The first image that popped into Lyla's mind was the figure that they had seen yesterday, the apparition that had waved at them through the clearing. Had he come back? Had he been following them all this time? Every wedge of shadow and dapple of sunlight that danced through the forest drew her attention.
But then another equally horrifying thought occurred to her. Had someone seen Jack's car up on the road and then decided to climb down the hillside to investigate? Could Jack and Lyla have been under surveillance by detectives Morales and Steiger?
Her heart pounded. How could she possibly explain to the police what they were doing? She had talked her way around the detectives' questions in the past, but this time she would be caught red-handed, attempting to retrieve Keenan's body. That meant one thing. Lyla and Jack would be going to jail.
The breeze intensified, thick with leaves and debris. She narrowed her eyes into tight slits. The wind howled as it ripped through the foliage and skipped and screamed across the rock wall.
And all at once, everything went still.
"I got him!" came Jack's jubilant voice.
She tiptoed to the edge. He had extricated Keenan's body from the narrow fissure. The corpse's limp arms dangled.
"Be careful," she called.
She was overcome by the sensation that someone stood directly behind her. Lyla wheeled around to find no one there, her breath knotted in her throat. She felt a presence watching her from the shadows of the forest, the intensity of those eyes like the sun burning her skin. She peeked down at Jack.
Please hurry.
Jack knelt beside the corpse. He had untied the rope from his waist and was now threading it beneath Keenan's body. For a brief moment, he lost his balance. He grabbed for the rope, jostling the body.
"Oh, my God." Lyla gulped.
He rolled Keenan onto his side and maneuvered the rope under the corpse's armpits. With the body secured, he tied a knot at Keenan's chest.
"Ready?" He called to Lyla.
She was more than ready. She felt a growing sense of impending doom as though some evil force had silently rolled down the hill like a thick mist, and was moments away from enveloping her.
"Ready!" She responded, her mouth bone dry.
When Jack reached for the corpse's green jacket, Keenan's wild eyes popped open. An involuntary reflexive action jolted Jack backward. He lost his balance, clutching desperately at the air.
She watched in horror as he tumbled backward gaining speed, and disappeared over the edge of the rock face.
"JAAAAAAAAAACK!" she shrieked.
No response.
"JAAAAACK!" she shouted louder.
The blackbirds cawed from the boughs of a tall tree mocking her and took to the air.
Lyla fell to her knees, crippled with grief, sobbing uncontrollably. "Oh, my God. Please. No."
In her hands, she held a rope. At the other end of the rope was the corpse of Keenan Ames. And somewhere down in the ravine, far below, lay the broken body of Jack Bentley.