The Hunt by Kelly J. Ford

Author:Kelly J. Ford [Ford, Kelly J.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-07-24T23:00:00+00:00

KAOK NEWS TWITTER UPDATE

“No comment.”—Nora Holcomb when asked about the video featuring her daughter, Nell Holcomb, running naked and screaming through a casino. Nora is also the mother of Garrett Holcomb, the alleged—and unconfirmed—first victim of the Hunter.

Fifteen

NELL

Tuesday, April 12

Afternoon

Five days before Easter

Nell had been inside the stand-alone casino convenience store–slash–gift shop, tossing Combos into her mouth while fixing a large coffee to stay awake, when she first learned that she’d gone viral. She’d slept in her truck on Sunday and Monday night, hoping Casino, the woman, would return to the scene. The casino seemed as good a place as any to find her, unless Casino was the Hunter. Then maybe she was waiting in the parking lot, too, watching Nell, waiting for an opportunity to strike. At least Nell wasn’t at home, and neither was Elijah. It turned out to be a blessing that he was staying with a friend for his school project. She had texted him again the previous day to tell him to stay away from the house. Roach infestation, she’d lied. The exterminators were there. But really, she’d been thinking about how she’d woken up that one day and thought she heard someone in the house. Maybe it was Casino. Or someone else. Maybe they were hunting her or Elijah.

Nonsense, she’d thought, but it hadn’t stopped her from avoiding the house and ensuring Elijah did too.

At least in the parking lot, Nell was near people. Maybe they’d hear her scream if necessary. She had bought herself a pair of cheap binoculars, training them on everyone who pulled up in the parking lot and everyone who left the casino. She’d barely left the parking lot since the security guard had asked her to leave. The only time she left was to move the truck now and then in case she looked suspicious and to get something to eat from the convenience store. She was in the middle of tasting the cream-to-sugar ratio of her coffee when the midday news came on the TV behind the cashier. She was barely paying attention, blowing on the coffee and wondering if she’d ever find that woman again.

“Hey,” the cashier, April, an Indigenous teenager, said. Nell had gotten to know her over the past twenty-four or forty-eight hours. She liked her. “Isn’t that you?”

Nell looked up to see her pointing at the TV and then pointing at her. She edged closer to the counter and stared at the TV. It was like an out-of-body experience, watching a person who looked like Nell running through the casino in nothing but her socks, yelling unintelligible words. Over the past couple of days, she’d worked hard at repressing that memory while keeping the one regarding murder at hand. She’d been damn near close to getting her embarrassment mostly out of mind. But there she was on the TV. For all the world to see. Or at least Presley. But that was all the same to Nell.

She blinked and blinked, trying to reconcile the image on the screen with what she remembered.

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