east, south, north and west. She spent a while exploring, then carried her backpack upstairs to the room she’d decided would be hers for the weekend. The east bedroom, so she’d be woken by the rising sun in the morning. She dumped her stuff on the bed and then changed into her running shoes, trotted back downstairs and headed outside to discover the tracks Angela had said wound for miles through the woods.
Erin was in training for that November’s Route 66 Marathon, which she’d entered to help raise funds for the Desert Rose Trust, the youth education charity she worked for and of which Angela was president. As she jogged along the sun-dappled track that skirted the lake, she thought about the employer who’d become her friend. Angela had never really confided in her, but Erin got the impression that she and her husband lived somewhat separate lives. They were rich, of course – unimaginably rich, at least by Erin’s standards, with a fabulous mansion in north Tulsa. But even rich folks had their problems. Angela’s husband was often off somewhere or other on ‘business’; Erin wondered whether Angela might be seeing someone else on the side, someone who could make her laugh and treat her with a little more warmth. There had only ever been tiny hints, but women noticed these things.
Erin enjoyed her long run through the lakeside woodlands. At thirty-three, she was in the best shape of her life, an achievement that made her feel proud. Returning to the cabin as the sunlight was fading, she showered, changed into soft lounging-around clothes and then spent the evening doing just that. Angela had said to help herself to whatever was in the fridge, but Erin ignored the well-stocked drinks cabinet.
After a light meal and a couple of hours’ reading and exploring the CD collection, she turned on the alarm system the way Angela had instructed, then padded contentedly upstairs to bed. She fell asleep gazing at the moonlight through the trees and listening to the soft noises of the woods in serene anticipation of the weekend ahead.
She was deep in a pleasant dream when she awoke suddenly. It wasn’t the rising sun on her face, greeting her at the start of a fine new day.
It was the sound of voices. The room was still dark. It was still night. She checked her watch. Nine minutes to two in the morning. She sat rigidly upright in the bed, suddenly alert, heart beating fast. She strained to listen.
She hadn’t imagined it.
The voices were coming from inside the cabin. From downstairs.
Frightened but quickly gathering her wits, Erin scrabbled out of bed and reached into her backpack for the compact Springfield nine-millimetre that her daddy had given her: one of the former security guard’s two gifts to his only daughter before he’d died. His comfort as he left this world had been that she would always be able to look after herself. Always have a backup, was the motto he’d drummed into her from when she was a little girl. Erin had honoured that by learning to use the pistol effectively and safely and keeping it near her, always loaded.
Clutching it now, she sneaked out of the bedroom and onto the landing, crouching to peer through the wooden railing. She shrank herself down as small as possible, almost too afraid to look. Her heart was thumping so loudly, she was scared it would give her away to whoever had entered the cabin.
The open-plan space below was all lit up. From her vantage point in the shadows, Erin had a clear view of the whole living area, as well as the open doorway leading out onto the veranda.
There were four men inside the cabin. One was standing with his back to her. He was tall and broad and silver-haired, wearing a tan sports jacket, chinos, loafers. The second and third were standing by the window. Younger men, maybe late thirties, lean and serious-looking, one with dark hair cropped military-style and the other with a thin blonde ponytail. Both wore jeans and T-shirts.
The fourth man Erin could see was short and heavy, with black curly hair and a beard. He’d made himself comfortable in one of the cabin’s plush armchairs.
What was happening? How had they got past the alarm system? If they were burglars, Erin thought, they were pretty damn relaxed about it. The large silver-haired man had already served out cut-crystal glasses of liquor from a decanter and was heading back towards the sideboard to pour one for himself.
It was as he turned round that Erin recognised his face.
She heaved a sigh of relief and her fingers relaxed on the grip of her handgun.
It was Angela’s husband. Of course! She should have known that large, imposing figure anywhere. He and his guests were talking business, but Erin couldn’t make out much of the conversation. She was suddenly too busy worrying about what the hell she was going to say to explain her presence here at the cabin. Angela obviously hadn’t told him it was being used by one of her employees. What would his reaction be? Embarrassment, probably. Irritation. Annoyance. Perhaps outright anger. But she couldn’t very well just hide up here out of sight in the man’s home.
She was about to make her presence known – come what may – when the situation downstairs suddenly changed.
Angela’s husband abruptly set down his glass and signalled to the two younger men by the window. Instantly, without a word, they also put down their drinks and stepped quickly over to where the bearded man was sitting. Before he could stop them, they’d grabbed his arms and turfed him out of his armchair. He sprawled on the rug. Then it got worse. Calmly, almost casually and out of nowhere, the two produced expandable batons, the kind the cops used, that telescoped out to full length at the flick of a wrist. The bearded man’s cries and protests were swiftly silenced as they began raining brutal blows on his head and body.
‘Not here,’ Angela’s husband said. ‘Get him outside.’
Erin watched in growing horror as the two hard-faced men dragged their bleeding victim to the door and out onto the moonlit veranda. The bearded man tried to struggle to his feet.
That was when it got worse again. She almost let out a scream as she saw the short-haired one take out a pistol from a concealed holster. Two loud stunning blasts filled the cabin as he shot the bearded man in the left knee, then in the right. The boom of the gunshots was followed by a howl as the victim crumpled and rolled in agony on the veranda.
The silver-haired man simply watched impassively.
Erin couldn’t believe what she was seeing. This was Angela’s husband!
Nobody would ever believe her … unless …
Erin scrambled back through the shadows into the bedroom. Grabbing her phone with a trembling hand, she activated the video recording function and crept back out onto the landing. If they saw her, they’d kill her. Even armed, she wouldn’t stand a chance against these men.
The bearded man was dragging himself across the veranda away from them, wailing in pain and terror as he clawed his way forward, one hand behind the other. Angela’s husband continued to watch, the way someone would watch a bug crawl across the floor. At his signal, the ponytailed man stepped up alongside the victim, took out a pistol and fired a deafening shot through one of his hands.
The wailing became a tortured screech. The other three men began to laugh. The other one shot him now, this time through the thigh. Then once more, blowing fingers off his other hand. The screaming became continuous.
Erin could hardly keep the tiny video camera steady in her shaking hands.
‘Hell with this,’ Angela’s husband said. ‘I’m tired of this prick’s hollering.’ He reached under his jacket and came out with a large shiny revolver that glittered in the moonlight. He thumbed
