Crazy In Love (Secrets of Suburbia #3) - Ivy Smoak Page 0,51

family room and the hairs on the back of my neck rose again. But I knew it was only Detective Torres behind me. I placed the reindeer down.

"Don't you want to take that outside?" he asked.

No. I didn’t want to leave the house. Because then I'd have to come back in. Noah could move anywhere he pleased if I left the house. But Detective Torres was staring at me expectantly. "Yes."

A floorboard creaked behind me as Detective Torres set down his box. My heartbeat kicked up a notch as I slowly turned around. But it was just Snuggle Muffins walking into the room. He sat down by my feet and almost immediately fell asleep. He was a worthless guard dog. I'd be all on my own when I came back inside.

Detective Torres grabbed the reindeer for me and headed to the front door. It wasn't too late. I could still run back and lock the basement door. But Detective Torres was standing there, waiting patiently for me. Fuck my life. I cringed as I closed the front door behind us. Noah had free rein of the house. He could literally go anywhere. Including out the back door. No, he hadn't gotten help from Detective Torres. But that didn't mean he didn't want to be free. Of course he'd escape. It was done. And I'd never get my answers now.

"Is here good?" Detective Torres asked. He plugged the reindeer into a string of lights when I nodded.

"It's perfect." I wanted to cry. All that planning. All those hours perfecting every single detail. It had all gone up in flames. I could picture Noah running out the back door and into the woods. Gone.

"Let's see the whole display," he said and rubbed his hands together.

I plugged it in and the strings of connected multi-colored lights came to life. A few of my neighbors had already lit up their displays even though the sun hadn't quite set. The multi-colored lights were already jarring against the other cookie-cutter houses' white lights. "Thank you for your help with these," I said. "With everything really."

He smiled. "Of course. And if you happen upon those missing files..."

"I'll take another look. I promise." He'd fake promised me a lot of things too. Now we were even.

"And if you hear anything about Noah or Ben. You let me know."

Of course. But I had nothing to tell him anymore. Noah was probably already running through the woods out back. And every second I stood here, the farther away he got.

Detective Torres shook my hand before climbing into his car. I watched him drive down the street, past all the perfectly manicured lawns and white lights, until he was out of view.

And then I ran. I knew I should have just gotten into my car and driven away. I had an escape plan and I should have already started the process. But Noah didn't remember me. He didn't remember what he had done. He'd ruined every single one of my plans ever since he'd fallen down the bloody stairs. And I wasn't done with him yet. So I didn't run to the garage to drive away. I ran to the back yard and into the woods.

I pulled out my taser as I ducked under a branch. I wanted to call out Noah's name but I didn't dare, just in case I wasn't alone out here. This was the only way for him to escape. Straight through the woods, past the lake, and out to the main road. He didn't know I was hot on his trail though. I could catch up. Maybe.

My feet ached from running in my boots. And my bangs stuck to my forehead with sweat. But I made it to the clearing by the lake in record time. I turned in a circle, staring at the forest all around the lake. But there was nothing out here. Nothing but caution tape, warning you to stay away from the lake.

A snowflake landed on the tip of my nose. I looked up to see the flurries swirling through the air. Snow so close to Christmas always felt special. But today it just felt like a bad omen. Snow meant the temperature was below freezing.

I stared out at the lake as the snow slowly fell. Every inch of that lake had been searched for bodies. A total of three had been pulled out of the cold depths thanks to Detective Torres' failure on his last case. It was the perfect place