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Now wearing a pair of fur-trimmed tan snow boots, she hopped back into my Jeep and threw the shopping bag with her Docs onto the back seat. Placing her backpack between her feet, she looked down at her new boots and huffed.
“I really wanted pink ones, but these will have to do.”
I mentally rolled my eyes as I put the car in drive and pulled away. I was ready to get back to the hotel. I’d had enough of her for one day. At the next light, I flicked my blinker so I could make a U-turn.
“Turn your blinker off,” she ordered. “We’re not going back to the hotelyet.”
“What do you mean?” I turned to face her and my eyes gaped with shock.
She was pointing a gun at me.
“God, what are you doing, Tanya?”
“What does it look like, freak?” The fake British accent was gone and in its place was an American one. Her voice bitter and brittle. “I’m pointing a gun at you. And if you don’t keep driving north, I’m afraid I’m going to have to pull the trigger.”
My pulse pounded in my ears. Fear. A fear like nothing I’ve ever known. But I wasn’t going to show her I was scared. I turned off the blinker and continued to drive north. “You’re mental!”
“That’s what they’ve told me.” In my mind’s eye, I could see a smirk curl on her lips.
“Where’d you get the gun?”
“It’s your dad’s. He brought it along. There’s a new shooting range in Big Bear he promised to take me to. Thanks to him, I’ve become quite the marksman. An excellent shot. You should see me at target practice.”
Actually, I had seen a photo on Instagram taken at the LA Gun Club with her hugging my dad and brandishing his gun. The hashtags: #hotshot, #gunslinger, and #daddysgirl. At the time, I was more repulsed than intimidated by it.
She let out a wicked laugh. “Guess what? You’re going to be my next target. And I don’t plan on missing.”
A violent chill coursed through me as her words sank in. She was going to shoot me?
Chewing on a wad of gum, she continued. “I was going to have to figure out a way to steal the gun from your father, but your mother made things so easy for me.”
“What do you mean?”
“At brunch this morning, she asked me to watch her bag while she went to the bathroom. As soon as she was gone, I snuck into her purse to steal some cash, and lo and behold, the gun was inside it.”
A shard of shock. What was my mom doing with my dad’s gun? She hated that gun. Wanted him to get rid of it.
Shoving those thoughts aside, I refocused on my driving. The snow was growing heavier; it was getting harder and harder to see in front of me. “Where are we going?”
Tanya popped an obnoxious bubble. “Green Valley Lake. It’s not far.”
I’d never heard of it. “How do you know about it?”
“I grew up not far from here. One of the families I lived with took me camping there one time. Trust me, I’m so not the camping type. Seriously, do I look like someone who likes roughing it?” With an eye roll, she lifted her free hand to show off her perfect manicure. “Those lowlifes paid for that.” She tsked. “Such a pity their bratty five-year-old kid had an unfortunate accident. I was watching him…well, sort of. At least the part where the little brat fell into the lake. It wasn’t exactly like I could rescue him because I didn’t know how to swim either.”
If I didn’t have to drive with two hands tight on the wheel with the slippery road and blinding snow, one of them would have gone flying to my mouth. I heard myself gasp. She’d let a little boy drown. She was responsible for his death. A new frightening reality slammed into me.
I was stuck in my car with a psychopath. A murderer! And I was going to be her next victim.
I gave her a sideways glance. A snarl lifted her lips and her eyes glinted with madness. The gun on her lap, she was still holding it firmly. Should I risk grabbing it from her? Then, she caught me looking at her and pointed it back at my head. “Don’t even think about it!”
My heart pounding, I glued my eyes back on the road. “Are we almost there?”
“Another ten minutes. I’ll let you know when to turn off. Oh, and by the way, the beauty of this lake is that the campsite is closed during the winter. There’s no one there…well, except for a serial killer or two.”
The heat was blasting in the car, but I was shivering. Questions bombarded me as fast and furiously as the falling snowflakes. Why was this happening? Why me? What was I going to do? My head spinning, my phone rang. I glanced down at the caller ID. It was my mom! Maybe she could help me.
“Tanya, that’s my mom. I have to take this call.”
