Page 15 of No Escape

“Are you okay?” she asked, her voice barely audible above the sound of the storm outside, rain clattering against something nearby.

Valerie swallowed hard, nodding slowly. “I’m fine,” she whispered, though she knew it was far from the truth. They were both in danger of being arrested, and other dangers lurked, too. Valerie was concerned all of the stress would make either of their mental states unravel, all that progress gone, and so she had to be strong for her sister. There was no time to dwell on her fears and memories; they had to focus on stopping John Murphy and saving his cousin Joshua.

“We need to get moving,” Valerie said. “The authorities will be looking for us.”

“Why don’t we contact them?” Suzie asked.

“Because we’ll be wanted for questioning,” Valerie said. “We’ll be taken into custody and then they won’t have a chance in hell of catching John Murphy. If I were in their shoes, I’d be entertaining the possibility that somehow we are involved in Murphy’s escape. And besides, even if they let us go, they wouldn’t work with me. I’d be put straight back into a padded room somewhere until all this blows over with who knows how many dead. Even the FBI wouldn’t work with me, there is someone there who would block my involvement.”

Valerie stopped for a moment, looking around, feeling on edge. Then she said, “We need to stay out of custody long enough to put an end to him.”

“An end?” Suzie said, sounding shocked.

“To… To stop him, sis.” Valerie sighed. “If you’re going to continue on with me, you have to realize that John Murphy isn’t just one of the brightest killers I’ve ever encountered, he was in Special Forces and is capable of taking down most people with his bare hands. I don’t want you to get hurt.”

“I won’t.” But Suzie’s words sounded uncertain, and Valerie started to think about how to get her sister to safety before she had to face Murphy.

“Suzie…” Valerie started, intending to persuade her out of it.

“We better keep moving,” Suzie said, cutting her sister off.

Valerie and Suzie left the gas station restroom, their faces set with determination. The storm’s intensity showed no signs of letting up, but they couldn’t afford to wait for it to pass.

They had to get to Joshua before John Murphy did.

As they stepped out into the downpour, the rain soaked them to the bone, their clothes clinging to their bodies.

“Where do you think he is?” Suzie shouted over the deafening roar of the storm, her eyes scanning the darkness beyond the gas station’s lights.

Valerie clenched her jaw, thinking back to her research on John Murphy and any possible connections he might have had in the area.

“There’s a house in Redtree, a city that’s about an hour away by car. It’s where Joshua has been living since he was released from the psychiatric hospital.”

“Psychiatric hospital?” Suzie asked.

“Joshua had a breakdown after his cousin nearly killed him. It’s understandable. But unluckily for him, if I were John Murphy, that’s where I’d go.”

“Why?”

“To kill him,” Valerie said loudly over the storm. “When we were at Shady Pines, he specifically told me he was going to finish hiswork. That means killing his family members. That will start with the one who got away: Joshua.”

“How did Joshua escape?” asked Suzie.

“I got there and arrested John Murphy before he could finish him off.”

Suzie looked at her sister. Valerie saw the rain trickling down her head and into her eyes. Suzie had a look on her face. It was admiration.

“Why does he want to kill his family?” Suzie asked.

“We never got to the bottom of that,” Valerie explained. “The man clammed up under questioning. He only ever shared what he wanted to, to get what he wanted.”

Suzie nodded, her eyes filled with worry. “But what if John already has a head start? What if he managed to wave down a car and he’s already at Joshua’s?”

Valerie’s eyes narrowed, and she could feel the adrenaline coursing through her veins. “Then we have to move fast. We can’t afford to waste any time.”

Suzie glanced at Valerie, her eyes filled with worry. “Shouldn’t we contact Charlie and Will? They might be able to help us.”

Valerie thought about it for a moment before shaking her head. “No, we can’t involve them. If we contact them, they would either be forced to alert the authorities to where we are or face being charged for supporting fugitives.”

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