Page 248 of Beyond the Blue Horizon
Nothing.
I was only being paranoid.
Sucking it down, I hurried toward my car that was about a hundred feet away, parked at the curb with the front facing in my direction.
The running lights flashed as I approached.
I was right there.
So close.
It was fine.
It was fine.
I was just letting old fears creep in.
I finally made it to the door, and I reached for the handle and whipped it open.
A punch of relief pilfered from my nose as I hopped into the driver’s seat. I slammed the door and clicked the locks.
See.
It was nothing.
Only those chills scattered when the dark presence rose up from the backseat.
Terror drenched me all the way through when a gun cocked, and the barrel was placed at my temple. Justin’s horrible, disgusting voice oozed against my ear. “Did you miss me, baby?”
FIFTY
PIPER
NINETEEN YEARS OLD
Piper couldn’t sleep.Couldn’t think. Couldn’t process what had happened almost a week ago.
She’d seen what had happened on the news.
The old man whose wife had died six months earlier killed in a robbery.
Jewelry and a significant amount of cash had reportedly been stolen.
She’d been sick.
Horrified.
Repulsed and appalled that she’d been the one to go to his door, unwittingly a diversion for Justin to break inside.
She was even more appalled at herself that she hadn’t gathered the courage to go to the police. To pick up the phone and report who had so clearly committed the atrocious crime.
She’d tried.
Four days ago, she asked to borrow her mother’s car again, but as she drove toward the police station, she felt a sticky sense cover her from behind. She realized it was Justin on a motorcycle trailing her from a distance.
His face had been concealed by the helmet that he wore and a handkerchief across his face.
But she knew.
