Prologue
Sunday Night
“Daddy, there’s a man in my room.” Fear closed Lindy Rosen’s throat and her voice came out in a croak.
The soft chuckling from the gloom sent shivers down her spine. The figure floated toward her, cloaked in shadows like the Grim Reaper. She dragged leaden legs from the bed and, tripping over blankets, staggered to the door. The sinister figure by her window terrified her. Grasping the doorknob with trembling fingers, she threw open the door and fell into the dark passage, forcing out a cry. “Daddy, help me!”
Heart pounding, she stumbled along the hallway and fumbled for the light switch. “Daddy! He’s really here this time, I heard him.” She waved frantically behind her. “He’s laughing at me.”
“Calm down, you’ll wake your sisters.” Josh Rosen slipped from her parents’ bedroom and blinked into the light. “It’s just a nightmare, Lindy. No one can get inside, they’d trigger the alarm.” He squeezed her shoulder and walked into her room, turning on the light. “Come and see. Look – no one is here and no one can stand outside your window, it’s too high up.” He gave the room a quick scan then yawned. “If this keeps up I’m going to get you counseling. It’s not normal to be having recurring dreams all the time.”
Horrified he’d refused to believe her, she gripped his arm. “He was there this time. I heard him.”
“I used to dream about snakes eating me alive when I was a kid, so I know it seems real enough.” Her father rubbed his eyes. “Get back into bed and I’ll get the light. I’ve an early start in the morning.”
With reluctance, Lindy climbed back into bed, peering all around, expecting someone to appear out of the wall like magic. She’d turn fifteen in two weeks and wanted her parents to treat her like an adult. Waking her father over the past five nights hadn’t made her the most popular person in the house. She sighed. “Okay, I’m sorry to disturb you again. Night.”
“Night. Think of something nice. It will help.” Her father closed the door behind him.
As the room fell into darkness, Lindy pulled the blankets up to her neck and screwed her eyes shut. She forced her mind to concentrate on planning her birthday party. Sleep came so close she could almost grasp it. The warm bed surrounded her and she burrowed into the soft pillows, drifting into sleep. It was just a stupid dream.
Rustling close by woke her and the hairs rose on the back of her neck at the sound of soft chuckling. Shaking with terror, she opened her eyes wide and peeped over the blankets at the window, where the shadow of the man usually lurked. The moon shone through the drapes, spilling across her rug and landing on her backpack overflowing with schoolbooks. The room was empty. She must have been dreaming again. With a long sigh, she closed her eyes.
A heavy weight landed on her, pinning her beneath the blankets. Air rushed from her lungs and she stared into a horrific ski mask, unable to move. She took a breath to scream but a smelly cloth clamped over her nose and mouth so hard it hurt her teeth. Arms trapped, she tried to buck but couldn’t get the weight of him off her. Her mouth filled with something horrid and the strange flavor coated her tongue, burning her lungs as she fought for one tiny breath of air.
The backs of her eyes hurt and the faceless man holding her down seemed to melt into ripples. The laughter had stopped but now the man hummed the lullaby ‘Rock-a-bye Baby’. Head throbbing in time to the pulse in her eyes, she gasped in more of the foul odor. Using her last ounce of strength, she tried to fight him but her heavy limbs refused to move and her head filled with cotton. The sensation of floating away crept over her, as if sleep was calling her. She forced open her eyes but the man was a fuzzy blur, then the room faded away to black. Daddy, help me.
One
Monday
It was a few minutes before lunch, when Sheriff Jenna Alton slid from her cruiser and looked up into a cloudless blue sky. From her position, she could see the vast pine forest, fresh from the recent melt, spreading out in endless miles of various shades of green, and higher still a magnificent eagle circled high above the black mountain peaks. She inhaled the crisp clean air and smiled. Life was good in Black Rock Falls as sheriff and she didn’t regret leaving her old life as DEA Agent Avril Parker way behind. Her past life had become an unpleasant memory and her new identity close to ideal.
A big black unmarked SUV slid into the space beside her and she glanced at her second-in-command, Deputy David Kane, an off-the-grid Special Forces agent and profiler, like her living a new life under a different name. The powers that be had placed them and Kane’s controller, ME Shane Wolfe, together in the same backwoods town to watch each other’s backs. Jenna leaned against her vehicle, surrounded by the picturesque town she had grown to love, and smiled. “It’s been so wonderfully quiet since Christmas it
makes me happy to be here.”
“Shh.” Kane grinned at her over the hood of his vehicle. “You’re tempting fate.” He shut his door, and then headed up the steps to the sheriff’s department.
With reluctance, Jenna pushed away from her cruiser and followed him inside. She gave the receptionist, Magnolia (Maggie) Brewster, a smile and taken two steps toward her office door when Maggie held up a hand to stop her, then continued speaking into the phone. She leaned on the counter. “Is something wrong, Maggie?”
“I’ll put you straight through to the sheriff, Mr. Rosen.” Maggie covered the mouthpiece and her worried brown eyes moved to Jenna. “Mr. Rosen’s daughter’s gone missing.”
“Okay, I’ll take the call in my office.” Jenna waved at Kane to get his attention, and then pointed to her door. “Grab Rowley.”
Jenna had hired Jake Rowley as a rookie when she first arrived in Black Rock Falls. In the last couple of years, he had proven to be skilled and trustworthy. Not having a family herself, she valued the close-knit relationship she enjoyed with him, Kane, and Wolfe and his three daughters.
Seated behind her desk, she took a deep breath, opened her notebook and found a pen that worked before lifting the receiver and placing the phone on speaker. “Mr. Rosen, this is Sheriff Alton.”
“My daughter Lindy wasn’t in her room this morning and the front door was wide open. We’ve searched everywhere and can’t find her.”
“What time was this?”
“Seven.” He gave a distraught sob. “It’s my fault; she said someone was in her room last night. I didn’t believe her. I figure someone kidnapped her.”
Jenna took down notes. “How old is your daughter?”