Hell's Hilltop

by J. A. Dennam

  Melanie answered, handed the phone to Derek when Ty asked for him.

  “What did you find out?” Derek asked.

  “Isak Frost has been stabbed.”

  A door softly closed in the background, shutting out all other noise. “What happened?”

  Ty searched the woods around him in vain. “Rena.”

  A muffled curse. “Dammit, is she trying to fucking kill me?”

  “There’s too much to explain right now and I have to look for her, so here it all is. Frost is your basement chemist. His lab is accessible through a natural cave in back of his house, which is at the address we gave you earlier. Rafferty’s in there dying of tetro-whatever poisoning thanks to our favorite homicidal maniac. Are you following me?”

  “Jesus, Ferguson,” the door squeaked open, “I’ve been waiting an hour to hear from one of you assholes—” more voices in the background, “and now you’re telling me… shit, never mind. I’m on my way.”

  It was just as good Derek disconnected the call since Ty didn’t have time to converse about his communi-cation skills, or lack thereof. The frogs had begun their evening mating call, swarming the humid lake air with sound. Ty cocked an ear as he walked up the embankment, listening for clues that might indicate someone lurked nearby.

  Sobbing. Broken, high-pitched, and very feminine. As he followed the muffled noises, Rena’s shape became visible among the trees. For once, something was going his way.

  Until he noticed she was wrapped tightly in the arms of her ex. And, apparently, Austin’s embrace was exactly what she needed.

  An adolescent surge of jealousy shot through him, mingled with the anger of losing control of her once again. She’d kneed him in the goddamned nuts for his trouble and the ex boyfriend gets the hug.

  Melanie’s outspoken summation of his character came to mind: You’re a terrible liar and easy to manipulate.

  Then Crystal’s voice floated through his memory: Let me guess. You’re one of those guys who gets his jollies off being used.

  And Derek: I just want to know you’re using the right head when we need you to be.

  Holy shit, they were right. They were all right. He’d officially become what the chicks in college would call an emotional tampon—Rena’s convenient shoulder to cry on when no one else would listen. Well, fuck that. Let Austin soak up her pain for a while.

  “You got her?” he snapped.

  Austin nodded. “I’m going to get her out of here,” he answered over her head. “Stay with Frost. She needs you to save him.”

  And again, Ty was left to clean up Rena’s mess. Ignoring the persistent tug that urged him to haul the woman off to his bed and shackle her there where she was no longer a danger to herself and others, he stormed back toward the shoreline.

  Back in the cave, Isak was clearly not where Ty had left him. Smeared blood trailed three feet across the floor, leading to where the old man now sat propped up against Rafferty’s cot. Still breathing, still holding the scissors in place, but white as a ghost as he took in deep, rough breaths.

  “What the hell were you thinking,” Ty grumbled, taking Isak’s limp wrist between thumb and two fingers while matching the pulse with the timer on his phone. “Getting between a piece of shit like Rafferty and a pair of scissors? The man’s dead already.”

  A few quiet moments passed, then Isak rasped, “He’s my son.”

  The pulse was forgotten. Ty glared at him through dark lashes. “He’s your what?”

  Isak coughed, groaned in response to the pain as the scissors moved. “God help me, I still love that girl. I can’t forget the charming, thoughtful woman she was before my son ruined her. But, John is my flesh and blood. I couldn’t let her take him the way she took Sophie.”

  The enormity of Isak’s confession rendered Ty speechless for a while. He looked over at the body on the cot. Covered in a white blanket, all that showed was the bruised, pale face of a man. Despite the tape and gauze covering his eyes, he looked perfectly normal. No hideous scars or pockmarks to suggest an evil soul. Short, groomed hair of salt and pepper, clean-shaven jaw…. Ty imagined that’s what made Rafferty so dangerous. A wolf in sheep’s clothing whom no one saw coming. “Does Rena know you’re Rafferty’s father?”

  “No.”

  Anger came in torrid waves, and with it, comprehension of Isak’s motivations. Ty dropped the man’s wrist. “She considered you family. She trusted you!”

  “I lost my son to Sophie a long time ago. Rena was in no danger from me, but she is also lost.”

  “Bullshit! You’re the one who gave her what was in that syringe, aren’t you?” He stood and threw a hand out indicating the man on the cot. “You’re no better than him!”

  Isak began to pant under the pressure of Ty’s accusation. “It was only a mild sedative, nothing dangerous,” he explained meekly. “She was staring at that syringe like she wanted to use it. Sleepy. Mumbling to herself. I suspect she’d been given some already, so I gave her the rest. Bought myself some time to get John out of there.”

  “So, you lied. About everything. You convinced her to rescue Rafferty from the others, not for some insurance policy, but because you wanted your son back.”

  “If you had children of your own, you would understand.”

  The rage intensified. No way was this man going to pull that parental bullshit on him. “I should pull these scissors and let you bleed out,” Ty snarled.

  As he paced out his anger, something else began to eat away at him. If Frost made the Plan B drug for Sophie, he’d know Rafferty was already a dead man. So, why the dramatic bid to extend his life and, therefore, his misery?

  He pinned the old man with a look of suspicion, but Isak had closed his eyes.

  “Keep still,” Ty instructed. “I’m going to check on something.”

  As soon as the fresh air hit him, Ty was once again searching for a signal. He dialed Melanie’s number. When she answered, Ty said, “I need Derek again.”

  Mel’s voice carried an odd ring to it. “He’s in the other room.”

  What the hell? “You two haven’t left yet?”

  “Um… you won’t believe this, but…” a brief pause, “something weird is happening with Crystal.”

  CHAPTER 16

  Austin brought the Camaro to a stop in front of a massive wooden gate, inciting a cloud of gravel dust to swirl in the headlights. “You sure this is it?” he asked hesitantly.

  When the dust settled, Rena stared at the big yellow caution sign before them. “This is it,” she whispered.

  “Why here?”

  From now on when you think of this place, I’ll be a part of it.

  Though her tormentor was surely dead by now, Rafferty’s words burrowed into her soul the moment she’d recalled them. And Rena wasn’t sure how long she’d survive, knowing he’d taken this from her, too. She glanced over at Austin, whispered, “I need to do something before I turn myself in.”

  His handsome face slid into an expression of shock. “You shouldn’t do that, yet.”

  The encouragement of his words convinced her she’d made the right decision. “It’s better this way. And, don’t worry, I’ll make sure no one is tied to my escape.”

  Austin’s big body shifted behind the wheel. “That’s not why. We need more time to gather the evidence to grant you a new hearing.”

  Eyes still burning from her last breakdown, Rena deadened her emotions enough to keep from falling apart again. Tears would do her no good. They never had in the past. “I can’t hurt anyone else, Austin. When I fought with Danny at the river, I thought I was high on something Rafferty had given me. But what I’ve done today… what I did to Sophie and that guard… to Isak….” She looked down at her hands as they lay slack in her lap. Hands that no longer seemed to operate under her command. “Something is very wrong with me.”

  “It’s not insane to want Rafferty dead, Rena.”

  No, but there was so much more to consider. Things she couldn’t explain like
the guiding voice in her head that almost always led her down a path of darkness. Rena looked up at him. His bold features were illuminated by the dash, and she dared to remember how things used to be. “I can’t seem to find my way back to the person I was.”

  Austin put both hands on the wheel and kept his eyes on the caution sign in front of them. Rena didn’t expect him to touch her or offer comfort. In fact, she was strangely okay with how things were, accepted the warmth between them as comfortable camaraderie.

  “You won’t ever be the person you were,” he said then looked over at her. “It’s an unrealistic goal. Your life will never be the same and you will struggle with the changes for a long time.”

  It all sounded so dismal. Rena nodded, closed her eyes and rested her head against the seatback.

  “But that doesn’t mean you won’t be happy again. It doesn’t mean you’re doomed to a life of hell. You’ll get through it and you’ll be a stronger person for it.”

  Her eyes opened as she considered the wisdom of his statement. “You sound like you’re speaking from experience.”

  His look turned thoughtful. “You know I am. What we had was something most people never find. I haven’t forgotten how good we were together and I felt your loss until my bones ached. I became a despicable person. Hopeless. Irredeemable. If I ever came across a prick like that, I’d beat the ever lovin’ shit out of him.”

  Her mouth moved with a small smile.

  “I felt like I was drowning in a frozen lake covered with ice,” he continued, “with no chance of resurfacing. But there’s always a crack in it somewhere, and it’s almost impossible to find on your own. It helps when someone else is looking for it from the outside.”

  “And, Danny found your crack,” she said with a touch of humor.

  “She did,” he agreed, his dark eyes going soft. “Took the sharpest object she could find—which was her tongue, by the way—and busted it wide open. I pulled her under a few times, but she was strong enough to rescue us both. For that, she will always be my hero and the love of my life.”

  The expected adverse reaction didn’t come which proved Rena had conquered at least one thing that day: her regrets over losing Austin. “That’s lovely,” she sighed, and immediately thought of Ty.

  Guilt infiltrated the brief feeling of peace in her heart. After all the sacrifices Ty had made, the chances he’d taken and all the times he’d come through for her, she’d repaid him with a knee to the groin. It was the last thing he deserved, but it was the only way she could stop him from making a huge mistake like committing murder. He was too good for that. So now she was left weighing the effects of her actions. Was his clear conscience worth Isak’s chest wound and a brief stint of testicular pain? Perhaps. But how many bridges could she set ablaze before Ty quit putting them out?

  “I’m ready to go now,” she said absently. “Is there any way I can convince you to leave me here?”

  His expression was wiped clean. “You think I’m going to let you out of my sight? Not a chance.”

  She laughed a little and reached for the handle. “Yeah, that’s what I thought.”

  But by the time Austin shut everything down and managed to pry his hulking body from the car, she was already gone. If anything valuable came from Rafferty’s teachings, it was how to slip away unnoticed.

  As Rena navigated the narrow pathway that would lead her to the hidden employee entrance, she heard Austin call her name, mutter a few choice expletives. He’d find the path eventually, but thick woods hid it well from those who didn’t already know of its existence. So, when she got to the secret door—which was small with a hand-sized hole in it—she reached through the hole, pulled the rope and lifted the latch on the other side. It pushed open and she silently hurried through, closing it behind her.

  Austin was trying the twelve-foot gate to no avail. Rena approached it from the other side and got close. Her voice cracked with emotion, “Now, it’s not on you.”

  The jiggling stopped. “How the hell did you get in there?” he growled.

  “With superior skill and cunning,” Rena explained with a haughty toss of her hair. “As usual.”

  Elsa’s wide ice-colored eyes gazed at her through thick glasses. “I want to go with you next time.”

  “No, you’re too young,” came the superior response.

  “So are you!”

  Rena sashayed down the hallway toward her room and taunted over her shoulder, “What happens if you fall? Daddy will kill me.”

  Elsa put her foot in the door, refusing to be shut out. “He’ll kill you if I tell.”

  Narrowing her look, Rena peered through the small opening. “You wouldn’t.”

  That impish smile appeared on her sister’s face and Rena knew she didn’t have a chance. “Shoot. One of these days, I’ll learn not to brag.”

  With a satisfied nod, Elsa removed her foot. “I’ll carry the flashlight.”

  Rena wordlessly moved away from the gate, leaving Austin and his demands for entry behind. As her journey began, she felt a bit like Alice, following the asphalt pathway in the dark through a strange world of muted color and peculiarity. Buildings, more dilapidated than she remembered, materialized out of the darkness. Weathered canvas occasionally moved with the slight breeze, producing noises that tested her frazzled nerves.

  The security guards hired to patrol the horror-themed amusement park had always been few and far between. She and Elsa had never been caught sneaking through it at night, but with her luck….

  Just let me do this one last thing. Then the guards can come.

  So much had changed over the years. The food vendors were different with the exception of a few. A large sign to her left boasted the entrance to a water ride that hadn’t been there before. The changes meant little to her since the one thing she came for was obviously still there. All one had to do was look up.

  And she did.

  Getting closer now, the hills and dips grew more apparent against the backdrop of carpeted stars. Then, suddenly, she was there. Standing just in front of the giant archway she and Elsa had passed by on a weekly basis as children; midnight intruders who wished to reach the stars on the highest peak around.

  Hell’s Hilltop.

  When the ride was built, it was boasted to be the biggest wooden roller coaster in the States. Since then, others had far surpassed it, but as it rested on the highest ridge for miles, its summit could be seen from far off… like a dragon dipping in and out of the thick green landscape.

  Only now, Elsa was not at her side. Her father wasn’t patrolling the twisted pathways as he worked the night shift. Her stepmother wasn’t sleeping soundly in her bed, or blissfully unaware that her daughters were out of the house.

  Everyone was gone. Even the Hilltop itself—the only physical thing left from her past—had been taken away from her since Rafferty had claimed it.

  It’s our hilltop, now, he’d said.

  And Rena was there to test that theory. To see if she could dream again and exorcise his memory from the one piece of her past that still existed.

  Bypassing the entrance to the ride, she jumped the chain link fence next to it. As she approached the lift house, memories invaded her thoughts. Elsa always needed a boost onto the tracks, but with a good five-feet-eight inches working in her favor, Rena hoisted herself up without a problem.

  To her right was the loading station with its rows and rows of partitioned lines. To her left were the dual stairways that flanked the lift hill. Turning left, she ascended one step, then another, taking her time on this last journey, relishing in the increasing winds that blew her hair with wild abandon.

  Subtly the air changed, its cool woodsy scent enhancing her memories like nothing else could. She drew it into her lungs, closed her eyes. Yes, this was real. Good. Absent of Rafferty’s influence. In fact, she could almost hear Elsa’s light footsteps behind her, following her lead to the highest peak around.

  The higher she went, the more the past b
ecame her present. Thighs burned, breathing became difficult. Her hand gripped the rail a little tighter to carry some of the load. She was way out of shape, her muscles having gone soft from lack of use.

  But it was still the same. The euphoria of nearing the crest brought with it a childish glee unique to anything else. If she were to go back to prison, it would be with the knowledge that Rafferty had failed. Hell’s Hilltop would forever belong to her and Elsa.

  It was in that moment Rena came to realize her options. Would it be cowardly to simply let vertigo take her? To stand on the railing, throw back her head and plummet to the earth in a conscious bid to avoid prison? Or should she stick to her original plan and face a punishment deserving of a crazed murderer?

  Whatever she chose, Elsa was there with her, the familiar footsteps of her tag-along growing louder in her memory. An echoing reminder that this was the place for dreams. This was as good as it got.

  When she reached the top, Rena took a deep breath, flattened her hands over the railing. Elsa had climbed it once; stood right there on that narrow plank of wood; went the extra distance to ensure her dreams came true… something Rena could not.

  “And I thought I was the daring one,” she sighed, rubbing the wood beneath her fingertips along the grain.

  “I’ve been told it’s not my best attribute,” said a voice below her.

  Rena jumped and spun toward the sound. A figure, small in stature, hair bundled at the nape stood on the steps, partially concealed by the curvature of the hill.

  For a split second, Rena’s heart soared. “Elsa?” But as the girl came closer, the crystal light of the moon revealed the truth. Disappointment killed her smile. “Danny.”

  A delicate brow went up. “You were expecting someone else?”

  “How on Earth—”

  “I don’t know,” Danny snapped, bracing her feet apart. “But if you try anything, Rena, I am way more comfortable up here than you ever will be and I swear I will throw you off this hill.”