CHAPTER TWENTY
Paige was walking through Adam’s childhood home, trying to make some sense of his life. In spite of the changes that the renovations had wrought, Paige was starting to feel that she could practically see him in front of her as a child, see the beatings that had helped to shape him. His father was there, a vague figure, conjured only by Adam’s descriptions so that he was halfway to being a demonic presence in Paige’s mind’s eye.
The house might have been renovated, but there were still parts of it that looked as if they might have come from deep in the past. There were whole sections now with peeling plasterwork and creaking floorboards, lending an ominous atmosphere to it all as Paige made her way through it, step by step.
Come to think of it, had it been this large when Paige had checked it over with Christopher earlier? She felt almost sure that it hadn’t. Paige felt as though she’d gotten turned around in it somehow, because she now seemed to be lost within the expanse of the place. There seemed to be twists and turns to it in the dark that were making it hard for Paige to find her way. She couldn’t even seem to find a light switch that would let her see where she was going.
Paige felt her way through the house instead, trying to get a sense of where she was by touch as much as by the shadows that seemed to mask everything.
“Christopher? Christopher, are you there?”
There wasn’t any answer, and Paige found the sense of unease running through her starting to intensify. She was sure as she tried to make her way back that something was wrong. Badly wrong.
Christopher was meant to be here. He was meant to be with her, looking out for her. They were both meant to be in Adam Riker’s childhood home, waiting for him to arrive, trying to catch him. So where was Christopher? Had something happened to him?
Was Paige suddenly alone here? That was a terrifying thought. What if Adam came now? Paige had started to have doubts about whether he was going to show up right around the time when the boy had sneaked in. Now, though, Paige felt certain that Adam was going to show up.
She was alone in this house, and Adam was coming, and there was no way that it was just to see his old house; he was coming for her. Paige was certain of it.
“Christopher?” she called out again.
She needed to get back to him. She needed to be close to him, and not just because it felt like the safest place to be right then. Paige had wanted to get closer to him, wanted him to hold her close and tell her that everything was all right. She knew that he had a wife, but Paige was a psychologist; she knew as well as anyone that just knowing that a thing was wrong didn’t stop someone from wanting it. All it affected was whether they would act on that feeling.
Paige had more self-control than that, but it didn’t affect the fact that right then, she wanted to be near Christopher. This house was far too creepy.
Paige was still making her way back through it when she heard the creak of a floorboard somewhere behind her. She wanted to tell herself that this was just one more kid breaking in, but somehow, she knew that it wasn’t.
Paige turned slowly, trying to find out what was going on, hoping that it would be Christopher, even as she knew that it wasn’t. She spun to face the sound, and there, standing in the middle of the hallway Paige was in, was Adam.
He stared at her levelly, with the kind of coldness to his expression that Paige remembered from their last session, when he’d thrown facts about her life at her like they were sharp splinters of glass. There was an awful intensity to that expression. He started to advance on Paige, and she found herself backing away without even meaning to.
“What’s wrong, Paige?” he asked. “You’ve been trying to find me, haven’t you? Well, here I am. You found me. Aren’t you happy that you found me?”
“Christopher!” Paige cried out, calling for help as loud as she could. “Help!”
“He isn’t coming,” Adam said. “He can’t save you now.”
What did that mean? Had Adam already done something to hurt Christopher? Had he killed him? Had he murdered Christopher so that he wouldn’t be in the way when Adam came for Paige? That thought brought a note of panic to her, both because of what might have happened to Christopher, and because of what it implied about what Adam was going to do next.
He'd gotten Christopher out of the way, which implied that he wanted to take his time with Paige. Even as Paige thought it, Adam stretched a length of rope between his hands, the threat to Paige obvious.
Paige knew in an instant that she needed to get out of there. She had to find a way to escape. She couldn’t imagine being able to fight Adam like that. She turned and ran instead, sprinting away from him, not caring that she didn’t know her way through the house in the dark. Paige tripped over something, got to her feet, and ran again.
She didn’t dare look back, because in the dark that just seemed like a recipe for falling over again, and this time, it seemed to Paige that she might not have enough time to get up. She turned left, and inexplicably found herself heading up a flight of stairs.
Adam was close behind her, the tread of his feet on the stairs coming a fraction after Paige’s. He grabbed for her then, and Paige tried to fight free, but Adam’s weight slammed into her, sending her crashing down onto the stairs, the impact knocking the breath out of her. Adam was on top of her then, holding her down in spite of Paige’s efforts to get free.
Paige felt the ropes starting to wrap round her then, wrenching her arms behind her back. She saw the flash of a knife then, with Adam standing over her, and in that moment, Paige knew that she was going to die.
Paige woke gasping, with someone standing over her, the figure indistinct. She lashed out automatically, and he jumped back, evading her attack with ease.
“Paige, it’s me,” Christopher said, holding up his hands to show that he was no threat. “It’s me. You were sleeping and crying out.”
Paige took several panting breaths as she realized what had just happened. She’d been asleep. It was just a dream. It was a dream, and Adam hadn’t actually been there. She was safe, however much her heart was telling her otherwise right then, beating far faster than she would have liked.
Paige slowly realized that she was sitting in a chair in the living room of Adam’s childhood home and daylight was streaming in through the window. She realized a moment or two later that she must have fallen asleep, and instantly felt guilty, because she was meant to be there keeping watch for Adam.
“Were you awake all night?” Paige asked Christopher.