Antonio - Ashlee Price Page 0,26

good thing there's a full moon so I can see where I'm going.

Spoken too soon.

I'm only a quarter of the way down when the moon hides behind some clouds. I pause and catch my breath as I wait for them to pass. I continue as soon as they do, only to stop abruptly when I catch a glimpse of something slithering along the riverbank.

A snake?

My whole body freezes in fear even as my heart goes on hammering in my chest. What do I do? I can't seem to think. To make my situation worse, my shoe starts to slip. I grab the nearest bush to keep myself from sliding down towards the serpent. As I do, Jim's watch falls from my hand.

Shit.

It makes a thud as it bounces off a rock. The sound causes the snake to disappear into the water.

I let out a breath of relief. Good. It's gone. Now, all I have to do is grab Jim's watch, throw it into the river and get out of here as soon as I can.

At least, that's the plan, but when I let go of the bush and take a step, my shoe slides again. I try to run down to keep myself from falling but my foot gets caught on a rock and I trip. Pain explodes in my ankle. I open my mouth to scream but no sound comes out. The next thing I know, my head hits something hard. Then I feel nothing at all.

Chapter Six

Antonio

This feels like deja vu.

I rest my elbows on my knees and stare at Triss, unconscious just like when I first brought her into my home. This time, though, it's because of a concussion. Like before, I'm waiting for her to wake up so she can answer my questions, though I already have my theories.

First, the facts. She left the house about an hour ago. I heard her go down the stairs. I thought she was just going to get something from the kitchen, so I waited for the sound of her coming back up. It never came. I went downstairs and she was gone. The money on the counter was gone, too.

I already knew she'd left Lara behind. There's no way she could have slipped out a window - the only way she could have gone out, since both doors were still locked and I didn't hear them open - with a bassinet in tow. Still, I went upstairs to check. As soon as I saw Lara in the bedroom, I immediately called Sally so she could come and watch her. When she arrived, I left to search for Triss. I called Ned to ask for his help as well.

As I drove, I tried to think of all the places Triss could be. I went to the bus stop first. When I didn't see her on the way there or by the road, I drove in both directions for a few minutes. I still didn't see her so I turned back.

What if Triss was on her way to the bus stop but she heard the truck coming and hid? I decided to park the truck and go on foot. I kept an eye out for tracks. Ned taught me how to track someone before, when there was a missing child in town, who as it turned out had just fallen asleep in his 'secret hideout'. It didn't take me long to find the small pieces of evidence I was looking for, and they pointed to the river. When I got there, I found Triss unconscious and with a swollen ankle.

Her ankle is still swollen. My diagnosis is a sprain. At least it's not a fracture. Now that I've applied the necessary cold compress, elevated it and taped it, it should get better in a few days. Of course, Triss still has to avoid putting weight on it, but I'll make sure she does that. I'll be keeping an eye on her from now on.

I'm not going to let Triss escape again.

If I'm right, she did it out of fear. Most likely, she remembered what she was running away from in the first place, whatever it was that drove her to Summerset, and she was afraid it would catch up with her and find her.

No, not it. Him. Or is it them?

Just then, Triss's eyelids flutter. I sit up straight. After a few moments, she opens her eyes. She stares at the ceiling at first. Then she turns her head and our