Soul Possession(35)

If she were quiet enough they would pass each other with the bitch never being the wiser and by the time she doubled back, Jessie would have found a better hiding spot.

She hoped.

Her mind was so cluttered with panic and pain that it was hard to know if anything she thought made sense. But what she did know was that she was not going to give up, roll over, and die. She’d make that bitch trot her ass all over the thicket before the night was over.

Chapter 15

As dawn crept through the trees, shedding pale light over a dark sky, Rick rubbed his eyes and then slipped his hand behind his neck to rub at a kink.

They didn’t even know what they were looking for or if they were looking in the right area. Each time Rick’s phone rang, he dreaded answering, afraid that it would be the killer, taunting him with news of Jessie’s death.

But there had been no call. No news.

He and Truitt and several teams of volunteers had combed the woods starting late the night before and carrying on into the wee hours of the morning.

And nothing.

No sign of Jessie.

“Fresh batch of volunteers and the day shifters are coming on,” Truitt called over his shoulder as he continued a path through the trees. “They want to meet up and discuss areas already searched and strategize the best way to cover the most ground.”

Rick bared his teeth in anger and frustration. “You go. I’ll keep looking.”

Truitt stopped. “The hell you will. We’re in this together. We’re going to find her, damn it. I won’t leave her out here alone. But we’re searching blind. We need a better plan than this.”

Rick swore but he followed Truitt out of the woods to where a makeshift parking lot in a clearing held a multitude of cars and trucks.

Bull and the chief stood next to Kim Whalen and Victor Manning. All were dressed in boots and clothing suitable for slogging through dense vegetation.

“Thanks for coming out,” Truitt said as they neared the group of officers. Behind them another large group of fresh volunteers stood ready to receive instruction. Truitt was antsy and ready to go back, but he forced himself to remain calm because he was very close to losing it.

“We’re glad to do it,” Bull said gruffly. “She’s important to you, which makes her one of our own, and we owe her for what happened.” He took a deep breath and ran his hand over his head. “Hell, the son of a bitch wouldn’t have targeted her if it weren’t for that damn news story.”

The chief nodded his grim agreement. Kim glanced between Rick and Truitt, but her gaze remained on Rick for a long moment. “Let’s pull out the maps. I have an idea of where we can look next.”

As they spread maps on the hood of the chief’s SUV, Kim leaned over, pointing to an area they hadn’t yet searched.

“My father hunts here a lot. There’s a cabin here and one here. It’s not an area the killer has used before. However, it’s a logical place for him to eventually get to. And it’s more isolated. Given that there’s been no call yet, I’m guessing he doesn’t want you to know where to find her, which means he’ll go to greater lengths to hide the body.”

At the mention of a body, Rick went rigid and his expression blackened. The ball in Truitt’s gut grew to a gigantic size.

“Sorry,” Kim muttered. “That was insensitive of me.”

If it were someone else they were looking for, Truitt would probably be using the same language. They all knew it didn’t look good for Jessie, but he couldn’t make himself dwell on just how bad the situation was or that, in any other case, they’d already be assuming they were looking for a corpse.

The chief circled the points Kim had called attention to and then drew a line from those areas to their current position.

“If we take the ATVs it’ll be faster but it’s entirely possible we won’t be able to cut through some parts because it’s pretty heavy in that area,” Kim continued. “We could send four-wheelers in and go the denser areas on foot.”

“Thanks, Kim,” Rick murmured. He put his hand on her shoulder and squeezed. “We appreciate this.”

Kim smiled. “Let’s get to it then.”

Jessie woke to distant shouts of her name. It shocked her how utterly weak she was. She tried to call out, but couldn’t manage more than a whisper.

She was curled into a tight ball and dug into a muddy overhang. She’d come on it by sheer chance, falling over the edge in the darkness the night before. Her strength gone, her reserves depleted, she’d dug her way into the thick mesh of brambles, covering herself with mud and leaves as she went.

It wasn’t so dark anymore and dim light hovered over the ground along with a thin layer of eerie fog. She tried to push herself up but she simply wasn’t strong enough to support herself.

A faint rustle reached her ears. At first she thought it was a squirrel or maybe a rabbit but it was too slow and too methodical. It sounded like human footsteps. Not very heavy ones. Slowly working their way through the woods.

She was tempted, so very tempted to roll away from her hiding place and run toward the sound, but she was too locked in fear, too traumatized to even consider leaving the one place that had seemingly thwarted a mad woman.

She closed her eyes and lay absolutely still, not that it was difficult because she was too weak to move. And it was easier to drift away, to pretend she wasn’t lying on the ground slowly bleeding to death. Or that she was being hunted by a psycho who apparently thought she was the next great white hunter.