Regan kept her hands visible, not wanting to spook Rachel, but out of habit, her right hand rested on the butt of her holstered gun, ready to draw.

“Don’t come any closer,” Rachel said, holding the knife under Lucas’s armpit, against his rib cage. One thrust sideways and it would cut into his chest, slicing his lungs. He would likely not survive.

Regan stopped.

“Let him go.”

“You don’t understand.”

“Explain to me.” Regan knew that getting a suspect talking was the best way to defuse a situation. But as with any sociopath, she had to be careful. They could be unpredictable because they needed to win. To feel superior and justified in their actions. At the same time, Regan could use that against her. Let her talk. The more that she talked, the greater chance they could get Lucas out of this alive. Her mental clock said she had five to six minutes before the sheriff arrived. She just needed to drag this out a little longer.

“You turned Steven against me. You turned everyone against me,” Rachel said.

Rachel was slowly moving backward, toward the mine entrance.

“No, I did not.”

“You did! I don’t know what you said. But you somehow convinced him that I did something wrong.”

“You did that yourself, Rachel. We found Candace’s journal, and what she wrote was very believable. You could blame her, I suppose, but you already killed her.”

“Where?”

Not what was in it, or denying that she killed Candace, but where had they found the journal?

“She hid it in the library.”

“Cline Library?”

“Yes. It’s been there for nearly three years. She detailed what happened to Adele, that she wanted to go to the police, that you argued against it out of fear of being fired or imprisoned. Hiding the truth from Adele’s family really got to her. So she came here, to look for Adele’s body, as evidence of what you did.”

“She never found anything. Because there’s nothing to find.”

Her first denial. Regan didn’t believe her.

“Rachel, look at yourself. You’re holding a knife on a young man. Practically a kid. Lucas didn’t do anything to you.”

“He destroyed everything I built! I had the perfect life. It’s gone. All because he couldn’t let the past stay in the past. Adele’s death was an accident. If you really have Candace’s journal, you know that.”

“I know her death was an accident. But you covered it up. You staged it to look like she was kidnapped on the road. Her family is still looking for her.”

“I don’t care! I didn’t kill her.”

“But you killed Candace. And you killed Taylor. And you almost killed Nicole, but right now, as we stand here, Nicole is talking to the police. She’s telling them everything.”

Where are the damn deputies? They should be here by now.