Page 14 of Seeking Evil

Sierra could almost hear her mother saying those words. You’re strong, baby girl. You’ve been through much worse.

Losing her mom had almost destroyed Sierra.

Tears crept into the corners of her eyes. She’d come to Wyoming to make peace with her mother’s death. To find a way to deal with what happened with her psychiatrist. To move forward with her life without Zeke.

The scalding tears poured from her eyes. She didn’t want to move on without him. She loved him. But she hadn’t given him a chance to tell her what he felt. She’d simply stormed off in her usual fashion.

I’m sorry, Zeke. Please come find me.

Sierra believed he would. Henry would have her phone. He’d probably turned it off to keep it from being tracked. She believed that would trigger Zeke’s concern. He’d find a way to get the team here. She just had to hang on long enough for them to find her.

The Jeep’s tracking system. They could find her by it. Her hope dashed when she remembered Henry would have possession of it. Had he moved it somewhere far away? Destroyed the tracking system?

She heard the man’s labored steps moving around upstairs.

A door squeaked. He was coming.

Sierra tried to lift her hands. She couldn’t. She’d forgotten they were restrained.

She needed to find a way out of this, but she couldn’t make out much with the darkness pressing in.

The kindly old man she thought reminded her of her grandfather was the one who had taken her. He’d taken Dawn too. Probably the others who’d gone missing all those years ago.

Help me, God. I’m in a real pickle here.

The frantic prayer came to mind as those lumbering steps headed her way. Sierra struggled to free the gag, but he’d tied it too tight.

Somewhere nearby, another door opened and closed. More steps. Then a much closer door opened. The room flooded with light. Sierra closed her eyes against its glare.

“Welcome to my little sanctuary, Sierra,” he said, spreading his arms wide. “You’re going to be staying here for a while. We have time to get to know each other better.”

Sierra glared at him, defiance burning in her eyes.

She had to get out. She had to survive. Forcing herself to focus, she began to assess her surroundings, searching for anything that might help her escape.

He slowly closed the space between them. Carefully removed the gag and smiled. Henry’s kindly persona was back.

“People will come looking for me.”

The man shrugged. “Let them look. They’ll never find you. I’ve destroyed everything that would lead them here.”

He’d taken her phone. Her watch. Probably the laptop in her backpack. She didn’t hold out hope about the Jeep either. It would be up to her to get away and right now, she was as weak as a kitten.

“You won’t get away with this.”

“Come, my pretty girl. Let’s not think about such things now.” He touched her cheek.

Sierra bit his hand. He jerked it back with a string of curse words. “That wasn’t very nice.” Henry stepped back as she screamed at the top of her lungs. He went over to a sink nearby and washed the wound.

She’d brought blood. Good.

Sierra continued to scream as he wrapped a rag around his hand and returned.

“No one can hear you, my dear.”

“No one? Not even your friend?” She did her best to get under his skin. Throw him off his game.

“She’s not my friend. She was my wife’s friend.”

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