Gabe spotted Page the moment he stepped into the rank-smelling camper. She was sitting on a tattered couch, her hands in her lap, her eyes huge and apologetic. “I’m sorry,” she mouthed.
He nodded and, satisfied that she was unharmed, turned his attention back to Wingate.
The young man was gazing from Gabe to Page with a strange smile crooking his mouth. Gabe wondered who Wingate was seeing when he looked at them. His parents? Gabe had never been this close to insanity before, and the expression in Wingate’s eyes chilled him.
Gabe felt a ripple of panic deep inside him, but he ignored it. One way or another, this had to end now.
Wingate had backed against a cluttered counter in the confined space, the gun uncomfortably steady in his hand as he faced Gabe, Blake and Page. Page stood slowly, her hands outstretched, and moved closer to Gabe. Wingate watched her, but didn’t protest. He was still wearing that peculiar smile with which he’d greeted Gabe and Blake.
Gabe broke the eerie silence. “What now?” he asked.
“I’ve been waiting for this for four years,” Wingate replied. “Forgive me if I take a moment to savor it.”
“Let Gabe and Blake go,” Page said, sounding desperate but not very optimistic. “They aren’t a part of this. They’ve done nothing to you.”
“Innocent bystanders,” Wingate murmured. “Just as my mother was. As I was. We’d done nothing, either. But she’s dead. And I’m alone. You know how it feels to be alone, don’t you, Page? It’s hell.”
“I’m sorry about your family, Phillip,” Page whispered. “But there was nothing I could have done to prevent it. I wasn’t even in Alabama when it happened. I’d already moved to Texas.”
“You made my father fall in love with you,” Wingate snarled. “You made him obsessed with you. He couldn’t forget you, even after you destroyed him and then left town. My mother tried to make him forget you, but he wouldn’t. He killed her because she wasn’t you.”
Gabe felt Page shudder. He reached out to take her icy hand in his own, never taking his eyes from Wingate.
“You blame Page for destroying your father,” Blake said, as still and watchful as Gabe. “Yet you’ve let her do the same to you. You’re as obsessed with her as he was. Why don’t you forget her? Get on with your life. Nothing you do now can change the past.”
The expression on Wingate’s face made Gabe’s blood run cold.
“Life?” Wingate murmured. “I don’t have a life. My father killed me the day he shot my mother. That’s why there’s nothing any of you can do to stop me now. Unlike the rest of you, I don’t really care if I’m still breathing by morning. But I can guarantee you that I’ll take at least one of you with me.”
Wingate pointed the gun at Page, though Gabe knew he was watching all of them for the least sign of movement. Any provocation would set him off.
“What’s it going to be, Page?” Wingate asked. “You were only thinking of yourself when you destroyed my father. You left him to die. Here’s your chance to do the same with this poor fool. Show him how stupid he’s been to love you all this time.”
From the corner of his eye, Gabe watched as Page frowned and shook her head. “I don’t understand what you mean,” she said.
“I’m telling you to go,” Wingate explained lightly. “Run. Save yourself. You can leave, right now, and I won’t do a thing to detain you. I’ll kill these two, of course, but what do you care about that? There will be other men who’ll fall under your strange spell. Assuming, of course, that I’m not there to stop them.”
“You’ll let her leave?” Gabe asked skeptically. “Just like that?”
Wingate nodded. “She can go. Or she can stay and die with you.”
Gabe exchanged a quick, questioning look with Blake, who looked as baffled as Gabe felt.
Wingate jerked his chin toward the door. “Last chance, Page. Take off. Run. You’re so very good at that.”
“Go, Page,” Gabe urged, hoping that Wingate would keep his word. “Blake and I can take care of ourselves.”
Page didn’t move. “I’m not leaving.”
“Gabe’s right, Page,” Blake murmured. “We’ll be all right. He’s giving you a chance to get out. Take it.”
“I’m not leaving,” Page answered fiercely.
She glared at Wingate, her eyes narrowed, her face pale but determined. “Do you really think I’ve spent all this time running to save myself?” she demanded angrily. “You can shoot me now, if you want But I won’t let you hurt Gabe.”
Wingate’s laugh was short, incredulous. “You won’t let me? How do you plan to stop me?”
“Any way I can,” she challenged.