"Neither do I," Matt said. "Just hurry."
Prison, Mr. Dark had said. It took Matt a minute to figure out what he meant.
Abbey had taken Annie back to her cabin in the woods. The same place she'd taken Matt. The same place where he chopped several cords of wood for her.
The same place he'd left his ax.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
"Bullshit." The vein in Dale's forehead throbbed so hard Matt could actually see it. "There's no way Abbey is the killer."
How could he convince Dale without telling him about their ability to see evil? He'd never get Dale to swallow the idea that Abbey was almost eighty years old. Hell, Matt wasn't sure he believed it. If it wasn't for the picture that he'd mistaken for Abbey's mom...
Abbey's mom! That's it!
"Dale," he said, "who was the killer's first victim?"
"Abbey's mom," Dale replied. "Her name was Abbey, too. But she was an older lady. She'd lived here almost her whole life."
"Did she have any children?"
"Just the one. Abbey," Dale said. "But she didn't live in Crawford. She lived with her father up in Pocatah, Kentucky. Abbey moved here right before her mom died. Then she decided to take over the store since there was no one else. You should have seen her. She was a wreck."
"Did Abbey, the older Abbey, ever mention that she had a daughter in Kentucky?" Matt asked.
Dale grunted. "I can't recall if she ever did. But now that you mention it, I don't think so."
"So Abbey moves here, then her mom dies, and she takes over the store. Just like that?"
Dale didn't say anything. He just stared at the road ahead.
"You didn't find that suspicious at all?"
Dale shook his head. "She seemed so scared. So afraid. I never thought she could have..."
Matt understood. Dale had never considered that Abbey could be a suspect because he'd never wanted to. "The stuff Abbey has in little vials at her house," Matt said, "the stuff she has a ton of—it's ketamine, isn't it?"
Dale's mouth dropped open. "Yeah, that's the stuff. How did you know?"
"Isn't that the same drug the coroner found in every single one of the Blake County Killer's victims?"
Dale looked at Matt, and understanding lit his face.
"Son of a bitch," he said. "All this time. Could the answer have been right under my goddamn nose?"
"I bet if you call the Pocatah Police Department," Matt said, "you'll find out they have a string of unsolved murders. Murders that stopped three years ago. Right about the time that Abbey moved here."
"No," Dale said. "I still don't believe it. Not Abbey. There's an explanation. I'm sure of it. I'll drive you out to her place, but just to prove you wrong."
"I hope I am wrong," Matt said. Deep down, he knew he wasn't.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
They pulled up to the house just after midnight. Matt had asked Dale to kill the car's headlights, but the officer had refused, insisting that there was nothing to worry about. Matt disagreed, but knew he couldn't win the argument, so he let it go. With any luck the two were in the bedroom, which was at the back of the house. If so, the house was wide enough to block the headlights and they could surprise her.
If not, then Abbey would know they were here.
Luck was not with them that night.
Abbey opened the front door and stood silhouetted by the light of her living room. She raised her left arm to her face, probably trying to block the car's headlights. Maybe they weren't such a bad idea, after all. "Who's there?" she asked.
Dale got out of the car. "Abbey, it's me."
"Dale? What are you doing here?"
"I just want to talk to you, hon," Dale said.
"Damn it, Dale! I thought I told you this was my place. Go home. I'll be there tomorrow."
Matt stepped out of the car. "I don't think that's going to happen, Abbey."
Abbey turned her head towards him. "Matt?"
"Yeah, it's me. And we both know you aren't going home tomorrow."
"I don't know what you are talking about," she said. She turned back to Dale. "You didn't tell me you brought company."
"We just want to talk to you," Dale said.
"Fine. But turn those goddamn headlights off. I can't see a thing."
Dale reached into the car. Matt caught a glimpse of something behind her back. It was long and straight and glinted dully in the light.
"No!" Matt shouted, but it was too late. The headlights snapped off, and Abbey brought the shotgun up faster than he or Dale could follow.
The shot sounded like a cannon.
Dale grunted in pain as his body flew backward in a spray of blood and gore. He landed in a heap a few feet away from the cruiser, blood flowing freely from a large hole in his thigh.
"Fuck!" Matt yelled, and dove behind the car just as another shot peppered the dirt where he'd been standing.
"I told him not to come here," Abbey said. "This is my place. My private place."
Matt poked his head around the back of the car just in time to see Abbey step off the porch. Now that the light wasn't directly behind her, he saw the huge gaping sore on the side of her face. The edges were rotted away, leaving nothing but dead skin and insect larvae. As he watched, the area of rot spread across her whole face, covering her nose and mouth. Even from ten feet away, the stench of decay was almost a physical presence.
But as horrifying as her face had become, it still didn't scare him as much as the shotgun in her hands. And she was coming towards the car.
Fuck.
Matt scrambled around to the driver's side, where Dale lay on his back in a growing pool of blood. The lawman's left thigh was a mess. Blood poured out of it like water from a pitcher. His breath came in rapid gasps that sounded like wet slaps. Dale's eyes stared up at the sky but didn't seem to settle on anything for more than a few seconds. His whole body shook, making him look like he was having a seizure. Matt grabbed Dale's belt and slid it off, then jerked it tight around the injured man's upper thigh and cinched it into a makeshift tourniquet. The blood slowed, but didn't stop. It would have to do until he could get medical attention.
This was his fault. He had insisted Dale come to Abbey's. If he'd just left Crawford like he was supposed to, Dale would be fine and probably filing divorce papers right now. Just another person Matt had managed to hurt with his very presence. Maybe he'd be better off if Abbey took that shotgun to his head.
"You still here, Matt?" Abbey asked from the other side of the car. "Where'd you go? You can't hide from me, you know."
Matt would have to worry about Dale later. Right now he needed something from the fallen cop's waist. He reached down, trying not to look at the ruin of Dale's leg, and unclipped the holster for Dale's service revolver. He wiggled it free and brought it to his face. A .38 caliber Smith & Wesson, minus the safety and, thank God, sporting a full cylinder.
He brought it up just as Abbey rounded the back of the car, leading with her shotgun.
Matt was faster. He fired off two rounds as fast as the revolver would shoot, and one of them hit Abbey in her left arm.
She yelped in pain as the bullet spun her in a circle, sending her shotgun to the dirt. "You cocksucking asshole! I'll kill you for that!"
You were gonna kill me, anyway, Matt thought. He jumped to his feet and ran around the car, hoping to catch her on the ground, but all he saw of her was her backside as she ran back into the house, presumably for another weapon.
Matt sprinted up the yard to the doorway, not wanting to give her time to find another gun. With luck, he could catch her unarmed and force her to surrender, and then he could call the police. He didn't want to kill her any more than he'd wanted to kill Andy, but he couldn't let her hurt any more people, and Annie was probably still in the house. If she was even still alive.