Page 103 (1/2)

CHAPTER ONE

Route 149

Caldwell, New York

Behind the wheel of her ten-year-old car, Jo Early bit into the Slim Jim and chewed like it was her last meal She hated the fake-smoke taste and the boat-rope texture, and when she sed the last piece, she got another one out of her bag Ripping the wrapper with her teeth, she peeled the taxiderer side There were so s like it down there, you couldn’t see the floor mat

Up ahead, her ane pine trees that had been li toothpicks out of the trunks She hit a pothole and bad-sed, and she was coughing as she reached her destination

The abandoned Adirondack Outlets was yet another commentary on the pervasiveness of Amazon Prime The one-story stripthe two long sides bearing the rens with nahosts of colass, there was no merchandise available for purchase anye card for at least a year, only hardscrabble weeds in the cracks of the pro the site Likewise, the food court that united the eastern and western ar soft serve or Starbucks or lunch

As a hot flash cranked her internal te all the way down March in Caldwell, New York, was like winter in a lot of places still considered northerly in latitude, and thank God for it Breathing in the cold, damp air, she told herself this was not a bad idea

Nah, not at all Here she was, alone atfor her employer, the Caldwell Courier Journal Without anyone at her new apart up for her Without anyone on the planet ould clailed corpse when it was found from the smell in a ditch a week from now

Letting the car roll to a stop, she killed the headlights and stayed where she was No ht All black But without any illumination from the heavens, her eyes strained at the darkness, and not because she was greedy to see the details on the decaying structure

Nope At the moment, she orried she was about to provide fodder for True Cri to get her attention by running the point of a carving knife over her skin—

Her stomach let out a howl and she juain Passing by the three Sliht-up Hershey this time, and the efficiency hich she stripped thatwas a sad comry and not because there wasn’t food in her belly As always, the only two things she could eat failed to satisfy her gnawing craving, to say nothing of her nutritional needs

Putting up her , she took her backpack and got out The crackling sound of the treads of her running shoes on the shoulder of the road see over a cold Like her sense of sh? And as the last time she’d considered that possibility outside of a milk carton check

She really needed to give these wild-goose chases up

Two-strapping her backpack, she locked the car and pulled the hood of her windbreaker up over her red hair No heel toeing She left-right-left’d it, keeping the soles of her Brooks flat to quiet her footfalls As her eyes adjusted, all she saere the shadows around her, the hidey-holes in corners and nooks forotcha hich ame of keep away until they were ready to attack

When she got to a heavy chain that was strung across the entry to the pro lots that ran down the outside of the flanks No one in the center area forle Not a soul on the road that she had taken up to this rise above Rt 149

Jo told herself that this was good Itto jump her

Her adrenal glands, on the other hand, informed her that this actually meant no one was around to hear her scream for help

Refocusing on the chain, she had so over it and proceeded on the other side, she would not come back the same

“Stop it,” she said, kicking her foot up

She chose the right side of the stores, and as rain started to fall, she was glad the architect had thought to cover the ays overhead What had been not so s center with no interior corridors could survive in a zip code this close to Canada Saving ten bucks on a pair of candlesticks or a bathing suit was not going to keep anybody warh to shop outside October to April, and that was true even before you factored in the current era of free next-day shipping

Down at the far end, she stopped at what had to have been the ice crea a triple decker cone by its hoof on theShe got out her phone

Her call was answered on the first ring

“Are you okay?” Bill said

“Where a”

“It’s in the back I told you that you have to go around back, remember?”

“Damn it” Maybe the nitrates had fried her brain “Hold on, I think I found a staircase”

“I should come out there”

Jo started walking again and shook her head even though he couldn’t see her “I’h to the rear I’ll call you if I need you—”

“You shouldn’t be doing this alone!”

Ending the connection, she jogged down the concrete steps, her pack bouncing like it was doing push-ups on her back As she botto lot—

The stench that stabbed into her nose was the kind of thing that triggered her gag reflex Roadkill… and baby powder?

She looked to the source The atedin tornado alley Half the size of a football field, with garage doors locked to the ground, she i equipment as well as blowers, mowers, and snos

The sole person-sized door was loose, and as a stiff gust froht out of a George Romero movie—and then the panel immediately slammed shut with a clap, as if Mother Nature didn’t like the stink any more than Jo did

Taking out her phone, she texted Bill: This smell is nasty

Aware that her heart rate just tripled, she walked across the asphalt, the rain hitting the hood of her windbreaker in a disorganized staccato Ducking her hand under the loose nylon of the jacket, she felt for her holstered gun and kept her hand on the butt

The door creaked open and sla out of the pitch-black interior Sing through throat spas and not because there ind in her face

When she stopped in front of the door, the opening and closing ceased, as if now that she was on the verge of entering, it didn’t need to catch her attention and draw her in ER ONE