Page 85 of Dark Roads
“Half the town will probably show up with hammers.”
He laughed. “There’s some good people here.”
“How did you end up in Cold Creek?”
“I was in a biker club for a while. Nothing too hard-core, just a bunch of guys who liked to ride Harleys. I’d cook at the clubhouse and they always seemed to enjoy my food. Eventually I got a job cooking at a logging camp and scraped together enough money to buy the diner.” He shrugged. “The rest is history.” He glanced over at her. “I bet your parents are missing you.”
“They don’t know I’m in Cold Creek. I didn’t want to scare them.”
“I wouldn’t blame them for being worried.”
“I don’t want to go home until I have answers.”
“Answers?”
“I want to find Amber’s killer. I think she knew him.…” She looked at Mason, considering whether she could share her suspicions. He might tell Vaughn, though.
“You don’t think it was random?”
“Amber was smart. She wouldn’t have gone anywhere with a stranger.”
He was staring at the road ahead of him. “Why do you think he picked her?”
She rubbed at some scratches on the dash, upset by his question. She didn’t like thinking about the killer choosing Amber, watching and waiting, like she was a toy on an assembly line that he could snatch up when he was ready. “He knew that she didn’t have people in the area. Maybe he thought no one would report her missing. Freaks like him prey on vulnerable girls.” She turned her attention away from the dash and looked out the window, the trees whipping past.
There would never be another summer when the heat didn’t fill her with dread. Never a walk in the woods whendry riverbanks, the quiet of a gravel road, and dusty ditches with long grass didn’t make her think about her sister’s murder. It was all twisted and ugly, dark and evil.
“You’re probably right.” He reached over to adjust the radio and brushed against his coffee cup, knocking it over. Coffee poured out on the console, filling the cupholders, and splashing her too. She jerked backward, swiping at the hot spots speckling her legs.
“Damn, you okay?”
“Yeah. But it’s all over the seat.”
“There should be some napkins in the glove box.”
“Okay.” She leaned over, pushed papers around in the glove box. “I don’t see any.”
“Hang on.” He slowed and pulled over onto the side. “Maybe in the door pocket?”
She looked down, but there were only receipts and chocolate bar wrappers. Movement, a flash of shadow coming toward her. Her head slammed the window with a sickening thud. She gasped, clutching her skull. Mason. He was attacking her. She had to get out. She scrabbled for the door, but he had a painful hold on her hair, yanking her back. She pried at his hand, his fingers.
Branches scraped the windows, the windshield. They were in motion, the truck bumping down a logging road. Her head pounded. Bright lights, sparks, exploded in her eyes. Made the world thick and greasy. She grabbed at the back of her head, her hair, trying to relieve the pressure from his grip. With her free hand, she undid her seat belt. The truck jerked to a stop.
Something warm was dripping down the side of her face. Her vision blurred. Nausea swarmed up her throat. She spun in her seat, clawed at his face. Her fingertips met something wet and soft. His eye.
He roared—and let go of her hair. She grabbed the doorhandle, fell out of the truck, and hit dirt, flat on her back. The air rushed out of her lungs. Her teeth clacked together.
Arms, legs, emerging from the truck. He landed on top of her like a spider, sat astride her hips, his face full of rage and slick with sweat, his mouth open—a giant maw.
One, two, three hard punches to her face, her mouth filling with blood, dirt in her eyes, heavy hand clamping down over her lips, grinding against her teeth. Blue sky above. Then it tunneled into gray.
Her last thought was of her parents.
CHAPTER 33
Hailey
Crouched among the trees, I watched as Beth climbed into Mason’s truck. He started up the engine and the two of them backed out of the campsite and drove away. Beside me, Wolf whined. He was anxious, staring up the road after Mason’s truck, then back to me.
