AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You’ll have to kill me!” he shouted. “Think you have that in you? Think you can stick a blade in another person, give it a good twist, and watch the life leave them? You won’t be the first to try, so you better hope you get it right!”
Hannah quickly looked around, tried to get her bearings.
She knew these woods; she’d played in them when she was a kid. If she kept moving, she could outrun him. She’d get to the Saco River, follow the water down the mountain to Route 112. From there, she could flag someone down. It wasn’t that far, maybe a mile. Two at the most. She just had to keep moving. Had to be careful. Watch her footing. A twisted ankle, broken foot—it only took one wrong fall. She’d heard enough of those stories over the years. Half the people who died on the mountain were found with some kind of injury—the kind of injury that happened when you rushed.
Hannah rounded a large granite boulder sitting atop a five-foot drop, reached for a tree trunk, and used it to carefully work down the hill, moving as fast as she dared. When she reached somewhat level ground again, she checked her phone. She had a signal, three bars. Quickly keyed in 911. The call rang twice, connected, then dropped.
“I think you busted one of my ribs with the grandfather clock, Hannah! Hurts like a mother!”
He sounded close.
Much closer than Hannah hoped.
His voice echoed off the trees and granite, making it difficult to pinpoint. “Do you remember London Dobson? She was the first girl I brought out here—wow, three years ago already! Crazy how time flies. I slipped her a roofie at the victory party after we creamed Exeter in the state football finals, then broughther out here. Kept her in that house for eight days tied to the bed in back. Had her there for so long, I actually got bored with her, figured I’d try something different, so I cut her ropes and told her to run. I think she thought I was kidding at first, ’cause she just sat there. Then she bolted. She got as far as the waterfalls at Diana’s Baths before I caught up with her. She was hysterical at that point, screaming her head off. I guess that added to the fun, seeing the fear in her eyes. I can’t tell you how exhilarating it was when I finally ended her!”
Easing further downhill, Hannah kept moving. She thumbed Redial on the phone.
Same thing—two rings, the call connected, then dropped.
“You know the best part?” Malcolm went on. “I didn’t have a shovel with me, you know, to bury her body, so I dragged her off into the trees and covered her with some leaves and branches. Figured I’d come back and get her in the ground later. So that’s what I did. Got back out there the next morning with a shovel, a pickax, some plastic … everything I needed to do it right. You know what I found? Not much of anything. The animals had gone to town on her overnight. Took her down to her bones, even hauled some of those away. I had my dick in that girl not twenty-four hours earlier, and I couldn’t recognize her anymore. You believe that? That’s when I realized I didn’t have to bury her; it was better if I didn’t. The wildlife would make her disappear far faster if I let her be. I kept going back to see what was left. It only tooksix daysfor every trace of her to vanish. Mother Nature’s awesome. Gotta respect her.”
Hannah tried to ignore him, focused on her movement. She dialed 911 again, but the call dropped like before. She flicked through the various screens, loaded the navigation app, and keyed in Gas ’n’ Go. The station was at the base of the mountain on 112. The app hung for a moment, the small hourglass spinning, thensaidunable to connect. She still had three bars, so the signal was strong enough, but it wasn’t working.
Her right foot caught the corner of a rock. She nearly fell but managed to grab the trunk of an old oak tree and right herself.
“I’m gonna try something a little different with you, Hannah!” Malcolm shouted. “I’m gonna slice you wide open, scoop your insides out onto your belly. See if that speeds up the process. I bet I can cut that six days down to three if I do that. What do you think?”
Hannah always forgot how much thinner the air was up on the mountain. Each breath she sucked in felt wrong, like taking a drink through a straw that had a hole in it. She didn’t realize she was panting until she paused for a second to try to find the compass app on the phone. She got the app open, but it wasn’t working, either. The screen was frozen, no matter what direction she pointed the phone.
Doesn’t matter. She didn’t need it.
She’d been in these woods a million times. She’d find the river, follow it to 112, get help.
Hannah repeated that as she went—river, 112, help—like some kind of mantra, as Malcolm called out her name again, dragging out both syllables, “Hannnnnaaaah …”
60
Matt
MATT BURST THROUGH THEdoors of the sheriff’s office, quickly looked around. Everyone was gone. Even Addie Gallagher. The space was silent save for a soft whimper coming from the cell in the back.
Although sun streamed in through all the windows, the cell was dark, as if the shadows had all gone there to wait out the day.
Josh was nothing more than a silhouette pressed so tight against the brick of the wall on the left he might have been part of the original design. He sucked in a breath. “I tried to stop her, but I was too slow. I just … she hadn’t moved the entire time we’ve been in here. I didn’t expect her to …”
When Matt drew closer, he saw her on the floor, kneeling awkwardly behind the bars, lifeless. Held in an upright position by some freakish act of gravity. Her face was slick with blood, the flesh swollen, pulpy. The whites of her eyes were blinding against the dark red, and her mouth hung open like a black maw.
Josh sunk deeper into the shadows. “I didn’t touch her. She was on the bench. She’d been there, so quiet for so long I nearlyforgot she was even in here with me. Then she jumped up and ran headfirst into the bars. Didn’t even try to slow down, like she meant to run through them or something, then she dropped. Landed on her knees, like she is now, and started banging her face into the metal. I … I grabbed her hair, tried to stop her, but …” His arm peeled away from the dark, he held out his hand. There was a clump of gray hair twisted in his fingers. He let it go, and it floated to the floor.
An image of Josh’s wife kneeling next to the bathtub popped into Matt’s head, his dead children floating beneath the water.
Matt cleared his throat. “Josh, I need you to step to the back of the cell, face the wall, and put your hands above your head.”
“I didn’t do this, Matt. I didn’t hurt her. You’re not pinning this on me.”
“Move to the back. Do as I said.”
Matt took out his handcuffs and keys and waited for Josh to move away before unlocking the cell door. He carefully stepped around Eisa Heaton’s body and got the cuffs on him, cinching them tight enough for Josh to let out a groan.
