Betrayal

Where did they come from?

A

Where was that magnifying glass?

As soon as her hand closed around its handle, she held it and the photo under her halogen gooseneck desk lamp. On the chair across the room where the officer had offered up a pair of day-old brown jeans to Bria

And next to the bed, closest to Olivia’s body, was a sparkly dress. With sequins. There was also one other item on the floor. It was a black cape and mask. It was Darth Vader.

A

A

As A

Chapter 25

“I HEARD YOU SCREAM. ARE YOU ALL RIGHT?”

Taylor Ryan stood still at the edge of the clearing. Her heart pounded so hard that she was going to have a heart attack—even though she was just sixteen, ate mostly the right foods, and was on the school’s swim and diving team. She didn’t want to die. No one wants to be one of those kids who are mourned with flowery lettering decaled on the back window of a friend’s Kia. She had come to face the man and save her sister, whom she was certain had been captured.

But the voice didn’t belong to the man who had chased them into the woods. The voice was not menacing. It was full of concern and sincerity. It was Port Gamble’s Segway Guy, who had been testing his brand-new all-terrain people mover near the park when all the commotion started. Taylor had never heard the middle-aged man speak before, and she wasn’t quite sure she could trust him. She sca

“My sister,” she said, trying to pull herself together. “There was a man. I think he took my sister.”

Jumping off his machine, Segway Guy shook his head. “No. He didn’t. He ran off when I arrived. She wasn’t with him. I’m sure of it.”

Taylor felt a wave of relief. She knew she looked terrible. Blood trickled down her face from the thorns that had clawed at her with the fury of a thousand angry cats.

“Did he hurt you?” Segway Guy asked, powering off his machine and striding toward her.

He was much shorter without his embarrassing mall-cop vehicle. His eyes were kind, and he was there to help her. Taylor felt bad for all the times she and her sister had made fun of him. He leaned closer to examine her. Her scratches stung, but they were superficial.

She shook her head. “No. But I don’t know where Hayley is. I thought for sure that he took her or maybe really, really hurt her.”

She didn’t want to use the words that hung in her throat.

Kill. Stab. Murder.

“I’ll find her,” he said. “You stay here.”

Before Taylor could answer, she heard the snap of a twig.

Branches parted, and Hayley emerged from the green gloom of the woods. She ran into Taylor’s arms, and the pair convulsed in tears.

“Do you want me to get your folks?” Segway Guy asked. “House number 19, right?”

“No,” Taylor said, looking over her sister. “No. We’re fine. But we do need help. We need the police.”

Segway Guy nodded. “I was thinking something along those same lines. This kind of thing needs to be reported. No place is safe anymore. Not even little Port Gamble. I sometimes wonder what is happening to the human race that makes people do the worst possible things to each other.”

“We don’t need the police for us,” Taylor said, looking back at the woods. “I think I found something they need to see back there.”

Hayley, also scratched up, but not nearly as badly as her sister, looked over at the woods.

“What is it?” she asked.

Taylor wasn’t sure how to phrase it. She stumbled for the words. “I think . . . I’m pretty sure I found something of Bria

Hayley looked at her twin. “What was she doing in the forest?”

“She’s . . .” Taylor struggled to clarify. “I think Bria

WITHIN THIRTY MINUTES, half of Port Gamble had convened in the clearing by the swing set and jungle gym made of smooth, peeled cedar logs. Beth Lee and her mother, along with Colton James, Starla, and Mindee—and, of course, Kevin and Valerie Ryan—were among those who watched A

A cadaver dog, a tail-wagging German shepherd named Ava, had no trouble finding her way back to where the pretty apricot bra had been discovered in the brambles in the woods. In fact, it took one of Kitsap County’s finest canine officers only fifteen minutes on the trail through the woods to locate a shallow grave that held the body of Bria

Hayley and Taylor, wrapped in blankets, sat on a bench that faced the playground. The girls had plenty to discuss with their parents later at home, but with just one look between them they had agreed not to tell anyone that they’d willingly met Text Creeper at the water towers. Colton put his arm around Hayley and held her close—which left Taylor in the arms of both parents.

“He just accosted you here?” Kevin asked.

“We were out walking and he came up to us asking for directions,” Hayley said. She hated lying to her dad. She just didn’t think he’d understand why they would break one of his rules and meet a stranger.

“Yeah,” Taylor said. “He said he wanted to know where the playground was. We were walking that way anyway.”

“He got real weird, and then we saw his knife,” Hayley added.

“Did he threaten you with it?” Valerie asked.

“Not really, Mom. I mean, it looked like he might reach for it. I don’t know for sure. We started ru

“Yeah, Mom,” Taylor said. “We panicked. Then we got separated in the woods.”

“Then Sidney found you?” Valerie asked.

“Sidney?” Taylor questioned.

Valerie pointed to Segway Guy.

Neither girl had known his real name.

“Right,” Taylor said, looking at Segway Guy. “Sidney found us.”

Kevin went off to talk to A

TWO GIRLS WERE DEAD IN JUST OVER A WEEK. Even if the temperature dropped by twenty degrees, that day in Port Gamble could not have felt any colder. It was as if time had stood still. The moments after Ava, the German shepherd, found Bria