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“It was a young girl, she barely spoke English.” Addie lowered her gaze and put some thought into what she said next. “She told me she lived just outside Warsaw, in Poland, and she needed me to send help because the Nazis were coming. She just kept repeating that. Said her father told her to.”
Gabby came in from the other room, busily tapping away at her phone. Without looking up, she said, “Riley reached my mother. She’s driving in to pick her up from the rec center in Barton. She’s going to stay with her until this is over.” Gabby finishedtyping, looked up, and let out a relief-filled sigh. “At least she’s safe.”
Matt had been so busy with the video, he hadn’t realized the sun had gone down. He reached to a lamp at his side and flicked the switch. The bulb flashed and blew, went dark.
“I saw a box of bulbs in the pantry.” Gabby started back toward the kitchen.
She said something else from the other room, but Matt didn’t hear her. He’d removed the lampshade and was staring at something he found clipped to the underside.
A bug.
Some kind of listening device.
81
Sheriff Ellie
WHATEVER ELLIE EXPERIENCED HADbeen as vivid as any dream, but unlike a dream, it didn’t vanish. The images remained in her head with the sharpest of clarity. When she blinked they replayed in the momentary darkness, each time more vivid than the last.
From her place in the passenger seat, the girl watched Ellie in silence, but unlike before, her eyes told a story. She’d not only seen the same vision Ellie had, but she understood what it meant, and now there was pity there. Pity and sorrow.
Ellie watched as the girl tugged up her sleeve and pointed at a place just below her elbow. Written there, among a hundred others, was Ellie’s name, and as she saw it, the words Matt had told her back at the house came rushing back with the force of a Mack truck.
Hope not ever to see Heaven. I have come to lead you to the other shore; into eternal darkness; into fire and into ice.
It was all too much. The breath left Ellie, and she had to force herself to inhale, like her body no longer wanted to perform thesimple task on its own. Her stomach heaved, and Ellie jerked the door open. She managed to stumble over to the tall grass alongside the driveway before vomiting.
When it was over, when her body finally righted itself, she fished a tissue from her pocket, wiped her mouth, and drew in a deep breath of the cool mountain air. Even though the air was tinged with the acidic smoke from the town, it was enough to help clear her thoughts.
Ellie turned back to her truck and stared down the girl. She had a job to do. “Get out.”
At first, the girl didn’t move. Then she opened her door and climbed out. She’d pulled her sleeve back down, and Ellie was grateful for that.
Leery of touching her, Ellie guided the girl to the door of Buck’s cabin and knocked. When he didn’t answer, she pounded on the door with the back of her fist. “I know you’re in there, Buck! Open up!”
There was the rattle of locks.
The door opened.
Buck was standing there, holding a shotgun.
He took one look at both of them, then leveled the barrel at the center of the girl’s chest and fired.
82
Matt
THE DEVICE WAS SMALL,secured with double-sided foam tape. Just a black box about an inch in diameter with a rubber nub on the side, most likely some kind of antenna. No lights or anything else to indicate it was on, but clearly a microphone, and that meant somebody was listening.
He didn’t realize both Gabby and Addie were staring at him until he looked up.
Matt showed them both what he found and held a finger over his lips.
Gabby silently mouthed,Stu Peterson?
Matt shook his head.
He couldn’t be sure, but he doubted it was Peterson.
