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And to think I’d suspected Doak Garland Well, I shouldn’t relax too soon Thereabout that, so you knowIt was the cold and fear that were doing me in I sharpened back up hed at the picture of the whole town of Doraville being in on the kidnapping and theLike a Shirley Jackson short story!

And then he caught rabbedmen had been, I was now in his power Except I had a knife in my hand He pulled ht it was hard to make out details but I could see the white of his shirtfront, where his unbuttoned coat flapped open, and I swung my arm as hard as I could The knife went into his skin easily enough but skidded along a bone, h his shirt

He dropped h; he was quicker to recover from the shock than I expected He tackledthe knife back This tiot him in the shoulder and it went in much farther He really did screa to his feet We were close to the edge of the lake then, and I saw a sign or tere in so area I backed up closer to the water because he was co at me and I didn’t have a choice

He’d done all the talking up till now "Coet ly "They loved it"

"Sure," I said "Who doesn’t like being chained and burned and sliced before sex?"

"No," he said, panting, "not the boys Tooing to stand there and ed He can’t have been stupid, because he had a good job and he did it well enough to keep it, but he was stupid that night because of the strain and the pain and the freezing teht at me I leaped to one side and as he shot by I shoved hi both hands, even with the broken are, so I hadn’t been close enough, dao into the chilly water But he wasn’t getting up, and I took off All those years of running finally gave ood behavior

I was in the trees and working my way around the lake toward the inhabited cabin, the one with lights, which - I was alht I heard hi, at least once; and maybe more than that I was in too much pain to make sense, too cold to reason I still had the knife, and though I thought of dropping it, I was scared to be without it in case he caught up with me When I remembered how it had felt when the knife went into him, I had to stop and throw up This was a queasy case I didn’t re the heaves over any case before Probably, I thought, I could excuse otten sick outside the barn, too Maybe it was the torturing, not the knifing?

I kneasn’t thinking clearly, but knowing that didn’t seem to help I actually shook my head, maybe in the hope that uration, but I was really sorry I did that after I got sick yet again Soo to the hospital! I giggled

It sure ht If it had been Barney, he would’ve killed otten toin the dark woods with my mind far, far away I listened hard, but I couldn’t hear anything That didn’tI didn’t trust my senses anymore But I made myself move, because I couldn’t stay out in the cold I had to reach shelter

That was the hardest struggle ofcloser I was farther fro occasionally And who could tell whose lights they were, anyway?

I finally approached the first cabin The woods ended, not abruptly, but with a gradual shift from heavy brush and trees, to trees with no brush, to scattered trees, to lawn and cabin I didn’t know anything: where Barney was, if I was for sure at Pine Landing Lake, if Tolliver was even looking for one off voluntarily? We’d been a little irritated with each other No, that would never happen He’d never believe I’d leave hi because I was scared to step out into the open I listened with alland ht a terrible desire to lie down on the cold ground and rest there, just for a minute I took a few deep breaths and bracedThe moon would be out and there would be a lot of visibility, but noas still twilight, the deepest, darkest part

One step out into the open Another

Nothing happened

I began tointo the next Saying "lawn" rass, but that wasn’t exactly accurate These were su caet of people who spent weekends at the lake The lots were not that large, and sometimes there was no division at all between one property and another So that flowered in the spring The ground was often weedy, uneven, and always, it et There were things strewn around: buckets, childrens’ toys, boats covered in tarps, even a swing set One careless cabin owner had left out his deck chairs I know because I fell over one

I’d never felt so alone inthat this episode would never end Forever, for always, I’d be stu forthe line

I was actually surprised to find that I had reached the Cotton cabin, where we’d stayed For the first ti Lake, and the next cabin, the one with lights, was the Haht light to knock on the Hah it see toward Mexico or Canada in his SUV by now, I couldn’t be certain

I planned it in advance, real carefully I would run froht slope to the Hamiltons’ driveway, up the steps to their little deck, across it to the door, baht He would let ht not really want to, because I was such a ht he would

I gathered myself Just as I was about to take the step out of the shadows, a large dark shape passed between e It seemed more bear than hu Barney Simpson - not the kindly hospital administrator, but the beast that had lived within him He hardly walked like aI was sorry I hadn’t hurt hierous now that he’d been wounded

He stood almost directly outside the Hamiltons’ side door, down on the driveway; he didn’t ht shone on the top of his head Barney’s hair was full of leaves and twigs His suit was stained with blood and daht hand It was really otten it out of his car, and if so, where it had been during our struggle He’d been too cocky, then, apparently; he hadn’t thought a weapon would be necessary, because he was big and strong

Okay I’d just wait until he left

But Ted Hae opened, and the old man stepped out onto the little deck

"Is it Mr Simpson from the hospital?" he called "Mr Simpson, is that you?"

"Oh, Mr Hamilton," said Barney "Listen, I’ woman that was here to find the bodies, that Harper Connelly, she’s having aloose"

"Oh, goodness," said Mr Hamilton, and it was impossible to tell from his voice what his reaction was

"I don’t suppose you’ve seen her?" Barney asked, and I wondered if I was the only one who could hear the strain in his voice Barney was having a hard ti like a human

"No, I haven’t," Ted Hamilton said "What do you plan to do when you find her?"

"Why, take her to the hospital," Barney said