Page 95 of Prey for You

“Except, Iam,”I growled. “Iwasn’tbefore. I did the things that put me here. I own that. Then I did my time—and I changed. God changed me.”

He huffed and rolled his eyes, but I leaned in again.

“See, Gordon, that’s why I have trouble believing you feel remorse. I’m telling the truth—just like you said. Who’s scared of a little truth? Guilty people.”

“Yeah, yeah—all you god guys say that shit. I’ve heard it before.”

As the guards came in and put his cuffs back on, I dropped back into my chair, so frustrated I could have screamed. I knew he knewsomething.But Bridget was right: he was just a power hungry manipulator who got off on getting reactions out of people. And dammit, I’d given him one.

I sat there, shaking my head at myself and praying for wisdom because I neededsomething.But once the room was clear and I was told I could leave, I was still no closer to figuring out how to find her. And moving when I didn’t know where I was going would only getmeslammed back behind bars. I couldn’t be stupid about this.

I just neededsomething.

But there’d been so little light behind those walls for so many years… it wasn’t getting any brighter now.

I got out of there as fast as I could, shaking off that niggling fear that they were trying to trick me and lock me back in.

Where are you, Bridget?

Where the fuck are you?

31. Panic in the Dark

~ BRIDGET ~

The mountains are beautiful. And quiet. And calm. Andquiet.

Happily, even though I wassurroundedby trees, there wasn’t a Christmas ornament to be seen.

The Airbnb listing said the owners didn’t decorate seasonally, though visitors were encouraged to bring their own. I’d checked first to make sure they didn’t leave any of that shit laying around if people left it behind. They’d promised to make sure the cleaner removed anything the prior tenants might have left behind.

I was nervous walking in when I arrived, but a quick circuit of the house revealed absolutely no Christmas cheer whatsoever. I was so relieved I stopped feeling sad for a few minutes.

But as soon as I carried my bags in from the car and put them in the main bedroom and my stuff in the bathroom, then I walked back to the living room and… I didn’t feel better.

Dammit.

I just needed to absorb the magic of the mountains.

The house wasn’t huge, but it was beautiful. Nestled among the trees on the side of a mountain, it was two levels of natural wood, natural light, and dark accents to set the rest off. Architecturally designed, with a large peak over the main livingarea on the second floor, and a smaller peaked roof over half the ground-floor bedroom, it was utterly remote, had very patchy cell coverage, a generator and a freezer in case snow blew in unexpectedly, and nothing but very tasteful rugs, soft furniture, andtime.

When I first stood in the middle of the living room looking out into the trees, sun poured in through the almost-entirely-glass front wall. It was cold outside, but warm in here. The sun heated the skin on my face and I didn’t know why that made me feel a little sick. I wasn’t cold. The house was centrally heated, though there was an open fire for ambience.

I’d rented a car to get here. I didn’t care if Jeremy found out I’d taken a car, because it didn’t have a tracker on it, so he couldn’t find out anything except where to watch for me to return in a few weeks.

Good luck with that, Jer.

I gave a few minutes to fantasizing about him doing the surveillance himself and wastingweekssitting covertly in the street, forced to eat Burger King and piss in a bottle.

He wouldn’t, of course. Their systems were way better than that now. He’d just wait for the return receipt to pop on my credit card, then start checking my house and car again.

Thank God Sam had decided we needed to stick to the burner phones. I hadn’t brought my normal phone. I was still pretty sure Jeremy hadn’t figured out that I had a burner, but I knew hecouldtrack my normal phone if he wanted to. He was expecting me to dip, though. I did it every year. He hated it, but he’d leave me alone until I got back.

Those thoughts took a few minutes, but still left me standing in the middle of a strange house, alone, and disconnected.

I decided to eat. Cooking would take some time.

I was too scared to turn on the TV. Even the streaming services had a lot of Christmas crap at this time of year, but I had downloaded some movies and books at home so I’d have something to do.

---