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CHAPTER 1

POCONO MOUNTAINS

NEAR BLESSED CREEK, PENNSYLVANIA

FRIDAY EVENING

IT WAS DARKER than Savich was used to, ith no city lights within fiftyin and out of bloated black clouds He rolled down theand sniffed the air Snoas coh to build a snoith Sherlock and Sean in the h the beautiful woods filled with spruce and pine to Lake Klister

Savich started singing one of his favorite country-western songs, written by his friend Jaht road with snowcapped boulders and stands of thick trees on his left and a guardrail on his right "A blahin’ till my belly hurt, till I--"

When there was a sudden pop, loud as a shotgun blast, he flung himself to the side in automatic reaction The pop was followed by the hard slap of rubber against the asphalt A blowout, a da wheel jerked in his hands as the car’s back end lurched wildly to his left He gently eased the car into the skid and let up on the accelerator, but the Subaru’s ed it into a snowbank Despite his seatbelt, his head sla hi was quiet Savich raised his head, shook it, hoped he hadn’t hurt himself, and slowly climbed out of the car The back driver’s-side tire had blown

All in all, he preferred the snowbank to going through the guardrail He buttoned up his coat, wrapped his scarf tight about his neck, and cleared snow from beneath the left front wheel Satisfied, he cliear in reverse The Subaru hardly hesitated, just backed right out, leaning heavily to the left Savich cliain and collected the spare tire and jack He called Sherlock, told her what had happened, told her he’d be about twentyfrom Lew’s Friendly Staples, in the small town of Blessed Creek, had spilled over Lew’s Staples, he thought, was really for tourists; Leas expensive, but his little store was open nearly 24/7 and that hat counted for everyone from out of town, that and the fact that the cabin where he, Sherlock, and Sean were staying for a long weekend was only ten miles away He picked up a bunch of wizened carrots off the passenger-side floor, for the snowman’s nose The quart of two-percentwatermelon, an unexpected find in the rocery store the size of his dining roo the microwave-popcorn box

He wasn’t about to clean it up now, but it didn’t look too bad, eable As he jacked up the rear end of the car, he thought the watermelon looked rather like the cabin they had borrowed froularly loaned it out to his friends and his college sons--it had taken theain

It didn’t take hi nut when he heard so He turned to see a wo directly at hi he couldn’t understand Her hair was long, dark, and straight, flying back as she ran Her face was stark white beneath the pale sickle of h the dark heavy clouds

She was still screa Words he couldn’t understand bulleted out of her ht It’s okay, you’ve found ht" He left his SIG in his belt harness for now She was so terrified she was heaving, speaking fast and high, hysteria srease "Theto kill ainst him Savich was startled for just a ently drew her close, patting her back She wasn’t wearing a coat, not even a sweater, only what appeared to be a light suainst her hair A young wohtened she would collapse if she didn’t cal She kept saying over and over again, her voice breaking, her terror sla hi to kill ot to helpspecific, no na more than what she’d said since she’d run out of the woods Her voice was hoarse now, but her hysteria kept building Her eyes were dark, wild and terrified