Page 76 of Among the Innocent

After ending the call, she stared up at the ceiling, the phone resting on her stomach. As much as her body craved sleep, her mind refused to shut off. Every single detail of what had happened since the team found Beth’s body played on a loop in her head. John had waited ten years to finish the game he’d started with her, and nothing would stand in his way no matter how much Dalton and the rest of law enforcement tried to protect her.

Leah turned off the light and squeezed her eyes tight. She should take advantage of the time to rest while she had it. She’d need to be sharp for what lay ahead.

The faintest of sounds had her eyes jerking open. Leah glanced at her phone now lying on the bed. Several hours had passed. She must have fallen asleep, but something had awakened her. Leah searched the darkness. Just the house making its noises, Marge used to say when Leah would wake up scared by some sound. Yet the fear chasing down her spine wouldn’t let her go back to sleep. She sat up and swung her legs over the side of the bed. She reached for her weapon. It wasn’t there. Before she could scream for Dalton, a hand clamped over her mouth, stifling the scream.

“Hello, Leah,” he whispered and pulled her up beside him. The voice was the same as in her nightmares. His hot breath spread across her cheek. “Did you enjoy what I did to Justine? Did it remind you of what I did to your family?” An eerie laugh followed. “Are you ready for our big moment? It’s so close.” He breathed out an excited breath.

She listened for any sign that Dalton might be awake. But she heard nothing.My phone. She couldn’t reach it.

John realized what she was thinking and snatched it up. “Oh no. You weren’t going to try and warn him, were you?” Excitement flowed through each word.

The familiar feel of the knife sent her back to that time, and her fear spiraled out of control.

“Don’t worry,” he whispered once more as the knife glided over her skin. “It’s not time for you to die yet, butsoon.”

Something soft and pungent replaced his hand. A cloth soaked in chemicals. She clawed at it, trying to free herself. Time slipped by in slow motion while the sickly smell invaded her senses. Slowly, she felt herself losing consciousness, and there was nothing she could do.

Leah fought with all her waning strength, but whateverhe’d used to knock her out was too strong. The last thing she remembered was the kiss he planted on her cheek before she collapsed against the bed. And then the darkness that overtook her.

Dalton jerked awake. Someone was moving around upstairs.

He jumped to his feet and flew through the doorway. After taking the stairs two at a time, he reached Leah’s room. “Leah, are you awake?” No sound came from inside. He jerked the door open and flipped on the light. Leah lay on the bed without moving. He saw a drop of blood on her bedspread and then a small nick on her neck. Dalton glanced around the room. No one was there.

He rushed to her side and shook her. “Leah! Are you okay?”

Her eyes slowly opened. She stared at him before terror filled her face. “He was here, Dalton.” She slurred the words out and tried to sit up. “John. He was here.”

She touched her neck and saw the blood. “He was just here. We have to go after him.”

“Let’s get you to Marge’s room. I’ll check the house.” He helped her to her feet and hurried her along to Marge’s room. Dalton opened the door and ushered her inside the bedroom. The woman sat up in bed and stared at the door as they came inside.

“It’s okay. I’m with Leah.” He did his best to explain what happened. “Lock the door and stay here while I check the rest of the house.”

Dalton systematically cleared each room. At the end of the upstairs hallway, he saw that the door to the attic was open. With his weapon ready, he climbed the stairs and clicked on thelight. A light breeze blew the curtains over an open window. John had come this way.

Dalton slipped through the window and carefully walked across the roof until he reached the lowest part near Marge’s neighbor’s home. Nothing was visible. This was how the killer got away. He probably had a car stashed somewhere close by. Dalton alerted the deputies outside and called for backup before returning to Leah.

Dalton knocked on Marge’s door, and Leah opened it. “I’ll be right back,” she told Marge and stepped out beside him.

Dalton’s gaze landed on the cut on her throat. “If anything happened to you, I’d never forgive myself.”

“I’m okay, Dalton. Just a little scared.”

Sirens filled the still night.

He told her that he believed the killer had slipped out through the attic and had somehow managed not to alert the deputies. “We need to search the area in case he’s still around.” He waited until she’d locked up before he went outside to where Sam, Ethan, and other law enforcement had arrived. “Check the street behind the house. He entered through the attic window and jumped from the roof into the neighbor’s yard.”

Dalton went back inside to where Leah waited for him.

“We have people looking for him. Tell me what happened.”

She told him about falling asleep. “Something woke me. I reached for my weapon, but it was gone.” She shuddered. “He covered my mouth with his hand so I couldn’t scream and then he put the knife to my throat. That’s how I got this.” She touched her throat and winced. “He kept talking about the anniversary, and I could tell he was excited about it.” She swallowed several times. “And then he put a cloth over my mouth and nose, and it knocked me out.”

He frowned. “Like chloroform?”

“I’m guessing so. It had a sweet smell, like the disinfectants used at hospitals or doctors’ offices.”

Chloroform wasn’t allowed to be sold to individuals. If it was indeed the chemical used to knock Leah out, John would have taken it from somewhere. Tracking down where John had gotten it from would be difficult.

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