Page 63 of Face Her Fear

Her voice was loud enough to draw the attention of Nicola and Alice.

“You okay over there?” Alice called.

Sandrine waved a dismissive hand in the air. “Yes, yes. Just a nightmare.”

They stared at one another as several minutes passed. Finally, Sandrine said, “I don’t think we should confront them. If you’re right about everything that has happened this week, that means we’re dealing with at least one, if not two, cold-blooded killers. What if they feel threatened and try to hurt the rest of us? I know we outnumber them three to two but I’m not sure setting up a potential physical confrontation is wise.” When Josie didn’t answer, Sandrine reached across the distance between them and squeezed her arm. “I know you’re thinking of Taryn. You think if you’d been honest about Meg’s murder, Taryn would still be with us. I understand you’re grappling with that but I’m telling you, confronting them will only put us all at greater risk. Not when we’re so close to being rescued. Let’s get off this mountain and let your colleagues in the police department take over from there.”

Josie swallowed over a new lump in her throat. “Okay, but we should tell Alice.”

Sandrine squeezed her arm again. “Maybe it’s best we don’t. She can’t slip up if she doesn’t know anything. She’s already sufficiently scared that she’ll be careful. Let’s leave it at that.”

FORTY

Noah’s lower back spasmed for what felt like the hundredth time. The muscles of his shoulders felt like they were on fire. Sweat poured down his face, into his eyes, making them burn. He blinked, trying to stop the sting, but it did no good. He was sure the perspiration was blurring his vision but he couldn’t know for certain. The darkness was never-ending. Yet he’d managed to squirm and roll and wiggle his way to the bottom of the wooden stairs. He’d positioned his bound wrists along the edge of the post that ran up from the bottom step, anchoring the railing. He’d been rubbing the duct tape against the edge of the post for what felt like hours, though it might only be minutes.

Time was meaningless here.

He started to mark it by how many times the furnace kicked on and off before he realized that that didn’t really tell him anything about how much time was passing. The furnace kicked on when the temperature in the house went below a certain number and then turned back off when it got back up to that number.

His bladder was full and every muscle in his body screamed for relief. Several times he’d been close to defeat. The only thing that kept him going, kept his wrists sawing against the post, was the thought of Josie. He’d lost his mother a few years back, in the worst way possible. His father had been an asshole of the highest degree. Noah didn’t believe his father had ever loved his mother. He’d left her pretty much the day that Noah, their youngest, turned eighteen. He’d immediately started a new family with another woman, leaving Noah and his brother and sister behind as if they had never existed. His mother had taken all of this with the stoicism of a statue. Noah had always wondered if she cried in her most private moments. Then he decided he didn’t want to know. His own pain was enough. With his brother and sister out of the house, he and Colette had gotten through the storm of his father’s betrayal together. She refused to let grief beat her. She had been his rock, the guiding light in his life for so long.

Until he met Josie.

He wasn’t sure he would have survived Colette’s death if it wasn’t for her. On the outside, he’d handled it with the same stoicism his mother exuded in life but on the inside, he’d been a mess. Josie was his lighthouse, his beacon. When grief dragged him into its murky depths, he found his way to the surface by following her light.

He could not lose her.

He could not die.

The bindings came loose. Pain arced across Noah’s shoulders as he flexed them, rolling them forward. A flick of his wrists outward and he heard the tape tear a fraction. Moments later, his arms were free. Adrenaline surged through his body, numbing the pain in his extremities from hours of being bound. He forgot all about his full bladder. He went to work on his feet, hoping he could get them loose before Cooper returned to make use of him.

FORTY-ONE

Josie didn’t think she’d be able to sleep but after the conversation with Sandrine, she closed her eyes and soon, she was dreaming of Noah. He was trying to get to her but he was trapped. Mettner was there on the mountain with her but this time, she was the one dying and he couldn’t save her. She woke in a cold sweat, just before dawn. Sitting up on her mattress, she noticed that Sandrine and Brian’s beds were empty. Alice and Nicola were on their feet, walking around testing lamps and light switches. Nothing worked. Josie rubbed the sleep from her eyes. “What’s going on?”

Alice threw open the door to the game room and reached inside, flipping the light switch up and down. Nothing happened. “We’re pretty sure the generator ran out of fuel. Brian went out back to check. Don’t worry, Sandrine is watching him from the back door.”

This drew a glare from Nicola, who flopped into one of the chairs with a huff. “That means we’re officially out of power. All we’ve got is heat now. Until the wood runs out.”

“How long will that last?” Josie asked. She had lost track of how much they were using to load the wood-burning stove.

Nicola shrugged. “Not sure. Brian thinks a day? Two, if we’re lucky?”

Alice walked over to the remaining pile of wood they’d gathered from the rage room and kicked it. “Son of a bitch!”

Josie stood up and walked over to her. “Hey, it’s going to be okay. We’re going to get out of here soon.”

Alice’s eyes filled with tears. “What about the food?”

Sandrine walked in from the kitchen, followed by Brian. Their faces were red and pinched with cold. “The food?” she said. “We have enough for today and probably tomorrow, as well. We can make it last longer now that…”

The silence stretched on a beat too long. Everyone stared at Sandrine. She wiped a tear from her cheek.

Nicola scowled at Sandrine. “Just say it. Now that Taryn’s gone. We have one less mouth to feed thanks to someone in this room.”

Brian went around Sandrine and plopped into the chair next to Nicola. He pushed a hand through his shaggy brown hair. “Let’s not start that again.”

The faint smell of wood burning infiltrated the room, growing stronger. Josie looked at the stove, but it wasn’t emitting smoke. No, this smell was much stronger than what normally came from the stove, and it seemed to come from somewhere else.

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