Page 103 of The Executioners Three
Theo sucked in a long breath. The pain in his chin and palms was rippling away. So were thoughts of his grandmother, until all that remained were Theo and this iron heart.
Come,said a voice, deep,deepin the back of Theo’s brain.We have work to do.
“Yes,” Theo replied. Work sounded good to him right now. He tucked the iron heart into his pocket. Then he pushed to his feet and set off for the trees. Ahead was the one who was calling him. The one he’d already met once, beside a lakeshore last week. The one who was hazy, hungry, and reeked of forgotten death.
Yes, yes.
They had work to do.
24
There were some truths that were just too big to contain in a single person’s mind. Like, for all that Mulder made it seem so easy to believe in conspiracies and aliens, that was only TV. Fox Mulder was fun to watch, but everyone knew that wasn’t real life.Freddieknew it wasn’t real life.
People didn’t really hypnotize others or try to re-create old, forgotten ghost tales to clear their family name. Except… it sure looked like someone had right about now.
And Freddie’s dad must have come to the same conclusion, as proven by the box in the basement. Maybe if Frank hadn’t died right in the middle of his investigation, then the murderer would have been caught twelve years ago…
Oh Jesus. Freddie wasn’t sure she wanted to finish this thought. But it was too late, of course. Her eyes had already latched onto her ghost-filled murder board. Her brain had already finished doing the math.
It wasn’t a heart attack that killed him.
They’d said the body was too awful for a child to see. They’d said a five-year-old shouldn’t witness it. And there had been all those doctors and nurses covered in blood, rushing in and out of his room.
But that was not how people died when they had heart attacks. That was how they died when a serial killer decided they’d had enough of someone on their trail.
Maybe this is why the unspoken rule exists,she thought numbly.Maybe Mom and Steve and Bowman all knew Dad died in a horrible way.They might not have known it wasmurder,but they had to have known it wasn’t cholesterol.
Freddie stumbled out of the room. She needed to keep her thoughts and feelings tamped down so she could call Divya. Maybe the PrankSquad had found Laina—maybe Freddie had gotten all of this wrong, and it would turn out to be a really epic prank. No serial killer or hypnotic sleepwalking, no attempt to re-create a story about spirits and blood oaths and murder…
She reached the coat rack. Her hands lifted to the flat shelf. Her palms patted. And patted.
And patted.
But there was nothing there. No phone, no device to power on and use. Which meant someone had moved Sabrina. And that meant someone hadbeenhere.
Reality hurtled into Freddie.Maybe it’s Greg,she thought wildly, spinning toward the hallway—only to find no light shining through the cracks of his office. And no light from the main store either, at the end of the hall.
Freddie’s heart kicked to max tempo. Her adrenal glands spurted toon,and once again, her gut wasscreamingat her to move. Immediately, while she still had a chance.
She obeyed, twisting for the back door. But she only made it two steps before a figure stepped into view outside. Hulking and vague through the glass, their arm was reaching for the handle.
Not Greg,her mind processed.Too short to be Greg. Run, Freddie. Go.
Freddie did exactly that. She hurtled away from the door. Straight for the main shop. She heard the door open behind her. She heard footsteps squeak inside. Definitely not Greg, or he would have called her name.
She reached the archway and veered left to circle around the main counter. Everything was dark. Just shapes and shadows in her way. But Freddie knew this store well. She had spent countless hours at the Frame & Foto, learning how to use the fancy darkroom and watching Greg develop his photos.
Which was why she knew that on the walls, meticulously hung, were Greg’s most popular photographs. And it was why she knew that to her right was the Nikon display (where she’d gotten Xena), while straight ahead was the Canon display.
Freddie glanced behind her as she cut around the Nikons, certain she’d find her pursuer at the archway. Except no one was there. She slowed, feet skittering with confusion. Her pulse cannoned in her eardrums.Where could they be? Where could they be?Had she just imagined everything?
No,her gut told her.Keep running.She launched back into her sprint around the Nikons. And that was when it happened—thatwas when the person stepped in front of her. A human shape who just melted out of the tripods.
Freddie toppled into them. Her fingers touched a sleeve, but before she could look up to see who was attacking, a cloth slammed against her nose. Sweet fumes barreled in. Darkness rippled across her vision. Her entire body went limp.
It was as she tumbled to the floor that Freddie had just enough awareness to spot two things.
First: a gleaming sheriff’s badge.
