No. I couldn’t think about Eddie. Couldn’t think about Rafe. Couldn’t think about anything except getting out of this yard and to my cell phone. I had to visualize my path. See myself reach the back corner of the fence, inchworm to the other corner, and down along the other side. I needed to assume Drew wouldn’t hear my car door opening and see its interior lighting up. Needed to anticipate what I was going to say to 911 to get them here fast, with their lights flashing, sirens blaring, and handcuffs ready before . . . before anything bad happened.

I had my head down. Was focusing on the ground in front of me. Had it all planned out, could see it happening, could see the happy ending, down to the hugs and the backslaps. It was all going to happen, I just knew it.

SNAP!

My right elbow, with all the weight of my upper body, had broken a really loud stick. There was no chance Drew wouldn’t have heard that. No chance at all. And now I was stuck, like a gopher in a burrow, with no way forward that wasn’t noisy, because now that I was paying attention, I could see that I was crawling straight into a small brush pile, and no way back that didn’t result in a double homicide.

“Hey, Drew!” Keith called. “Yeah, I know it’s you. Most of us do, you know. You’re not as smart as you think you are.”

A small gasp escaped me. This was the distraction? Really? Keith had decided to taunt the guy with the gun? How did that make sense?

But then I realized what he was doing. He’d known I was going to run into the pile of brush; that’s probably what he’d been trying to warn me about when I’d hurried off. He’d known I wouldn’t be able to get around it without making some noise. And now he was trying to lure Drew toward him, sacrificing himself for the sake of my stupidity.

I sniffled once, then forced myself to stop with the emotions. Feel later. Act now.

Meanwhile, Keith was just getting warmed up.

“You know,” he said loudly, “it didn’t take me that long to figure out who was behind the murders. Once I realized that Emmy Sue and Emily were the same person, it was obvious.”

“To you, maybe,” I whispered to myself, as I slowly, carefully, and quietly pushed aside the pile of sticks and branches. Just as slowly, carefully, and quietly, I flattened myself against the fence, inched forward, and hallelujah! There was the corner! Another twenty-five feet and I’d be halfway around.