Page 96 of The Spider & the Storm

But this empty foil package had my heart and lungs in a viselike grip. And when I remembered the other recent incidental findings—the cigarette butt and the mysterious flower on Annabel’s grave—I was downright terrified to do anything more than blink against my will.

Someone knows. Someone knows who I am, and they know what I did. The thought crept into my mind like a digging, wriggling worm, and I shuddered at the very real possibility that I'd been found out. That I could've beenfollowed. But who? Who would've cared enough to dig into the past of a withdrawn cemetery caretaker?

I couldn't even begin to guess.

Over my shoulder, a twig snapped, and my hair whipped against my cheek as I spun on my heel to look in the direction ofthe sound. A squirrel dashed between headstones to scurry up a nearby white oak, but apart from that one small creature, I was alone.

“Shit,” I whispered, my voice cracking.

A flood of memories came rushing back as if a dam in my mind had been broken. The things I kept tucked deep inside, things that only crept up to haunt me in my nightmares.

The creaking of the floorboards outside my bedroom door.

The weight of the knife in my hand.

The heat of the blood pooling against my fingers and dripping onto my bare feet.

I gave my head a rapid shake and turned back to the cigarette packet, crushed and lying on the doormat. I wouldn't touch it, wouldn't dare add my fingerprints to the cursed thing, but I nudged it with the toe of my boot until it was away from the door. Then, after making a mental note to dispose of it later, I hurried to unlock the door and took cover inside, praying that whoever had come looking for me would understand that all I wanted—God, all I hadeverwanted since Luke had gotten himself in more trouble than I could do anything about—was to be left alone.

And yet…

***

“Wow. I gotta say, Charlie, when you asked for my number earlier, I didn't expect to get a phone call a couple of hours later. I thought you’d be more of a text kinda guy.”

I huffed a laugh as I got out of the truck to approach one side of the iron gate, keys in hand. “You didn'thaveto answer,” I pointed out.

A cluster of laughing kids, all dressed up for Halloween, walked by with a couple of adult chaperones following close behind. I mustered a smile at them and nodded my head in greeting. The kids scurried along, not daring to look at the creep who lived in the cemetery, but the adults with them acknowledged me with tired smiles and wishes for a good night.

Despite the eerie finding outside my door, that was the plan and the very reason for my call to a certain body piercer.

Stormy scoffed, feigning offense. “What kind of monster do you think I am? Of course I had to answer. I finally got a hot guy's attention after pining over him for weeks. I'm not gonna just … I don't know … play hard to get now.”

The frozen metal of the gate sent an ache through my bones as it creaked loudly against its hinges. I swung it into the center of the driveway and headed for the other side as my flushed cheeks warded off the chill in the air.

She thinks I’m hot?

“Cool, uh … so …”

What am I, twelve?

I leaned my forehead against the heavy iron and squeezed my eyes shut. Up until this point, Stormy was one of the few people ever in my life to somehow leave me relaxed. I wasn’t going to let my nerves get the best of me now that she’d called mehot.

“Anyway”—I cleared my throat and went back to closing the gate—“I was wondering if you had plans tonight.”

The speaker was flooded with Stormy’s forlorn sigh. “I wish. Normally, I’d be at my apartment, handing out candy to trick-or-treaters, but I’m stuck in a hotel room this year, watching shitty reality TV. Why do you ask?”

I unlocked the padlock hanging from the heavy chains as I said, “Just wondering if you’d maybe wanna hang out or—”

“Wait. Are you actually asking me out, or is this a hookup situation?”

She wasn’t going to be satisfied until my face was completely set on fire—I was sure of it.

“Um, I—”

“Because honestly, I’m down for either. Anything to get out of this freakin’ room. I’m pretty sure it’s haunted, by the way.”

I know the feeling. I glanced behind me down the dark, winding driveway, disappearing into the cemetery.

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