Midnight Fear Read Online Free PDF Page B

Sophie and her husband, Rob, were the nearest neighbors to the Rambling Rose stables, which in the Northern Virginia countryside was still a good three miles away. Apparently, word of the horse killing on her farm had spread quickly through the rural township.
    “Who would do such a horrible thing, and all the way out here?” Sophie fretted. “The poor thing’s head was nearly severed. Honestly, we left D.C. to get away from all the crime.” She paused, then added awkwardly, “Sorry, Caitlyn. I didn’t mean—”
    “It’s okay,” Caitlyn assured her. Since her arrival some eighteen months earlier, Sophie was the closest thing she had to a friend. Nearly a decade older than Caitlyn, she and her husband were childless and closely integrated into the local horse community. Rob was a successful architect who worked mostly from theirlarge, country estate home, and Sophie wrote children’s books. The couple knew about Joshua, of course, and had asked questions, but it hadn’t kept them from welcoming her into their home and wide circle of acquaintances. Caitlyn was grateful for their acceptance.
    “Are you sure you want to be all alone out there tonight? Ed Malcolm thinks it was some kind of cult—”
    “A cult comprised of teenagers, ” Caitlyn pointed out, not wanting the rumors that were flying around to get any worse. Still, the fact remained that someone had committed the brutal act.
    “Teenagers or not, the very idea of something like this is frightening. Rob wants to come get you. He insists, actually. You can stay in one of the guest rooms.”
    Wiping her hands on a dish towel, Caitlyn politely refused the offer, but not before agreeing to meet the couple the following evening in Middleburg for dinner. After saying goodbye, she replaced the receiver on the console and rubbed her hands over her upper arms to ward off the night chill. Although the radiators were on, the farmhouse was old and not blessed with the thick insulation installed in newer homes. A fire in the stacked-stone fireplace would be nice but Caitlyn didn’t have the energy or interest in bringing in kindling from the back porch. Instead, she poured a glass of merlot, went into the large living room and turned on the television.
    But her thoughts remained on seeing Reid Novak again.
    Two years ago, when he had first come to her asking for her assistance in proving her brother’s involvement in the murders, Caitlyn had been angry. But a part of her had also worried his suspicions were correct.
    “Joshua’s behind this, Caitlyn,” Reid had warned, the intensity of his conviction unnerving. “We’ve been able to link him to two of the five victims. That’s no coincidence, no matter how much your family would like it to be.”
    Caitlyn picked at the tassel of the throw pillow she held in her lap, the recollection enveloping her like a cold fog. Joshua’s connection to the two women was loose—one had taken a college course with him, and another had belonged to his gym, a large facility with hundreds of members. Still, considering his mental history, the revelation had been troubling. The FBI had interviewed him, the discussion setting off something that had put Joshua in their sights. But they had little else to go on, and not enough for a warrant.
    Help me look into him, Caitlyn. Before anyone else dies.
    In the end, Reid had gotten through to her. She’d used the key Joshua had given her to slip inside his Logan Circle loft apartment at a time she knew he wouldn’t be home. Her all-out search had ended when she came upon the spiral-bound composition book under a pile of clothes in the bedroom closet.
    What she read inside the notebook repulsed and terrified her. She’d been physically ill—vomiting in the bathroom sink, her stomach convulsing and her bonesnumbed by the handwritten journal detailing Joshua’s dark secrets, including some of the names of the dead women. The crude drawings accompanying the passages were worse, with