Page 59 of Close

She’d been evaluating student papers at a corner table, unnoticed by the group of undergraduates.They hadn’t seen the tremor in her hands as the presence inside her stirred at their words, awakening to the opportunity.They couldn’t know how she’d followed Wilson for two days, learning his patterns, discovering his list of targeted sites in an unguarded notebook.

Preparing for tonight.

The Skinwalker had shown her which site he would visit first—this one, with its hand-like formation reaching toward the sky.The perfect place for the fourth ceremony.The one that would finally work.

She set down the duffel bag and removed the ceremonial knife, its blade catching moonlight.The mask came next, fitting over her face like a second skin.The herbs she arranged quickly in her pocket, ready for the ceremony that would follow.

That would finally cure her.

From her throat came a sound no human vocal cords should produce—a low, guttural call that froze the young vandal in place.He turned slowly, spray can still in hand, his face a mask of sudden terror as he saw what approached from the darkness.

Not Dr.Elaine Redford, respected anthropologist and academic.Not a small woman in her fifties with silver-framed glasses and sensible shoes.

But something that moved like shadow given form, knife in hand, mask transforming her face into something ancient and hungry, eyes reflecting moonlight like a predator’s.

The Skinwalker smiled beneath its mask, muscles coiling for the attack, adrenaline surging like fire through its veins.

One more ceremony.One more death.And then, perhaps, freedom.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

“Damn it,” Kari muttered, trying Dr.Redford’s front door and finding it locked.“We must’ve just missed her.”

The lights were off, the driveway free of vehicles except the ones belonging to Kari and Tsosie.There was no sign of Redford anywhere.

Tsosie scanned the quiet neighborhood, his hand resting near his service weapon.“We need a warrant.”

“There’s no time.”Kari moved to a side window, peering through blinds into darkness.“Three people are dead, and if Redford’s pattern holds, someone else may die tonight.”

The decision crystallized instantly.Without giving herself time for second-guessing, Kari pulled her jacket sleeve over her hand and smashed the decorative glass panel beside the front door, then reached through to unlock it from inside.Tsosie watched, his expression conflicted.

“I never saw that,” he said quietly.

“Exigent circumstances,” Kari replied, entering with her flashlight drawn.“We have reason to believe more lives are in immediate danger.”

The house’s interior matched its academic owner’s persona—bookshelves lining every wall, papers stacked in neat piles, everything meticulously organized.But as Kari moved deeper into the house, Tsosie close behind, they found a home office that told a different story.

An entire wall was covered with maps of the reservation, red pins marking locations Kari instantly recognized—Monster’s Hand where Harrington died, the mining site near Delgado’s murder, the mesa where they’d found Mitchell.But there were two additional pins, marking sites where no murders had yet occurred.

“She’s planning more,” Tsosie said, examining the maps.“These are all sacred sites documented in anthropological literature.”

Kari had already moved to Redford’s desk, where open notebooks revealed page after page of meticulous notes—part academic research, part disturbing personal journal.She scanned them quickly, her unease growing with each paragraph.

“She thinks she’s becoming a Skinwalker,” Kari said, the words feeling strange in her mouth.“These are her observations of her own ‘transformation.’Times, dates, physical symptoms.”

“Psychosis,” Tsosie suggested, though his tone held a note of uncertainty.

“Or something else.”Kari turned pages, finding diagrams of ceremonial arrangements identical to those at the murder scenes.“She believes killing at these sacred sites will somehow cure her.That each death weakens the Skinwalker’s hold.”

“She’s trying to reverse what she thinks is happening to her,” Tsosie said.

Kari’s phone was already in her hand.She dialed Daniels’s number.He answered on the second ring.

“We’ve confirmed Redford is our killer,” she said without preamble.“We’re at her house now.Evidence everywhere—maps marking the murder sites plus two additional locations.She’s hunting tonight.”

“How did you get into—” Daniels began, sounding surprisingly alert given the hour, then stopped himself.“Never mind.What locations?”

Kari read off the coordinates from the map.“We need units at both sites immediately.”

---