by Eryn Scott
No one’s going to follow me, Hadley assured herself.
She glanced up at the tall windows, thankful for the fall sunshine streaming through them. This whole ordeal would be a lot creepier in the dark.
The sound came from the wall to her left. Thump, thump, thump.
Hadley didn’t scream or jump or do anything. She couldn’t even breathe.
Thump.
She suddenly realized she’d been very wrong about it being less creepy in the light. All that had been frozen a second before it hit her full force. Her pulse was so loud in her ears she was sure she wouldn’t have been able to hear any more of the thumping. Now she’d found her breath, it came in loud, ragged gasps.
Swallowing her fears, Hadley slowly followed her dusty footprints back the way she’d come. Instead of turning left, back toward the open window—toward the freedom she so desperately wanted—she went right, her hand clasping over the doorknob.
She wanted to cry when she pulled the thing open and beheld a pitch-black hallway.
Thump, thump.
With shaking fingers, Hadley grabbed her phone out of her pocket and turned on the flashlight function. The beam shook along with her breathing as she stepped out of the safety of the daylight.
The door snicked shut behind her. A whimper died in her throat.
Thump. Gathering every molecule of bravery she ever hoped to possess, Hadley walked forward, following the sound. She moved slowly, shedding the light from her flashlight on each inch of hallway as she passed. Her mind helpfully created monsters, flashing eyes, and movement in the darkness beyond her beam.
Finally, she stopped in front of a door on the left side of the hallway.
The doorknob rattled from her shaking hand, so she gripped it tighter and pulled it open. Instead of rushing in like cops always did in the movies, Hadley peeked around the door, slowly stepping inside.
Her heart sank as she scanned the empty utility room.
About to go back into the hallway, Hadley heard the thumping again. This time, however, the sound was so much louder. Her attention went right to a thick pipe running up the middle of the room. It was backed by a pillar, but it vibrated and clanged.
Exhaling, Hadley closed her eyes for a moment. It was just an old pipe. These old buildings had big furnaces that made a racket. She remembered the old high school building was the same way. Those pipes had clanged and pinged and made an awful din anytime the furnace was on during the winter months.
Thump, thump.
Hadley’s spine stiffened as a cloud of her breath settled in front of her. It was freezing. The building had been deserted for decades. The furnace wouldn’t be on.
Eyes wide and wild, she searched the room. Was there a lower floor than the one she was on? She couldn’t see a—wait! There! A staircase was just visible in the corner, hiding behind the skeletons of metal racks. She ran over to it, following the stairs as they led down, down, down. Her light bobbed as she took shaky steps on her wobbly, anxious knees.
She held her breath at the bottom of the stairs, using her flashlight to coat the room in light. In the middle of the furnace room, sat two chairs, and in them, Miranda and Dennis were tied and gagged. Their chairs were secured to the piping running down from the ceiling and to the floor before branching off to the different parts of the giant furnace behind them. Dennis must’ve gotten his rope loose enough he was able to rock back and forth, hitting the back of his chair into the pipe.
Her heart soared, seeing them blinking back at her. They looked tired and scared, but they were alive.
As relieved as she felt, Hadley suddenly realized they couldn’t see who she was by the way they were angling their faces down and squinting at the light.
“It’s me, you guys. It’s Hadley.” She angled the flashlight up shedding light on herself.
Miranda’s face crumpled into a relieved sob. Her shoulders shook. Hadley glanced over at Dennis, his tense body sagging in the rush of hope.
Fast as she could, Hadley set her phone on a nearby shelf so she would have her hands free. From that position, it cast a dim light throughout the room but wasn’t shining directly in any of their eyes.
Dennis gestured to Miranda with his head and Hadley agreed. She ran behind the teenager first, fingers shaking as she undid the gag. Miranda’s sobs became louder when the fabric fell away. As she began to tackle the ropes around her wrists and ankles, she wished she had something more than a bottle of body spray in her pocket.
“Have you seen anything sharp around here?” she asked Miranda.
But the girl just gulped at the air in an effort to stop her bawling.
Hadley moved to Dennis, figuring she could at least get his gag off first.
“Thank you, Hadley,” he said. His voice hoarse. “When we heard a crash upstairs, we knew right away it didn’t sound like him. Thank you for finding us.”
She tried his bonds, but they were just as tight.
“You guys, I need to go find something sharp to cut these ropes. Hold on.” She raced over to the shelf, picking up her phone and angling the light down. Miranda’s eyes widened as she thought about being in the dark again, but Hadley said, “I won’t leave you, I promise. I’ll be right back.”
As she ran up the stairs into the utility room above, she turned on her phone screen to see if she could call Paul. The words No Service made her heart sink.
She was on her own.
After what seemed like an hour searching—but was probably only a minute and a half—Hadley pounded back down the stairs.
“Anything?” Dennis asked.
“No. I’m going to try again with my hands. I don’t want to waste time searching. I don’t know how long we ha—”
The rest of the word died in Hadley’s throat as she heard a door shut somewhere above them.
From the way both Dennis and Miranda’s faces froze in terror, she knew it was the sound that, in Dennis’s words, definitely did sound like him.
24
Hadley willed the sound to be fake, something her mind had made up like the figures moving in the dark when she’d been in the hallway.
But when a footstep rang out, she knew it was real. He was coming.
She looked helplessly down at the two of them for a moment and she considered putting their gags back in and hiding, but then she remembered the van parked out front.
“He’s going to see my van. He knows I’m here,” she said in a strangled tone to no one in particular.
Suddenly, her body kicked into action. She moved toward Dennis, figuring it was better to free him and have another adult to help her fight off Kennedy.
Like a mother lifting a car off her child, Hadley’s fingers filled with the renewed strength of adrenaline. She tore at Dennis’s ropes, and was able to untie the bond around his wrists before the door to the supply room above opened with a sickening click.
Working even faster, she moved on to the rope around his middle. Dennis tried to lean forward to help with his ankles, but couldn’t reach, still tied to the chair back as he was. Her fingers flew across the knot, pulling here, pushing there, tugging. A hot tear spilled down her cheek.
Footsteps clomped overhead, stopping at the top of the stairs. She was sure she would see the beam of a flashlight if she looked up, but she couldn’t even spare the second to do so.
“A delivery van?” a voice called down the stairs, sending a chill down Hadley’s spine.
The knot finally gave, and Dennis leaned forward, grabbing at the ropes around his ankles. He waved Hadley over to Miranda.
She hadn’t even started on Miranda’s first knot when Kennedy walked down the stairway and came into view. Out of his white jacket, and wearing jeans and a sweater, the man looked like any father, maybe grandfather. Except for the look on his face that would haunt Hadley for as long as she lived. There was a predatory amusement behind his eyes, and his mouth was pulled into a sickening smile.
There wasn’t a shred of humor in his voice as h
e barked out, “Stop moving, all of you.”
Dennis stopped, sitting back in his chair, and Hadley’s hands froze as she noticed the gun Kennedy had pointed at Dennis—nope, now at her.
“Step out from behind there.” He motioned with the gun.
Hadley stood slowly and took a step away from Miranda. She held her hands in front of her body even though he hadn’t asked her to do so, not wanting to give him any reason to shoot. It wasn’t like she had anything more than lavender spray anyway.
“Dennis, it looks like your number of victims just doubled.” Kennedy tsked. “What a tragedy it will be when they find you’ve shot both of these young women and then yourself.”
Hadley’s stomach dropped. “I’ve already told the police it was you,” she blurted out.
Kennedy’s attention whipped over to her. He narrowed his eyes.
“Your cover is blown. They know about the drugs, about Casey, about Zack, and now they know you have Miranda. I’m surprised you’re here since they’re probably already at your house.” Hadley inched her hands down as she talked.
Eyes darkening for a moment, Kennedy started to laugh, shooting Dennis and Miranda a can you believe this lady? kinda look. Hadley used the few moments his eyes were off her to reach into her pocket, palm the spray, and pull it out. She squeezed her other hand into a fist so it would just appear like she was angry or scared.
“Good one.” Kennedy’s gaze returned to Hadley. “I like your spunk. Tell me they’re coming, they’re onto me, so I’ll get flustered and make a mistake.” He shook his head. “No one’s coming, are they? You’re all alone.”
His even tone wiggled into her psyche and rattled her nerves. She’d told Paul, right? Yes, Paul knew. Then why hadn’t the sheriff’s department been at Kennedy’s house? How was he here? Maybe no one believed Paul. Maybe Paul didn’t believe her.
Her whole body went cold.
But before all hope left her, there was a noise above. It wasn’t loud, but it was there. Was someone else here? The thought she might not be alone sparked that hope and it caught fire. Kennedy had caught the noise as well, and as he took a step back to glance up the stairway, Hadley jumped at her chance, literally.
She launched herself at the man, holding the spray bottle out in front and squirting it right into his eyes.
Kennedy yelled out in surprise, lowering the gun in the process. She could hear chair legs scraping across the concrete, but couldn’t concentrate on what Dennis was doing. She needed to get the gun.
But as Hadley reached out to wrestle the gun from his grip, Kennedy elbowed her in the gut, sending her staggering back. She wheezed, clutching at her stomach and was about to try again when she saw an object swing through the air and collide with the side of Kennedy’s skull.
He sank to the floor, the gun clattering out of his hand.
Luke Fenton looked down at the man at his feet, lowering a baseball bat as his worried eyes met Hadley’s.
“Is there a reason it smells like lavender in here?” he asked.
The emergency blanket crinkled around Hadley’s shoulders as Sheriff Mark McKay paced in front of the ambulance.
“The old hospital, right. See you in a few,” McKay grumbled into the phone.
Luke, sitting next to her in the back of the ambulance, bumped his knee into hers. Hadley smiled, but focused on McKay as he hung up the call and ambled over.
“Your brother is almost here. He’ll be happy to see you well.” McKay nodded before mumbling something about paperwork as he waddled away.
“He’s never been known for his warm and fuzzy demeanor, has he?” Luke chuckled.
“No.” Hadley breathed the word out, surrounded in a happy sigh. She couldn’t wait to see her brother.
The two of them watched in silence as the scene in front of them played out, seeming more like some movie, or the end of a TV show they’d been binging instead of something they’d just survived. And even though Kennedy was handcuffed in the back of a cruiser on the other side of the parking lot, Hadley still experienced the odd shiver running over her skin at the thought of how close they’d all come to death.
She pulled the crinkly blanket tighter. Luke noticed the motion and wrapped an arm around her, making even more noise than before. They both laughed, but Hadley stayed close, resting her head on his shoulder.
“Where’d you find that bat anyway?” Hadley asked, still only chipping away at all of the questions she had about the last few hours.
“It was in my truck.” Luke shrugged.
Hadley pulled away so she could look him in the eye. “But I thought you played football.”
Luke smiled. “I did. Playing one sport doesn’t automatically ban you from another, Had. Plus,” he said, clearing his throat. “That bat wasn’t for playing. I keep one in my house and in my truck, just in case.”
Hadley set her head back on his shoulder and whispered, “Just in case.”
Squealing tires made her sit bolt upright. Her brother jumped out of the passenger side of a cruiser before it was fully stopped.
“Had,” he called, frantically searching the mess of people and cars.
“Paul.” She meant his name to be louder, but a little too much emotion latched itself on to the word, and it came out in more of a rasp.
But it was a rasp he heard. Paul’s gaze locked on to his twin sister’s and he jogged over. She stood just in time to be enveloped in one of her brother’s famous bear hugs.
“I’m so glad you’re okay,” he said, pulling her even tighter. When he let her go, Paul looked over to Luke, holding out his hand. When Luke took it, Paul pulled him into a tight hug too. “Thanks for going after her.”
Stepping back with all the hugs out of the way, Paul’s dark eyebrows furrowed over his tired eyes. “How’d you know she would be here, though? Tell me everything. McKay was vague on the phone.”
“Uh, Cassie Lee,” Luke said. “She called the farm asking for me and told me Hadley was about to do something dangerous.”
“Apparently, you two aren’t the only ones who can tell when I’m lying. When I asked Jaxon Bayne about how to get into the old hospital, he called Cassie and warned her about what he thought I was about to do.” Hadley never would’ve thought she’d owe her life to a teenage drug dealer.
Paul glanced over at another ambulance, where Miranda and Dennis were getting checked over by paramedics. Kennedy, as a doctor, knew he needed to keep them hydrated at least, but Miranda especially was malnourished after four days without much food.
“They look okay, considering,” Paul said. “How Dennis got mixed up in this, I can’t understand.”
Hadley and Luke smiled at one another.
“We found that out too,” Hadley said. “Dennis explained it all while we waited for the police. It turns out, he’s actually Miranda’s dad. He and Brenda had a bit of a fling when they were just out of college. Brenda, however, was dating some guy in Cascade Ridge whose family had a lot of money. She tried to convince the other guy that the baby was his to get child support, but his family threatened to have a paternity test done. Even with the other guy out of the picture, Brenda figured Dennis wouldn’t take her back, so she decided to raise Miranda on her own.”
Paul shook his head. “So she knew this whole time and waited until Miranda was missing to tell the poor guy?”
Luke cleared his throat. “Well, she probably still doesn’t realize she spilled the secret at all. Dennis went over to visit Brenda and he found her completely wasted. He was worried she’d overdosed, so he rushed her up to the emergency room. Apparently, along the way, high Brenda told him everything. They’re going to wait until the drugs are completely out of her system to break the news to her.”
Hadley took over. “And while Dennis was at the hospital, he overheard some nurses talking in a stairwell. They speculated about Kennedy overprescribing his patients and wondered if he had something to do with the kid who had gone missing. When he confronted Kennedy about it, he said
that Kennedy denied it at first, but then whispered in his ear that if Dennis so much as scratched his nose around the police, Miranda was a goner and so was Brenda.”
Luke nodded. “Then he told Dennis he wanted money in exchange for Miranda. So Dennis drove back to Stoneybrook, emptied his bank account and grabbed all the cash from the store and brought it back to see if he’d take a ransom.”
Hadley thought back to Thea telling them how frantic the man had been, grabbing all of his money. “Kennedy, of course, didn’t care about the money anymore and saw an opportunity in Dennis.”
Paul’s face tightened. “How’s that?”
Hadley dipped her chin. “Well, Miranda said she followed Zack here, hoping to buy from him since Jaxon wouldn’t sell to her, but she’d ended up walking in on Kennedy knocking him over the head hard enough to kill him. She said Kennedy kept Zack’s body around, grumbling about setups and time of death. She thinks he was trying to figure out how to make it look like Zack killed her, but he knew the medical examiners would be able to tell he died before she did.”
“But when Dennis showed up, he provided Kennedy with another person to pin it all on.” Luke sighed.
“And that’s why he waited until yesterday to get rid of Zack’s body,” Paul said. “But why did he kill two of his dealers in the first place?”
Hadley and Luke glanced at each other and shrugged. “That you’re going to have to ask the monster himself.”
“I’m guessing they somehow found out who he was and he had to get rid of them.” Hadley looked down at her feet. “I’m just glad Miranda’s okay.”
“Thanks to you two,” Paul said, patting Luke on the shoulder and pulling Hadley into another hug. “Now let’s get the two of you home. I’m sure Suze is worried sick.”
Peeling off the plastic blanket, Hadley frowned. “How would Suze know? No one in Stoneybrook knows where I went but Cassie.”
Paul's cheeks turned slightly red and he shook his head. “Right, I meant once we tell her.” His left eye twitched, a definite sign he was lying.
