‘Hold up. Who’s Nikki?’
‘Someone I thought I could trust. I think she and Greg were involved in the murders of Eric Daniels and Sally Fredericks. It’s—’
‘Greg, the manager? You think he killed Eric and Sally, and now you think he has Ryan and Frankie? Why would you—’
‘I know it sounds mad. But I’m telling you, he’s insane. Nikki told me all about it. He believes that the Hollows are home to the spirit of this woman who befriended them when they were kids. That the Hollows have to be protected from outsiders. Nikki didn’t finish telling me everything, but I think that’s why they killed the teachers. They’d been trying to frighten people away by carrying out all these pranks around the campground but it wasn’t working. So they decided they needed to do something more extreme. A ritual murder. Something that would ensure no one wanted to come and stay here again. No parent would want their kids coming to stay here.’
He stared at me, open-mouthed. He and Connie were supposed to be the experts on the murders. This was blowing his mind. ‘Whoa . . . wait. So Everett Miller didn’t do it?’
‘I don’t know. I think he was involved. Nikki said there were three of them. She was Fox, Greg was Crow, and I assume Everett was Goat.’
‘And now these kids, Buddy and Darlene . . .’
‘They were wearing the Fox and Goat masks. They’re Nikki and Everett’s replacements, it seems. But Nikki’s helping him too, presumably because Greg has told her she needs to do it to protect herself from being found out for her role in the 1999 killings. Her job was to get me out of the way while they took Frankie and Ryan. And this whole thing – the notes and the abduction of our kids – is because I was getting close to the truth. I was going to expose Greg and ruin his plans before he could—’
‘Murder someone else?’ said David, finishing my sentence. ‘Carry out another ritual? Holy shit – our kids! He thinks if he does the same thing again it will have the same outcome. Hollow Falls closing down.’
‘Yeah.’
David faced the windscreen. The trees swayed in the morning breeze.
‘But why would he wait?’ he asked.
I was scared of the words I was about to speak, but forced them out. ‘I think maybe the notes are a stalling tactic, giving him time to get away.’
‘You think they’re already dead?’ He shouted it.
‘I don’t know.’ Realising I was shouting too, I forced myself to lower my voice. ‘Can you think of any other reason why he would wait? It’s not, I don’t know, the anniversary of the original murders today, is it?’
‘No. That’s not till next week.’
Of course. He and Connie had already told me that.
‘Then what—’
But David wasn’t listening. He started the car.
‘What are you doing?’ I asked.
‘What the fuck do you think I’m doing? I’m going to find him.’
‘But the instructions. The note says more will be coming today.’
‘You said it yourself, they could already be dead and these notes are designed to make us sit here on our asses, doing nothing. Well, I’m not doing that when he could be killing Ryan and Frankie right now.’
The car was moving, accelerating through the resort. We were adjacent to the lake. A woman jogging along the path had to jump out of our way, her shock turning to fury in the rear-view mirror.
‘Where are we going to go?’ I asked as we sped out through the gates of the resort, leaving the WELCOME TO HOLLOW FALLS sign behind. In a way it felt good, a relief, to go along with someone else’s plan.
‘Do you know where he lives?’ David asked.
‘No.’
‘It shouldn’t be a problem. Everybody knows everybody around here, right? Tell me exactly what Frankie told you again, about when she went to find Buddy and Darlene. Did she describe where they went?’
I thought back, forcing myself to concentrate, to peer through the swirling chaos in my head. ‘She said they paused to take photos of the junkyard, then walked to Main Street. They met Buddy and Darlene somewhere in between.’
I gave him directions and he turned left towards Penance. The sky was overcast, the morning sticky and unpleasant, like we needed a storm to clear the air. I checked the time. Almost ten.
The road cut through the trees. We passed a dead creature, its fur matted with blood. I wasn’t sure what it was. A beaver? There was more roadkill up ahead. I tried not to see it as an omen, but it was all getting to me. These woods, the image of Frankie tied up in some dark room somewhere, terrified.