Page 54 of Confessions of the Dead

Addie Gallagher crossed the room and stopped about ten feet away, and Gabby caught her from the corner of her eye. “And that one …” The tears were gone, and her face darkened. “You don’t want to know what I’d like to do to that one …” She rattled off a few choice words in Spanish.

Addie walked away.

Matt brushed her cheek. “I need to run back out and get Ellie. I won’t be gone long. I’d really like you and Riley to wait in my office.”

“I’m not hiding.”

“I’m not asking you to. I just want to know you’re safe.”

“Then take us with you.”

“I can’t do that. I won’t be long, I promise.”

On the opposite side of the room, Addie had her back against the wall and was watching them. When Matt’s eyes caught hers, she didn’t look away.

Matt shook his head and focused on Gabby. “Maybe when this is over, we should go somewhere, just the two of us.”

She forced a smile. “I’d like that.”

He kissed her forehead. “I’ll get back as fast as I can, I promise.”

40

Hannah

HANNAH WOKE IN Adark place.

Nothing but buzzing around her. There was a vibration, too, a rumble, and she realized she was moving. She was in the trunk of a car. Her hands and feet were bound and there was something oily in her mouth, some type of cloth or rag, sealed there with a piece of tape. She could feel the tape pull against her skin when she twisted her head.

I originally planned to snatch you off the sidewalk, ’bout four months ago. Had duct tape in my car …

Malcolm Mitchell’s car, had to be.

Hannah had no idea what he drove, but it had to be something old—she smelled exhaust and caught glimpses of daylight through rusty cracks in the walls of the trunk.

Something landed on Hannah’s cheek, skittered across her face, then took off when she shook her head. The buzzing increased, like a frenzy.

She thought of the flies in Danny’s car. The one that had crawled into Malcolm’s ear.

When another landed on her forehead, she screamed and nearly choked on the oily rag in her mouth.

Hannah shook her head again, but this time the fly didn’t leave, it only crossed from her forehead to the side of her temple where the insect paused only long enough for another fly to land, this one so close to her ear the buzz sounded like a freight train for a brief second before it went silent and there was nothing but the tickle of its tiny feet on her earlobe.

Hannah shook her head again, rolled over in the tight space, and smashed the side of her head against the floor of the trunk as hard as she dared, hoping to crush one or both flies, but she felt them leap off in the last second only to land on her head again when she went still. More were in her hair, on her arms and legs. The car rolled over a bump or through a pothole, and while the jar of that surprised them and caused them to take flight, they seemed to land again in larger numbers, their buzz so loud it drowned out nearly all else.

Hannah shuddered, an involuntary ripple through her entire body.

They might have driven for ten minutes or ten hours. The concept of time was lost on her. There was nothing but that buzz, the flies. She only noticed that the car stopped moving because the flies seemed to notice they’d stopped, too—all at once, they ceased angrily bouncing around. And in the blackness, Hannah could only imagine them perching around the interior of the trunk, their tiny legs gripping metal and filthy carpet, silencing themselves in wait, ready to pounce.

The car stuttered as the motor choked and died. Then there was silence.

Hannah heard the soft click as the lock disengaged. The trunk opened slowly, and a slice of harsh light blinded her, spilling infrom around Malcolm’s silhouette. He was holding a flathead screwdriver, the sharp blade pointed at her.

“You make a sound, you try to scream or get away, and I’ll have to hurt you. Do you understand?”

Oh, she wanted to scream.

As her eyes adjusted to the light, she saw several of the flies rise from the trunk and land on his head. One crawled up and into his nose, vanished inside. Malcolm gave a soft snort, but otherwise didn’t seem to notice or care. The grin on his face was unbearable. The tight skin around his left eye was moving, writhing with whatever lived beneath.

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