Evil Never Dies

The tires screeched as Lizzy pulled into a parking spot of Folsom Lake College. She jumped out and sprinted up endless flights of wide stairs and then toward the buildings, with Jessica at her heels. When the Harris Center for the Arts didn’t present itself to them, Lizzy asked a group gathered at an outdoor dining area for directions. It was across the small campus from them. When they finally arrived, Lizzy burst through the heavy front doors and sprinted for Room 154, threw open the door, and stepped inside. Jessica stepped in behind her.

A bearded man at his desk in the far corner stood tall and said, “Can I help you?”

“Are you in charge here?”

He nodded. All the student painters in the room were looking their way now, as well as the naked male model sitting on a stool in the middle of their small circle of desks.

Lizzy and Jessica were both panting, trying to catch their breath. Lizzy was doubled over with her hands on her knees. OK, so she needed to make a little more time for ru

Jessica told Lizzy to collect herself while she went over to talk to the instructor.

While Jessica talked to the man, Lizzy straightened and looked around, her gaze sweeping over the room. No sign of Brittany. Maybe Cathy had given her the wrong room number.

The students had gone back to their painting.

Lizzy caught the attention of one of them and said, “Do you know if Brittany Warner is in this class?”

“This is my first day,” the girl explained. “I don’t know anyone’s name.”

“Brittany was here earlier,” one of the other students told her.

“Are you sure?”

“Yep. She just stepped out, in fact.” He pointed to the painting in front of an empty seat next to his.

“I saw her talking to someone outside,” another student chimed in.

Lizzy rushed from the room, the clicks of her heels echoing in the empty hallway. She pushed through the main exit door and then took a moment to take in her surroundings. In the middle of the campus was a parklike setting, grass and trees, where a group of kids were gathered. She could see the library behind them and office buildings farther on to the left. The sidewalks were mostly empty. She ran toward the group of students, couldn’t stop tears from streaming down her face when she saw that Brittany was not among the group.

“Lizzy!”

She stopped, turned around, and saw Brittany standing on the other side of the quad, a confused expression on her face. “Brittany!” she called out as she headed her way. “Where were you?”

“I took a quick break. Why? What’s going on? Is it Mom? Is she OK?”

Lizzy grabbed hold of her niece and held her tight. “Your mom is fine.” She moved her to arm’s length.

“Why are you crying?”

“I couldn’t find you, and I thought the worst. I’ll explain later, but right now you need to go home. When you get to your house, I want you to lock the doors and don’t come out until I tell you it’s safe. Do not open the door for anyone, including Jake Polly.”

“Jake Polly? The painter?”

Lizzy nodded. “He’s a dangerous man. I don’t have time to explain. Just do as I say.”

“You’re scaring me, Lizzy.”

“I know. I’m sorry. But you need to do this . . . for me.”

“My things are still in the classroom,” Brittany said, pointing that way.

“OK, come on. Let’s get your things and then I’ll walk you to your car.”

Candles burned all around the house. He’d gone to the bother to pick wildflowers that grew close to the river’s edge and put them in cups of water. Quite beautiful, he thought as he admired his handiwork.

He’d cleaned off Claire and then drugged her before carrying her up the stairs and setting her on the couch next to him. He’d also slid the doors to the balcony wide-open, hoping to see the sun when it finally disappeared behind the tall trees.

He sipped his Red Bull from a crystal glass, and then slipped his arm around Claire’s shoulder. He wondered for a moment what it would be like to have a girlfriend, someone to talk to and confide in, share a few laughs and, of course, a beautiful sunset with. He thought of Kathryn then, the only girl he’d ever considered hooking up with. He’d always felt close to the girl next door while growing up. Like most females, she’d been infatuated with him from the start. But her infatuation had been different. She had loved him since she was a little girl. He’d kept track of her over the years and had been quite shocked to read her academic paper on repressed memories. Luckily, it had been stored in the darkest corner of the most obscure academic site; only someone searching out every last crumb of Kathryn-related material would turn it up, and, even then, who would be able to co

A snore out of Claire made him turn to her. Sweet, sweet girl. Too bad he couldn’t keep her.

She had to die.

It was a fu

He brought his glass to his lips. A knock at the door caused him a bit of a jitter, and he spilled his drink. He looked toward the door, but the way the sun was hitting the house, he couldn’t make out a silhouette or see who might be there. It was probably Landon, but he couldn’t be sure. He thought about leaving Claire where she was on the couch, but then he decided against it. He would lock her in the guestroom and then get rid of the a

Leaning over the couch, he scooped Claire into his arms. “Come on, my precious Claire. I need you to hide in the back room for just a moment while I get the door.”

He laid her on the bed in the guestroom. So small, so weak, he thought as he bent over her and kissed her forehead. Hurrying from the room, he locked the door from the outside. After bringing Claire to the house, for exactly this purpose, he’d changed the locks so the bedroom doors couldn’t be opened from the inside.

Another knock alerted him to the fact that whoever it was, they were not going away anytime soon. Agitated, he headed for the front door.

Lizzy drove, while Jessica tightened her seatbelt. “Slow down, Lizzy. You’re not going to be able to help anyone if you get us into a wreck.”

“So how did the instructor know where Jake Polly lived?”

“As soon as I mentioned Jake Polly’s name, he told me everything he knew about the man. I guess he already had his suspicions about Polly. Last month, while Polly was in the middle of this three-week series of guest workshops, the instructor tried to call him on some administrative matter, but his number had been disco