You Will Never Leave: A psychological suspense thriller

by Hinkens, N. L.

  Shortly after six, Blair woke with a start. It took her a moment or two to orient herself and remember everything that had transpired during the night. She slid a hand across to Matt’s side of the bed, but his cold sleeping bag was crumpled up like a discarded snakeskin. Had he slept at all? Surely, he hadn't left for the SOS point without her. Stifling a yawn, she hurriedly unzipped her bag and rubbed her eyes in an attempt to wake herself more fully before tripping her way out to the living area.

  To her relief, Matt was seated opposite Whitney at the dining table, clutching an oversized mug of coffee. They glanced at her warily, as if she were a fragile creature who’d emerged from some kind of induced coma, which was exactly how she felt.

  She slid into the seat next to Matt and reached for his mug. After swallowing a mouthful of bitter black coffee, she handed it back to him. "You told her … about Rob, didn’t you?"

  "Yeah." Matt studied the surface of his coffee as though searching for inspiration. "I had to. It wasn’t fair to make her think we still suspected Logan. He couldn’t have put Rob’s body in the truck—he’s been tied up for the past two days."

  "I told you it wasn’t him," Whitney sputtered indignantly. "He’s not capable of killing anyone. It has to be Reed. Why else did he suddenly show up here? It's obvious he's been stalking the campground the whole time."

  Blair exchanged a look of alarm with Matt. If Reed really had killed Rob, the last thing they needed was Whitney accusing him to his face. "You can't go around saying that. We don’t have any evidence. And if it is him, we can't let him know we're on to him. If he’s that unhinged, he could kill us all."

  "But we have to tell the others that we found Rob's body," Whitney protested.

  "We will," Matt assured her. "But Blair’s right—we're not going to accuse anyone of killing him. We're going to act like we think the killer’s still out there stalking us—and he might be."

  "You and I should head up to the hiking trail and wait for the SAR drop before we break the news to the others about Rob," Blair said. "It’s only going to freak everyone out and stir up more suspicion. We need everyone to stay calm until we’re rescued." She fixed a solemn gaze on Whitney. "That means you have to keep your lips sealed until we get back. We can't risk anything happening while we're gone. Remember, Reed has a gun and he knows how to use it. He might have a whole armory in that safe beneath his bed, for all we know."

  "Okay, okay, I get it." Whitney drained the rest of her coffee and got to her feet. "I need to get changed."

  "You can use our bedroom," Blair offered.

  "Thanks," Whitney said, grabbing her bag and retreating to the back of the trailer.

  A loud rap on the front door startled them. Matt reached for his gun. "I'll get it." He ducked down and cracked open the blinds to peer out. "It's Sam."

  He pulled open the door and a maniacal-looking Sam tumbled inside with Duke still on the leash. He tossed a distressed glance at Blair and then returned his attention to Matt. "I’ve got bad news," he hissed.

  Matt held his gaze. "Rob?"

  Sam gave a sharp nod. "He’s dead."

  Matt gestured to the dining table. "Sit down. We already know."

  Sam slid onto the bench opposite Blair, his face blanched of color. Duke lay down at his feet and rested his head on his paws. Blair’s nostrils twitched at the unpleasant smell of damp dog hair that filled the air.

  "We discovered Rob’s body last night," Matt said. "We went over to Logan’s truck to see if the tennis shoes could have been Sandy’s. How did you find him?"

  Sam rubbed his calloused hands together. "I was walking Duke around the backside of the campsites. He kept straining on the leash when we went past Logan's truck. I thought it was odd because we walked by there yesterday and he was fine. On a hunch, I opened the tailgate." Sam furrowed his brow as if trying to erase the memory. "I can’t believe it. What do you think happened?"

  "That's what we’re trying to figure out," Blair answered. "It's possible Rob never went to look for his brother at all. The killer could have written that note. Or maybe he crossed paths with Rob while he was searching."

  Sam frowned. "It must have been Reed."

  "We can’t jump to any conclusions," Blair objected. "He’s not the only suspect."

  "Do you know how Rob died?" Sam asked.

  Matt pressed his lips together. "Strangled, just like the other guy. The killer used Rob’s sling."

  Sam winced. "So it was a crime of opportunity. A random killing."

  Matt and Blair exchanged a knowing look.

  "Maybe not," Matt said, lowering his voice.

  "What are you getting at?" Sam’s gaze zigzagged from Matt to Blair.

  "Keep your voice down," Blair urged. "Whitney’s in the bedroom."

  "Don’t say anything to the others, yet," Matt muttered. "But I think the elderly man we found strangled is the man in the wedding photo with Sandy."

  Sam’s eyes bulged. "What?" he mouthed, casting a harried look in the direction of the bedroom. "Do you think Harvey killed him?"

  Matt pinched the bridge of his nose. "It’s looking that way."

  "That means Harvey—if that’s even his name—has been lying to us about everything," Sam said. After a beat of silence, he added, "If he killed Sandy’s husband, maybe he killed Rob too."

  "It’s possible." Blair wrinkled her brow. "I remember Rob remarking once that he thought he knew Harvey from somewhere. He might have mentioned it to Harvey and spooked him."

  Matt rubbed a hand over his jaw. "Blair and I are going to head up to the SOS and wait for SAR to return. Harvey could have been lying about not being able to find the drop. We need to make sure we intercept the next one and get a hold of a radio."

  Sam frowned. "Should I tell the others about Rob?"

  "Not yet," Matt cautioned. "Wait until we get back."

  He got to his feet just as Whitney resurfaced.

  "Are you guys leaving now?" she asked.

  Blair nodded. "Make sure you lock the trailer door after us. Sam will keep an eye on you while we're gone."

  After donning their rain gear, Matt and Blair followed Sam and Duke outside and down the trailer steps. They froze at the sound of a booming voice. "That’s far enough!"

  Standing on the other side of their truck was Reed, aiming his rifle directly at them.

  "Easy, man!" Matt said, positioning himself in front of Blair, one hand ready to draw his gun. "What’s going on?"

  "You’re a pack of liars, that’s what!" Reed thundered back. "You said you had nothing more to hide. All this time you were hiding another body."

  Blair’s heart pounded in her chest. "Please, put down the gun, Reed. Let's talk about this."

  "Not until you start talking. Who is he and which one of you killed him?"

  "If you mean the body in Logan’s truck, he was one of the hunters camping up by the lake when the mudslide struck," Matt explained. "He was the only survivor, as far as we know. He recognized you—said you came by their camp."

  "We put him up in your camper van," Sam added. "He left a note to say he was going to look for his brother two days ago. That was the last we heard of him—until his body showed up last night. We’ve no idea how he got there."

  Reed scowled. "I put him there. I found him in a shallow grave beneath the brush at the back of my campsite." He panned his rifle slowly over them. "The bodies are piling up around here. One of you is a killer."

  "You don't know that," Sam countered. "Someone could be stalking the campground—picking us off."

  "Why should I believe that?" Reed sneered.

  Blair stepped toward him. "Do we look like serial killers to you?" She gestured to the others. "We’re just a bunch of stranded campers. We came here to hike, relax, and enjoy the occasional fire pit conversation. And then the nightmare began. So you can either work with us to find this madman and stop him before someone else dies, or you can hold us hostage and take your chances against him on your own."

 
; There was silence for a long moment before Reed lowered his weapon. "So what's your plan, or do you even have one?"

  "Matt and I are heading up to the SOS point to wait for SAR," Blair said. "Sam knows a bit about how they operate. He’s confident they’ll attempt another drop with a radio."

  "In the meantime," Matt added, looking directly at Reed, "You can help us out here by guarding the perimeter and keeping everyone safe." He hesitated before adding, "And making sure everyone stays put in their rigs until we get back."

  A flicker of curiosity in Reed's eyes told Blair that he’d picked up on some underlying connotation in Matt’s words. His eyes darted momentarily to Sam. Blair curled her hands into fists. He was homing in on the wrong target. Matt had warned her not to relay their suspicions about Harvey to anyone, but if they were valid, she needed to point Reed in the right direction before they left.

  Matt raised his hand in a parting wave as he turned to go. "We’ll be back as soon as we have an update."

  "I’ll check on Whitney after I feed Duke," Sam said, leading his dog back across the road.

  Pulse racing, Blair held Reed’s gaze as she walked by him and whispered, "It's not a stranger stalking the camp I'm worried about. Keep an eye on your other neighbor."

  Reed’s eyes darkened, and for a split second, Blair wondered if she’d done the right thing, if she’d trusted the right man, if her instincts had led her in the right direction, or into the path of the real killer. It was too late to retract anything now. He knew the stalker theory they’d fed him was bogus—that they suspected the killer was in the camp.

  "I can't help feeling somewhat guilty about leaving Whitney alone in our trailer," Blair said as she caught up with Matt.

  "She's as safe there as with us," he replied. "The killer struck on this trail before. He could do it again."

  They fell silent as they concentrated on navigating the muddy path leading to their only real hope of rescue. Blair pulled her hood tighter over her head to keep the rain from running down her face. There was a risk of ambush heading up to the SOS point, but staying put in the trailer was no guarantee they’d be safe either. One way or another, they had to make contact with SAR if they were ever going to get out of there.

  The boulders they had painstakingly hauled and arranged into an SOS were only half visible by the time they reached them. The unending rain had shifted more mud and debris, and only a broken message remained, an ominous reminder of how fragile their link to the outside world had become.

  "Could be an hour or two before SAR shows up," Matt said.

  "I say we look around and try and find the first drop," Blair suggested. "Survival kits are brightly colored—it's bound to stand out in this sea of brown. If nothing else, we’ll stay warmer if we keep moving."

  "We can try," Matt said sounding skeptical. "But the odds of us stumbling on it are slim to none."

  "You’re assuming it’s lost—that it fell into a ravine or something. I still have my suspicions that Harvey might have found it. If I’m right, it could be hidden under some debris."

  Matt zipped his coat up to his chin with an air of resignation. "All right. Let's do this."

  For the next hour or so, they picked their way through the mud near the SOS, moving aside brush and branches in a desperate bid to find the survival kit Harvey had claimed he couldn’t locate. Every few minutes, Blair cast a wistful glance up at the sky hoping to spot a rescue helicopter headed their way. Logic told her she’d hear the chopper blades before she saw anything, but she still found herself searching the sky almost as much as the mud below.

  "This is hopeless," Matt moaned, kicking at an uprooted bush. "Let's get out of the dirt and find somewhere to sit."

  Blair continued to sweep her eyes left and right as they made their way back out of the mudslide area. She lifted up random piles of brush in passing and peered beneath them, hoping against hope to glimpse something neon, but to no avail.

  Matt gestured to a downed tree up ahead. "That’s as good a spot as any."

  As they approached, Blair noticed an unnatural-looking clump of mud beneath one of its branches.

  Heart thudding in anticipation, she quickened her pace. "Look at this, Matt!"

  Hunkering down next to the strange mound, she quickly brushed off some of the dirt and confirmed what she’d suspected—beneath the mud was a well-camouflaged neon orange bag.

  30

  Blair exchanged a knowing look with Matt as he dropped to his knees next to her, an expression of utter disbelief on his face. "You were right," he said, in a shocked whisper.

  "This confirms everything we suspected," Blair replied. "Whoever that man in the RV is, he’s not the real Harvey Ross."

  Sobered by their discovery, they got to work at once brushing the caked mud from the canvas survival bag. The heavy-duty zipper was thickly coated with dirt and it took several attempts before Matt managed to yank it halfway open. Blair took over and rummaged haphazardly through the assorted medical supplies, rations, blankets, and water, searching for any communications equipment.

  "No sign of a radio," she said tersely, her search growing increasingly frantic as her fingers scraped the bottom of the bag. "Surely they wouldn't have made a drop without leaving us an emergency radio."

  "It has to be in here somewhere." Matt tugged the zipper open the rest of the way and started pulling out the contents of the kit, examining each item in turn and tossing it to one side. "Look at this," he said, holding up a laminated card. "It lists the contents: band-aids, fishing gear, aspirin, water receptacle, compass, hand saw—" Sucking in a sharp breath, he came to an abrupt halt.

  "What?" Blair demanded, glancing across at the card in his hand.

  "According to this, there’s supposed to be a survival radio and a locator beacon in here." He locked eyes with her. "Harvey must have taken them."

  Blair's pulse thudded wildly in her temples. She turned her attention back to the canvas bag and rooted around inside it one last time, just to be sure. But there was nothing in it that could be used to contact SAR—not even a single flare. She sat back on her heels and blew out a frustrated breath. "What do you think he's playing at?"

  "I don’t know for sure, but he’s very much in control of the situation now," Matt said, sounding grim. "We need to get back to the campground. The others could be in danger. For all we know, he might be armed."

  "What if SAR returns?" Blair asked. "One of us needs to wait here. It's more important than ever that we get help as soon as possible."

  "We can’t split up," Matt said. "Either we both stay here or we both go back."

  Blair stared at the survival kit, torn between their options. They had a responsibility to warn the others that Harvey was dangerous—that he’d deliberately sabotaged the attempt to rescue them. At the very least, they had to make sure no one was left alone with him. Thankfully, they’d shared their suspicions with Sam. He would make sure Whitney was safe until they got back. And now that they had evidence of Harvey’s deception, they might be able to enlist Reed’s help to take him down by force.

  On the other hand, Blair was tempted to stay where she was, knowing that SAR might show up at any minute. "Maybe we should wait here for a little longer," she suggested. "We desperately need to contact the sheriffs. We know they've seen our SOS and they're coming back. It’s only a matter of when. They’ve probably been trying to contact us on the radio all night."

  Matt scrubbed a hand over his jaw, a worried gleam in his eyes. "That’s what I’m afraid of. What if Harvey's already been in communication with them? They might have given him rescue instructions—directed him to another area where they can make a landing. If that's the case, it's imperative we get back to the campground and make sure he doesn't go anywhere without us. Right now, he’s our only link to the outside world."

  Blair pressed her lips together, contemplating Matt’s words. "You’re right. He might have told them he's the only survivor, for all we know. SAR could land and pick him up a
nd be gone again within minutes. We’d better get back and keep him under surveillance."

  "We can't let him know that we found the survival kit," Matt warned her. "We need to pretend to be disappointed that SAR didn't show up again this morning."

  "Let's get this survival bag zipped back up and out of sight," Blair said. "Just in case Harvey comes back to check on it for some reason."

  They hurriedly threw everything back inside the waterproof bag and shoved it underneath the tree branch, then slathered it with mud to camouflage it again as best they could. The rain was coming down heavier than before, and visibility was severely hampered as they fumbled their way back toward the hiking trail, single file through the mud, Matt taking up the rear as usual. Blair kept up a steady pace, desperate to return to the campground and let the others know what they’d discovered.

  All of a sudden, Matt’s feet slipped out from under him and he let out a surprised yelp. Blair swung around to try and grab him, only to find herself face-to-face with an unsmiling Harvey holding her startled gaze in a deadly stare.

  31

  Blair took a shaky step backward eying the crowbar in Harvey’s hand as her brain registered what had happened. Matt hadn't slipped on the muddy, root-ridden trail—Harvey had attacked him and knocked him out cold with a vicious blow. She opened her mouth to scream, but nothing came out. Either that, or the heavy rain was drowning out her desperate cry for help. Her brain sounded an inner warning that finally made its way down to her legs. She turned to run, but in a flash, Harvey overpowered her and shoved her to her knees in a muddy puddle. He stuffed some kind of a rag into her mouth and zip-tied her hands behind her back.

  "Make a move and you're dead," he hissed, his heavy breath vibrating in her ear.

  Her shoulders shook as she watched him roughly pat down Matt’s motionless body. With a satisfied grunt, he removed the gun from the concealed carry waistband. "Figured as much, him being military and all."