Page 26 of A Curse On Black Lake
I don’t think and follow the voice, running through the trees as hard as I can to a clearing, over a hill, towards the voice.
“Killian! Save us!” she screams.
“I’m coming!” I yell.
I push harder going over the next hill.
“Please!” she screams.
Every time I crest a hill, no one is there.
“Hold on! Just hold on!” I yell.
I keep pushing, trying to find her, but it sounds like her voice keeps getting farther and farther away.
“No, please!” she screams, and then it’s silent.
I stop at the top of another hill and listen.
“Where are you!” I scream, hoping, praying she’s still alive even if I know better.
But it’s silent.
The fog feels like it’s wrapping its ghostly hands around my throat, and I choke. I can’t breathe.
I try running again, but the noose around my neck gets tighter.
My vision dots and I know I’m on the edge of passing out.
Air is harder to drag in as the fog fills my lungs. I fall to my knees, and crawl. I won’t give up. I won’t give in.
Black invades my sight, and this feels like the end.
And then I hear a whisper in my ear, “I will take all you know and love. You will not escape me. There is no escape fromme.”
I jolt awake, out of breath, and look around. I’m home. I’m in my bed.
No one is here.
My hands fist and I focus on willing my heart to return to a slower rhythm. It was one of my worst fears in law enforcement … trying to save someone who I couldn’t get to fast enough. And it feels like what I saw wasn’t a nightmare. It was a whole hell of a lot more.
Later that morning while I work on my chores, my mind spins and spins. It still feels like the fog is sitting in my throat, choking me, or maybe it’s my own dower reality. I’m in a terrible position, with no logical way out.
There is no doubt in my mind that they will try to pin this on me. People are scared one of their own has been doing something so terrible right under their noses. Wyatt is digging in, and I understand he might be doing his job, but he’s not doing it well. He’s been back three times trying to come onto myland without a warrant. Since he doesn’t have one, that tells me a judge won’t issue it because there isn’t enough evidence. He’s grasping, the town is pushing, and I’m an easy target. “Come on, Kill, if you have nothing to hide, then let me take a look at things again, without a warrant.”
He must think I’m an idiot.
When I was on the force with him, I always took the lead. But we were always on the same page. The evidence mayappearto point to me, but I obviously didn’t do it. And it’s become painstakingly evident to me that I will have to solve this murder on my own. Meaning, I have to solve, or at least find an alternative killer for all of these cold cases in order to protect myself, all without having the evidence to refer to. Is this something I can do on my own?
Eliana pops into my mind, and I immediately shake her out. I have no idea what she was getting at. She is certainly strange, but that doesn’t give anyone the right to run her into a ditch. I don’t understand people in this town. I didn’t when I was a kid, and I still don’t now.
I bring Daisy to a canter heading for the rocks I found the woman on. I’ve forced myself not to come over here because there’s nothing to find. But now that I’m running my own investigation, I have to.
The dogs follow behind Daisy and I, sniffing and running around. I hook Daisy’s reins around the horn and leave her to graze while I look around.
Coming up to the rocks, nothing sticks out to me. But it’s been almost two weeks since I found her. If there was any evidence here, it’s long gone. But maybe the murderer left something else the cops didn’t catch that can’t be washed away or destroyed by the sun. Since this woman was different based on the K-wound post mortem and the hair color. It’s safe to assume he did something new with the body dump. I take a deep breath andlook up at the cloudy sky, much like my mood. It bothers me that I don’t know her name. She deserves to be remembered.
Checking the perimeter first, I don’t spot anything that sticks out to me. It rained a couple of days ago. Any blood or other bodily fluids would be gone and disintegrated by now.
