Prologue
The darkness was all she knew. It surrounded her, seemed to suffocate her. It bound her as deeply, as securely as the ropes around her wrists.
Fear coiled around Noelle Evers as she waited in the dark. She was waiting for her own death, and she knew it. That certainty was there, filling her mindâthat and nothing else. So when the door opened and she heard the squeak of wood, Noelle tensed.
The light spilled forward. The wood squeaked again.
Someone was coming toward her....
The beam of a flashlight slit through her eyes, blinding her because it was such a sharp contrast to the darkness.
âFound her!â A manâs voice called. It was deep and rough, heavy with relief. âSheâs alive!â
Noelle squinted as she tried to see past that bright light.
More footsteps thudded toward her. Then hands were on her. Rough, strong hands. They pulled at her ropes then yanked her out of the chair and to her feet.
âItâs all right,â that deep, rumbling voice told her. âYouâre safe now.â
She didnât believe him.
There were more lights then, sweeping into the room. It looked like...a cabin? She was in a cabin? In the darkness, she hadnât been able to tell anything about her surroundings, but she could now see glimpses of an old, log-lined cabin.
She licked her lips. Her mouth felt so dry. She had to swallow three times before she managed, âH-how did...I g-get here?â
His face was in shadows, but he was tall, with broad shoulders and a gun strapped to his hip.
Noelle backed up when she saw the weapon. Her feet slipped on something. She glanced down and saw a twisting mass of rope near her feet.
âEasy,â he told her, and his grip tightened around her arms. âIâm a deputy. Weâre all with the Coleman County Sheriffâs Department, and weâre here to take you home.â
Sheâd...sheâd been at home...sleeping in her bed... Noelle remembered that. Sheâd gone to sleepâand awoken to darkness.
âSheriff!â Another voice cried out then, breaking with what sounded like fear.
The deputy pulled Noelle close as he hurried toward that cry.
The flashlights all hit the far left corner of the room. They fell on the man sprawled there. A man who was deadâhis throat had been cut. The man stared sightlessly back at them while his blood formed a dark pool beneath him.
The deputyâs hold on Noelle tightened. âWho is that?â he demanded.
Noelle started to shake.
âMs. Evers...â His voice gentled a bit. âIs he one of the men who took you?â
Tears leaked down her cheeks. âI donât know!â
Voices rose. Shouted. More men and women came inside the cabin. More lights.
Too bright.
Noelleâs shoulders hunched. She looked down at her wrists. They were bloody and raw. And her handsâher hands were stained with blood. So was her gown. The gown sheâd worn to sleep when she climbed into her own bed.
This isnât my home. But she couldnât remember how sheâd gotten there. Noelle only knew darkness.
The deputy pulled off his coat. Carefully, he put it around her shoulders. âTell me what happened.â He was leading her from the cabin keeping his fingers around her arm. âGet me a medic!â He called out to another one of the men swarming the area.
Then she was outside. The night air was crisp, but she could still smell blood.
Because itâs on me.
âI want to go home,â Noelle whispered. âI want to see my parents.â Noelle was seventeen. She was a sophomore at Coleman High School. She was cheering at the football game on Friday. She wasâ