River’s End

was so vile. She turned her back on me, turned away as if I were nothing. And the scissors were in my hand. Then they were in her. I think she screamed,” he said softly. “I’m not sure. I don’t know. I only remember the blood.”
    His eyes focused again, fixed on Olivia. “It was an accident, really. One moment, one terrible mistake. But I couldn’t take it back, could I? I couldn’t change it.”
    She had to be calm, Olivia ordered herself. Her father was bleeding badly. She had no doubt that she could outdistance and lose her uncle in the forest. But how could she leave her father? How could she run away and hide again?
    She would stand, protect. And pray for help to come. “You held me while I cried for her.”
    “I cried, too!” It enraged David that she didn’t understand. Just like her mother. Just like Julie. “If she’d only listened, it would never have happened. Why should I have paid for that? He’s the one who hurt her; he’s the one who deserved to pay. I had to protect myself, my life. I had to get out. There was so much blood, I was nearly sick.”
    “How did you get out of the house and back home?” Olivia asked and strained her ears for a sound—heard only the thrashing of rain. “Aunt Jamie would have seen the blood.”
    “I stripped off my clothes, bundled them up. I went outside, to the pool, and washed the blood off. I washed it all away. There were always spare clothes in the changing house, no one would ever notice. I could get rid of my own later, a Dumpster in the city. I went back in the house because I thought it might be a dream. But it wasn’t. I thought I heard you upstairs. I thought I heard you, but I couldn’t be sure.”
    “I woke up. I heard Mama scream.”
    “Yes, I found out later. I had to get home in case Jamie woke up and realized I’d slipped out. It wasn’t until they brought you to us that I wondered if you’d seen me. I wondered if you’d heard. Twenty years, I’ve wondered. I’ve waited.”
    “No, I didn’t see you. I never knew.”
    “It would have stayed that way. Everyone put it aside, everyone closed the door, until the book. How could I be sure? How could I know for sure that you hadn’t heard my voice, that you hadn’t looked out the window, seen my car? It ruined my life, don’t you see? I’d done everything to make it work, everything to make up for that one single night.”
    “You let my father go to prison.”
    “I was in prison, too.” Tears leaked out of his eyes. “I was paying, too. I knew you’d be just like her. I knew when it came down to a choice, you’d choose him. I always loved you, Livvy. You should have been ours. Mine and Julie’s. But that’s over now. I have to protect myself. I have to end it.”
    He lunged toward her, leading with the knife.
    It was like his dream, the dark, the trees, the murmur of rain and wind. He could run until his heart burst out of his chest and he couldn’t find her. Every rustle had him turning in a new direction, every call of a night bird was the sound of her voice. The bone-numbing terror that he would be too late, that he would never wake up from this nightmare and find her curled against him, drove him harder. She was somewhere in the vast, twisting maze of the forest. Somewhere just beyond his reach.
    He stopped, leaning against the bulk of a hemlock to clear the tumble of his mind. The air was so thick, every breath he took was like gulping in water. His shoulder was on fire, the white handkerchief tied over the wound long since gone red. He stood very still for a moment and listened. Was that the murmur of voices, or just the rain? Sound seemed to shoot at a dozen different angles, then swallow itself. The only compass he had now was his gut. Trusting it, he turned west. This time, when she screamed, he was close.
    Sam shoved her clear and, with the little strength he had left, drove his body into David’s. When the knife sliced through him again, he felt nothing but despair. As he staggered and fell, Olivia leaped to her feet and tried to catch him. It happened quickly, her father slipping out of her hands, the sound of running feet slapping against the saturated ground. And the quick prick of a knife at her throat.
    “Let her go.” Noah braced his feet, held the gun in the classic police grip. Fear was a hot river in his blood.
    “I’ll kill her. You know I will. Drop the gun, or I’ll slice her throat and be done with it.”
    “And lose your shield? I