Watching Their Steps Read online

He closed the door, shutting out the frigid wind. “What do you need?”

  Samantha glanced around, feeling quivery throughout every muscle and bone. “I just need quiet.”

  “I can do that.”

  She stepped from Quinn’s grip toward the couch.

  What had her psychologist told her? That senses could take people back in time.

  That was what she needed her senses to do now.

  She lowered herself down on those cushions and slipped her arms behind her, just as they’d been when she was bound. As the fabric brushed her hands, nausea rose in her.

  The image of being here, being captive, filled her memory in an instant. Just as quickly, familiar fear washed over her. Hope—light, joy, life—began to fade.

  She closed her eyes until all was dark. Like she had that hood on—the one that made her feel as if she couldn’t get a deep breath.

  Then silence surrounded her. The nothingness of being in the middle of nowhere. Of being unable to see

  Samantha didn’t want to do it, but she lay down, just as she’d lain while she’d been held here. Her cheek brushed the knotted fabric. The familiar scent of mildew and body odor filled her nostrils.

  Images slammed into her mind, transporting her back in time.

  In an instant, the ties on her wrists were real. Her hunger was real. The fear was real. All her plans for the future were gone in an instant.

  The Grim Wrecker had grabbed her, and she had no means of escape.

  Her breath caught as she heard a footstep. On the porch.

  He was back.

  The Grim Wrecker had returned.

  What would this visit hold? Did Samantha want to find out?

  She knew the answer. No. Absolutely not. She’d rather die here alone than face him again.

  The screen door screamed. The front door opened.

  He was here.

  In the room.

  With her.

  She could hardly breathe.

  Then another familiar feeling came over her again.

  The trapped-under-the-ice feeling.

  She was getting closer to the memory that had remained frozen beneath the surface. The ice was thinning, breaking, shattering.

  A new sound found her. What was that noise?

  It was unlike the other sounds.

  It was a phone, she realized.

  Her abductor had a phone with him?

  She’d never remembered that before.

  What would he do? Answer it? Let it go to voicemail?

  Who was calling him? An accomplice? Someone who had no idea who he really was?

  Samantha held her breath as she waited.

  “Hello?” the man muttered.

  Blood pounded in her ears, and she willed it to hush.

  Why hadn’t she ever remembered this phone call before?

  “That’s right. Okay. I understand that.” His voice was dark and low. Maybe familiar, yet different. There was nothing especially distinct about it.

  Who was he talking to? He almost sounded professional.

  “What can I say?” he continued, lingering in the distance. “Bob’s your uncle.”

  Bob’s your uncle?

  That phrase . . . where had Samantha heard it before?

  The next instant, the man was standing above her.

  “Sorry, Samantha,” he muttered. “I’m so sorry.”

  Then electricity rocked her body.

  He’d tased her, she realized.

  And everything went black.

  Chapter 18

  THE MEMORY CAME BACK again. Samantha was in the partially frozen water. The ice was there. She could see things taking place around her. But it was blurry. And just far enough away from reality to make her desperate.

  But help was there.

  Bob’s Your Uncle.

  It was such a strange expression. Maybe it wasn’t uncommon in some circles, but it was in hers.

  Someone she knew used that expression. But who? Who was it?

  The memories clawed at her. The surface of the ice continued to crack.

  Something in her gut kept taking her back in time to high school. To that reunion she’d attended not long ago. To all the various faces she’d interacted with while she was there.

  “Samantha?” Someone shook her.

  Finally, she broke through the ice barrier. Reaching the surface. Desperately swallowing in gulps of air.

  She pulled her eyes open with a start and sat up. Sweat covered her. Her heart raced.

  And Quinn peered at her.

  She was lying on that couch that she’d thought would be her coffin.

  “Are you okay?” Quinn asked. “You were crying.”

  “Quinn, I need to go to Eastside High School,” she told him.

  “Why?”

  “Because . . . I need to see the yearbook from the year I graduated. I don’t know where mine is, and I . . . I remembered something.”

  “Talk to me, Samantha.” He knelt beside her.

  She swallowed hard, pushing herself up. She felt like she’d been hit by a truck. “Someone I went to school with used to say ‘Bob’s your uncle.’ It means voilà, I think. I’m having trouble remembering who. But I think it may have been his yearbook quote.”

  “We can go to the school. Let me call Frost and tell him to meet us there.”

  Less than two minutes later, they were in his car, and Quinn turned on his siren as they sped toward town.

  Neither said anything. And, as always, Samantha appreciated that fact again. Silence could be her healing.

  They arrived at the school. It was a Saturday, so the students should be gone. There were some cars here, though. Maybe administrators or some football players going through extra practices. Probably the marching band as well.

  There were also other FBI vehicles already here.

  They went into the library. Agents were already pouring over the books. Samantha made her way past them and looked at those familiar yearbook pages. They seemed to sense her need and parted.

  Everything seemed like gel around her as she flipped the pages.

  Finally, she stopped at one picture.

  The contents of her stomach threatened to rise.

  The picture that stared back at her, with the quote beneath, was . . . Jed Hedges.

  The high school nerd that Samantha had continually defended.

  Her head swirled.

  “That’s the guy?” Quinn asked. “You’re sure?”

  Samantha nodded and pressed her hands into the table. “He said that exact phrase. The memory was there beneath the surface the whole time.” She grabbed her temple, a new pounding starting. “I just couldn’t pull it out until now. Until my senses took me back in time.”

  “Frost, we’ve got to find out where Jed is now.”

  “I’ll get right on that.” Frost rushed from the room.

  “Marks. Backer. You guys go too. We’re going to need all the man power we can get on this case.”

  Samantha’s head continued to pound, even when it was just her and Quinn.

  Jed? Could he really be behind this? In her mind, she already knew the answer.

  Yes, he could.

  “You did a good job, Samantha.”

  “Thank you. But there’s something else.” She shook her head, trying to shake the memory free. “Quinn, I think Jed’s family had a cabin down in Wallace Hollow. He talked about it sometimes when we were in band. It was . . . it was his happy place, if that makes sense.”

  “Wallace Hollow?”

  “I’m pretty sure that’s the place. I think it was someone who was like a grandma to him, but not directly related. The location may not show up in any searches.”

  “Let me call them.” He pulled out his phone and stared at the screen. “I don’t have service in here.”

  “Parts of the school are dead zones when it comes to cell service. It’s been that way for as long as I can remember.”

  “Let me run down to the office then.”


  “I’ll stay here. I could use a moment to collect my thoughts.”

  “If you’re sure. I’ll station an officer outside the door, just as a precaution.”

  “Got it.”

  When Quinn was gone, she hung her head. Would they find Elise in time? She prayed they would.

  Suddenly, her nerves stood on edge. She needed to get out of here. She stood and walked toward the door. She’d promised Quinn she’d stay here, but she’d feel better if she found everyone. She didn’t want to be alone right now.

  As she reached the door, she saw that a chain had been locked over the two metal handles.

  What? That couldn’t be right?

  Someone would have to place them there from the inside.

  And there was no one in this room with her.

  Right?

  She turned around to double check when an electrical shock rushed through her body.

  She fell to the ground.

  When her vision cleared, she could barely make out Jed’s face above her.

  Chapter 19

  “YOU’LL NEVER BELIEVE this,” Frost muttered, staring at his computer he’d set up in the school’s office.

  Quinn went to stand behind him, curious about what he’d learned. “What’s that?”

  “This Jed guy? He just got a job.”

  Quinn narrowed his eyes, wondering where he was going with this. “Doing what?”

  Frost pulled his gaze up to meet his. “Working as a custodian here at the school.”

  Quinn’s heart rate ratcheted up to the sky. Was he here now?

  He wasn’t going to wait around to find out.

  He sprinted down the hall and reached the library. The guard he’d stationed outside was on the floor. He put a hand to his neck. There was still a pulse there. He radioed for help before tugging the door. It was locked.

  Locked?

  He glanced through the glass and saw the chain there.

  His stomach sank.

  Jed had been here, he realized.

  He rattled the doors again. There had to be another way to get in.

  Jed couldn’t be but so far away. Where had he taken Samantha?

  He pulled out his gun and shot out the glass window atop the door.

  Footsteps sounded behind him as other agents hurried his way.

  He climbed through the broken glass and rushed toward the desk where he’d left Samantha.

  There on top of the yearbook was a key.

  “Split up!” he yelled. “We’ve got to find her. Now.”

  SAMANTHA SENSED JED pulling her into a room beside the library. They wouldn’t make it out of the building without being spotted . . . right? He was keeping her at the school somewhere.

  The resource closet, she realized. It was where all the equipment was kept. Projectors and other electronics. Only one door in.

  She glanced up.

  But there was a glass frame on the door.

  If only she could move. If she could scream. If she could let someone know she was here.

  “I’m sorry, Samantha,” Jed muttered, sweat pouring off his forehead. “I didn’t want it to happen this way.”

  It doesn’t have to! She wanted to scream.

  But she couldn’t. She couldn’t say anything. Not until her shock wore off and her muscles returned to life.

  Jed was just as tall and lanky as ever. His face was pale—almost gaunt. His dark-brown hair was cut in a bowl cut, but it was greasy. He wore a janitor’s uniform.

  Jed was wearing a janitor’s uniform. Did he work here at the school? Now that she thought about it, it did sound familiar.

  When had she seen Jed last?

  That was when she remembered.

  The high school reunion last month. It had been right here at the school.

  Only Jed hadn’t attended as a participant, had he? He’d been working the event. Standing in the background. Watching. She’d even gone over to talk to him that night, but he’d been strangely silent. She hadn’t realized he was a janitor. She’d figured he was on the committee or something.

  Another sound hit her ears. Someone was pounding at the doors.

  Quinn! Had he come back? Had he realized the truth?

  “You weren’t supposed to come here today,” Jed whispered, standing over her. “I was going to head back and take care of Elise. I’d probably call you again. I like hearing your voice.”

  Samantha tried to move her lips, but she couldn’t.

  “I didn’t want to do this,” Jed continued. “The reunion put me over the edge. It brought back so many memories. My mom died in that auto accident when I was only eleven. Do you remember that? She was the only one who protected me from my father. He was a horrid man. He died four years ago from a drug overdose. That’s what the police think, at least.”

  Her stomach squeezed. Jed had been through a lot. But none of that excused what he’d done.

  “Now I have to figure out what to do with you.” He reached behind him and pulled out a gun. “Like any good killer, I have a backup plan.”

  A gun? That didn’t fit. What would he do with that gun? Shoot her?

  Just then, a loud bang filled the room.

  She froze. Was that Jed? No, it had come from the library.

  Quinn?

  Samantha moved her lips again. This time, a sound emerged.

  Her voice was coming back.

  “Why, Jed?” she whispered, her voice hoarse. “Why are you doing this?”

  He wiped his forehead. “Because people need to pay.”

  “To pay for what?” She tried to move her legs, but it felt like they were bound. She knew they weren’t. The effects of the Taser were still wearing off.

  “What they’ve done.” He flung his gun in the air, talking with his hands.

  “What have they done?” she continued, trying to buy time. She tried to move her legs again. Maybe the muscle control was coming back. Maybe.

  “They’ve made me feel like less.” He sneered and stared at that window.

  “Talk to me. How have they made you feel that way?”

  “They’ve rejected me.”

  “Even Mandy?” she asked.

  There. Her leg moved.

  She didn’t want Jed to see it, though. Instead, her gaze focused on the Taser he’d left on the carpet beside him. If only she could reach it.

  Jed’s gaze darkened. “Yes, even Mandy. I met her online. She seemed to like me. Then she met me in person. Realized I was a janitor. That I was awkward. She ended the date early.”

  “I’m sorry. Trying to find a match isn’t easy. I’m still single also. The last date I went on the guy stared at his phone the whole time and acted like I wasn’t there.”

  “Then he was a fool. I’d love going on a date with you.”

  “Did all those women reject you?” She tried to understand, to buy time.

  “They did. Some of them wouldn’t give me the time of day. Others went on one date and then scoffed at me. One of them laughed at me when she passed me on the street.”

  “And Elise?”

  “I asked her out in high school. She told me I wasn’t her type. Then I heard her turn around and mutter, ‘Freak.’ It was supposed to be her that night, you know. Not you. From a distance . . .”

  “We look alike.”

  “And you were driving her car.”

  Quinn appeared at the door and pounded on the glass. When he did, Jed put the gun to her head.

  “Do anything and she dies,” he yelled.

  Quinn raised his hands. “It doesn’t have to end like this.”

  Samantha swallowed hard, keenly aware of that gun. “Why Aaron? You set him up.”

  Jed’s gaze darkened. “He invited three guys at the lunch table to go on his guys’ weekend fishing trip after graduation.” He sneered. “I was sitting right there. He just looked at me and said, ‘Sorry, man. No losers allowed.’ He’s just as bad as all those women.”

  “That was wrong of them. Please
let me go, Jed. Please.”

  He pressed the gun harder. “You weren’t supposed to come here today. I needed your help. I begged for it. But you weren’t supposed to come here.”

  “It’s not too late to make things right. You asked for my help. I’m trying to give that to you now.”

  “No one can help me.”

  “I used to think that also. That no one could help me after my . . . my ordeal. But that’s not true. There’s always a light in the distance. We just have to make the choice to walk toward it instead of toward the darkness.”

  Her gaze remained on the Taser that he’d left on the floor. If she could just get a little closer.

  “I don’t think I can do it,” he said.

  “Sure you can. I promise you.”

  “I can’t!” His words were lit with anger.

  Samantha raised a hand. “Okay, okay. There’s no need to get hyper here.”

  “You’re the only one who’s ever been kind to me.”

  “I’m sorry, Jed. You deserve kindness. Everyone does.”

  “People are going to remember me one day.” He hung his head.

  “Yes, they are.”

  If she was going to act, she had to act now while he wasn’t looking. She reached over and her fingers gripped the Taser.

  “Jed?” She rubbed her lips together.

  “Yes?”

  “I’m helping you now.”

  “What do you mean?” A wrinkle formed between his eyes.

  And before he could realize what was happening, she sent a jolt of electricity through him. As he writhed on the floor, she darted toward the door. Her fingers fumbled with the lock.

  But she got it open.

  She fell into Quinn’s arms as men rushed past them.

  Maybe this was all finally over.

  “Are you okay?” Quinn asked.

  She nodded, not sure she was okay. But she was alive, and that was enough right now.

  “We found Elise,” he said. “She was where you said. Good work.”

  Her shoulders sagged. Maybe she could finally relax. This was over. It was finally over.

  Epilogue

  ONE THOUSAND TWO HUNDRED forty-three days after she’d been released, someone knocked at Samantha’s door.

  This time, she didn’t feel fear.

  No, she knew who was on the other side.