Feral by Brian Knight Read Free Book Online

asleep.
    He dreamed again.
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    C harles let Gordon sleep and drove to Shannon’s house alone.   He didn’t plan on talking to her just yet; he wanted to make sure she was still there before he brought Gordon along.   He passed the house slowly, noting the empty driveway, and continued on for another block.   Then he parked and waited for a few minutes before getting out and walking back toward the house.   He watched every house along the way for signs of activity, for what he called the ‘neighborhood watch mentality.’   One concerned neighbor could put the kibosh on this little preemptive excursion.
    This was not the normal order of business for him; being forward with people was his business.   If he spied out every potential witness or source he used beforehand, he would never have time to work a case.   Something was different about this one.   There was a deviation to the pattern that he did not trust.   His query always killed in waves, nothing for a few months, then several in a month’s time before he moved on again.   Shannon’s family had been done almost as an afterthought to the Oregon killing spree.   Then nothing for three months, until a few nights ago, and another one last night.   Before then he hadn’t even been sure it was their killer.   The method fit his profile, but the timing was wrong.
    Shannon Pitcher’s case was a deviation, and deviations made Charles nervous as hell.
    No one seemed to notice him walking down the street to Shannon’s house, or if they did they didn’t care.   There were no curious faces pressed to living room windows, no weekend gardeners who’d forgotten about a half-weeded row of petunias.   Charles guessed it was simply too damn hot to be nosy.
    He turned up the walkway to Shannon’s house without the slightest hesitation, and when he found the door locked, he dug in his trouser pocket for his lock pick.   Charles wasn’t an expert lock picker, but he could get into most places if he needed to.   If the locks were old it was usually easy.   It took him half a minute to open the front door and slip unnoticed into the empty home.

Chapter 10
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    C harity sat alone in the playground for almost an hour, first on one of the rusty, creaking swings, then on the edge of the old sandbox, the one where they had found the girl’s body.
    The one I landed in last night , Shannon thought with a shiver.   Something in there tripped me; something was playing with me the way a fat house-cat plays with a mouse—not because it’s hungry, but because it’s enjoying the game .
    Nothing happened today though; the park was still decrepit, forbidding, but not the predator that had tried to kill her the night before.
    Shannon and Jared watched Charity from a bench in the weed-infested green, not knowing what to do next.
    Finally, with a great and heartbreaking sigh, Charity rose and left the playground.   They met her just outside the gate, the spot where Shannon had found her earlier.
    â€œNothing?” Shannon asked.
    Charity shook her head, made a small noise, but didn’t speak.
    Jared, hot, hungry, out of patience with the girl, said, “What did you expect, Peter Pan and the Lost Boys to fly down and whisk you away?”
    â€œI don’t know,” she said defensively.   “Something was supposed to happen.   I dreamed about it.”   She looked back into the playground, her expression a blend of fear and longing.   “I dreamed about it.   The kids who live there told me if I came here the Bogey Man wouldn’t be able to get me again.   I think that’s why they came here, to keep their bad people from getting them.”
    â€œBullshit!” Jared yelled, startling his sister out of her thoughts.   Charity was not startled, did not flinch back from him.   She crossed her thin arms over her chest and glared at