Final Touch by Brandilyn Collins Read Free Book Online Page B

telling the truth?
    “Whose cabin is it?”
    “A friend of mine.”
    No, not two men. “Does he know we’re coming?”
    “Sure. But he’s already in Montana, waiting for us. He left the electricity on so we could use the place.”
    “You mean he’s someone in your community?”
    “Yeah. Me and him are like brothers.”
    Could a monster like this care for someone like a brother?
    Suddenly the word us registered. I turned my head to stare at Joshua’s jowly profile. “You mean he knows you’re bringing me? ”
    Joshua snickered. “He knows I’m bringing a wife.”
    But did he know Joshua had kidnapped me?
    My mind churned. I stared out my side window, thinking. Maybe some neighbor near his friend’s cabin would see us. Maybe they’d recognize my face. Surely my kidnapping had been on the news by now.
    Joshua smirked, as if he knew what I was thinking. “No neighbors around to bother us. Besides, in this area people mind their own business.”
    My chin lowered. I stared at my lap.
    Why, God?
    It didn’t make any sense. In the last year, I, then Mom and Dad, had become Christians. We were trying to live right. Why would God let this happen? And worst of all, Joshua was doing this in God’s name.
    A lightning bolt ought to burst out of heaven and strike him dead.
    We hit the end of the exit. Joshua turned right onto a two-lane highway. Full blackness descended, not one other car in sight. The Explorer’s headlights cut through the thick dark like swords. We might as well have been on Mars.
    Never had I felt so isolated.
    And what would happen when we reached the cabin? When Joshua didn’t have to drive?
    I pulled my arms against my sides and tried to breathe.
    “We’ll be there soon,” Joshua said.
    Terror kicked around inside me. My eyes squeezed shut. I focused on the lull of the car, wishing for sleep. Telling myself this wasn’t real.
    After some time the Explorer slowed. My head jerked up. Joshua turned left, and our tires popped over gravel. Trees lined the road on either side. Then a clearing. Our headlights washed over a two-story log cabin surrounded by weedy grass. A simple detached garage. Joshua pulled up next to the garage. “Stay here.”
    He slid out of the Explorer, leaned down, and pulled up the garagedoor. It rolled open with a grating sound. Joshua returned to the SUV and drove inside. He cut the engine. “Let’s go.”
    The garage fell into darkness. Not even a window in the place to let moonlight through.
    I couldn’t move.
    He opened his door and glared at me, a message to obey. The overhead light in the Explorer had flicked on, washing down over his face. I stared back. In an instant I took in the beady brown eyes and round, pudgy face. Fat lips. A buzz cut.
    My brain flashed on pictures I’d seen of that face. The memory jolted me.
    No, no.
    Dear God, don’t let it be him.

15
    T hree thirty in the morning, Rayne and Gary were on their knees in the mansion’s library. Rayne’s legs were going to sleep, but she hardly noticed. She couldn’t rest. Couldn’t do anything right now to help find Shaley. But she and Gary could pray.
    Brittany and the rest of the band members were in their bedrooms, giving Gary and Rayne some time by themselves. Not one of them had wanted to leave Rayne’s side. She knew they weren’t sleeping. Ed Schering had hugged Rayne a short time ago, before straggling upstairs to his suite. Al was on the phone in the TV room. The man never stopped. He was either on a call or taking notes or conferring with the local sheriff’s deputies who’d come in and out every hour.
    “God, please help us find her. Soon. ” Gary’s voice sounded raw and cracked. He pressed close to Rayne, one arm around her back. He’d broken down and cried more than once as they prayed. “Be with us during our press conference. Let someone who sees it on the news lead us to Shaley.”
    The press conference was scheduled for ten o’clock in the morning. Rayne and Gary were