Snowball's Chance Read Online Free PDF

busy enough, she could keep the horrific memories at bay. Almost.
    She needed to focus on what had to be done now so she didn’t lapse into a full-blown panic attack.
    She’d been so tired. So terrifyingly debilitated by her terror for those hours with Dwight Treadwell, that she’d almost begged him to end it—
    â€œBeg me.”
    â€œGo to hell.”
    He positioned the paring knife just above her left breast and applied just enough pressure for the tip to pierce her skin.
    She gritted her teeth to prevent herself from crying out.
    He did it again and again, decorating her torso with a neat pattern of dots. Each dot burned like fire.
    â€œBeg me now, pretty girl,” he whispered, leaning close to her ear.
    â€œF- fuck you.”
    Stop. Stop. Stop!
    The tree. The tree still had to be finished. Three hours. Tops. The bedrooms were ready for the onslaught of guests, the mantels—oh blast it—except for the one in the small downstairs office, were done. That one would take at least an h—
    Good God! What the hell was she thinking? She jumped to her feet. Ready for action when there was no action to be taken. “We have to tell Denise to cancel the party!” Damn. Damn. Damn. The phone wasn’t working, and according to Joe, they couldn’t leave until the high winds and this snowstorm abated at least enough to make their trip marginally safer.
    She started to pace. It was a nice big room, and she lengthened her stride as her mind raced. “We have to contact the guests in the cottages. They’ll come with us when we go, of course, but we should warn them about Treadwell n—”
    â€œNo.”
    â€œNo?” She stopped pacing for a second. Had she taken all the flower arrangements from the mudroom to the bedrooms? She’d better check—She frowned at him. “No, what?”
    â€œNo, we are not hauling innocent people with us all over God’s creation. When we leave it’ll be at a moment’s notice. And just the two of us.” He rose, withdrawing a large, nasty-looking black gun from the waistband at the small of his back. It looked mean, and powerful, and as if it meant business. Very much like the man carrying it.
    Even with Joe and his big gun here with her, her body was taut with fear. Memories of Treadwell and what he’d done to her were as much a part of her now as her distinctive red hair. She counted her own heartbeats as Joe stood.
    â€œCome with me.” He picked up her girl gun and handed it to her. He waited while she tucked it into the elastic waist of her leggings, then started walking, clearly expecting her to follow. “I want to check all the windows and doors.”
    â€œSure,” she murmured absently, following him across the enormous room. She wasn’t much of a follower, but where Joe and that cannon went, so goeth Kendall Metcalf. “There are only two couples—”
    â€œI don’t give a damn whether they’re crickets I can stick in my back pocket. Nobody goes with us to slow us down. Conversation closed.”
    Conversation closed , she mimicked silently as she followed him into the dimly lit kitchen. The radio was still playing softly, and she went to turn it off to save the batteries as Joe checked the latches on the bay window overlooking the snow-blanketed front yard.
    She didn’t give a damn what he said. She had no intention of leaving four unsuspecting people here for that—that monster to find.
    Joe pulled the oak shutters closed over the black-and-white scene outside just as the lights flickered. They came on again briefly, then went out, plunging the entire house into pitch darkness.
    Treadwell exchanged the small paring knife for a big one, pausing only long enough to wipe the flecks of dried blood from his previous toy on her bare leg. She screamed in earnest when he started taking shallow slashes at her skin as he connected dots in an obscene scarlet geometric