I nod as we leave the house. That’s one possibility. The other possibility is in my purse. Killing isn’t the first choice, but it’s on the table. Reid put it there.

DAY 15: “THE FIGHT”

Judge

WHEN I WAKE, GRACE is still asleep. I check her pulse. She’s fine. I was careful with her dose. She’ll probably wake while I’m out. I check that her collar is secure, and then I kiss her. She doesn’t kiss me back, but that’s just because of the medicine. I slip out of bed and get her phone. I had turned it off when Grace dropped it outside my car. I need to tell Eva that Grace is safe. I can’t tell her where we are, but I want her to know that we’re okay.

I glance at Grace and then turn on her phone. It blinks to life, and over a dozen text messages flash across the screen. I don’t care about most of them, and I can’t leave it on long just in case it has a GPS chip. As soon as the messages stop, I go to settings and set the phone to “airplane” mode so the Wi-Fi is inactive. Then I return to the messages. They’re not surprising. Her mother, CeCe, and Eva all texted. I see messages asking where she is, saying that Madison is missing, but then I stop. Eva texted me. She knew I’d see these.

At first I’m elated, but then I see the lie. She says she “loves” Bouchet. I know it’s either him sending a lie to anger me or another test. She couldn’t love him—or anyone else.

I pull on my still-damp clothes, and in mere minutes, I’m outside and locking the door behind me. Grace will be safe in the house. Her leash stretches far enough that she can get to food and the buckets. There are cans of soda. She could stay here on her own for several days. It won’t be that long though. Soon, I’ll be back, and this time Eva will be with me.

It takes a while to get back to Jessup. The cabin is a little over forty minutes away, but I’m careful. I don’t see any police officers, and even if I did, the tags on this car wouldn’t come up under my name.

I’m on Old Salem Road when I see Bouchet’s truck. I didn’t expect to find him on the road. I thought I’d have to figure out how to get him out of his house, but he’s here. The Lord simplified things to show he approves of my actions. I smile as I accept that the Lord put Bouchet in my path so he could be punished.

All of my earlier rage comes back. Bouchet touched Eva. My Eva. He had his lips on my soon-to-be-wife. After everything I’ve done, all of the sacrifices, he tried to steal her away. It won’t work. I have Grace, and once I get rid of Bouchet, I’ll find a way to let Eva know where to come looking for her. Everything will be fine. I have faith in the Lord’s plan.

I accelerate and swerve toward the truck, trying to force him to drive it into the trees.

It’s dark, and there are no street lights on Old Salem Road.

The front of the truck clips a sapling.

I debate ramming it. I will if I have to, but then Bouchet swerves farther and smashes into a much larger tree.

The truck shudders to a stop at the tree, and he kills the engine. I wait in the dark to see what he’ll do. I wonder if he’ll call her. I can’t use my phone. I shut it off so they can’t track me. Maybe I can text her on his so she knows I’m safe. She’s probably worried by now. She probably thinks I’ll reject her.

Now that I’ve calmed down, I realize it was all his fault, not hers. She was weak without me to guide her, and he tricked her. There’s no other explanation.

Bouchet pushes the driver’s side door open and steps out of his truck. He’s limping slightly, probably from the accident. I smile as I watch him touch his head and then glance at his hand. He must be bleeding too.

He looks back into the truck, and I realize that he’s not alone. I see the outline of a passenger, and my heart feels like it’s beating faster by the moment. I can’t tell if it’s her. I hope it is. I can’t imagine who else it would be. It has to be Eva.

I know she’s clever enough to see through his lies.

Maybe she brought him so we could kill him together.

I flick the high beams on and pull my car slowly toward them. Bouchet lifts an arm to block the light from his face. I realize I’ll have to be quick. There aren’t a lot of people who drive along Old Salem Road, but there are a few houses and the reservoir. I don’t want to be interrupted.

I grab the crowbar and think about what I’m about to do. I’ve practiced on pumpkins and a raccoon and a few possums I’ve trapped. I know Bouchet is bigger, but the basics are the same: I need to smash his skull or throat. Arms or legs are good to keep him from fighting back, and to hurt him, but the skull is the target. I know this, but I want him to feel pain like I did when he touched Eva. I didn’t want the others—the messages—to be in pain, but I want Bouchet to bleed and scream and try to crawl away on broken legs.

I keep my arm straight down, motionless and tight against my body so I have the element of surprise, as I walk quickly toward the truck and my target. Unlike Madison, Bouchet is strong enough to fight back. I can do this though. I can show Eva that I’m strong enough to protect her.

I don’t speak. I lift the crowbar and swing it as hard as I can. He dodges my first blow, making me stumble briefly, but I recover and catch his shoulder on the next swing. It’s only a glancing hit, and he doesn’t fall. The sound he makes is so different from the ones Amy and Madison made. It’s a grunt like an animal. The girls made smaller noises, more ladylike.

I realize Bouchet has grabbed a Maglite from somewhere. It’s not as long as a crowbar, but it’s still more of a weapon than I want him to have. It makes me angry and my next swing misses him completely.