him, then continued. “He was a year older than me and a mean bully. We fought a lot, especially that night.” His voice sounded tormented. “That’s another reason his father told the social worker I was the one who played with the bodies. He wanted to protect himself and his son.”
The tension in Ellie’s chest eased slightly. She believed him. And if he was right, Roy Finton might be the unsub. “Where’s Roy now?”
“He used to live in the apartment above the funeral home, but I have no idea where he is now.” Cord’s shoulders slumped. “When I saw the way the bodies were left, the ghoulish makeup and the flowers, I thought about Roy, though. Sometimes he stole flowers from the arrangements people sent into the funeral home and spread them on the bodies.”
Ellie felt nauseated. She remembered the odd way Cord had been looking at the victims they’d found––suddenly it made sense.
“Why didn’t you tell me then?” Ellie asked.
Cord averted his eyes. “Growing up, seeing that, it’s not exactly the happy childhood you want to share.” His throat muscles worked as he swallowed, his voice like gravel. “Besides, I was afraid if you knew, you’d think I was like them.”
One Hundred Two
Somewhere on the AT
“It’s time to go, Cathy.”
Cold fear swept through her. He called them all Cathy. And if she tried to tell him her real name, tried to convince him to see her as the person she really was, it only made him angrier. It only made him beat her harder.
But she had to fight. Knowing every second counted, she struggled against the masked man as he hauled her into the woods.
Guilt over not being able to help the others weighed on her, but survival instincts kicked in.
He was almost done with the game, he’d told her. Now it was her time to die.
She kicked and fought and screamed, but he simply laughed, dragging her through the forest. That damn rhyme was on repeat in her head. She’d asked him about it, but the only talking he did was with his fists.
Her body ached and she was sure her ribs were cracked. But physical pain was nothing compared to what she’d witnessed.
She could still see the blood draining from Shondra. Hear the steady drip of it and see the blood spattered on the wall from where he’d beaten the others.
Ignoring her agony, he hacked away weeds and hauled her over a tree stump. Rough stones stabbed at her and a tree limb smacked her in the face. Insects buzzed around her face, worsened by the wet ground and mud.
She tried to resist him, but he carried her like a sack of flour over his shoulder. Ahead she heard the rush of water over rocks.
“Help!” she screamed. “Somebody help me!”
The wind whistled, and the other women’s shrill screams echoed in her ears, just as her own boomeranged off the sharp mountain ridges and faded into nothing. No one else was out here. No one would hear her.
She was going to die, just like the others.
He’d only kept her as leverage if he needed it. Now he didn’t need her anymore she would simply become another part of his ritual. Another one bites the dust.
He reached a clearing near a waterfall, stopped beside a large boulder and propped her against it.
Slowly he began to pull the bag of wildflowers from his duffel bag, then a red dress and the makeup. He’d shown her the photos of his handiwork.
It was the only time she’d seen him smile. Even through the eyeholes of his facemask, a perverse exhilaration lit his eyes. She could sense his pulse quickening, his body radiating heat and excitement. The sharp knife blade glinted in the shadows as he laid it on the rock.
Panicked and knowing she only had minutes, maybe seconds to live, she wrestled with the ropes behind her back. She rubbed her hands against the sharp edge of the rock, sawing back and forth. The stone cut into her wrists and hands, blood trickling down her fingers. But she moved her hands up and down, sawing away at the ropes, biting at her lip to mask the pain.
He lifted the knife up to examine it, then removed a tool and began to sharpen the edge. The sound of metal against metal echoed in the quiet but helped to disguise her uneven breathing as she worked to loosen the ropes. Finally, she felt the rope fray, and she gently jerked her hands free, beginning