Freezing ice.
Cold.
It seeped into every cell. I could barely breathe. Lungs heaving around it, breaking its bindings, I fumbled for my phone. I was already racing out the door and across the street when I put it to my ear.
Rex’s phone went straight to voice mail.
“Shit,” I mumbled, trying to balance the phone between my ear and shoulder so I could unlock the door. I was jumping into the driver’s seat when the message beeped. “Please don’t be angry, but I’m going to the diner.” The words were a ramble.
I threw my SUV in reverse and backed out, quick to shift into drive. “It’s probably just a hunch, and God, the last thing I want to do is distract you, but I can’t ignore this. I need to make sure Janel isn’t there. I just . . . have this feeling, and I have to act on it. I’ll let you know if anything seems off.”
I ended the call, tossed my phone to the passenger seat, and flew. Flew through the neighborhood and onto the main street. Streetlamps blurred past, streaked in my eyes and sent my heart into overdrive. I took the three turns required to get me into the middle of town faster than I should, until I finally made the last left onto Fairview.
The entire street was shut down for the night except for the single bar on the end, and only a few exterior lights shined from the awnings of the rest of the businesses that had been closed for hours.
I slowed when I reached Pepper’s and swung into a parking spot. My headlights sprayed across the long pane of darkened windows. Glinting, blinding light reflected back.
I killed the engine, cracked the door, and stepped out. The construction site directly across from the restaurant was dark.
Vacant.
The only movement on the whole street was a foreboding breeze that blew through.
I was scared.
Terrified, really. I’d walked in this diner a million times, and never before had it evoked this type of reaction in me. But I couldn’t ignore what was screaming out from inside.
I grabbed my phone, 9-1-1 already programmed to dial, my footsteps slow and cautious as I edged around the front of my SUV and along the sidewalk that ran in front of the restaurant. Holding my breath, I slid the key into the lock and quietly nudged open the door.
Silence rained down.
Ominous and thick.
Too thick.
So thick, dread flashed across my flesh. It sent a tumble of goose bumps across my arms and tingling in my hands, awareness a prickle of needles across my neck.
I inched inside, each footstep measured as I tried to keep completely silent. I eased through the dining room, my breaths shallow and panted as I wound around the long counter and pushed open the shiny metal swinging door.
I inched forward, vigilant as I stepped into the kitchen.
A footstep crunched. A reverberation through the dense, dim air.
A footstep that wasn’t mine.
Every cell in my body seized in fear. Slowly, I attempted to slide my finger across my phone.
A swish of blonde hair flashed at the corner of my eye. Fear sped and my finger fumbled. I sucked in a breath when I heard the whoosh, felt the shift in the air, before something metal cracked against the back of my head.
Pain. So much pain. I tried to hold on to consciousness. I needed to fight. Fight for Frankie. But I could feel darkness pressing in, taking over, and everything went black.
40
Corinne Dayne – Three years ago
Anger burned through my old, brittle bones. Apprehension sank into the pit of my stomach, my veins drumming with sluggish, burdened blood, a shrinking fear that vibrated out to take hold of my already shaky, weathered hands.
I should have realized it a long time ago. There’d always been something off about that girl. But I’d been the fool that’d ignored it, thinking people were different and I didn’t have any right to make judgments about them.
But this?
I did.
When her car pulled in across the street, I moved out the door and onto my porch. For the first time in a long time, I wished I were younger. Stronger. That I didn’t do it with a limp and my body didn’t protest every step.
She pulled that sweet baby girl from the backseat and kissed the side of her head as if she weren’t wretched all the way through.
The sky had darkened to a dusky blue, the horizon holding the last vestiges of oranges and pinks as the day fully melted away. Ambling across the street, I held the evidence tight against my chest, voice shaking, no longer able to hold back the accusation. “What did you do?”
Janel’s head whipped my way. She huffed out a breath. “Corinne, I don’t have time for your nonsense ramblings today. It’s been real rough around here, with all that’s been going on at Rex’s company. Need to make him supper. He’ll be home shortly.” She turned her back on me, Frankie Leigh hooked to her hip, and started for their porch steps.