Alone (Bone Secrets, #4)(94)

She doubted it. Her caring parents would never have removed her from his immediate circle if they’d known she was his daughter. She wondered if he’d fought their move to Portland.

One-handed, she tried to evenly move the black dye through Trinity’s hair. The chemical stench filled the cabin. There was no water to rinse it off with. Nothing to wash the dye from their hands. They weren’t imitating the ethereal girls from last week. This looked like they’d played in ink. Sloppy. The mess made Leo angry.

“Dad?”

Leo’s face brightened at the sound of Jason’s voice outside. “Damn you, Jason! I need a bucket of water,” he yelled back through the closed door.

“Okay,” the boy called back.


Seth heard the sirens more consistently as Jason filled a big bucket of water outside the shed. Hose in his hand, the teen glanced anxiously at him. “What’s going to happen?”

“I need a distraction. The sirens are getting closer and Leo’s going to hear them soon. It’s going to be a fire truck responding to Victoria’s call about Trinity’s car, but maybe there’ll be some police too. We need to hold Leo for them.”

“What about locking him in the cabin? Can you get the women out?” Jason asked.

Seth thought for a second then shook his head.

“Jason!” Leo yelled from inside the shed.

“Coming, Dad!” he hollered back. Jason turned off the hose and threw it aside.

Seth grabbed his arm. “Listen. I want you to throw the water at him and then hit the ground no matter what. If I have to, I’ll shoot him in the leg to slow him down.”

Wide eyes met Seth’s, but the teen nodded.

They had one chance.

What would he see when Jason opened the door?

Seth moved back into the darkness as Jason stepped up to the shed door and rapped with his knuckles. “It’s me, Dad.”

There was a pause and the door opened inward, spilling a weak light out into the wet night. Seth couldn’t see inside the shed. He took three steps to his right, crouching and straining to get a glimpse of Tori. Jason stepped up the single big step inside, the bucket sloshing in one hand, his pistol in the other. Shadows moved inside.

Where was Tori?

Seth crept closer, his hands tight on the shotgun. He could feel all his fingers now and had faith in his ability to pull the trigger. But could he do it if he was pointing the weapon at a human?

To save a life he could.

He could see Leo, his back against a side wall, his shotgun pointed at his own son as he moved forward with the water. Jason would have to get closer to surprise his father with the water. Tori and Trinity were at the back of the cabin, covered in white gowns and… black paint?

“Set it down,” Leo ordered. “And give me your gun.”

Seth saw Jason halt.

He wasn’t close enough.

Jason set the bucket down in front of his feet and held his gun out to his father, the handle first. Leo reached for the weapon. Jason moved a step closer and soccer-kicked the bucket, sending the bucket and water flying over Leo’s legs.

Leo yelled and Seth leaped into the doorway, weapon aimed at Leo’s center mass.

“Drop it!” Seth yelled at Leo.

Leo’s gun swung in Seth’s direction. “Never!” Two black holes stared at Seth from the muzzle of the shotgun. Leo’s crazy eyes challenged him from the far end of the weapon.

Seth fired.

Leo’s left shoulder and upper arm vanished in a red mist. His body slammed against the wall, and he slid down to the floor. Jason fell to his knees next to his father, his hands scrambling to stop the bleeding.

Seth heard screaming. Trinity had her black hands over her eyes as she screamed from a crouch on the floor. Victoria bent over her, her good arm wrapped around the girl, her wide gaze locked with Seth’s.

The sirens grew louder.

Weak-kneed, Seth sat down heavily on the shed’s step. He looked at Leo. His shot had caught part of Leo’s neck. Seth’s shotgun clattered to the floor of the shed.

He no longer needed it.





Three days later


Seth held tight to her hand as they walked between the firs. Her left hand and wrist were in a brace, her scaphoid and radius broken from her fall. At least she wasn’t left-handed, but she might as well be. She couldn’t do anything—cut a steak, shampoo her hair, or type efficiently on her keyboard. She felt like an invalid with Seth as her caretaker. Sure, having him shampoo her hair was fun, but dictating her reports to him was simply frustrating.

He hadn’t complained once.

After Leo’s grisly death, she’d been focused on comforting Trinity and Jason. Nothing Victoria could do could erase that memory from Jason’s sight. His mother had appeared from Idaho the next day, packed him up, and taken him home to her new husband and young sons. Trinity said he’d texted a few times, complaining that his toddler half brothers were pests, but Victoria suspected he’d quickly grow accustomed to a caring family.

The shed had revealed a history of horrors. The investigators didn’t know how many bloodstains from different victims they were going to find in the mattress. Unlocking the lockbox had opened a Pandora’s box of death. Old square black-and-white photos and fading Polaroids revealed women in various states of bondage and death. No current color photos graced the box. It was theorized that Cesare had gotten too old to act as an angel of death in recent years. The newest items in the shed were in a plastic grocery bag. Investigators found six pairs of women’s shoes, six cell phones, and a few purses.