Hunted (8 page)

Lanie shook her head, stepping around the mirror and taking a few more steps away from the young man.  She might not be afraid of him, but she wasn’t crazy.  “I-I…I didn’t,” she denied hoarsely, her heart hammering in her chest and trepidation shooting along her nerve endings.  “I-I didn’t tell anyone.”  She hoped he couldn’t tell that she wasn’t exactly speaking the truth.

The young man stared at her, his sparkling green eyes narrowed and his hands fisted at his sides.  Looking at him, Lanie became painfully aware of how tall and lean and…
muscular
he was, and of how little effort it would take for him to catch up to her if she tried to run, how easy it would be for him to stop her screams with his large hands.

But, he wouldn’t.  This person wasn’t here to hurt her.  She…she believed that.  She did.  Because, looking at him, she could see there was something about him, something she couldn’t put a name to, but it was something that she felt she could…trust.  Unless she was wrong, and in that case, well, she was pretty much toast.

“I-I’m sorry,” she croaked out, sounding a bit too much like a nervous little girl.  “I-I wasn’t bothering anything.”

She was slowly moving away from him, knowing that just on the other side of the small span of woods there was a street that was lined with houses.  And houses meant people, which mean she could get help, if it came to that. 

But, it wouldn’t.  She believed it wouldn’t.

“I’ve seen you before,” the young man stated, still looking at her with narrowed eyes.

Lanie halted her backward movement, a little jolt going through her.  She opened her mouth to deny that he’d seen her before because his tone did not exactly sound friendly, but he cut her off

“The Pub,” the young man stated, light dawning in his sparkling green eyes.  “You were at The Pub in town this afternoon.”

She didn’t know if she should deny the accusation, if she should confess to him that she had been there, or if she should turn and take her chances on making it to the next street over.  But, before she could decide which course of action to take, the young man took another step forward and a sharp gasp flew out of her, the fear shooting through her sending her lurching backward before she could stop herself.

The young man froze, his handsome face going as hard as stone, but then softening almost instantly.  “You don’t have to be scared of me.  I’m not going to hurt you.”

Lanie believed…she was honestly trying to believe…that he didn’t want to hurt her.  Her gut was telling her so, but still, wasn’t that what every serial killer said just before he gouged out his victims brains with an ice pick?  Or slashed his victim’s throat and left her in the park like so much garbage?  That thought had Lanie’s heart again leaping up into her own throat and her body resuming its movement away from the young man, despite what her gut thought about the situation. 

“You really don’t have to be afraid.  I’m not here to—“ the young man’s words suddenly halted and his sparkling green eyes flew past Lanie, focusing on the woods behind her.  Lanie watched as his body went completely stiff and his handsome face went completely hard.  “You should go.  Now!  It’s not safe out here.”

His expression and tone prompted Lanie to shoot a quick glance over her shoulder, fully expecting to see someone or
something
horrible coming at her from out of the murky woods, but there was nothing at all behind her.  No darkly clad, sinister figure ready to steal her life away from her, no vicious, slavering animal come down out of the mountains in search of an easy meal, though judging by the look on the young man’s face, either of those two options had seemed likely.

Confused, Lanie looked back toward the young man, and was stunned to find that he was…gone.  He was just…gone, vanished, as quick as that.  Gasping, Lanie glanced around, but there was no sign of him.  With fear and confusion spurring her onward, she shot forward, out of the woods and back onto the dirt road, looking up and down it, searching for any sign of the young man.  But, he was nowhere to be seen.

Dumbfounded, Lanie stalled only for a second before giving into the panic racing through her and bolted forward up the dirt road, her mind harboring visions of the young man crouched somewhere in the bushes, just waiting to spring at her.  She hit the sidewalk running along Aster Street, pointed herself in the direction of home, and took off at a fast trot, uneasiness tingling along her spine.  As she hurried to put some distance between herself and…whatever had happened back there with that young man, Lanie glanced down at her phone and hit her dad’s number.  Her gut was telling her the young man wasn’t a bad guy, but her dad needed to make sure her gut was right.

This time her dad answered on the second ring.  “Dad, it’s me.  You need to get over to the Fells Pointe Cemetery…”

“They’ll be no more going around town by yourself, Lanie,” Sam Bancroft was saying as he paced up and down the length of the kitchen.  “You might have been lucky this time.  You could have been…you are not to go walking around on your own!  And you aren’t to go any farther than downtown and school unless you have someone with you.  Is that clear?”

Lanie nodded, feeling like a chastised child.  She’d never seen her father so upset.  Usually, Sam Bancroft was the most jovial and easy going man around.  He was always smiling and laughing, a person could talk to him about anything at all.  But, this side of him was something that Lanie found wholly new and slightly terrifying.

He had been pacing up and down the kitchen for fifteen minutes, shaking his head as if he’d taken a blow to the skull, his hands fisted at his sides, his movie star handsome face set in a grim expression and his blue eyes filled with anger. 

This Sam Bancroft was not her father.

“I want you back in this house every evening before dark,” Sam went on, still pacing and shaking his head.  “And I want you to call me to check in when you get home and when you decide to leave the house.  I want to know where you’re going, who you’re going with, and when you’ll be back.  Understood?”

Again, Lanie nodded, feeling as if she’d done something terribly wrong, even though she
had
texted her dad to tell him she was going to the cemetery to visit her mom.  It wasn’t her fault she’d ran into a possible murderer out there.

“You will not put yourself in danger that way again, Lanie,” Sam continued, a muscle in his jaw working hard.  “If you see something that doesn’t look right,
do not
go and check into it!  You call me!  Period!  You call me and you get away from whatever it is as fast as you can!  Is that clear!”

Lanie nodded, trying to blink back a sudden mist of tears.  She’d expected him to be upset, but she had not expected this.  Her father had never been this angry with her.  Never.

“I can’t believe you went into the woods to take pictures of a stranger’s car!” Sam raged onward, now raking a hand through his hair.  “And you
confronted
the stranger!  You put yourself in danger, Lanie!  He could be the person who killed Stacy Miller!  And you were alone in the woods with him!  What were you thinking!”

The tears that Lanie was trying to blink back filled her eyes, despite her efforts.  She didn’t like her father being this angry with her.  And she wanted to argue with him, to tell him that she’d only been trying to help him, but her throat was choked by the lump of anguish sitting there.

“Well?  What on earth possessed you to do something like that, Lanie!” Sam demanded, pinning her with an angry glare.

Lanie tried to swallow the lump down enough to answer, because her dad was clearly expecting an answer from her, but her voice failed her.

“Sam, take it easy,” Gretchen spoke up from her place by the sink, where she was watching the scene with a pained expression.  “Can’t you see that you’re scaring her?”

Hearing Gretchen’s statement seemed to shake Sam somehow.  He stopped his pacing and his brows lifted in surprise, as if he’d been looking at Lanie, but was only now
seeing
her.  And seeing her caused his hard expression to fall and his broad shoulders to slump.  “Lanie, I-I’m…I’m sorry.  I…I’m just…it’s just that…if anything happened to you, I wouldn’t know what to do.  I…I can’t lose anyone else.”

Hearing the stark sorrow in her father’s voice had Lanie sliding off the chair at the center island and going across the room to throw her arms around her dad, who put his arms around her and squeezed her as hard as he could, causing the air to be pushed out of her lungs, but she didn’t mind.

“I’m sorry, squirt,” he said to her, taking in a long breath.  “I didn’t mean to yell at you.”

“It’s okay,” Lanie told him, her voice uneven and hoarse.

She tightened her grip on her dad and took a breath, the scent of his clean cologne filling her nostrils.  She loved how her dad smelled.  It reminded her of something strong and steady and…good.

“Why did you do that, Lanie?  Especially knowing what just happened to Stacy?” Sam questioned in a softer tone, still squeezing her to him. 

“I saw the car there and I tried to call you, but you didn’t answer.  I wanted to take pictures of the car and the license plate, so you’d have a description in case it was moved before you got to it,” she explained.  “I didn’t know the guy would show up there.”

Sam was silent for a moment and then took a step back from Lanie so he could look down at her.  “I’m proud that you had the mind about you to want to take pictures, but nothing is worth risking your life for, Lanie,” he told her vehemently.  “
If
this person had something to do with Stacy Miller’s murder, then he could very well have…I don’t want you to put yourself in that sort of situation ever again.  Do you understand?”

Lanie nodded, trying not to let her chin quiver.  “I won’t.”

“It wasn’t a smart move, squirt,” Sam said, shaking his head again.  “But, I’m…glad that you managed to get a picture of the license plate.  The car
was
gone when I got there, so with your pictures I can put out a BOLO.  If he’s still in town, we’ll find him and haul him in for questioning.”

An unexpected stab of guilt lanced Lanie.  If the young man had nothing to do with what happened to Stacy Miller, then she was causing him some very unnecessary trouble.  And come to think of it, if he had been the one to…do that…to Stacy, then why hadn’t he done it to her?  He’d had the perfect opportunity.  Yet, he’d told her to go home because it wasn’t safe to be out there.  But, who knew.  Maybe the poor guy was crazy.

Sam stepped back from Lanie and tried to force a smile to his lips, but it seemed to be rough going.  “Just swear to me that you won’t put yourself at risk like that again.  Okay?”

“I won’t.  I promise,” she vowed, meaning it.  Those few seconds out there in the woods hadn’t exactly been fun for her and she had no desire to repeat them.

“And I mean what I said, squirt.  You aren’t walking around town on your own.  You’re not going any further than downtown and school and I want you inside before the sun sets.  And I want phone calls so I’ll know what you’re doing.”

“Okay,” she agreed.  “But, am I allowed to drive?  I have a lot of school stuff going on.  We’re planning the Homecoming float and all that stuff.”

“You can do your school activities, but I want someone with you when you go out.  In fact, why don’t you have Devyn and Johnna stay here with for a few days?  I’ll be working and Gretchen can’t be here day and night…” Sam paused, a very strange look crossing his face.

“What?” Lanie asked, her heartbeat speeding up.  “What’s wrong?”

Sam swallowed hard.  “If this guy is responsible for what happened to Stacy, and you came face to face with him, then you can identify him.  And he knows that.”

Something cold wafted through Lanie and her breath sped up.  “Wh-what does that mean?  I-I mean…I-I…wait.  Wait!  He…he was at The Pub this afternoon when we were there.  Everyone saw him!  The waitress saw him because I bought him some food and she took it to him!” she exclaimed hopefully.

Sam’s dark brows shot up in surprise.  “You bought food for him?” he repeated, slightly confused.

Lanie sucked in a breath, trying to get her thoughts in order.  “Yes.  He…he was sitting by himself in the corner and he looked…hungry.  So, I ordered him some food and the waitress took it to him.  Devyn, Johnna, Finn, and Brady all saw him there.  It wasn’t just me.”

Sam took that in for a minute before pulling out his cell phone.  “But, you were the only one who saw him in the woods, with his vehicle.  And if something happens in that area,
you’re
the only one who can put him in the vicinity at a specific time.”