My palms started to sweat. Okay, think, Reed. What could be the harm in telling them what had really happened? They were the cops, right? Cops didn’t want to arrest the wrong person. They wanted to punish the people who actually did the crime. If I told them my story, they’d have to believe it. Because A) it was true, and B) who could make up a story like that?
“Fine,” I said. “I’ll tell you everything.”
Cheese Breath leaned back against the stone fireplace on the far wall, settling in to listen to my story. The other two merely stood there, just feet away, and listened intently while I spoke about that night in the chapel, the text messages, the assignments. By the time I was done, I actually felt a little better. The pressure that had been permeating my chest for the past several days was gone. I’d finally spilled the whole thing.
“And that is the whole true story,” I said, lifting my chin as I looked each of them in the eye.
Zit Lady and Gruff glanced at each other. Then, ever so slowly, Zit Lady leaned over me. “That, my friend, is the saddest, most ridiculous load of crap I have ever heard.”
And then they started to laugh. A huge sob welled up in my throat, choking off my air supply and bringing a fresh wave of tears to my eyes. Cheese Breath doubled over, as Zit Lady wiped tears of mirth from her face.
“Kids today,” Gruff said, shaking his head as he walked by me and out the door.
His two friends started to follow, and my entire body seized up with fear.
“Wait! Where’re you going?” I demanded, my words broken and choked.
“We’re going to leave you in here for a little while to think about whether or not you want to repeat that little piece of fiction to the FBI,” Zit Lady said. “Don’t worry, Miss Brennan. We’ll be back. Eventually.”
Then the door let out a loud creak and slammed shut behind them.
“Wait! You can’t just leave me here!” I shouted.
But their laughter was growing softer and softer. I heard the three car doors pop as they got in the car; then I heard the engine rev. They didn’t pull away, however. Probably just sitting out there with the heat blasting, retelling my story and laughing their asses off. I looked around the room for the first time, the moonlight streaming through the window behind me affording the only illumination. The floor was covered in dust and the rest of the windows on this level had been boarded up. I wondered if the cops had locked the door behind them. Then, I looked down at my hands. They had uncuffed me. They had left me alone inside a house with who knew how many doors and windows, completely free to move around.
It was as if they were begging me to run. What the hell kind of cops were they?
I got up from my chair, my heart pounding in every one of my veins. Could I run? Where would I go? Did it even make any sense? I hadn’t done anything wrong. Maybe these losers refused to believe me, but the FBI would have to. They had zero evidence against me. None. As much as my flight reflex was urging me to take the opportunity and get the hell out, my logic got the better of it. I had nowhere to go. At least, nowhere they wouldn’t find me. My best bet was to stay here, try to keep warm, and wait to see what happened next.
Just as I made this decision, my phone beeped.
I jumped halfway across the room and fumbled it out of my pocket.
ASSIGNMENT NUMBER FIVE: BEHIND THE HOUSE THERE’S A GATE. YOU’LL FIND A NOTE TUCKED THROUGH THE LOCK. THIS NOTE WILL LEAD YOU TO NOELLE.
First my heart sunk into my toes. A fifth assignment? They had said there would be four. But then, just as quickly, my skin started to sizzle. The cops were wrong. Noelle was alive. I could still save her.
And just like that I knew. I knew like I knew my own birthday. Those people were not cops. They were in on this somehow. They had brought me out here, left me in the house alone, so that I could get this text and be sent off on the latest mission.
Adrenaline racing through my veins, I turned around and stepped to the side of the window, peeking around the frame. The cops were still sitting in their car, gabbing away, the overhead light on in the backseat so I could see Zit Lady’s laughing face. Did they know I’d already gotten the text? Were they supposed to follow me if I fled? The thought of those three trailing after me in the dark was not one I relished. All I knew for sure was that right then, no one was even looking in my direction. If I wanted to get out of here on my own, it was now or never.
On my way to the back of the house, I grabbed Gruff’s hat and gloves. The floorboards seemed to grow louder as I raced down a hallway, through a decrepit old kitchen to the back door. I tried the knob, but it was locked, the windows boarded over. Desperately, I whirled around, looking for another way out. Something moved in the corner of my vision and I flinched, but it was just an old, flimsy curtain, billowing in the breeze. I brought my hand over my heart and took a deep breath.
Wait. The breeze. That meant there was an open window.
I raced out the side door of the kitchen into an old, dusty library. The window behind the desk on the far side of the room was broken, with no board to cover it. I reached up and used all my strength to turn the lock, which had been painted over about ten thousand times. Finally, it cracked free and I was able to shove open the huge frame, using both hands and all my body weight
.
Far preferable to climbing past the broken pane. But I would have done it, if I’d had to.
I stuck my head out and glanced toward the front of the house. I was well out of view of the driveway and the car. I tugged Gruff’s gloves on over my frigid fingers, pulled his still-warm hat down over my ears, and climbed out. My snow boots sunk into the six inches of untouched snow outside the window. I took one second to ponder how completely insane this all was, and then I turned and ran.
The white scrap of paper was there as promised. It had been rolled into a tiny scroll. My fingers shook as I extracted it from the lock, knowing someone must be watching me, as they had been all along. I could practically feel them breathing down my neck. I clasped the note in one hand and removed my glove so I could open the note. Tilting it toward the light from my cell phone, I read the words that would hopefully lead me to Noelle.
TAKE THE PATH INTO THE WOODS. DO NOT VEER FROM THE PATH. YOU’LL SOON COME TO AN UNLOCKED SHED, AND THERE YOU WILL FIND FURTHER INSTRUCTIONS.
Further instructions? Why couldn’t they just give it all to me now?