Chapter 26 - Back to the Mill
I didn't hesitate. I sprinted back to my truck, tires spinning gravel across the driveway as I slammed the gearshift into reverse and tore down the logging road toward town. The speedometer needle climbed past eighty miles per hour, the truck drifting around the wet coastal curves as I pushed the engine to its absolute limit.
My mind raced through a dozen nightmare scenarios. How did they get past the perimeter? How did they know I’d left the house?
Eleanor didn't come to my shop to threaten me, the realization hit me with sickening clarity. She came to pull me away from the cabin.
When I reached the timber mill district, the streets were pitch black. My workshop sat at the end of the block, its rusted iron double doors slightly ajar, a faint line of amber light spilling out onto the wet asphalt.
May you like
I cut my headlights a block away, killed the engine, and coasted silently to the curb. Drawing my pistol, I stepped out into the damp night air, moving like a shadow toward the side entrance of the warehouse.
The smell of fresh pine was gone, replaced by the acrid, unmistakable odor of gasoline.
