You Will Never Leave: A psychological suspense thriller

by Hinkens, N. L.

  "I’m just saying we shouldn't take anything at face value," Matt answered with a shrug. "What evidence do we have that any of us are telling the truth?"

  "For starters, you can learn a lot about a person from their environment." Blair wandered over to a shelf of books arranged by height and picked one up. "Let’s see what makes this guy tick." She flipped through it before carefully replacing it and glancing at the other titles. "Check these out: The Untold Stories of World War II, The Forgotten 500, The Illustrated World Encyclopedia of Guns, Gunsmithing Modern Firearms. Is this guy obsessed with World War II and weapons, or what?"

  Hazel frowned. "That’s a little unnerving. We should take a closer look around. Make sure there are no weapons lying about the place."

  Blair’s eyes met Matt’s. "Maybe it’s irresponsible of us to ask Rob to move in here. What if the owner returns in the middle of the night?"

  "Any reasonable person will understand once we explain the situation," Matt responded.

  "I still think we should search the place for weapons, just to be safe," Hazel said. "We can do our best to leave it as undisturbed as possible, but—"

  She broke off at the sound of the door opening.

  "What are you guys up to?" Sam asked, looking around the camper with an air of curiosity.

  "We’re thinking about moving Rob in here," Blair explained. "Looks like this guy’s a bit of a gun fanatic so we need to make sure there aren’t any weapons lying around first."

  Sam rubbed his brow. "What if the owner comes back?"

  "Then we’ll explain the situation to him," Hazel said. "If he’s a halfway decent human being, he’ll hardly turn his back on an injured man we dragged from the mud."

  With Sam's help, they conducted a cursory search of the camper van without finding any weapons, or anything else incriminating. Blair even dug through several neat stacks of paperwork to see if there were any photographs, but she found nothing linking the owner to the dead man.

  Matt clapped his hands to get everyone’s attention. "All right, let's wrap this up and get out of here." He turned to Sam. "Got everyone on board for our meeting?"

  "Yeah. I don’t know about Sandy, but everyone else is up for it."

  "I’ll head back over and figure out something for us to eat," Blair said, accompanying Hazel to the door.

  Matt nodded. "I’m right behind you. I’ll lock up here."

  To Blair’s surprise, Rob was sitting up at the dining table when she walked back in. She pulled off her rain gear, and hesitated by the door, wondering if she should wait for Matt, but the sight of Rob’s arm balanced awkwardly on the table assured her he wouldn’t be hard to incapacitate if he tried anything. She beamed at him in a bid to quell any lingering reservations. "You’re awake! How are you feeling?"

  "Hungry." He gave a sheepish grin. "I didn't want to help myself to your food without asking."

  "I’m going to make us something to eat right now." Blair walked over to the fridge and pulled out a few items while subtly keeping a close eye on Rob. She set out some salsa and chips, and then heated up some pre-cooked lasagna she’d defrosted the day before. "We checked out that unoccupied camper van next to Harvey’s and Sandy’s. It’s a tad musty, but clean and dry. We figured you could use it in the meantime. No one's been in there since we got here. I hate to speculate, but the odds are the owner got caught up in that mudslide and won’t be coming back."

  Rob shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "I keep wondering if my brother’s still out there somewhere."

  "I'm really sorry we weren’t able to go back out and search for him." Blair gestured to the window. "The weather’s not cooperating. In these conditions, there’s always the risk of another slide."

  Rob gave a grave nod. "He was farther back from the lake than the rest of us—in that hunting blind. It’s a long shot, but I haven't given up hope that he made it out alive."

  Blair twitched her lips into a sympathetic smile. "I wouldn’t give up hope either if it were my family."

  She glanced up when Matt came through the door and kicked off his boots. He walked over to the sink to wash up. "I reinstalled the locking mechanism." He sat down opposite Rob and reached for a chip. "That rig is clean and neat as a new pin. You'll be comfortable there."

  "Yeah, sure. Appreciate that," Rob replied.

  Blair dished out the lasagna and joined the men at the table. She toyed with her food, feeling somewhat guilty about eating it—wondering if everyone else had enough, and how many days their food would have to last. They might have to start rationing.

  "You’re quiet. What’s on your mind?" Matt asked, chewing on a mouthful of pasta.

  "I’m wondering how long we’ll be stuck here. I mean, I’m not worried that we're going to die of hunger or anything. I know as soon as we’re spotted SAR will make a drop."

  Matt nodded in agreement, but his eyes told another story.

  "What?" Blair prodded. "You don't think so?"

  He shrugged. "It's just that we're not in any flight paths up here in the mountains."

  "He’s right," Rob added quietly. "And the weather’s been too rough for backcountry planes. It could be several days before anyone realizes we're here."

  "Well, we're not going to starve in a matter of days," Blair said brightly.

  Matt grimaced. "No. But, the killer could strike again."

  10

  Blair studied the circle of somber faces in the trailer. Judging by their expressions, it was beginning to sink in just how dire their situation was. They were essentially cut off from the outside world with a very sick woman in their midst, a guy with a broken arm—potentially with internal injuries they were unaware of—and several men with short fuses and a propensity to throw their weight around. Not to mention the fact that the killer was still unaccounted for.

  Sam leaned over and muttered something to Matt before getting to his feet to address the group. "You’re all aware of how serious the situation has become. Matt’s confirmed that the road out of here isn’t navigable. At the same time, there's no reason to panic. We just have to sit tight, pool our resources, and ration our supplies until help arrives."

  He reached behind him and lifted a yellow legal pad and pen from his chair. "Let's begin by taking an inventory of our provisions. The most important thing is to make sure everyone has enough food and water for the next few days." He glanced down at his legal pad. "I've got half a case of water and enough energy bars and trail mix to last me for two or three days. I also have a large bag of dogfood so feeding Duke won’t be an issue. Probably should have done a better job of stocking up, but I was only planning on staying here for a night or two." He tilted his chin in Harvey's direction. "How are you and Sandy doing for supplies?"

  Harvey cleared his throat. "We've got a couple of unopened plastic water dispensers. Enough frozen food to last for the next couple of days, I reckon." He drew his brows together before continuing. "But that's not my main concern. If Sandy runs out of her medication, she might not make—" His voice wavered and broke off.

  Blair winced at the pain his slouched posture conveyed. It was hard to imagine he could be a party to faking his wife’s illness. And to what purpose?

  Hazel fixed a penetrating look on Harvey. "What medication is Sandy on?"

  He threw her a wounded look. "What difference does it make? We're stuck here and we're not gonna be able to get refills, are we?" He dropped his head into his hands with a heavy sigh.

  Blair leaned across and squeezed his arm. "We're going to get Sandy out of here as soon as we possibly can. You need to stay strong for her." She frowned across at Hazel, hoping she’d take the hint and drop it. Just because Hazel hadn’t found any medication during her cursory search of the RV, it wasn’t conclusive proof that it didn’t exist. Hazel had a tendency toward the dramatic—to be a bit of a conspiracy theorist as Matt had pointed out. She was jumping to conclusions.

  "What about you and Matt, Blair?" Sam asked. "How are your supplies?"

&
nbsp; "We have a few bottles of water left in the fridge and another case underneath the trailer. We could scrape by on food for several days. We’ve got canned chili, beans, and soup."

  "And I’ve got enough frozen dinners for the next few days," Hazel piped up. "Enough water too. Although it wouldn’t be a bad idea if we all start collecting rain water. Just in case."

  "Good idea," Sam said. He scribbled the information down on his legal pad, before turning to Logan and Whitney. "How about you two?"

  "We're out," Logan said abruptly.

  Sam frowned. "Out, out? Or do you mean almost out?"

  "What do you think I mean?" Logan scowled. "We’re out of everything. Our propane tank’s almost empty too."

  Whitney pouted at him. "Well, we’re not quite out of everything. We're down to our last bottle of water each, and we finished off our sandwich meat tonight. We have a few slices of bread left and a Hershey bar. Oh, and a bag of marshmallows."

  Sam tightened his lips and consulted his notes. "Nothing we can do about the propane tank. You should have filled that at the gas station. But we’ll get you two squared away with some more food and water."

  Harvey threw Sam a disgruntled look. "Why’s it up to us to feed them? It's not like they’ve contributed anything useful since they got here. If they want to eat, they need to get off their rear ends and do something."

  "Back off, old man," Logan hissed through clenched teeth. "We brought all the food we needed for the two nights we planned on being here."

  "It’s not our fault we’re stuck here," Whitney whined.

  "And it’s not my job to feed you," Harvey growled.

  "All right, calm down everybody," Blair said, raising a hand to get their attention. "This isn't about punishing anyone for not stocking up enough. No one could have foreseen the mudslide. I’ll fix Logan and Whitney up with food and water for tomorrow. We'll reevaluate our supplies after that and distribute more as necessary."

  Harvey folded his arms across his chest, while continuing to glower at Logan and Whitney.

  Matt glanced over at Rob. "We’ll give you some water to take across to the camper van. There’s enough food in there for a day or two."

  Rob dipped his head in acknowledgment. "Sounds good."

  "Moving on to another topic," Sam said. "The SOS is complete and I’m confident it can be seen from the air."

  "Is there anything else we can do? Does anyone have flares?" Hazel looked around expectantly, but, one-by-one, everyone shook their head.

  "We’re not going to sit around and do nothing in the meantime," Matt asserted. "Sam and I are planning to drive back out to the road in the morning to assess the possibility of climbing over the mountain to reach the highway and flag down help."

  "What about searching for survivors?" Rob asked.

  Sam raised his brows. "If the weather cooperates, we’ll try again tomorrow. That’s the best we can offer you."

  "We should talk about safety next," Matt said. "We still don’t know who or where the killer is."

  Harvey got to his feet abruptly. "I can't leave Sandy on her own any longer. This isn’t getting us anywhere." Without waiting for a response, he stormed out the door.

  Blair laid a hand on Matt’s arm. "Maybe we should call it a night. Everyone's frazzled. You and Sam can trade off shifts again tonight. It's not like we have much else to do tomorrow anyway so we can hammer out the rest of the details then."

  "All right," Matt conceded. "Get some sleep, everyone. We’ll continue this back here in the morning at nine."

  Blair got to her feet and proceeded to pack a paper bag with a few water bottles, two granola bars, instant rice, beans and a small bag of grilled chicken strips. "Here you go." She handed the bag to Whitney. "That should keep you two going for now."

  "Thanks," Whitney said, accepting the bag with a grateful smile. She exited the trailer and hurried down the steps to catch up with Logan, who’d left without saying goodbye to anyone and was yelling for her to hurry up.

  Blair placed three plastic water bottles in a paper bag for Rob and handed it to him. "That should tide you over for tonight. You need to keep drinking plenty of water to flush out your system."

  "I'll take you over to the van and help you get set up," Sam offered.

  "I’ll walk over with you two," Hazel said. "I want to check Rob’s vitals one more time."

  After they’d all left, Matt and Blair set about tidying up the trailer as best they could. The couch where Rob had been sleeping would have to be steam cleaned before they returned the trailer to Matt’s dad, but it was hardly a priority at the moment. Blair rolled up the dirty blanket, stuffed it into a trash bag and put it under the bed. Matt pulled out the hand vacuum and started cleaning up the crumbs and dried mud on the carpet, while Blair turned her attention to the dishes. When she was done, she headed to the bedroom. "I'm going to turn in. I’m wiped out."

  "I have the first watch and then Sam will take over," Matt said, joining her. He took her in his arms and hugged her tightly to his chest. "I know you’re worried about how all this is affecting me. We’ll get through this, Blair. One day, this will be nothing more than a black mark on the map that we can forget about."

  She smiled wanly back at him. She hoped he was right about that. Because the way things were going, it might be an "X" on the map that marked more than one grave.

  By nine-fifteen the next morning, everyone had gathered back in the trailer. Except for Hazel.

  Sam got to his feet. "I'll go over there and see if she slept in or something."

  Blair sipped on her coffee while making small talk with Whitney. "Do you have any of your wedding pictures on your phone?"

  Whitney blinked at her. "Uh, no. They’re … on my computer … at work."

  "Bummer, I’d love to see them. What do you work at?"

  Whitney's face flushed. "I'm … a teacher’s aide."

  Blair tightened her grip on her mug, allowing an uncomfortable pause to unfold. She got the distinct impression she was being lied to. "What age group?"

  "They're young. Preschoolers." Whitney gave a dismissive wave, her sleeve slipping halfway up her arm.

  Blair’s eyes widened in shock when she caught sight of the purple bruises on Whitney’s wrist. "Yikes! What happened to your arm?"

  Whitney stiffened, hurriedly tugging down her sleeve. She shot a quick look in Logan’s direction, but he was staring at his phone, oblivious to their conversation.

  “It’s nothing. I tripped on my way to the outhouse in the dark and fell on the trailer hitch." She lifted her travel mug to her lips and proceeded to take a long draught.

  Blair frowned down at her coffee. Surely the holding tank in Whitney’s trailer couldn’t be full already. But why else would she use the outhouse after dark with the possibility of a murderer at large? Unless … she knew the murderer wasn’t at large. Blair pulled distractedly on her lip, contemplating the ugly bruises she’d glimpsed. Was Whitney protecting Logan? It was a terrifying prospect, but not outside the realm of possibility. If Logan was violent enough to leave bruises like that on his new wife’s wrist, maybe he was violent enough to kill. His behavior had all the hallmarks of an abuser. Controlling and demeaning. And from the start, he’d kept Whitney as isolated as possible. But why would he have killed that man? What was their connection?

  A moment later, Sam burst through the door, startling everyone. "Hazel’s gone!"

  The hair on the back of Blair’s neck stood on end. "You mean … her trailer?"

  "No! I mean she’s disappeared!"

  11

  Blair’s heart thumped with fear. "How do you know she's not in her trailer? Did you go inside?"

  Sam shook his head. "The door’s locked. I looked in all the windows. She's definitely not in there. Maybe she went off into the forest looking for plants or something. You know what she's like."

  A dark look crossed Matt’s face. "I can't believe she’d be that stupid. What would possess her to take off on her own know
ing there's a killer out there?"

  He got to his feet and reached for his coat. "We need to find her. Everyone go grab your gear and meet me at her trailer."

  Blair turned to Rob. "Wait for us in the camper van. You're too weak to be searching for anyone else right now."

  After the others had dispersed, Blair pulled on her outerwear, locked the door behind her, and hurried down the road to Hazel’s trailer. Matt and Sam were already there, heads pressed to the glass as they peered through the windows. Blair tented her hands over her eyes and joined them, her gaze sweeping the interior, searching for any clues as to where Hazel might have gone. She made her way around to the back of the trailer and looked in through the large bedroom window that doubled as a fire escape. The bed was unmade, which seemed to fit with the theory that Hazel had spent the night there and gone out early this morning. But that didn’t explain why she hadn’t returned.

  Blair was about to walk back around to the front of the trailer to join the others when she noticed a small dent in the window frame. Tucking her fingers under it, she easily pried the window open. It struck her as odd that Hazel hadn’t locked it on the inside. Her hand brushed against the screen and she sucked in a sudden breath when it gave beneath the light pressure. Taking a closer look, she realized the screen had been slit on three sides and taped back to the frame with duct tape. "Matt! Sam!" she yelled, unable to stem the panic in her voice.

  Seconds later, the two men came running up to her.

  "What is it? Did you see someone?" Matt demanded, scanning the forest behind them.

  "Something’s not right," Blair said, motioning to the window.

  Sam inspected it, a grim look on his face. "It’s not torn. This was deliberate. Someone took a knife to the screen, and then tried to cover it up afterward."

  The knot in Blair’s stomach tightened. Her thoughts went straight to the body they’d found. "It must have been the killer!"

  "Don’t say that!" Matt cautioned her. "You’ll freak everyone out. No one's going to want to help us look for Hazel if they think the killer’s stalking us."