The Bakersville Dozen

by Kristina McBride

  Hannah’s eyes locked on mine, her hair swinging wildly in her face. “What are we waiting for?”

  “You have to go,” Wes said, pressing the familiar square envelope into my hands. “Take this. Don’t lose it.” His lips turned down at the corners and his eyes darted from me to the woods. The moonlight added a silver sheen to his skin, reminding me of every night we had spent together last summer.

  “Wes, I—”

  “Go!” he shouted, his hands pressing against my back. “Now.”

  I did. I ran with all the strength I had inside of me.

  Hannah followed close behind.

  Our feet pounded the ground.

  Branches stretched across the path like switches, stinging my skin as I raced on.

  All the while, the eerie tune twined through the trees, following our steps, a clear reminder of the person threatening to take away everything I had ever loved.

  CHAPTER 25

  11:32 PM

  I sprinted around the final bend, bursting through the trees and into my backyard, my hand gripping the red envelope tightly. Hannah’s Escape was parked at the end of the drive, glistening in the light of the moon. Struggling to suck in enough air, I turned just as Hannah emerged from the darkness of the wooded trail.

  “We did it,” I said, breathless as I folded the envelope and tucked it into my back pocket.

  Hannah bent at the waist, placing the camera on the ground and bracing herself with her hands on her knees as she gasped for air.

  “You okay?” I asked.

  “I really have no idea anymore,” Hannah said. “That scene back there at the cave? It did not feel real, B.”

  “I know. I wish it wasn’t, but we can’t do anything about that right now. The guys are still out there. We have to help.”

  “Help?” Hannah asked, the buzzy vibration of an incoming message fuzzing out the word. She pulled her phone from her pocket and glanced down at the screen. “How are we supposed to—Ugh. It’s my mom. I missed her check-in call and she’s freaking out.”

  “How did you miss a check-in?” I asked. “Check-ins are the ticket to what little freedom we have left.”

  “It wasn’t scheduled, okay? I talked to her before we ordered the pizza and she was fine. Besides that, I was in a cave with two dead bodies when she called. I felt my phone vibrating, but I didn’t think it was her. I gotta hit it, like, right now.”

  “You can’t,” I said. “We need to find the guys. We need to get them out of there.”

  “And how do you suggest we do that?” Hannah asked, tucking her phone away and reaching down for the camera. “Going back out there could put us in the direct line of the killer.”

  “What about them?” I asked, terrified by the thought of something happening to either of them. “We’re talking about my brother and Wes. We have to drive to the trailhead closest to the pond. If we park where Tripp did and head in, it’ll take us directly to the pond.”

  “No way. They’re out there because they wanted to give us the chance to escape. If the killer didn’t kill you for going back out there, they would.” Hannah handed me the camera and started to back-step away, her feet swishing in the silver-tinted grass. “I’m sorry. I love you, but I can’t.”

  I watched her go, feeling lost and abandoned as she pulled her driver’s side door open and slipped into her car. The engine surged to life and the Escape began to roll, tires crunching and spitting up gravel as Hannah disappeared between my house and Wes’s.

  I looked down at the camera, my finger grazing the power button as I stepped away from the trailhead. And then I heard the unmistakable sound of footsteps and the snapping of brittle twigs.

  My mouth went dry.

  A cold sweat slicked my skin.

  I wanted to run, but I saw movement through the trees, a flicker of white darting from the left side of the trail to the right. I almost called out for help, but the footsteps pounded toward me, so I pressed myself into the shadows against the rough bark of the nearest tree.

  He sprinted past me a moment later, straight into my backyard. I didn’t get more than a glance, but I knew who it was. I always did when it came to him. But why was he here instead of back at the pond with Tripp?

  “Bailey!” he shouted, his voice shaking. He glided through the rustling grass as if he were skating on silver ice, speeding across the yard. “Bailey? Where are you?”

  As he leaped up the steps to the back deck, my eyes darted to the light in the kitchen window. I thought of my parents, tucked into their bed, sleeping peacefully after I replied to my latest check-in. They were ignorant of the dangerous game I’d been playing. But they would know everything if I didn’t stop Wes. Then they’d try to stop us. And someone else might die.

  “Wes!” I shouted.

  He swiveled, his hand raised, ready to pound on the back door.

  I was halfway across the lawn by then, the camera clutched in my hands, my hair streaming behind me. “Stop! I’m right here!”

  His shoulders sank, and I could hear the rasp in his voice as he called out, “You’re supposed to be inside. Why the hell aren’t you—”

  “Hannah just left.”

  “Like, left left?” Wes jumped from the deck into the grass, grabbing my hand and pulling me into the shadow of the sweet gum tree.

  “She missed a check-in. Her mom was freaking out.”

  “But she’s safe, right?”

  I nodded.

  “Listen Tripp’s on his way back. After we circled the pond the music stopped. We didn’t find anything, so we split up; he went to his car, and I came on foot to be sure you and Hannah weren’t still in the woods. He should be here in a few.”

  “Good,” I said. “I want us all home. I want this night to be over.”

  “Before he gets back, we need to talk.” Wes pulled the camera from my hands and settled it in the grass, next to the tree.

  “About what?” I asked. “We don’t have any secrets from Tripp anymore.”

  “We need to talk about us.”

  I shook my head. “The thing between us is over.”

  Wes ran a hand through his hair. “What if it shouldn’t be?”

  “Because you’re back in town again and want a little action?” I stepped farther into the shelter of the tree, closer to him, even though everything inside of me was screaming to pull away. “Just like winter break, right? News Flash: I’m not your toy, Wes.”

  “I could never think of you like—”

  “Really?” I stepped closer. “Then why didn’t you want to tell anyone about last summer?”

  “Because I didn’t want to deal with everything that would have come with us being together. We would have had my parents and your parents and Tripp all butting in. Not to mention Hannah. Who the hell knows what would have happened if everyone had gotten involved? Last summer was for us. Just us.”

  My mind was working too fast, tripping forward and backward and sideways, considering all the information I’d pulled together from the start of this hunt. “That sounds good,” I said. “Rational, even. But every time I think I can trust you, Wes, you do something to destroy that trust.”

  “You asked me to leave you alone after the Christmas party. I listened. I respected the fact that you were with Jude. That has to count for something.”

  “Were you angry?”

  “It didn’t feel good. But, even worse, I didn’t get to tell you how I felt. That I—” Wes’s eyes narrowed. “Wait. Do you think this is me? Do you actually think I could do this to them? To you?”

  “You’ve had opportunity,” I said.

  Wes leaned back against the body of the sweet gum, tucking his thumbs into the front pockets of his jeans. He looked me in the eye and tilted his head to the side, waiting.

  “You were at school,” I said. “Right before the Last Day Ceremony. You could have put the first clue in my locker. You could have taken that tiara.”

  “I was there picking up transcripts for an internship.�
�� Wes raised his eyebrows. “But let’s say I did those things. When, exactly, would I have had time to put the tiara on Leena’s head?”

  “If you hid it in the woods before you followed me,” I said with a shrug, “you could have put it on her head after we found her and grabbed that second clue. You were at least a minute behind me when we made our way back to the pond.”

  Wes snorted. “I thought I heard something in the woods that day. Someone, actually. I didn’t want to scare you, so I never said anything, but I stayed behind because I thought we were being watched. I thought, if I had the chance, that I might be able to stop the whole thing. Catch the freak who killed Leena and keep you safe.”

  “But you didn’t catch anyone, did you?” I asked. “And you didn’t keep me safe.”

  “No,” Wes said. “I didn’t.”

  “I don’t know about anyone else, but I know about you. You were right there, when I found Leena. If you’re behind this, that’s almost as good as an alibi. You put yourself in the center of the hunt from the very start. You made sure I’d need to rely on you.”

  “Fine,” Wes said with a shrug. “I’ll keep playing along. If I did that—set everything up so you’d find the clue and go running to the pond, and then chased after you, telling you I’d followed because I thought you were finally ready to talk—”

  “Finally ready? Wes, what is there to say after—”

  “If I did all of that, it means I also kidnapped five girls and hid them away for five months. Please share how you think I pulled that off.”

  “I know you came back to town a few times after Winter Break.” I was working to keep my voice steady. “It wouldn’t have been hard, really. They all know you. And you have a way of charming everyone you meet. You could have taken them.”

  “For the record, I stayed away from you when I came back to town because after the Christmas party, you made it clear that you wanted nothing to do with me.” Wes shook his head. “As for the girls you think I kidnapped, where do you think I stashed them? My dorm room?”

  “No idea. But everyone knows you pull off the impossible. Planning the most intricate schemes and—”

  Wes leaned forward. “Have you asked yourself why? What on earth would I have to gain from plotting something this twisted? From targeting you, of all people?”

  “Revenge?” I shrugged. “You’ve spent the last nine months partying your way through your freshman year. That counts as moving on. That’s exactly what I did with Jude. But you didn’t like that very much, did you? You thought I’d be waiting for you when you came home, ready to pick up where we’d left off.”

  “To be clear, I hardly moved on. I spent most of the time feeling awkward at parties because all I could do was compare every girl I met to you. And none of them measured up. Your visions of me screwing my way through the freshman class didn’t happen. But let’s keep going, because I’m curious about something. Say I was jealous enough to want revenge. How, exactly, does that lead to me plotting some scheme that involves you searching for a string of dead bodies?”

  “You hate that I chose Jude over you,” I said, feeling distracted. Suddenly, nothing about this conversation felt right. He had compared other girls to me, and none of them measured up?

  Wes bit his lip for a moment, looking at the ground. “I hate that you’re with Jude, sure. I can admit that.”

  “You hate it so much, you tried to ruin my relationship with him,” I said, my voice low, nearly a whisper. “The night of your parents’ Christmas party. You took me to your room because you knew I wouldn’t be able to resist. That I can never resist you. And then you had something to hold over my head.”

  “If I needed something to hold over your head, why haven’t I used it?” Wes asked, stepping forward, his eyes locked on mine.

  “You were angry after I left you. Angry enough to do a lot more than use me cheating against Jude to break up our relationship.” I shrugged. “You decided to do this instead.”

  Wes laughed. “That’s ridiculous and you know it. Taking you up to my room had nothing to do with blackmail. I pulled you away from everyone else because I missed you.”

  Wes closed the space between us in an instant, his hands gripping mine, his heat rippling through me, washing away all the anger and uncertainty. For a moment, it was just us, standing there looking right at each other, the sea green of his eyes pouring into me. And as many times as I’d sworn to myself that it would never happen again, all the old feelings came rushing back.

  “And if you’re serious about any of this—if you think I’m capable of kidnapping and killing multiple girls—why are you standing out here with me? Shouldn’t you be afraid?”

  I looked at him, the sadness in his eyes making me regret every accusation I had made.

  “You’re not afraid, B,” Wes said. “Because you know I would never hurt you. Ever.”

  I closed my eyes. Breathed him in. “But you did, Wes. You already did.”

  “I was going to explain,” Wes whispered. “The night of the Christmas party, I’d planned to tell you breaking up was a mistake. But we got caught up in each other first. I thought I had time, but then you told me it was over. You were gone before I had a chance.”

  He shifted, moving closer. I wanted him even closer. Desperately.

  Which is exactly why I pulled away.

  I slipped my hands from his, twisting away so he couldn’t read the desire on my face.

  He sighed. “I’m not the one behind all of this. I swear it.”

  “Right,” I said, tears filling my eyes. I believed him. But I’d been here before . . .

  We heard the sound of tires on the gravel, and both of us swiveled toward the driveway as Tripp’s Jeep crawled to a stop.

  “Call Hannah,” Wes said, leaning down to pick up the camera before taking a few steps away. “Make sure she got home okay.”

  I pulled my phone from my pocket as he walked to the Jeep, meeting Tripp as the driver’s side door swung open. Their voices drifted toward me, a familiar hum.

  As my eyes scanned the words of the text I’d missed, I sighed with the relief. Hannah was okay.

  HANNAH—11:47PM:

  SORRY I HAD TO BOLT. TEXT ME THE NEXT LOCATION AND I’LL MEET YOU GUYS THERE TOMORROW. LUV YA.

  I felt my nerves uncoil as I pictured Hannah snuggled under her yellow comforter, her hair spread out across her pillow.

  But it was more than that.

  It was Wes, too.

  His voice. The look in his eyes. What he’d said about his feelings for me.

  I knew it was a huge risk, but I actually believed him.

  CHAPTER 26

  11:11 AM

  “Thanks for coming with me.” Jude was sitting a few feet from the pond, his head hanging low as he tied a series of knots in a long strand of grass. “I almost drove past your house, but something made me pull in the driveway.”

  “I’m glad you stopped.” I wanted to sit by his side and be exactly what he needed me to be, but the emotions from last night with Wes were swirling in my head, mixed in with a fresh wave of guilt over what it all might do to Jude. I’d have to tell him the truth—that I had never gotten over my feelings for Wes—but being honest now, when he was so upset, seemed cruel. “I wouldn’t want you to be out here by yourself.”

  “Maybe it’s strange,” Jude said, looking up at me with a sad smile, “but I don’t want to leave her alone, which makes no sense because she’s not even out here anymore.”

  I shifted my weight from one foot to the other, taking in the way Jude’s body seemed to be caving in, crumbling under the stress of being the one to find Leena. In that moment, I hated myself for not calling the police when I found her. I could have protected him.

  But I had to protect the girls first. There was a big difference between finding a dead body and being one.

  “Wanna sit?” Jude patted grass beside him, his eyes squinting as he peered up at me.

  “Sure,” I said, folding my leg
s beneath me and settling down. In reality, it was the last thing I wanted to do. I was jittery and nervous. If I was honest, guilt was the real reason I’d agreed to follow Jude into the woods—after the previous night, I’d hoped to avoid this spot for the rest of my life—but that guilt was also the reason that I wanted to jump up and run away.

  “I feel like I’m losing my mind,” Jude said.

  I almost told him that I did, too. “You wanted to talk?”

  “Yeah.” He looked out over the water, his fingers looping the strand of grass over itself and pulling one end through the circle.

  The police tape blocking off the crime scene rustled in the breeze. For an instant, I pictured Leena there, standing among the flowers and notes and trinkets people had left, her ghostly hands gripping the yellow plastic strip, trying to get our attention.

  “I’m sure it’s been hard,” I said. “Being the one to find her. To see her that way.”

  “It was awful.” Jude’s voice broke on the last word. “She looked like herself, you know? Like she was just sleeping. In the moonlight, it was hard to tell that anything bad had happened to her. At least, at first. When I called her name and she didn’t move, I think I knew. But I didn’t want to believe it. I was so relieved that she was right there in front of me—I tried to wake her up, but as soon as I touched . . .” Jude’s voice trailed off.

  “You called the police right away?” I asked.

  “I couldn’t breathe at first with her lying there, her face turned up toward me. My mom thinks I had a panic attack. Anyway, as soon as I caught my breath, I called the hotline for the missing girls and ran back to the farm to meet the police. When the first cop car showed up, I brought them out here. But I refused to stay. I didn’t know where you were or if you were okay, so I made them take me back to Jonesy’s. I needed to be there waiting for you.”

  “You’re always thinking of me,” I said.

  “How could I not?” Jude asked with a sad smile. “You’re amazing, B.”

  “Did they start searching right away?” I asked, wondering if Jude had seen any evidence as the police investigated the area. I knew now that there was no chance the killer was going to let me find any of the girls alive. If I was going to catch him, I needed more to go on.