What We Saw at Night - By Jacquelyn Mitchard Page 0,67
You’re old enough to be her father. You tried to ruin her. You tried to make her into your own personal slave. Like that woman you just called.”
His face changed then, like ice melting in a hot pan. All the fake sincerity slipped and there again was the empty face behind the balcony glass. I backed towards Nicola’s grave. My fingers moistened. The phone slipped to the bottom of my pocket. “I’m … I’m going to be a criminal justice student,” I said, and the words sounded ridiculous in my own ears. “I know about hair and fiber evidence and other evidence, too.”
He smiled and stood. “That’s great. So do I. Raised on it, you could say. But we weren’t talking about a crime, because none has been committed.”
“You stole the battery from Rob’s phone,” I said. I forced myself to meet his unreadable gaze. “You stalked two kids and jeopardized their lives.”
“You can believe all you want to believe, Allie,” he said. His voice remained a polite monotone, a stark contrast to my scratchy quaver. “But no one is supposed to use a public park as a private playgound.”
I shuddered. My God. He really was there. He really did do it.
Without thinking, I whirled and sprinted toward the minivan. He was faster than I imagined he would be, but he gave up the chase fast. He was smart, no doubt about it. I was sweating as I vaulted over graves and sidestepped tombs. In seconds, I was at the back lot, the minivan eerily vulnerable there in the gravel, alone. My fingers shook nearly uncontrollably. I pressed the unlock button and slammed the door shut and jammed the key in the ignition and struggled to start the goddamn car—
I held my breath. He was probably revving up his own car right now. I had to get home. I had to put distance between him and me. I jammed my foot on the gas. At the mouth of the highway, I stopped, forcing myself to breathe again. Checking to make sure that I had enough gas and that the doors of the car were all locked, I heard a car motor. Shit. His headlights swept through the trees.
As I swung out onto the highway, only three miles from my own driveway, the Alfa Romeo fishtailed out from the path behind me
What if I led Garrett Tabor to my house, where Angela and my mother were getting ready for bed? Now was the time to call Juliet’s dad. Why hadn’t I called him earlier? When I frantically snatched for my phone, it bobbled in my hand and it dropped to the passenger seat, vanishing on the floorboards. Stupid, stupid, stupid.… The headlights bore down upon me in my rearview.
No choice but to gun for downtown and scream for help. Then I saw a light. Of course. Thank God. Gitchee Pizza.
Throwing the car into park, I leaped out, and grabbed the handle of the glass door, shouting, “Gideon!”
The doors were locked.
The red convertible screeched to a halt beside me. Garrett Tabor jumped out. I ran down the alley for the fire escape, muscling up onto the lower rung and tucking my feet as he lunged for my legs. I darted up the ladder to the roof. If only I had my headlamp.…
I winced. There was a piercing staccato explosion. Then I froze, my legs turning to jelly. I knew that sound. It was a shotgun blast.
It reverberated throughout the darkened streets and buildings. Well. Apparently I really hadn’t learned that much from my brief foray into the minds of serial killers. Garrett Tabor was going to defy expectation. He planned to dispose of a victim with a shooting. Which meant I wouldn’t die at the age of thirty after my toxic skin finally gave up on me; I’d die at the hands of a monster on the very roof where I last remembered having real, honest fun with my two best friends.
“Get the hell off my property,” Gideon’s voice yelled.
Falling to my knees, I peered over the edge of the roof. Barely visible at the mouth of the alley was Gideon Brave Bear. He swayed slightly but lowered his barrel towards the bottom of the ladder, where Tabor had dropped himself. Gideon cocked the gun a second time. My shaky lips formed a smile.
“There’s a girl up there on the roof,” Tabor said urgently. “I don’t know what she’s trying to do.”
“None of your goddamned business,” Gideon said calmly.