Page 1 of Mountain Murder

CHAPTER ONE

“I’ve been looking everywhere for you.”

Audrey Ferrogni bolted upright in bed. Her heart rate shot into dangerous territory as she scanned the four walls of her room. The shadows were all the same. Trees shook just beyond the single window to her right. Threading her hair back away from her face, she couldn’t shake the feeling the voice had somehow been real. “Just a dream.”

She collapsed back against her pillow. Goosebumps refused to ease as she tried to recall what she’d been dreaming about. Too illusive, but the voice… She could still hear it. As though it’d been right in the room with her.

Which was impossible.

Whispering Pines Ranch was heavily defended. Isolated, shielded with the type of security most homeowners dreamed of. Built on a private stretch of property in the mountain protecting the small mining town Battle Mountain, Colorado, the recovery center was run by a former special forces green beret and the local police department. With a full-time staff, it provided a safe space for veterans and those suffering from physical and mental collapse with access to the great outdoors and individualized treatment from an entire array of professionals. Nobody was getting inside without raising the alarms.

Yet she still couldn’t shake the pressure knotting in her chest.

As though she was being watched.

Audrey studied every shift of the dark corners. Seconds distorted into minutes. Into an hour. She wasn’t sure how long she stared at one particular spot on the opposite side of the room, but her vision gradually adjusted to the pitch black.

Outlining a human shape. Standing perfectly still.

Her chest tightened. It was just a dream. There wasn’t really anybody there. It was a creation of the fear still clinging to her nerve endings. That was it. She’d been prone to stress-induced hallucinations before coming here, but she thought she’d been making progress in her recovery.

“I wouldn’t scream if I were you,” the voice said.

She hadn’t imagined that.

Audrey leveraged her heels into the mattress, hiking the comforter higher up her body. “What are you doing in here? Who are you?”

The silhouette shifted closer. Closing the distance between them. Her mattress dipped with the addition of his weight. “You don’t recognize me, Audrey? And here I thought we’d been such good friends.”

Dryness threatened to drown her words in her throat. This wasn’t happening. She was still dreaming, but his weight against her leg felt all too real. “What do you want?”

“You thought you could run from me.” The distinct smell of pine infiltrated her senses from his clothes as he leaned into her. Familiar now that she’d spent the past couple of weeks in a luxury oversized cabin in the middle of the woods. “You don’t get to escape from this.”

“Escape.” Sleep refused to kick logic into gear, but she couldn’t deny this was happening. Not a dream. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Oh, I think you do, but that’s okay.” A glimmer of moonlight bounced off what looked to be a large, curved blade in his grip. A split second before he fisted his free hand into the collar of her sweatshirt and pulled her upright. “You’ll understand soon enough.”

Survival launched her knee into where she thought his kidney might be. The momentum shoved him over her shoulder and dislodged his hold on her shirt. A groan filled the room just before something heavy hit the hardwood floor. The knife?

Audrey bolted for the end of the bed. She wasn’t going to stick around to “I’ve been looking everywhere for you.”

Audrey Ferrogni bolted upright in bed. Her heart rate shot into dangerous territory as she scanned the four walls of her room. The shadows were all the same. Trees shook just beyond the single window to her right. Threading her hair back away from her face, she couldn’t shake the feeling the voice had somehow been real. “Just a dream.”

She collapsed back against her pillow. Goosebumps refused to ease as she tried to recall what she’d been dreaming about. Too illusive, but the voice… She could still hear it. As though it’d been right in the room with her.

Which was impossible.

Whispering Pines Ranch was heavily defended. Isolated, shielded with the type of security most homeowners dreamed of. Built on a private stretch of property in the mountain protecting the small mining town Battle Mountain, Colorado, the recovery center was run by a former special forces green beret and the local police department. With a full-time staff, it provided a safe space for veterans and those suffering from physical and mental collapse with access to the great outdoors and individualized treatment from an entire array of professionals. Nobody was getting inside without raising the alarms.

Yet she still couldn’t shake the pressure knotting in her chest.

As though she was being watched.

Audrey studied every shift of the dark corners. Seconds distorted into minutes. Into an hour. She wasn’t sure how long she stared at one particular spot on the opposite side of the room, but her vision gradually adjusted to the pitch black.

Outlining a human shape. Standing perfectly still.

Her chest tightened. It was just a dream. There wasn’t really anybody there. It was a creation of the fear still clinging to her nerve endings. That was it. She’d been prone to stress-induced hallucinations before coming here, but she thought she’d been making progress in her recovery.

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