Grave Concerns

by Lily Harper Hart

  The night was warmer than it had been. Hayley was never a fan of camping, although she did like a good bonfire and who didn’t like s’mores? July in Michigan is a mixed bag, so while the days had been warm the nights were chillier during this camping excursion. That wasn’t the case tonight.

  Hayley was a ball of nerves as she glanced around the dark shadows that surrounded the registration building. It was dark, the only light coming from the street lamp down the way that illuminated the turnaround for large trailers and campers.

  When Kevin initially suggested meeting away from everyone else, Hayley was dubious. He’d barely paid any attention to her since they met. He’d been much more interested in Maddie. His brother Kyle explained that Kevin was nervous and he followed Maddie around because he didn’t want Hayley to think he was interested in her. That made sense to Hayley because she’d spent the better part of the last twenty-four hours pretending that she wasn’t interested in Kevin. It was easier to pretend to be oblivious than admit you liked someone.

  Kevin’s approach after dinner was timid. He shifted uncomfortably, glancing left and right before finally focusing on her, and his voice wavered as he told her about his plan. He thought it would be easier to hang out alone if they weren’t around Hayley’s family.

  Despite her mother’s admonishment to the contrary, Hayley immediately agreed to the meeting. She didn’t know why everyone was so worried about the guy on the trail the night before. It was probably some kid playing a prank. Hayley recognized that for what it was. Even if it was someone dangerous, Maddie scared him away when she yelled. No one would be stupid enough to hang around when Nick and John were present. They were police officers, for crying out loud. They would always keep her safe. She was certain of that.

  Even though part of Hayley knew it was wrong to go against her mother’s wishes she immediately agreed to Kevin’s suggestion and they made a plan to meet up after dinner was over and before John began his ghost story. Hayley doubted anyone would miss her, and she’d be back at the camp in plenty of time to hear John finish his story. Her uncle only knew a handful of ghost stories and Hayley had heard them all at one time or another.

  Hayley nervously cleared her throat as she rounded the building. At first she didn’t think anyone was there, but then she saw a figure detach from the maple tree and step into the small clearing.

  “Kevin?” Hayley narrowed her eyes. Something didn’t feel right. The figure seemed too tall.

  “Not quite.”

  Hayley frowned. “Kyle? What are you doing here? Kevin asked me to meet him. I thought we were going to hang out … alone.”

  “I know,” Kyle said, hopping forward and swinging his arms as he took a few steps in Hayley’s direction. “That’s exactly what I told him to tell you.”

  “But … why? Do you want to hang out with us, too?” Hayley’s mind was muddled.

  “Oh, I definitely want to hang out with you, Hayley,” Kyle said. “My brother is another story.”

  Another figure moved from behind the tree trunk, and Hayley recognized the telltale slouch right away. She still didn’t understand what was happening, but Kevin’s appearance helped relax her. “There you are,” Hayley said. “I thought maybe you changed your mind.”

  “I’m really sorry, Hayley,” Kevin said, his voice weak. “I … I didn’t want to do this. I had no choice.”

  “Do what? I don’t understand.”

  “You will,” Kyle said, laughing hollowly. “You definitely will.”

  Hayley realized too late that she was in real trouble. She opened her mouth to scream, but Kyle was already on her, his hand closing over her mouth. She’d made a terrible mistake, and it was too late to do anything about it.

  MADDIE kept to the shadows, wishing for what felt like the hundredth time that her hair wasn’t so bright. It stood out – even in dark pockets like the one behind the registration building – and Maddie couldn’t risk moving forward if she wanted to remain unseen.

  When Maddie first rounded the corner of the building she found Hayley standing with one of the Martin brothers. She initially thought it was Kevin. After a moment, though, she realized her error at almost exactly the same moment Hayley did. Maddie couldn’t figure out why Kyle would be interested in a girl so much younger than himself.

  Maddie debated her options. She could hang back and let Hayley interact with the boy and hope for the best while making sure nothing horrible happened, or interrupt right now and embarrass Hayley. Maddie decided to give it a few minutes. She knew she would’ve been mortified as a teenager to have an adult interrupt what was supposed to be a private moment.

  When Kevin also appeared – and then proceeded to profusely apologize for no apparent reason – Maddie’s confusion turned to concern. Something else was definitely going on here. The question was: What?

  Maddie moved closer, keeping low to the ground and crouching behind some shrubs so she could better hear the conversation. Olivia remained silent beside her, and although Maddie couldn’t hear her mother she could still feel her presence.

  “I don’t understand,” Hayley said.

  “You will,” Kyle said, emitting what sounded like a really creepy clown laugh. “You definitely will.”

  It took Maddie a moment to realize what was happening, but when Kyle reached for Hayley and the frightened teenage girl could do nothing but squawk and go rigid, Maddie knew she was out of options.

  “What’s going on here?”

  Kyle froze, stupefied by Maddie’s sudden appearance. She stood on the other side of a nearby clump of ragged bushes, and he couldn’t understand how she’d managed to approach without him hearing her footsteps. “I … nothing,” Kyle said, jerking his hand away from Hayley’s mouth. “We were just hanging out.”

  “He’s lying,” Olivia hissed.

  Maddie nodded, hoping her mother recognized the gesture, but Kyle had no idea that another entity was there. She didn’t have to be psychic to recognize Kyle’s lie.

  “I’ll head for Nick,” Olivia whispered, popping out of existence and leaving Maddie with a frightened girl and two teenage boys who could probably overpower her if they worked in tandem.

  “Hayley, why don’t you come back to camp with me?” Maddie suggested, hoping her voice didn’t betray her suspicions. “Everyone is looking for you. They’re about to send out a search party.” It was a lie, but Maddie hoped it would be enough to scare Kyle into taking a step back. It didn’t.

  “I doubt anyone even knows we’re gone,” Kyle said, only the right side of his face visible in the dim lighting. “I think we’re going to stay here.”

  “Kyle.” Kevin’s voice was barely a whisper. “This wasn’t part of the plan.”

  “Shut up, you moron,” Kyle hissed. “I’m in charge here. Stop being a baby for once in your life and just … shut your stupid mouth.”

  Maddie frowned, any remaining hope that Kyle wasn’t about to do something completely awful vacating her body. Things were starting to slip into place. Now she just needed to keep Kyle talking long enough for Olivia to get to Nick.

  “You were the one on the trail last night, weren’t you?” Maddie asked, making sure to keep her eyes on Kyle as she also monitored Kevin’s location. The younger boy seemed utterly lost, but Maddie wasn’t about to underestimate him. She couldn’t afford to – not if she wanted to make sure that both she and Hayley got out of this situation alive.

  “No way,” Hayley said, her eyes widening. “That was you?”

  “I don’t know what she’s talking about,” Kyle lied. “I was at the bonfire last night.”

  “N-no,” Hayley argued. “You were there for dinner, but then you disappeared. I remember seeing you go off into the woods after Kevin went over to catch lightning bugs with Maddie and Uncle Nick.”

  “You’re wrong.”

  “But … Kevin was looking for you when we all got back to the campsite,” Hayley protested. “You weren’t there.”

  Maddie was too k
eyed up to notice Kyle’s absence the previous evening. Of course, the idea that the figure on the trail belonged to a teenage boy never crossed her mind – at least not in the sense it was now. Sure, she’d considered that a teenager would try to scare her. She’d never thought that a teenager could be the one out there hunting, though.

  “You were in the woods the day we found Jessica, too,” Maddie interjected, drawing Kyle’s attention back to her. She didn’t want him focusing on Hayley for too long. If he made a move on the girl, she was too far away to stop him. If she moved in closer, she was putting both herself and Hayley in danger. She needed time to think of a better approach, and hopefully Nick would arrive in the interim and take the decision-making process out of her hands. She quite literally had no idea what to do.

  “How can you possibly know that?” Kyle asked, his eyes narrowing to dangerous slits. “There’s no way you can know that.”

  “You would be surprised by the things I know,” Maddie countered. “For example, I know that you were watching Jessica because you were going to approach and do … something awful … to her.” Maddie didn’t want to give voice to her suspicions on that front. They were too terrible to utter. “You weren’t expecting Kelly and I to get to her first, though. You watched from the woods because you knew that you couldn’t take Kelly and me on and still maintain control of Jessica. You didn’t want to risk it.”

  “Oh, keep going,” Kyle taunted. “I love hearing all of this … crazy crap … you’re spouting. It’s like one of John’s stupid ghost stories. It’s bad fiction for the masses.”

  Maddie furrowed her brow. The boy had an impressive vocabulary for his age. That indicated he probably did a decent amount of reading. True sociopaths were rare, but the one thing that appeared true about all of them was that they boasted abnormal intelligence. Maddie had no way of knowing if Kyle was a sociopath, but she was starting to lean in that direction. How else did a teenage boy muster the courage to stalk women and children when so many other people were around?

  Now that she thought about it, Kyle’s interactions with the group were much more measured than Kevin’s. Kevin acted like a normal teenager, equal parts gregarious energy and youthful charm. Maddie’s interactions with Kyle, on the other hand, were more limited. Other than tossing his brother into the water to get Maddie wet, Kyle remained quiet and thoughtful when spending time with the Winters family. In hindsight, that should’ve been a red flag.

  “You watched me that first night we arrived, too, didn’t you?” Maddie asked, remembering the cold prick of fear on her skin as she and Nick walked back to their cabin. “Did you meet me by accident, or was that on purpose?”

  “I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Kyle looked positively bored. “I think you’re making stuff up just to hear yourself talk now. It’s becoming a tad pathetic. You don’t have any proof that any of this is true.”

  “And yet you’re still holding onto Hayley’s arm,” Maddie pointed out, her gaze landing on Kyle’s fingers, which were digging into the frightened teenager’s soft skin. “If I’m making all of this up, why are you holding her there?”

  “Why don’t you come over here and find out?” Kyle prodded.

  Maddie ignored the offer and turned her attention to Kevin. “How much of this are you in on?”

  “I didn’t want to do any of it,” Kevin whimpered, his furtive eyes bouncing between Kyle and Maddie. “I told him not to … but he never listens to me.”

  “You’re the one who tricked Hayley into coming out here, though, aren’t you?” Maddie asked. “That’s what Sydney said in the bathroom, by the way. I’m not the only one who knows that you were meeting Hayley. I sent Sydney back to camp to get Nick. He’ll be here soon.”

  It was a calculated risk, but Maddie didn’t see where she had a lot of choices. She needed Kyle to be worried enough to consider releasing Hayley. If Maddie closed the distance between them – something she was willing to do if it became necessary – then she would be in a world of hurt because Kyle would go after her first. She was willing to sacrifice herself for Hayley, but she was also hopeful it wouldn’t come to that.

  “I don’t believe you,” Kyle said. “I think Nick is still sitting on his blanket staring at the stars while he waits for you. You two are officially disgusting, by the way. Do you know that? I’ve never seen two people so … codependent … in my whole life.”

  “All seventeen years of it?” Maddie prodded.

  Kyle snorted. “I’m wise beyond my years.”

  Maddie didn’t doubt that. “Something has been bugging me, Kyle, and I guess now is as good of a time as any to ask about your father,” she said. “Where is he? Why haven’t we seen him since that first day? Did you do something to him?”

  Kyle’s evil smile was so wide it split his face. “Do I look like someone who would hurt his own father?”

  “Yes,” Maddie answered, refusing to back down. “I think you’ve done something to your father and that’s allowed you free rein to do every other horrible thing you’ve ever dreamed about. You have control of Kevin because he’s terrified that you’ll do something to him, too. That’s how you operate, right?”

  “You have no idea what you’re talking about,” Kyle said. “Your problem is that you think you’re smart when you’re really a moron.”

  “And yet your father is nowhere to be found,” Maddie interjected. “I think I’m right.”

  Another presence moved in behind Maddie before she even had time to register it, a large hand closing around her neck as her body was snapped back against the tall frame of tall man. Maddie instinctively knew it wasn’t help, and when she shifted her frightened eyes, she found Howard Martin staring back at her.

  “I think my son is right,” he said. “You’re not nearly as smart as you think you are.”

  Oh, crap! Maddie realized she misread the situation when it was far too late to do anything about it. Now she and Hayley were in desperate trouble, and their only hope was that Olivia could get help in time to stop whatever depraved game the Martins were about to play.

  Twenty-Five

  “What’s going on?” Hayley waffled fearfully between confusion and outright terror, her mind threatening to shut down. “Will someone please tell me what’s going on here?”

  Howard gripped the back of Maddie’s neck and forced her forward, marching her in the direction of Hayley and his sons. Kyle kept his grip on Hayley’s arm as he tugged her out of the way. Hayley’s fight or flight response was in overdrive, and yet her legs refused to move.

  “I have to give you credit, Maddie. I didn’t think you were the one who would figure out what was going on,” Howard growled, tossing Maddie to the ground at Kyle’s feet and shifting his attention to his son. “You’ve totally screwed this up. You know that, right?”

  “It’s not my fault,” Kyle protested. “I told Kevin to make sure that Hayley understood that he wanted to be alone with her. I have no idea how that one knew to follow her out here.” Kyle nudged Maddie with the toe of his sneaker. “I’m kind of glad she’s here, though. You may like them young, Dad, but I want to try this one on for size.”

  Howard scowled and cuffed his son, turning his attention to a shaking Kevin as he decided how to handle things. “You told her to come alone, right?”

  Kevin bit his lip and wordlessly nodded.

  Howard turned to Hayley. “Who did you tell you were coming out here?”

  “I … .” Hayley was too afraid to answer.

  “Answer me!” Howard’s explosion was enough to jolt Hayley, who burst into tears instead of doing his bidding.

  Howard raised his hand, the intention to strike the wailing teenage girl clear, but Maddie stopped him by grabbing his arm.

  “Don’t you dare think about hitting her,” Maddie warned, her blue eyes flashing. “If you touch that girl I can guarantee that Nick and John will make you wish you’d never been born.”

  “Oh, Maddie, you’re so pathetic,” Howard i
ntoned, lowering his hand. “Do you realize how pathetic you sound? You’re banking the last few minutes of your life on the fact that your boyfriend is going to come looking for you. He’s not. He’s … otherwise engaged.”

  What was that supposed to mean? Maddie furrowed her brow but remained silent.

  “I checked in at your guys’ campsite before I came over here,” Howard supplied. “Oh, yeah, you might not have seen me the past few days, but I’ve definitely seen you. It’s nice that you were worried about me, though.

  “Anyway, I saw Nick when I was leaving,” he continued. “He was sitting on a blanket getting cozy with a woman. Imagine my surprise when I realized it wasn’t you, Maddie. It was that other woman – the one with the reddish hair – and they looked mighty cozy.”

  “Sydney,” Kyle supplied. “She’s been trying to get in Nick’s pants every chance she gets. That dude must be magic in the sack or something, because the ladies sure do love him.”

  “Is that it, Maddie?” Howard asked, planting his hands on his knees as he crouched lower. “Is Nick magic in the sack? Is that why you’re always clinging to him the way you do?”

  Maddie frowned. She didn’t believe Howard for a moment. Even though she wouldn’t put it past Sydney to throw herself at Nick, she knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that Nick would never cheat on her. She might have insecurity problems on many things, but that wasn’t one of them.

  “I sent Sydney to Nick to tell him where I was heading,” Maddie replied, keeping her tone even. “They’re probably already on their way.”

  “I think that sounds like wishful thinking on your part,” Howard countered. “Nick looked perfectly happy with that other woman, even though she’s definitely a step down from you.”

  “Don’t worry,” Kyle said slyly. “We’ll keep you company.” He forced Hayley down to the ground and Maddie instinctively reached for the girl, pulling her close as she studied Howard and Kyle’s dynamic.