The Last Word by Taylor Adams

Author:Taylor Adams
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2023-04-25T00:00:00+00:00

16

WHERE IS HE?

The green dry-erase marker trembles in her hand as she writes. She’s barely looking at the whiteboard; her eyes scan the darkness outside. Then she leans to her telescope, still aimed at Deek’s window. Pressing her face to the eye cup makes her feel achingly vulnerable. She hates sacrificing her peripheral vision.

In the curved glass, she finds Deek. He swivels his own telescope to scan left, then right. A long sweep, searching the grass. This worries her.

Where the hell is he?

The hairs on her arms prickle. She checks over her own shoulder—nothing in the room with her. Just the wind and the downpour, clearly audible through the broken window.

The broken window.

Moving fast, Emma tips her reading sofa over and pushes it—gasping with exertion—to block the empty window frame. The bearskin rug bunches up underneath. It’s more an inconvenience than an obstacle. When the author attacks again, he’ll easily push it aside. But this will make noise. Emma will hear it. She’ll know where the attack is coming from and she’ll have a few seconds to act.

It’s a razor-thin advantage, but it’s something.

In the faraway window, she can see Deek has paused his search. He grabs his marker.

GARAGE, he writes.

Somehow it’s scarier to know only the author’s general area. Like he’s immaterial, omniscient. She wonders how he’ll describe the night’s events in Murder Beach. Will he cast himself as a perfect, infallible predator? Will he gloss over Emma’s small victories?

Now Deek points left.

BACKYARD

He’s moving. Circling the house.

Emma hates communicating like this, but it’s the only option left. The killer can read a whiteboard, too. He might already be eavesdropping.

She senses the author’s motives have changed. The stakes have escalated. The dead FedEx driver will soon be reported missing. H. G. Kane is operating on a ticking clock now and he’s probing the house for another entry point, deciding on his next angle of attack. This means that right now, while he’s focused on Emma, is Deek’s best chance to escape. Once he realizes there’s another witness involved (if he hasn’t already), he’ll be forced to kill again.

TAKE YOUR JEEP, she writes to her neighbor. DRIVE, GET HELP.

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