She strained her head to look around, wanting to at least look her monster in the eye. It wasn’t what she’d expected it to look like. A young girl. Pretty. They locked eyes. As the pain became too much she closed her eyes.

“Shit,” the girl said, running back upstairs.

Door again. She shifted again so she could see the phone. Had to get rid of it. But then... She quickly and painfully put it to her ear. And made another call. When she was done, she stabbed at the red button and, without thinking, tossed the phone as far as she could. She heard it skittering across the floor and colliding with something. One of the last sounds she ever heard.

Chapter Sixty-One

Three years ago...

“She’s still alive.” Amber rushed into the back room and slammed her hands down on the table everyone was sitting at. “She’s still bloody alive.”

“What?” Edmund said, his heart leaping.

“Barely, but she’s there. I heard her muttering to herself.”

Edmund stood up. “Well, we need to call an ambulance. Quickly.”

They had been talking about how to hide the body. And they had all come to the same conclusion thanks to Amber’s insight. The floorboards in the basement were loose. They would take them up, dig a hole, place the body inside within the suitcase, fill the hole in and replace the floorboards, making sure they were more secure. A body under The Hamlet. It would ruin their favorite spot, but they couldn’t risk going outside with the body again. And even if it was found, which it never would be, who was to say it was them who killed her? Suspicion would fall on the owners. Done and dusted—the group didn’t have a key. It was regrettable others would fall under suspicion because of them, but that’s all it would be. There’d be no evidence to hold them. And that was if the body was ever found—which was very unlikely.

Amber didn’t seem to worry about the fact that suspicion might eventually roll around to her in such a scenario. She just seemed to be happy to be along for the ride, truth be told. Edmund watched her with a kind of disgusted fascination. She was taking it all incredibly well. Far too well. She really was so obsessed with Tim that she would do anything for him. She was the kind of sure deal that would have been great for a guy, until she turned around and killed him. Edmund had no doubt that she had that in her heart.

But now the woman was alive. That changed everything. Edmund got his phone out, but Tim snatched it away.

“What are you doing?” Edmund said, not understanding. He swiped at his phone but Tim moved his hand. “She’s alive. It’s over. We don’t need to be in this nightmare anymore.”