“I want to go inside.”

“Can’t.” Crossing over to Erin, Sylvie patted her arm. “I think it’s best if you wait in the car.”

Erin stared at the site of her greatest sin. Before she could forgive herself, she had to face what she’d done. In a sudden burst, she shoved Sylvie aside, knocking her into Gabriel. They tumbled to the ground, both yelling for her to stop. She darted inside the cabin, drawn by conscience and destiny.

The thick door slammed closed, locking Erin inside and Gabriel out. He hurtled his body at the door, but the solid wood did not budge. “Sylvie! Sylvie, he’s got her!” he bellowed.

Inside the cabin, Erin whirled around to face the killer. But she felt no shock to see Jessica standing at the threshold, covered in dust, gun in hand.

“Jessica? What are you doing here?” She asked the question because the scene demanded it. Jessica’s twisted ego demanded it.

“Defending my dissertation, I suppose.” Dropping the wooden plank into the grooved slot, she grinned at Erin as she bolted the locks. “Are you impressed?”

“Yes,” Erin answered honestly. “I didn’t see it. You gave me all the clues, and I didn’t see it.”

“Of course not.” Jessica waved the gun toward the bed. The naked mattress sagged from disuse. “Sit down, Dr. Abbott.”

Erin did as she instructed, realizing Jessica had hidden beneath the bed. Her heart pounded in her throat, and she could hear Gabriel hammering at the door. Jessica had dragged the rocker to the other side, and the teaching assistant sat down regally.

With the gun trained on her forehead, Erin thought only of buying time. “You saw me with Nathan that night.”

The butt of the gun smashed into her lip. Pain arced through her and her vision blurred. Jessica stood over her. “Don’t you dare use his name. You destroyed him.”

“I tried to leave him.” Erin managed to speak through the pain and she levered herself up. “The night you found us here, I was trying to leave him.”

“You were going to turn on him. I could see it in your eyes.” At Erin’s confused look, Jessica explained patiently. “I was the one who told him that you saw him with Kendra. I saw you lurking in the shadows, judging us.”

Erin remembered the eyes that stared at her through the pulsating red. The eyes that made her run. “You were a student of his. At Callenwolde.”

“No, not a student of Nathan’s. More like a protégé. Of his darker passions. My major really is psychology. Always has been.” She smiled, a slow, deliberate baring of teeth. “I’ve always been fascinated by pain and death. Nathan was a master.”

“I didn’t recognize you.”

“How could you? Princess Analise. Darling of the school. Perfect manners, perfect grades, perfect dissertation. You never had time for the rest of us peons.”