Page 58 of Condemned By Secrets

Anna thought she saw him in the distance, but as she reached for him, he disappeared. She would have kept searching, but a sound—a sloshing—distracted her. It pulled her away from his image and out of the dark. She blinked as consciousness returned, but when her eyes focused, she didn’t recognize where she was.

Staring up at the wooden rafters above her head, Anna struggled to remember what had happened. Evening sunlight peeked through a hole in the roof.

Where am I?

An acrid smell hit her nose, and she gagged.

Is that kerosene?She hated that smell. Wanting to escape it, she attempted to sit up, then winced as pain radiated through her head. The throbbing cleared the rest of the fog from her brain, and she remembered being at the edge of the woods, listening to the mayor talking about getting rid of Luther.

Oh no!

“She’s awake.”

Anna gasped and turned to see the mayor hovering in a doorway across the room from her.

Hurt head or not, Anna wasn’t about to face the mayor lying on the floor. She clenched her teeth and pushed herself into a sitting position. As she attempted to stand, she was jerked back to her knees by a rope she hadn’t noticed. She yelped when her knees collided with the floor. The rope was tied around one of her ankles and connected to a post a few feet away.

The mayor stepped inside, followed by a man in a police uniform. At the sight of him, a rush of relief swept through Anna until her brain caught up, and she processed the fact that he wasn’t here to help her. The officer was carrying a jug used for storing fuel. He shook it and cursed. “Empty.”

If it was empty . . . Anna realized what the sloshing was she’d heard. He must have covered the outside of the building in it.

“I’m sure it’s enough.”

Fingers of panic raced up Anna’s spine at the mayor’s statement. Tears flooded her eyes, and she blinked them away furiously. She wasn’t giving up, not when Luther was in danger. Clearing her throat, she tried to sound calm as she addressed the mayor. “Mayor Landstrom, what is going on?”

“You know, Anna. You’ve become quite the thorn in my side. You’re so young, I thought you’d be malleable and smart enough to play the game. But instead, you’ve challenged me at every turn.” The mayor was pacing, but she stopped and patted her hair before meeting Anna’s gaze. Her eyes were sad as she said, “I’m afraid you brought this on yourself.”

Anna’s stomach dropped. “Brought what on myself?”

The mayor glanced around the room. “It’s a shame, really, but you dug your own grave.” The mayor’s eyes were blank when she finally looked at Anna, and the lack of emotion in them sent a shiver down her back. “Now, you can lie in it.”

Anna refused to think about what the mayor was saying. Shaking her head, she pleaded, “Mayor, this is crazy. Untie me. Whatever you think you need to do—you don’t.”

“Oh, but I do.” She ran a hand along the timber and stone wall. “This building has to go.” The mayor turned back to Anna, and her eyes were no longer sad. Something desperate stirred in their depths.

Anna swallowed. Desperate people were dangerous. They could justify anything if it meant achieving their goal.

“And now, you’ll go with it.”

As the mayor’s words penetrated, Anna recognized where she was.

The farmhouse!So that was the mayor’s plan? To destroy the house and her in it!

“You need to leave.”

Anna turned at the sound of the officer’s voice. She’d almost forgotten he was there because she’d been so focused on the mayor. Now, as Anna stared at him, her control snapped.

Panic colored her voice as she begged, “Officer, please! You can’t do this! You’re supposed to uphold the law.” Fear was strangling her airways, but she choked out, “Please help me! Let me go!”

The mayor disappeared without another word, and the officer pulled a lighter out of his pocket.

At seeing it, tears burst from Anna’s eyes in a horrible body-racking sob. She was going to die, and she hadn’t even gotten a chance to tell Luther how she felt about him.

The officer knelt in front of her, and Anna stared at him through watery eyes. “Do you want me to knock you out again? Otherwise, this is gonna hurt like hell.”

Anna blinked the tears away, and they slid down her cheeks as she focused on his dark eyes. How could he do this? He was a police officer. “Why?”

He frowned at her. “Why? Because burning alive is probably one of the worst ways to go.”

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