“I’ve never hunted Delores with anyone before, I need to know I can trust you.” He looked at her over one shoulder.
His scheme fell into place in a jolt of reality. She had to play along or become a victim. “You’ll find it easier to hunt down Delores with me. She’ll get into your truck, when she sees me inside.”
“Most do anyway but you may be right.” Preacher slid a pile of grilled cheese sandwiches across the table to her. “Can I trust you with a cup of coffee? I won’t be happy if you get ugly and throw it in my face.”
Ava gave him her best aghast expression. “I’d never do such a thing.” She frowned. “Why do you think that?”
“They all get ugly.” He poured her coffee and added cream and sugar. “Delores never smiles at me. I care for her and feed her but you should hear the names she calls me. It makes my head throb and I want to hurt her. When she’s quiet, I can make her smile at me and I feel good again.”
Goosebumps prickled over Ava’s legs and arms. Preacher sounded like a little boy who’d been bullied for a very long time. Heavens, I’m feeling sorry
for him. Giving herself a mental shake, she ate slowly. “How long ago did this start?”
“A long time but I finished it in high school.” Preacher avoided her gaze. “I was small for my age with zits. I’m a different person now.”
Ava tried to look interested but her knees shook in terror. “Was she cruel to you, Preacher?”
“Cruel?” Preacher turned his head slowly toward her and the evil expression in his eyes chilled her to the bone. “She figured I wasn’t good enough to walk in her shadow but when my hands closed around her neck, she looked at me, I mean really looked at me for the first time. She pleaded with me and even offered me her body. It was too late for her then but that night everything changed. I became a man.” He hadn’t blinked once and seemed to have fallen into a trancelike state.
With only the sound of the kitchen clock ticking, Ava finished her meal and sipped her scalding coffee, although the sandwiches had formed a solid lump in her gut, starving wasn’t an option. The hints he’d given her, of Delores always coming back, made sense now. In his deluded mind, every woman of a certain type reminded him of Delores and triggered a need to kill her over and over again. This Delores must have been some badass bully to have pushed him to murder.
“More coffee?” Preacher stood and walked to the counter. “I’ll be busy for a time and if you need to use the bathroom, you’d better go now.”
Ava eased the cup toward him. “Yes, please to the coffee and no to the bathroom.” She smiled at him. If he wanted smiles, she would give him as many as he needed to keep her breathing. “The meal was delicious, thank you. I’m so lucky to have someone like you caring for me.”
“We’ll see.” Preacher placed a cup in front of her and then turned on the TV. “This is your last test. Watch the screen. You can talk to me if you like.” He looked at her and a sinister chuckle rumbled through him. “This is going to be so much fun, you’ll see.” He pushed the Glock into the back of his waistband and strolled out the room.
Ava could hear his voice clearly. He must be using the intercom in another room. She listened intently as his voice drifted out to her as smooth as silk.
“Delores, it’s time to take a shower. Do it now.”
A wave of foreboding hit Ava as she turned in her seat to face the screen. It had split into two, one showing the cellar and the other a small room covered in plastic with a bench set in the middle. This can’t be good.
Nerves shattered, she sipped her coffee and waited for what seemed like an eternity. Nothing was happening and then she heard a rattle of keys, the creaking of a door opening and slow footsteps leading away. She stared at the screen. Preacher was in the cellar and heading for the bathroom door. He’d changed his clothes. He’d replaced the jeans and T-shirt with a plastic wraparound apron and wore rubber boots. She could hear his footsteps squelching on the cement floor.
She held her breath as the door to the bathroom was wrenched open, Preacher walked inside and she heard Isabella scream. Panic shook her as the girl was dragged out dripping wet, with her hands secured behind her back. Isabella’s screams stopped when Preacher held a gun to her head. He ordered her to walk across the room to an empty bookcase and made her wait as he slid the bookcase to one side. Behind it was a door she’d never seen before. The next moment Preacher pushed Isabella into the second room and when she started to sob, tears filled Ava’s eyes but she couldn’t take her attention off the screen.
Preacher was talking in a low soothing voice, as if trying to convince Isabella everything was alright. The next moment he turned away from her and aimed a remote at the camera. The screen flickered and then became a full screen close-up of the plastic room. Bile filled Ava’s mouth. Whatever he had planned, he wanted her to see it in detail. When he spun the terrified Isabella around and enclosed her neck with his large hands, Ava bit back a scream. She stared in horror as he grinned into the camera, lifted the wriggling girl into the air and squeezed. Vomit threatened to rise in her throat. He was testing her, waiting for her to protest. He’d stop when she didn’t react—wouldn’t he?
She heard him chuckle and her heart sank. He wasn’t going to stop. She had to do something, say something to help her friend. “What game is this, Preacher?”
“Game?” Preacher stared into the camera and gave Isabella a little shake. “I don’t play games, Ava.”
Too shocked for words, she gripped the edge of the table so hard her nails shattered. Unable to believe the horror unfolding before her eyes, she held her breath willing him to stop. The room moved in and out of focus and panic gripped her. She had to stay conscious and show no reaction. She gasped air into her lungs and trembled. He’s killing her and he’s doing it for me.
Fifty-Four
Before dawn, Thursday, Week 2
As warm as toast, Jenna ran along a sun-drenched beach, splashing through the waves. Her body was weightless and the sand went on forever snaking away in the distance against an azure ocean. Seagulls swooped around her and then one of them made a strange buzzing sound. She stopped running and gaped as it turned into Dave Kane. “What?”
“Jenna, wake up.” A hand tousled her hair and she blinked at the sight of him bending over her. “You fell asleep.”
Jenna sat up dropping her feet to the floor and unseating Pumpkin, who was curled on her lap. She blinked and looked around. The fire in her hearth crackled as a fresh load of pinecones burst into flames. “Oh, I’m sorry. I was dreaming I was on the beach. What time is it?”
“A little after midnight.” Kane’s expression was deadly serious. “Rowley just called. There’s another body.”
Instantly awake, she stared at him. “Where?”