Page 105 of Fallen Creed

Creed felt the man’s head jerk, then a sting skidded over his shoulder. The man’s body went limp against Creed’s chest. He’d been holding him around the neck when the bullet hit Ruben in the forehead and blew a burning path across Creed’s shoulder.

“Oh my God!” Libby said.

Creed couldn’t hold the guy up any longer. Both of them slid to the ground. He pushed him off and staggered back to his feet.

“Is he dead?” Libby said, staring at Ruben’s body, wide-eyed, with a trembling hand over her mouth.

Creed glanced back down at the man, then looked at Libby. He couldn’t help thinking she expected him to get back up.

“You killed him,” Libby said. “I can’t believe you killed him.”

“So are you coming with me?” Ariel asked.

“No, it’s over,” Libby told her.

“Don’t fool yourself. It’ll never be over.”

“Listen, Ariel... Or Vanessa. We don’t need to escape now.”

“Okay. Suit yourself,” Ariel told her. “There’s only one real escape left.” She pressed the barrel of the gun to her own temple.

“No, stop!” Libby yelled.

Creed moved in front of Ariel, trying to distract her with his hands up in surrender. His revolver dangled from his finger to show he wouldn’t use it. “You don’t need to do this.”

In the back of his mind, he tried to remember her game of Russian roulette. She’d missed shooting Grace. An empty chamber. How many bullets had she put into the gun? Did she add more since then?

“Maybe you can finally be free,” Ariel told Libby. “That’s what I’m planning.”

And she squeezed the trigger.

—85—

Maggie was on her cell phone with Pakula when she heard what sounded like a gunshot.

Jason and Brodie were packing up the Jeep. All of them were on edge since Scout’s discovery. She might have dismissed the sound except both dogs jerked their heads in the direction it had come from. Out here, with nothing to compete with it and few buildings or trees to absorb it, the sound pierced through the cold air.

“Was that what I think it was?” Maggie looked at Jason.

“What’s going on?” Pakula wanted to know.

She called him even as her hands were still shaking. She knew immediately what Scout had found. It was a grave in the middle of the cornfield. A fresh grave. The fact that it wasn’t far from where they’d found Ryder’s cell phone kicked up a renewed panic.

“I think we just heard a gunshot.”

“Someone’s shooting at you?”

“No, it’s too far away.”

“It might be a hunter,” Pakula said, but she could tell from his tone that his own suggestion didn’t convince him.

“It came from the direction of the Spencer place. It’s less than a mile from here.”

“Out in the country, it could be anything. Look, Maggie, you found something. It pushed your stress level to the brink, but there are all kinds of explanations.”

The second gunshot made her jump. She saw it startled Jason and Brodie, who were putting the dogs up into the Jeep and securing them in their crates.

“I hope you’re right,” Maggie told Pakula while her gut said he was totally wrong. “Send an ambulance, too,” Maggie added. “Just in case.”