anescalation, a message written in flesh and blood.

Tucker lumbered over with a plasticevidence bag clutched in his meaty paw. ‘Well, at least we know his name,’ hegrunted, flashing a driver's license through the clear plastic. ‘JeremiahClancy.’

Ella's eyes narrowed as she studied thephoto. Same guy, alright. Only in the picture, his eyes weren't glazed overwith death's final surprise. ‘Where'd you find it?’

'On the body. The wallet was still in hisback pocket.'

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