Page 72 of What's Left of Me

Shep climbed the ladder that was built into the wall and, using one hand, he turned the latch, and the door pushed open.

Slowly, Shep climbed through. It was quiet but for a small rustling sound. My hands were fisted, nails dug into my palms.

“Shit,” Shep whispered.

“What?” Everyone shouted at the same time, which probably wasn’t the best thing to do.

When Shep turned, I saw exactly why he’d cursed. He was standing in the middle of one of The Broken-Doll Killer’s sheds and on the ground, huddled in the corner, was a young man, no older than twenty-two, shaking.

“A hundred bucks says all those tunnels lead to different sheds,” Nick said.

“Nick.” Gabe came through the speaker. “You gotta call Carmichael. There’s no way the three of us can get to all of these sheds before he returns to one of them. He’s likely in one of them now. It’s a labyrinth down here, and the further you go, the more complex it gets.”

I gritted my teeth, hating that we needed the FBI at all, but Gabe was right. It was too much ground, and we weren’t enough.

Nick glanced at me. “I’ll make the call.”

CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

Phoenix

I wasequal parts glad and upset that they hadn’t encountered Adonis. I wanted this over so badly and I knew if Gabe, Shep, and Angel did confront him, together they could stop him. Now it was so much more complicated.

It all made sense. He had multiple sheds all over, and yet no one ever noticed him wandering the woods? That was because he was underground. How had the FBI not found the door in the shed I was staying at? Maybe they had. I’d never seen him enter through a door, but there was also a divider, so perhaps it had been there…I shook off the thought. That wasn’t important right now.

Nick held the phone away from his ear while Carmichael tore him a new one. I hadn’t thought the FBI would take too kindly to this Rambo mission the brothers were on. But in the end, they knew where the victims were, and likely where Adonis was.

Nick ended the call and let Gabe, Shep, and Angel know that the FBI was on the way to his location.

I sat in the chair and rested my head against the cool leather. “It’s almost over.”

“I think so.” Noel kissed my cheek. “If he tries to run back to the cabin through the tunnels, he’ll have company.”

Soon, I’d be able to do those little things like go to the grocery store and hopefully have a date with Noel. That would be amazing.

Everyone’s cell phones buzzed at the same time. It wasn’t a call it; was a text. I knew they had a group chat.

Noel grabbed his phone and read the message. His eyes widened, and his face turned pale.

“How’d that happen?” JJ shouted and I looked at Nick, who was also not faring too well.

“What happened?” I went to grab Noel’s phone but he pulled it out my reach. “Noel, what’s going on?”

“Get Four on the phone,” Angel growled, which meant he too had seen the text. They all had.

Noel closed his eyes and his shoulders slumped. “He can’t find Hazel.”

“He…Four?” I immediately turned to the monitor where the drone was hovering over Lizzy’s place. “I never saw her leave…I looked away for a second, maybe two…oh God, can we rewind?”

Nick was clicking frantically and suddenly, on another screen, he was rewinding to fifteen minutes earlier. “There.”

Sure enough, Hazel was on the monitor. She was on the phone in Lizzy’s backyard. She was moving it around, up, to the side as if trying to find a signal. She turned to some woman and pointed to the yard. The woman nodded, and Hazel stepped off the deck and to the open area.

She kept bringing the phone to her ear, and it appeared she was trying to see if whoever was on the other end could hear her.

At the same time, I listened to Nick, who was obviously talking to Four. “Check the backyard. We see that’s where she was fifteen minutes ago.”

There was silence so I assumed that was what he was doing, but then a minute later I watched as Hazel walked to the front yard.

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