Total pages in book: 128
Estimated words: 120230 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 601(@200wpm)___ 481(@250wpm)___ 401(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 120230 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 601(@200wpm)___ 481(@250wpm)___ 401(@300wpm)
A failure engineered to take place in slow motion.
The cut I’d spotted must’ve been a mistake, a tiny slip of the blade.
Lowering the boot to the ground, I considered when the sabotage could’ve taken place. He’d gone hiking with Vansi and Nix prior to our arrival at the estate, and his gear had been in the back of the vehicle after that. And this kind of delicate sabotage would’ve taken time. It wasn’t a quick grab and slash.
No, it had to have been done after we reached the estate.
Perhaps even before Kaea had organized the hike. This insane weather notwithstanding, it would’ve been a good bet that Kaea would end up on a trail within the first few days of our time here.
As for how . . .
We’d been all over the place that first day. Kaea had hauled firewood with Ash, for one. And he might’ve decided to take a long shower later—the way the pipes clanged, it wouldn’t have been hard to figure out when he was in there.
“What exactly are you thinking, Luna?” I challenged myself.
There were only two options: one of us, or the stalker-stranger Kaea had posited.
It was tempting to shrug off the latter as fantasy, but from all Kaea had said, that break-in at Ash and Darcie’s place had been vicious. Abnormal. The person behind it could be disturbed enough to come here, lie in wait for them. Not difficult to discover where they were going if they had their flight tickets on their nightstand, for example.
Ash liked to print things out—or he had back at uni. Never satisfied with an electronic copy. Or it could be as simple as notes jotted into a day planner. Darcie liked physical planners and diaries, had always kept lovely ones. Thanks to her social media, I knew she did that to this day. Neither one of them was a last-minute planner, either. They’d have made any necessary bookings back when we’d first agreed to the reunion.
No need to follow the couple here and get caught. Just come first, and wait.
Why Kaea, though?
He’d been with them that night, and if the stalker had been watching, they might consider him complicit with Darcie and Ash.
Goose bumps broke out over my skin.
“Stop telling yourself horror stories,” I muttered and, after checking the coast was clear, stashed the boots back in the hiding spot that had protected them thus far.
And though fear crawled a cold snake in my gut, I didn’t return to the safety of the group. I began to search the house under the guise of taking photographs, looking for any sign that we weren’t alone in this sprawling manse with endless dark corners, hidden rooms, and corridors that looped in on themselves.
My lungs worked overtime when I eventually made my way up the narrow and winding steps to the turret that we all called “the tower.” Once at the top, I bent over with my hands on my knees until I could catch my breath.
The circular space was empty, the view from the windows breathtaking.
I forgot the danger for several minutes and took image after image of the black clouds riven with lightning, the rolling thunder background bass. Though I was shooting in color, I knew the images would come out in a palette of blacks, grays, and white. Because that was all there was beyond the old glass.
By the time I let the camera fall to rest at my abdomen, the strap a familiar weight on the back of my neck, I’d all but convinced myself that it had to be an intruder. I couldn’t imagine any of us hurting Kaea, I just couldn’t.
I see you’re not thinking the same thing about my big sister.
Bea’s ghost, whispering in my ear in that sharply amused tone she could get at times. I winced. She’d always been too clever, seen too much. And today, her ghost was one hundred percent correct.
Darcie had a way of pushing people.
I could well imagine that she’d irritated the wrong person, and that person had decided to get back at her, with Kaea collateral damage. Interesting that Ash hadn’t been targeted—but he looked like hell anyway, so whatever he yet felt for Bea, he did love Darcie enough for her pain to affect him.
Mind swirling, I made my way back down the stairs and outside, my goal a spot that’d give me a vantage point of the ruined wing. In preparation, I flipped my hood over my head, made sure my jacket was zipped, then took a clear plastic poncho from my pocket and threw it on over the top.
I’d carry my cameras inside the poncho, then arrange the plastic cape to protect the equipment from the elements while I took multiple rapid-fire shots. I did the latter in quick succession, shooting the ruined wing while the rain pounded at my head and back, and drenched my jeans.