“I’m afraid this all has to end tonight,” Mr. Cass says. “For both of you.”
And Hannah screams.
Chapter Fifty-Nine
ERIKA
“Mom.” Liam shakes my arm, growing urgency in his voice. “Please. Just drive.”
I have no reception out here. Every bone in my body is screaming that I should call the police. But then what? My son is here. My daughter is apparently here. Something terrible is going on, and I can’t imagine sitting here in this car and twiddling my thumbs until the cops show up.
Liam is not going to kill me. Sometimes I’m not sure what he’s thinking, but I know that much. He would never hurt me. And the only thing I can hear in his voice right now is fear. He’s scared of something.
But what?
And why on earth is Hannah’s bicycle out here? I can’t figure it out.
So I push on, into the woods, following his directions. I drive another five minutes on this dirt path, and finally acabin comes into view. The cabin is dilapidated—the wood is splintered and dirty, falling apart in places. The front door is hanging by only one of its hinges. It looks like it’s been abandoned for years. Except for two things:
The dim light coming from inside.
And the Prius parked right outside.
I don’t know why Hannah’s bicycle is out here. But I can’t evenbeginto imagine why my husband’s car is parked here when he’s supposed to be at work.
“Liam,” I say slowly. “What is going on? No more games. Tell me right now.”
He takes a deep breath. “Dad went out last night and Hannah followed him. She said he came here— she showed me directions she wrote down. She told me she was going back tonight and I wanted to come, but she was worried I’d get in trouble if… well, if she found something really bad. But I was sitting in my room and thinking about Hannah and… I thought Dad might…”
I stare at him. “Might what?”
He frowns at me. “You know Dad is crazy, right?”
I get a horrible sinking feeling in my chest, like my whole world is collapsing on itself. “What are you talking about? Your father is the most normal man I’ve ever met.”
He snorts. “You don’t see it, I guess. I do. I always have. That’s why it scares him so much when I… well, you know. He sees himself in me. But I’m not like him. Not as much as he thinks, anyway.”
“This is crazy,” I whisper. “Why are you telling me this?”
“I thought you knew.” Liam blinks at me. “All those years. You didn’t even… I mean, I don’t know what he’s doing all day, but he’snotat work. I called his company once when I needed to reach him, and they told me he’s never there. You never suspected…?”
No, I never suspected anything.Ever.
But there were all those late nights. All those “business trips” he always had to take. I always accepted it blindly. There was that time I worried he was having an affair, but maybe it was something much worse than that.
What if I was smelling the perfume of a dead woman?
No, that’s not possible. This is crazy. Why am I thinking this way? Jason is my husband of twenty years. He’s not a murderer. I don’t know what his car is doing out here, but there’s got to be a reasonable explanation.
“I think Olivia is in there,” Liam says. “Mom, I’m really scared he might kill them both.”
“He wouldn’t do that,” I say. Although it’s pretty clear I’m no expert on what Jason would or would not do.
Liam hesitates for only a split second before he darts out of my car. I call to him, not wanting him to go inside and face whatever is in there. What if it really is Jason? Could he have done something like this? He couldn’t have.Never. I don’t care what Liam says. I know my husband. A guy who can make that many puns about eggs isnotgoing around murdering people. He just isn’t.
I pick my way through a dirt path, littered with leaves and branches, until I’ve reached the cabin ten paces after Liam. He’s taller than me so his strides are longer, and he’s more surefooted on the uneven ground. We get there just in time to see Jason stumble through the broken door.
Liam stops short, staring at his father. “Where is Hannah? Where is Olivia?”
