Page 70 of Strangers She Knows

He hit his head with his hand as if trying to knock something out of his brain. “I can’t find Jamie. Do you know where she is? I can’t find her. I don’t know what happened last night, but I can’t find her.”

Naked. He was naked. Even from this far away, he smelled. He smelled funny, like copper pennies.

Blood. He was covered in dried blood. His hair was spiky with blood. His mouth was smeared with blood. His hands, his belly, his legs, his—

Something clicked in Rae’s brain. This was the moment her daddy and mommy warned her about, when she realized she was in danger and needed to stop being polite and save herself from harm.

Adrenaline flooded her system. She didn’t know how, but she got her feet back on the bike’s pedals, turned herself around and blasted back up the path toward the house, calling Luna as she went.

Luna ran beside her, no longer smiling, a low growl rumbling from her chest like a jackhammer.

Rae didn’t dare glance behind her. What if Dylan was chasing her? What if he was fast? What if he caught her? And did to her what he’d done to Jamie.

What had he done to Jamie?

As soon as Rae saw the garage on the horizon, a new terror seized her. What if something had happened to her parents? What if Dylan had got there ahead of her? She shouted, “Daddy! Mommy! Daddy! Mommy!”

Her mother ran out first. Then her father. Because he had to get out from under the pickup. But he outstripped her mother running toward Rae.

Rae skidded to a halt. Dropped her bike. Looked behind her.

Dylan was nowhere in sight.

Luna was panting, looking back the way they came and growling.

Rae knelt beside her dog and hugged her hard.

Luna rubbed her head against Rae’s, giving comfort and protection.

Daddy arrived first, and helped Rae to her feet. “What happened?”

Rae couldn’t speak.

Mommy grabbed her by the shoulders, gave her a little shake. “Rae. What happened?”

For the first time, Rae allowed the meaning of what she saw to hit her. She swayed. She swallowed. She trembled. She whispered, “He’s crazy. He’s bloody. He’s done something to Jamie.”

“Dylan? Is bloody? Dylan? Did something to Jamie?” Daddy sounded frantic, maybe scared.

That frightened Rae even more. She flung herself at them. “Please, no, it’s horrible. It’s horrible.”

29

In the library, Kellen picked a thorn out of Luna’s foot and listened to Max quietly explain what he’d done with Dylan. “I washed him off with the hose, gave him coveralls and told him to get dressed.”

“How bad was it?”How much blood?she meant.Should we search for Jamie?

Max shook his head, his eyes both sorrowful and angry.

“There’s no way?” Kellen asked.

“It wasn’t just blood,” he muttered.

Jamie was dead, then. Kellen shook her head, too.

“When Dylan was dressed,” Max said, “I tied him up and left him in the garage. He’s quite docile; he didn’t seem to have any fight in him.”

“I never thought he had any in the first place.”

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