Total pages in book: 139
Estimated words: 128083 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 640(@200wpm)___ 512(@250wpm)___ 427(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 128083 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 640(@200wpm)___ 512(@250wpm)___ 427(@300wpm)
He reached his hand toward her, and she reached back but she couldn’t move. She was rooted to the spot, the walls closing in, the ceiling lowering, and then she was crushed beneath the weight.
Chapter Nine
Rex couldn’t remember the last time he’d been up this early on a Saturday. The sun was still only a yellow glow barely perched on top of the horizon. He pulled the earbuds out of his ears and went from a jog to a walk as an ambulance went shrieking by, breaking the silence of the still morning. Two squad cars, lights and sirens on, raced behind the ambulance, and then two more zoomed by in the other direction. What the hell is that? It had to be something serious because Aspen Cove only had two patrol cars, and they’d obviously called in at least one neighboring town.
His breath evened out as he walked the remaining two blocks to the service station at the end of the street that led to his neighborhood. There was an SUV at the pump and a woman was standing against it as she waited. She gave him a tired-looking smile as he passed.
A bell rang over the door to the minimart as he entered, and Rex ran a hand through his sweaty hair as the door swung shut behind him. “Hey, man,” he said to Damon, who was working the register. Damon had graduated the year before and worked the night shift here and somewhere else a few days a week, but Rex couldn’t remember where. Despite being only a year older than him, he already had a wife and three-month-old baby at home. He lived across the railroad tracks in the one low-income section of town where Rex lived too—a few miles and a world away from the mansion with the Olympic-size swimming pool and the outdoor kitchen where he’d been just yesterday.
Hiding like a loser behind a plant. Jesus, he really wanted to stop reminding himself of that.
“Hey, Rex. What are you doing out so early?”
He grabbed a water bottle from the cooler near the counter and set it down. “Out for a run.”
“Yeah? Since when do you run?”
Rex made a small chuff. “Since today. I’m turning over a new leaf.”
He had less than a year before he’d be off to college, and he’d decided that he wanted to begin that new chapter as a better version of himself—stronger, more fit, cooler. He couldn’t help noticing the way the cheerleaders—and yeah, okay, one in particular—looked at the athletes on the football team, and it sure couldn’t hurt in the girl arena to put on some muscle. He’d lain in bed the night before, staring up at the ceiling, deciding that there was no time like the present to take control of his life. And so he’d set his alarm clock for six a.m., and he’d gone for a run. At least it had started out as a run before ending more like a limping sort of shuffle. He’d hated every minute of it. But he didn’t plan to let that stop him.
“Good thing you didn’t run smack into the armed dude who got away from that break-in over in Palisades Park. Apparently, he was spotted somewhere this way. Man, they sent the cavalry. It looked like cars from all over the state were whizzing by half an hour ago. I don’t know if they caught him or not or if he got away, but I keep seeing cop cars going by. Might still be a manhunt happening out there as we speak.”
“That’s the reason for all the police presence? A break-in and a getaway?”
“Yeah.” Damon rang the water up, and Rex pulled three one-dollar bills from the zippered pocket on his shorts. “Hey, hold on,” Damon said, looking out the window to where someone who’d just pulled up to the gas pump was obviously having a problem. “That pump’s broken. I’ll be right back.” Damon went around the counter and headed for the front door. Rex waited while he talked to the customer at the pump.
Palisades Park. Where he’d talked to Camille Cortlandt, who he hadn’t stopped thinking about since. The conversation that, if he was really going to be honest with himself, had inspired the run that, thus far, felt like self-imposed torture.
Still, self-improvement paid off regardless of the initial motivation. So here he was, dying of thirst in a minimart before most of the town was even up.
Damon reentered the store and scooted back around the counter. “Sorry. Anyway, yeah, a couple officers stopped in a little bit ago. One guess what they were here for?” He nodded over to the display of doughnuts next to the coffee and grinned.
“What’d they say?” Rex asked. “I mean, was anyone hurt?”
Damon leaned forward on the counter and glanced over Rex’s shoulder, as if he were committing some sort of crime just by talking about it. “Yeah. From what I overheard the officers talking about, it was a triple murder. Three women. Tied up and . . .” He raised his brows.