Her eyes snapped open. There it was. The connection she’d been grasping at and failing to make. He’d killed Feena by strangling her, he’d killed Sarah by shooting her. He was giving them the deaths he thought they deserved: Taured’s “special girls.” Feena had taken too much of Taured’s attention, so he’d cut off her air. Sara had given Taured a baby, taking Taured farther away from Paul or whoever he had been back then—so he’d shot her in the stomach and left her to bleed to death in the desert.

Rainy had a sick feeling that her own death would include some type of poison...or drug, like her mother’s had. Taured had used food to lure Rainy into his office the night he’d drugged her and taken those photos of her. He’d fed her apricots in the cafeteria the night he’d convinced her to tour Kids’ Camp. And who had been there watching very carefully? Someone had been studying Taured and the unique relationship he had with each of his girls, someone obsessed with Taured and winning his approval, being the most important person to him.

Ginger.

25

Now

“Braithe, do you hear me? Do not eat or drink what he gives you... Braithe!”

Braithe wasn’t hearing her; she was lying on her side on the ground, still handcuffed to the table, but Ginger had left her legs free. He must not see her as much of a flight risk. That was good. If he underestimated Braithe, they could use that.

Rainy had been trying to wake her for a good thirty minutes, ever since Ginger had left, clanking her handcuffs against the table leg and calling out to her. But she was seriously dehydrated and her vocal cords were raw from the screaming she’d done in the freezer. She didn’t know how long he’d be gone, but the little fucker had run off without gagging her.

He’d let her out of the freezer, his nose bandaged and his eyes looking slightly doped. Good. Rainy figured he’d gone to urgent care and come right back, even though it hadn’t felt like right back. But the four or five hours she’d spent in the cold had seemed like much more. Eventually, she’d fallen asleep, and when she’d woken up, Ginger had been standing over her. Without speaking he’d dragged her out of the freezer and back to her spot against the table leg. As soon as he ripped the duct tape from her face, she’d said, “I’d like to upgrade to a suite.”