Hope almost slumped to the floor if Devin did not catch her.

“Who…” Her voice was caught in her throat and she swallowed as she stared at Carl’s body hanging by the rope.

“I don’t know,” Devin answered her unfinished question. “Not me, that I am sure.”

Hope shook her head. “No…who…who…”

“Killed him?” Devin guessed. “We don’t know so we better leave.” There was something in Devin’s voice that made Hope snatch her gaze away from Carl’s body and to his wary ones.

“You think you know, don’t you?”

For a second, his gaze wavered as he returned his eyes to Carl. “We can’t talk about this right now. We have to move now.”

Hope did not bother to identify the emotion she was feeling at that very moment. Her eyes returned to Carl, the man who had shown her evil in more ways than one for more than ten years. She had imagined his death hundreds of times, almost all of them in her own hands, but never ad she thought it would be this easy.

Whoever did this was more powerful than Carl, physically stronger.

And wiser.

Carl would never just let anyone in his home.

The person who did it had planned this beforehand.

Before she could think of who would have any reason to kill the bastard other than herself, Devin brought her back to her senses by saying, “Hope, you have to focus. We’re getting out now. Can you hear me? Look at me. Hope!” He shook her by her shoulders.

Devin could have killed Carl. Or maybe Devin knew something.

At that moment, she doubted if she had trusted the right guy.

Her eyes went to the familiar car from ten years ago parked behind Devin. The last time she was inside that car, she disappeared and found herself prisoner. How sure was she that she would not be gone for good if she climbed in there again this time?

She knew she had to make a choice.

“You’re probably having millions of thoughts right now, Hope and I know that one of them is whether you should trust me or not. Believe me, because I am also wondering why I should trust you. I have more reasons to doubt anyone. As far as I know, you are the only person in this house other than that dead man there capable of killing him. So why should I trust you, right? But I am taking the risk because I already blew up every possible chance of myself not getting killed tonight by helping you escape. You have your reasons to not trust me, and so do I. So why don’t we compromise and make sure that we can escape from this house alive?” He said everything in a rush.

She could barely keep up with his words, but she tried. And when she finally understood what he said, she asked, “What compromise?”

Devin went down on one knee to open his bag. “Here,” he said, handing her a knife. “Keep it. You can kill me with it if you want. While I keep this,” he said, showing her another knife of the same size.

“How do I know you don’t have any other weapons with you in there?” she asked.

“Devin stood up. “Search it. Search me. Search the car.”

Hope did just that, holding both the knife and the Swiss knife in one hand.

“We don’t have much time,” Devin told her as she finished searching the car, careful not to look at Carl’s body behind her.

Hope straightened to full height and eyed Devin with flat eyes. “You make one wrong move and I will kill you.”

A flash of irritation crossed the man’s face. “Should I remind you that I came here because you asked for my help? And if you remember, someone else drove his patrol car earlier. Was it me?”

“How would I know if you have a partner or something? How would I know it was your plan in the first place?” she challenged.

“I don’t see any reason why I would do it.”

Hope just looked at him. “Let’s go. Samantha and I are going to ride at the back. And my knife will be right across your throat if you make the wrong move.”

“That is not very advantageous on my part, but okay. Go get Samantha.”

Hope walked barefooted out of the garage and into the living room where Samantha was pressed against the wall, her eyes closed and her lips quivering.

“Samantha,” she said softly. “We are going now.”

Samantha opened her eyes and tears flowed down her cheeks. The girl gulped and nodded.

“But you have to close your eyes. There’s something in that garage that you should not see. I will guide you, okay?”

Samantha nodded once more and gripped her hand when she held it tightly.

*****

He did not tell Hope about the gun behind his back because he couldn’t trust her fully either.

She did not search him earlier and he thought he knew the reason behind that.

Hope hated touching him and he guessed she hated touching all men.

Devin watched Samantha’s sleeping form at the back of the car through the rearview mirror. The child’s head was resting comfortably on Hope’s lap.

But unlike Samantha, Hope was very much awake, her hand grasping the knife strongly, ready to slash his throat if needed.

He couldn’t believe he was in this situation.

Was it wrong of him to be involved in this mess?

Something was bothering him though. Who killed Carl?

He was almost certain Hope could not have done it despite what he said earlier. She did not appear strong enough to hang the sick bastard. She would have done it years ago.

Something inside him was telling him something he tried to ignore the moment the thought came to mind.

Maybe his enemies were closing in and they thought Carl was getting in the way so they killed him. Maybe Burton found out about Carl and told the enemies about him. He was the only one who knew about Devin’s interest in his neighbor. Could Burton be one of the bad guys? Was Carl one of them?

He knew his imagination was getting ahead of him, but then anything was possible at this point. Years ago, he never thought he would be in this kind of mess and now he was. It was even worse than what he had seen on TV or the movies.

He cleared his throat to catch Hope’s attention. They were speeding down the highway and out of town, as fast as the old car would allow. They didn’t have enough time. They were not even sure if the car was registered or not. And he was driving without a license. If any of the authorities would get their hands on him, Devin would not even have enough time to prepare his own funeral.

His enemies were fast and he had to get to their next destination fast. There was no turning back for any of them, even Hope and Samantha.

“So, let us say that both of us did not have anything to do with Carl’s death,” he said carefully, breaking the silence but at the same time careful not to disturb Samantha’s sleep. “Do you have any idea who?”

Hope looked like she didn’t want to hear anything from him at first, but she finally sighed and looked out the window. “I am still trying to figure that one out. I saw his patrol car drive out earlier.”

“I did not see it. I just heard it. I did not dare look out the window to check because I didn’t want him to get suspicious.”

“Then, if both of us are innocent, the one who killed him drove that car away.”

Devin met Hope’s eyes through the mirror. Something else was playing around his mind and he knew it was a long shot. “Does he have a twin?” he asked anyway.

Hope shook her head. “I don’t know. If he does, I never met him. I am one-hundred percent certain that the guy who kidnapped me ten years ago and the one who visited my room for the next ten years after that is one and the same. If there is anyone else like a twin in his life, I am not sure. He never talked about his family.”

“How about friends? Co-workers?”

Hope shrugged. “He did get phone calls that made him angry. It seemed that he didn’t want to hear from that person, but the calls kept coming. I am not sure. All I know is that he never told me anything.” Devin thought that if Carl was part of a group of crazy pedophiles and psychopaths, they might never find out. But the questions were helping his mind to think. “I was not even supposed to talk to Patty or Samantha. I was not even supposed to acknowledge their presence,” Hope continued.

“Patty?”

“The dead girl.” He heard a catch in her voice. “The one he had been digging out of that garden. I told you about it.”

Devin nodded and changed gear. “So, where’s the body?”

Hope met his gaze at the mirror once more. “I didn’t see it when I searched the car. You think the other guy took it with him?”

“You mean my partner?” he asked sarcastically.

“Yes, your possible partner.”

Devin shook his head. “I can’t believe I tried to help you and ended up being a murder suspect.”

“And a kidnapper if you make the wrong move and take us somewhere we don’t want to be at,” Hope added.

“Relax I will take you somewhere safe. Like you, I am at a loss. But unlike you, I may have more to lose because of this. But don’t worry, I won’t take you anywhere I won’t feel safe either.”

“Where is it?” she asked, looking out the window. Devin knew that she had been gone a long time, been a prisoner a long time to even remember everything from the outside world. Everything she was seeing must be new to her.

“Just somewhere safe.”

“What if I tell you we want to be dropped off the nearest police station now?”

“You told me you don’t trust anyone, especially the police.”

“I don’t trust you either.”

“Thank you for the show of gratitude,” Devin spat sarcastically.

“How about my mother’s house?”

Again, he met her eyes through the mirror. “Do you really want to involve your mother in this?”

Her gaze wavered and she looked out the window once more.

He shook his head because he was feeling incredulous. “I can’t tell you where I am going to take you. You better trust me, else I would be happy to stop this car and let you and Samantha climb out.”

A flicker of worry flashed across her eyes before they disappeared.

“But I doubt if you would want to do that. You and I both know that neither one of us really killed Carl. And surely he could not have killed himself and then drive the patrol car away, right? Someone did it and that someone drove the patrol car to finish Carl’s job of disposing the body. And that someone could be on his way back to the house by now if he had not already arrived. The questions now here are who could it be? And why would he bother dumping a dead body he did not kill in the first place? Why not just leave everything behind after killing Carl?”

“There could be a lot of reasons,” Hope answered quietly. “For all we know, it is all because of Samantha.”

Devin scoffed. “Yeah, right, because she is the new girl.”

“It just doesn’t make sense. It couldn’t be because of me because everyone now thinks I am dead. So no one would bother going after Carl to go after me.”

“Was that what you thought? That someone other than Carl was out to get you?”

Hope shook her head. “I am not sure. I am not sure of anything right now. Carl is dead. The main bad guy of my life is dead. It just doesn’t fit right. It just doesn’t feel right. Something bigger is happening here. I don’t know. Like I said, I am not sure of anything anymore. That includes you and Samantha. You both entered the scene and all of this happened. It is not just right.”

Devin could see her point. And she was right. There was something else playing in the background here.

He felt like they were one of the pawns in a chess game. Someone out there was playing a big game here. But which side were they playing on? His side or the girls’ side? Or was it both?

It was possible. There were people in his end who wanted him dead.

But as to Hope, no one was sure. Maybe Carl had other crazy friends who wanted him dead and wanted the girls in return.

That was one of the things they had to think about.

Who drove the car away? Why dump Patty’s body? Did the other guy intend to make Carl’s death look like suicide? If then, was he planning to dispose Samantha and Hope as well, or take them for his own gains? Was he paid to do it? If so, who?

There were a lot of who’s and why’s here and Devin intended to find out.

For now, the most important thing was to disappear for a while.

No one should know where they were or else they wouldn’t know who would end up dead next.

“Since you know my story, I guess I have the right to know yours too,” Hope said, breaking the silence. “What makes you think this happened because of you?”

“I didn’t say that.”

“You didn’t have to. I saw it in your eyes earlier. And what makes you think you have more to lose than us because of this?”

Devin met her gaze through the mirror for a second before he returned his attention on the road again. “I’ll tell you all about it once we get to our destination.”

He didn’t want to spend the drive answering questions. He was used to asking questions. Answering them was a completely different matter.