Page 7 of Good Girls Don't Cry

After a freezing night, Olivia fought to breathe. If it weren’t bad enough being kidnapped and held in a stinking cell underground, she had asthma and it had chosen now to make life difficult. Without an inhaler, an attack could be fatal. Her purse and inhaler had gone down with the limo. She choked back tears. He’d killed her friends, shot one and drowned the others without a second thought. He’d taken Madison. In her mind, she could still hear her screams echoing through the caves and his laugh. The thought of him sent shivers down her spine. Her chest tightened and she tried to concentrate on just the next breath, but breathing the thick air in the neglected mine was like trying to inhale in a dust storm. The only air seemed to be outside of her cell. She pressed her face against the bars in the cell window at the top of her door, gasping in the breeze that came from the outside.

In the faint glow of a swinging dust-covered light bulb, eerie shadows danced across the cold stone walls, but for now they were alone. Their captor hadn’t returned all night. She stepped away from the window and ran a hand down her once beautiful prom dress. After a night sleeping on the dust-caked mattress, the expensive gown was too damaged to even use as rags. She’d washed her face and hands in the sink but there was nothing to dry them on, apart from a few sheets of toilet paper pulled from a roll that she discovered on the cistern.

The darkness inside the cell suffocated her and she went back to her position in front of the door. The cleaner air helped and her breathing improved. Cold seeped into her bones and her stomach growled with hunger. The old military rations that the man had given them had been disgusting. She’d forced them down not knowing even what they looked like and she imagined them covered with maggots with every bite. She shuddered. Sobbing came from the other cells. All of her friends were terrified just the same as her. Would they die trapped in these cells? Or would he come and get them one by one?

She’d hoped Madison would have returned by now, but after the initial screaming, they’d heard nothing. He’d probably killed her. Panic gripped her and she wanted to scream, but no one was coming to help them. She needed to calm down. There must be a way to escape. She just hadn’t thought it through. “Hey, are you all okay?”

“Alive.” Sam coughed. “I won’t last much longer in the cold.”

Everyone was at their window, and the sounds of their shallow rugged gasps filled the quiet. Olivia waved at the two she could see. “Keep moving if you’re cold. Remember what they told us about survival in camp when we were kids?”

“I don’t figure that included being locked in a cell at the bottom of a mineshaft with a maniac intent on murdering us all.” Chloe’s large round frightened eyes peered at her. “That’s what’s happening here, isn’t it? We need to face facts: we’re not going home anytime soon—if ever.”

Olivia wanted to at least try and keep their spirits up. She’d never been a defeatist. During competition as the leader of the cheerleading squad, even when the chips were down she’d managed to encourage them to give their all and they usually won. “We have to think positive. There must be a way to escape this man. If he takes us out one by one, there’s a good chance that he’s going to make a mistake sooner or later, and when he does, we act on it. For now, if he comes back, we should try and get some decent food and some clean blankets. Just starting to negotiate with him will make him see us as human beings and not toys for him to play with.”

“I figure you’re all batshit crazy if you believe this guy’s going to let us escape.” Isabella shook the bars. “We’re all going to die. If he doesn’t kill us, we’ll die here. Have you seen his eyes? It’s like looking into the eyes of the devil. He is enjoying seeing us frightened. He’s a monster.”

Olivia heard something and hushed them. She listened intently as footsteps echoed through the cavernous space. She looked at the others staring open-mouthed toward the source of the noise. Her stomach churned with dread as the footsteps grew louder. She wanted to run, hide, do anything to get away, but the steady deliberate footfalls kept coming. The beam of a flashlight cut through the darkness and illuminated the girls’ terrified faces.

“Did you miss me?” He moved the flashlight across each girl’s face.

With him hidden behind the balaclava and wearing gloves, all that Olivia could make out was the glint of black eyes peering at her. Terrified, her breath caught in her throat as he approached her cell. She trembled but stood her ground as he came closer. Determined to give the others encouragement to remain strong, she sucked in a few deep breaths. Without warning, the man reached through the bars and touched her face, stroking her cheek. Her skin crawled at his touch and she recoiled, but too late. He’d grabbed her by the throat and the smell of blood on the leather gloves crawled up her nose. His fingers tightened and the cell blurred. Fighting for her life, she grasped at his arm, pulling it down hard, and the grip released. She staggered back, gasping for air and wheezing.

“I like that you’re afraid of me.” His voice sent shivers down her spine. “But this is only the beginning. I have great plans for you.” He pointed at each door. “Eeny, meeny, miny, moe, which of you is next to go?”

Eight

As Raven’s SUV patrol vehicle climbed high into the mountains, Emily gazed out of the window, enjoying the lush beauty of Black Rock Falls in summer. Being apprehensive about going alone to a potential crime scene had eased a little with Raven beside her. After all, Jenna did this all the time and her dad would never send her into danger alone, and yet as the dense forest enveloped them, knowing a killer was out there sent cold chills down her spine. She concentrated on the spectacular view to push away the fear threatening to spoil everything. She’d never live down the embarrassment of losing her nerve in front of Raven. She stared into the trees, searching for a glimpse of wildlife. The various shades of green, bathed in sunlight filtering through the dense canopy, seemed surreal, almost magical. Why did someone always spoil it by committing murder in the forest?

“Are you concerned about what we might find?” Raven looked at her.

She turned to him. “Not at all. I’ve spent my fair share of time at body farms and at some nasty crime scenes and I haven’t puked yet.” She shook her head. “It’s just—well—it would be very unusual if someone has tied human body parts to a tree.”

“How so?” Raven flicked her a glance.

Emily waved a hand dismissively. “We’ve already had a killer using that MO in Black Rock Falls. I don’t recall his name, but the dismembered bodies were left during the winter. I recall Jenna and Kane were on vacation at the ski resort when the body parts were discovered. The case was solved and the perpetrator would either be dead or in prison.”

“That’s good to know.” Raven kept his attention on the winding road ahead. “I don’t recall ever visiting the ski resort in summer. It’s very peaceful here and the scenery is magnificent, isn’t it?”

In truth, dread at what they might find hung over Emily, but she brushed it away and forced a smile. “It sure is. I’ve been in the mountains before in summer but never this high. It won’t be long before the place is bustling with skiers. The ski lodge has certainly had its share of serial killers, but the tourists keep on coming, year in and year out.” She turned around in her seat to peer down the mountainside. At this position, she could see all the way to town, including the rivers and the lake, all springing from the falls. “This would be a wonderful place for a picnic, don’t you agree?”

“Absolutely.” Raven rubbed his short beard and glanced at her. “Although you might think differently when we arrive at the crime scene—it could be a field-dressed animal hung in a tree to keep it away from the bears.”

Her thoughts drifted momentarily to the crime scene they were heading toward and she turned in her seat to look at him. “Dad mentioned you were in the military before joining the sheriff’s department. Were you deployed overseas?”

“Yeah, I served as a medic.” Raven gave his head a little shake as if talking about his service was a problem. “I flew a medevac chopper and saw a lot of action, but it prepared me well for this kind of work. Before you ask why I left before my twenty years, I suffered from PTSD and decided that being involved with K-9 training would be a good way to rehabilitate. That’s how I come to have Ben. I believe that saving rescue dogs and training them for personal protection is a good community project that also makes me a living.”

Emily enjoyed his company and getting him to open up about his past was surprisingly easy. She’d spoken to Dave Kane about him, after her dad had informed her that Raven had asked if he could take her on a date. The idea had both thrilled and annoyed her. To think that in this day and age a man figured he needed to go to her father to ask his permission. So after giving her dad the stink eye and refusing to discuss Raven with him, she’d gone to her ally. Kane had informed her that in his opinion Raven was an open book. A “what you see is what you get” kind of guy. However, she’d made a point of keeping him at arm’s length. As an independent grown woman, she didn’t need her father interfering—or choosing her dates. He’d been overprotective since she’d attended kindergarten, and if he approved of Raven or not, who she dated was none of his business.

Dragging her mind back to the conversation, she smiled at him. “I imagine everything was going really fine until you found my sister in a plane wreck.”

“Indeed.” Raven barked a laugh. “My life has completely changed since then. I will still train the dogs, and now that I have Atohi Blackhawk as a partner, their training and well-being will continue when I’m working for the sheriff’s department.”

Emily nodded. “That’s good to know. It must have been quite an adjustment coming back to civilian life. Dad mentioned that you fly a chopper and that one is available for you now.”

“Yes, and with all the additional training I’ve received, I’m one of the team now.” Raven cleared his throat. “I figured with everyone being so close and all, acceptance would be a problem, but everyone has been amazing and Kane is like my big brother. I was resistant to join society again. I liked living in solitude with my dogs, but I’ve found a new purpose here.” He slowed to take a tight bend. “What made you want to follow in your father’s footsteps?”

It wasn’t a difficult question, but Raven didn’t know how the family had suffered before moving to Black Rock Falls. Watching her mother slowly die of cancer, and seeing how her dad carried the burden for everyone and then respected her mom’s wishes by creating a new life for them, had been all the inspiration she needed. She looked at Raven. “He started off like you, you know, flying medevac choppers under fire. Then he became a handler for a special forces operative, who unfortunately died. He decided the only way to keep himself busy during the long nights he stayed awake nursing my mother was to finish his studies in forensic science and then apply for certification as a medical examiner. The one thing that made up my mind to follow him was that he always told me he did the job because there was no one else to speak for the victims of crime.”

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