Total pages in book: 23
Estimated words: 22019 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 110(@200wpm)___ 88(@250wpm)___ 73(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 22019 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 110(@200wpm)___ 88(@250wpm)___ 73(@300wpm)
“Hands up!” the cops shout again. They look serious. I know my life is on the line here if I don’t do what they ask.
“I said, let me see those hands!”
I’m more concerned for her than I am for myself as I raise my hands into the air.
These sons of bitches…
What are they doing, ruining my evening with her? This was supposed to be such a great night out for everybody, and now this is happening?
Anna is holding Penelope back now, as she struggles to race to my side. I shoot her a glance as I kneel that tells her firmly, No!
She can’t be involved with this. The last thing I need is for some overzealous, trigger-happy cop to end up putting a hole through her because he can’t control his nerves.
“Down!” they keep shouting at me. “Down on the floor! Hands behind your back!”
I feel the pounding of their boots on the hardwood as I lower myself onto my stomach. Instantly, a cop who stinks like cigarettes snatches my arms roughly and pins them behind my back. I can tell he’s taking great delight in it too.
I could easily break free if I wanted, but there’s too many of them, and the guns change the ballgame.
Besides, I can’t go dragging Penelope into this.
“You’re under arrest!” he shouts, loud enough that everyone in the bar can hear it. Then he leans in close and breathes into my ear, “Thought we wouldn’t catch you? Mr. Tree Saw Killer?”
11
PENELOPE
Anna hands me a warm cup of tea and sits down on the couch beside me. I stare blankly at it, watching the rings in the fluid, the tiny little waves as they slowly settle.
“Hawk…he can’t be…” I finally mutter. “He can’t be a killer…”
Anna wraps me in a comforting hug that I desperately need right now, but it does little to fill the massive hole that I can feel forming in my chest. It feels as though I’ve been speared through the heart with a sword made from ice.
“A serial killer? I don’t believe it…”
The truth is, I don’t want to believe it.
I fell so hard for him and gifted him with my complete trust, and now I’m struggling to come to terms with the fact that the man who changed my life forever was just arrested by half of Pine Grove’s police force and was dragged out of the bar in handcuffs.
“I’m so sorry, Pen,” Anna whispers. She’s doing her best to comfort me, but I’m completely numb to everything right now.
No, that’s not true.
One emotion has a firm, painful grip over me: betrayal.
If these charges against Hawk are true, then that means he betrayed me in a way that I will never be able to recover from. What we shared together in the woods and his cabin goes beyond any kind of bliss I ever felt possible. Hawk gave me an experience so special that it will be embedded in my very soul for the rest of my life.
And to think that it could all be spoiled now by what happened back at the bar…
How will I go on?
“He can’t be…” I mutter again, as if on repeat.
Todd is in the kitchen, getting together some snacks for everyone, while Mack is standing in the corner with his arms crossed. Somehow, he ended up back here with us. I guess Todd invited him for some reason.
I still don’t like the look of him. He seems almost happy with what just happened. Does he think that if Hawk is out of the way, he will have another chance with me?
“It makes perfect sense!” he says with a shrug. “That dude lives in a cabin in the woods! Is that not a perfect location for a serial killer? Think about how easily he could be hiding bodies out there!”
“Mack, would you shut up?” Anna hisses. “You’re not helping.”
“I’m not helping?” Mack scoffs. “That guy was about to pick a fight with me because he didn’t like where I was looking!”
Anna shoots Mack a scolding glance, which shuts him up for the moment. I pick up my tea and take a sip. Ginger-orange. I feel my sinuses opening up as I inhale the steam and close my eyes, trying to shut out the dreadful reality that has come crashing down on me like an avalanche.
Images of Hawk flash into my mind: him standing behind me, shirtless with his mask on…the coil of rope in his hand…him chasing me naked through the woods…him holding a knife up to my face…
Could he actually be the fabled Tree Saw Killer that’s eluded the police for the last few years?
“No!” I blurt out, opening my eyes. “It’s not him!”
My dramatic outburst causes my entire body to shake, and I spill tea everywhere, including all over my hands and arms. The steaming water stings my skin, but I’m not affected. I have bigger things on my mind right now.