Page 14 of Halloween in Sleepy Hollow
I knew something was wrong. But this? This reinforces my fears.
Inches from grabbing the phone, my police officer training kicks in.
Don’t contaminate the evidence.
There could be fingerprints on it. Traces of DNA.
Feeling sick, I pull my sleeve over my hand and pick up Shea’s phone, being careful not to get my bare fingers on it. When I turn it over, I see all my missed texts andcalls splashed across the screen, but nothing beyond that to indicate any wrongdoing.
Except that it’s here and not with her, where it should be.
A desperate voice in my head whispers hopefully,Maybe she didn’t realize she lost it. It’s possible. If she was talking to Ari and Thea, and her phone slid out of her pocket…
But I know it’s not true.
And I’m more scared than I’ve been since that terrible day when Shea and I were taken.
“Oliver. Cash.” Ben’s voice is strained close to breaking.
Still clutching Shea’s phone tightly, I jump to my feet. “What?”
“I found something,” he says. “And… it’s not good.”
CHAPTER 4
THEA
“What am I supposed to do with the three of you?”
Our captor turns to us, gesturing with his gun in emphasis. “I had it all planned out,” he continues in an aggrieved tone. “Just those four.” He glances back at the four women tied up behind him. “Not three more.”
“You could let us go,” Ari suggests quietly. “Since you don’t want us here.”
“Let yougo?” He barks out a sharp laugh. “So you can turn me in? Ruin all my plans? I don’t think so.”
“Whatareyour plans?” Shea asks. Her voice quivers, but her gaze is steady on him. “Why are we here?” She angles her chin at the four women sitting in a circle in the center of the floor. “And why are they here?”
The man—at least, I’m assuming it’s a man from the low timbre of his voice, since I can’t see his face beneath his costume—snaps, “That’s none of your business!”
Then he cocks the trigger and aims the gun at her. “I’mjust about done listening to you. Keep your mouth shut or I’ll make sure you can’t talk.Permanently.”
Shea makes a tiny meep of fear as she cringes away from him. Her lips pinch into a narrow, quivering line. Tears well up in her eyes.
Ari flashes an angry look at our captor. Of all the women in here—seven, including the four who were taken before us—she’s holding up the best.
She’s scared, of course. How could she not be?
How could any of us not be?
Not when we’re all tied up and being held hostage in an old bank vault by a man in a Headless Horseman costume. A man with a gun, no less. And to make things even worse, a gun I’m not entirely sure he knows how to use properly.
Well. He knows how to cock the trigger. But he doesn’t know—or care—that you’re not supposed to do that until you’re absolutely ready to fire the gun. Before that, you’re supposed to keep your finger on the trigger guard, so it doesn’t fire accidentally.
No, I don’t use guns. But I have enough friends who do that I know how they work.
As I watch the agitated Headless Horseman start another anxious loop around the small room, a new and horrifying thought occurs to me.
Maybe heisready to fire.
