Page 37 of Crash and Burn

A chill climbed up her neck despite the bright day. She spun around, looking all directions, feeling suddenly as if someone was watching her.

Chapter Thirty-One

Maggie stood for a moment looking first one direction then the other down the path, debating what she should do.

She’d only wandered a few feet from the back fence. Though she was in a thick stand of trees, her own home was still visible. When she tipped her head or paid attention to the light, she could see through to the houses on the other side. But Maggie was just as confident that they wouldn't see her.

She turned a full circle, alert to anything unusual, but found no one actually watching her. It didn't change the warning sensation that crawled the back of her neck.

Taking stock, Maggie asked herself what weapons she had. The answer wasnone.

But there was no one visible to need weapons against. And neither of the two predators she was dealing with seemed to strike in the woods or at daytime. Also, she had her phone on her.

Despite the sensation crawling up her neck, she was perfectly safe.

Sebastian knew where she was. She’d told him she would be in the back yard. It was an odd feeling, planning how to best be careful if something happened to her. She wanted to make sure they knew where to start looking. But she wasn’t even in either target demographic, and she was pissed.

The elderly clients—who were her only clients right now—were likely already gossiping that she had FBI agents in her home. That wouldn’t help her practice that wasn’t even off the ground yet. Someone had broken into her home and they might not have taken anything she could find, but they’d stolen her sleep and her sense of peace.

And if she had a way to add to the FBI’s evidence? Well, she was going to take it. So, rather than turn back, Maggie let her anger fuel her forward.

Her home—and thus this strip of woods behind it—was relatively close to the center of town. The front opened onto one of the more traveled streets, just off the main drag. She could turn left or right.

Before she went one foot further, she turned on the location system on her phone. She opened the app she had and messaged a link to Sebastian. If he woke up before she got back, he'd see the message from her and be able to find her quickly. That was being smart. Then she made a random decision and headed to the right.

Following the trail, Maggie kept her eyes peeled for any suspicious movement. Her ears strained for any unusual sounds. But the movement she saw was birds and squirrels and a single raccoon. The sounds were muffled by the same traffic she heard on the street, no different from an average day in Redemption.

She passed by the backs of various houses and realized likely none of them even knew she was back here. Maybe in the winter, when the trees were bare, the sightlines would be clear, but now, when it was dense and green like today? No one would see her unless they knew exactly where to look. And maybe not even then.

It disturbed her more to know that she could have accessed any of these homes easily from the trail. All she would need to do is cross the back lawn and go into the back door. She would bet many of the residents left their doors unlocked.

Then again, she hadn’t, and she’d still had someone in her home. So maybe she wasn’t any smarter or safer than anyone else.

Turning again to look down the trail that stretched in front of her, she thought back to the map that one intrepid reporter had made and posted online. None of the murders had occurred in Redemption. Only one victim had been a Redemption resident, and that had been a handful of years ago. The young man had been staying in Lincoln at the time.

She walked a little further, surprised at how many homes in Redemption backed up to this woodland. She’d known the trail was long. but it was warm today and she was surprised she hadn’t seen anyone else. No joggers. No moms with a stroller. No one.

Maggie passed into a different neighborhood and was now at the backs of playgrounds built on the lawns behind apartment buildings. If she followed it much farther, she would reach the industrial complex at the edge of town.

It had been almost an hour since she’d gone out the gate and it was past time to turn around. Heading back, she thought through the things that were known about the Blue River Killer and the La Vista Rapist.

For a wild moment, she entertained a ridiculous fantasy in which one of the boarders was the rapist and Aunt Abbie herself was the Blue River Killer. It took less than thirty seconds to get to the point where Maggie was almost laughing out loud. Abbie hated houseflies but couldn't kill a spider. The victims had been relatively young and seemingly innocent, not the kind of people that made Aunt Abbie angry enough to even curse at them. Maggie couldn’t imagine her sweet and sour Aunt as an actual murderer.

Besides, another body had turned up missing since after Abbie had died. DNA evidence said it was the same predator. So Maggie dismissed the absurd idea.

Even if she was laughing at herself, light hit her eyes from the right hand side.

Something glinted.

Maggie turned to see what it was.

Chapter Thirty-Two

Sebastian followed the moving dot on his phone, grateful that Maggie had messaged him the link. Otherwise, he would have been terrified.

The La Vista Rapist took women from their homes. Some prowler had already been in Maggie’s house while she was there, and it made him doubly nervous.

He hadn't told Maggie what he thought of this—that maybe the prowler hadn't been after the box of jewelry but had been scoping the place out. He didn't want her to worry more. She already wasn't getting enough sleep.

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