“For a while.”
Judging by the state of decay of the bodies, she was guessing a couple months. Kyle hadn’t wasted any time when he got home eliminating two of the people he thought wronged him. But he hadn’t escaped them. They were still in his head.
She didn’t want to become his next victim, dead in a room upstairs and alive in his warped mind.
She thought about the living room they’d walked through and how she could get him in there by the windows.
“Eliza is tired. Do you mind if I put her down for her nap in the other room?”
Kyle waved the knife out toward the living area. “Make yourself at home.”
She walked through the living room, noting thatwhile most of the contents of the house were gone, there were still some pieces of furniture left behind. The console table in the entryway. Two leather club chairs and a table near the fireplace. A love seat near the entrance to the kitchen. She found it odd that he seemed to be using it to sleep on in the darkest part of the room.
She wouldn’t think he liked the dark anymore.
She set Eliza down by the fireplace, pushed one of the heavy club chairs toward the windows, then moved Eliza to the chair to curl up and rest. She kissed Eliza on the head, then whispered in her ear, “Daddy is fine. We will see him soon. I need you to stay right here and be quiet. Do not move.” She met Eliza’s worried gaze and got a nod that she understood.
Kyle stood just inside the room. “You’re a good mother. You protect her.”
Shelby walked toward the windows. “I will do anything to keep her safe.” She grabbed one of the heavy drapes and shook it.
“Stop. What do you think you’re doing?”
She turned to Kyle, hoping he understood. “Eliza is afraid of the dark. I’ll open the drapes and let in a little light so she’s not scared.”
He was about to say something, but stopped short when Hunt’s voice rang out over a loudspeaker. “Kyle Hodges. This is the police. We have you surrounded. Come out with your hands up.”
His gaze narrowed, and a stillness came over him. “How did they find us here?”
Her heart pounded. She glanced at Eliza curled up in the chair, her eyes wide and watchful. Even she sensed the change in the mood in the room. “This is your family’s home.”
“Everyone knows my parents moved away.” He tilted his head. “They got here awful fast. Especially if they didn’t look for me anywhere else.” He took a couple steps toward her. “They knew we were here because you told them.”
“How would I do that? I don’t even have my phone. I’ve been with you, in your sight, the whole time. It’s logical they’d checkbothyour parents’ homes to find you. This is the closest one, so they probably came here first and found the car parked out front.”
“Kyle, we know you’re in there. Come out with your hands up.”
“You should surrender now.” She didn’t think he’d do any such thing, but she wanted him to have the opportunity before things got worse.
“And let them take me back to jail? I won’t be put in a box! Not again!”
“Kyle, please,” Hunt implored. “Send Shelby and Eliza out. Let them go, and we’ll take you into custody safely.” Hunt’s pleading tone said he meant it.
Kyle only grew angrier. “You did this! You brought them here.”
She shook her head and held her hands out wide. “How would I bring them here?” She hoped Hunt and his officers carried out the plan they’d made with Chase. She needed to get to him at the hospital. He was probably worried sick about them.
Hehas tobe alive.
“You stabbed Chase.” Her voice cracked. “Of course his brother came after you. Hunt won’t stop. He won’t go away. Your only choice is to surrender.”Please do it.
He pointed the knife at her. “All I wanted was for us to be a family. But you kept refusing to speak to me.You wouldn’t listen. And now look what you’ve done. It wasn’t supposed to be like this.” He charged her with the knife held up in his hand, ready for him to plunge it into her chest.
She spun around and flung the curtain open a split second before the glass shattered. She spun back around and saw the bloody hole in Kyle’s head, his arm still raised in the air, sunlight gleaming off the bloodstained knife, his eyes wide with shock. He simply fell to his knees, his arm dropping as he collapsed face-first into the dusty rug, the knife clattering on the hardwood.
The second the curtain opened, Chase took the shot he’d been waiting for. Kyle’s face appeared in his crosshairs, and he pulled the trigger and took him down. But then the curtain fell closed again, and he didn’t know if Shelby and Eliza were safe and unharmed or not.
He released the rifle and jumped up from where he’d lain in wait on his belly up in the barn loft. He’d taken position the second he’d seen the curtain rustle a moment ago. Shelby’s signal to him that she’d made it to one of the boarded-up windows. She’d found the one that had a board halfway pulled off and revealed enough of the interior that he saw Kyle coming at her.