“Hold on for me, Macy,” he said. He could not lose her again. He would not.

As two nurses and a doctor burst into the room, Nevada tipped Macy’s head back, cleared her airway, pressed his mouth over hers, and breathed.

Macy was floating in the pool she had swum in with her father when she was five years old. On that clear day, she had ignored her father’s warning to wait, and she had jumped into the ice-cold water. The instant her head had slipped below the surface, she had kicked her legs, but instead of rising to the surface, she had sunk. She had realized then she’d made a terrible mistake. Sunlight had glistened on the water’s surface above her, and all she could do was watch it slip farther away as she had sunk.

Like then, her body was weightless now. The rigidity had dissipated from her muscles. Her knee didn’t ache. She wasn’t worried about being an agent. She felt good. At peace.

She’d been here before.

And just like before, she knew she didn’t belong here, no matter how serene it felt. She wanted to be back in the sunlight. She wanted to feel the sun on her face, the challenges of life’s struggles, and love.

A hand reached into the water, and if she wanted to live, she would have to fight hard to reach it. She thrashed her legs and arms, determined to rise on her own. As she wrestled her limbs upward, the distant sounds of alarms blaring and Nevada shouting her name greeted her.

Nevada. She wanted life. And she wanted Nevada in that life.

“Clear!”

A jolt of electricity rocketed through her body, snapping through sinew and bone and propelling her upward. She kicked harder and felt her fingers skim the edge of the water. Her heart faltered. Beat once. And then stopped.

“Clear!”

Another shock rocketed through her heart. It beat once. Then twice. And then a steady, calm rhythm. A hand gripped her fingers and pulled her hard, yanking her into the light and the warm sun.

Macy sucked in a breath. Over and over she sucked air into her lungs, until she realized there were no more fingers wrapped around her throat. Her jaw ached and her ribs throbbed, but she was alive.

Nevada gripped her hand as he called her name again. “Macy! Look at me. Look at me.”

Bossy. He sounded so damn bossy.

The defibrillator’s high-pitched sound ramped up again, and she felt someone hovering beside her.

She pried open her eyes and was greeted by the blur of faces hovering over her. Her entire body ached, but she was so happy to be back. She angled her face toward Nevada. When she saw all the worry and relief colliding in his dark eyes, tears burned in her own.

The doctors prodded and poked her. A cold stethoscope pressed against her chest, and someone was thumping the vein in her right arm to start an IV line.

“Macy!”

“I’m back.” Her throat was raw and it hurt to talk. “Where’s Matt?”

“He’s fine. The doctors are with him.”

“He saved me,” she said.

“I know. The kid is amazing,” Nevada said.

The nurse again pressed a stethoscope to her chest and listened to the strong beat of her heart. “Do you know your name?”

“Macy Crow.” Her voice sounded rough and gritty.

“How many fingers am I holding up?” the nurse asked.

She squinted at the fingers inches from her face. “Three.”

A needle pricked her arm, and she felt the cool saline solution roll through the tube and into her vein.

“Let’s get her up,” a doctor shouted.

As she was hefted onto the padded gurney, her blouse lay open, her body exposed to everyone around her. There was nothing like coming back from the dead and then making an entrance.

Nevada shrugged off his jacket and covered her chest. She smiled up at him. As far as she was concerned, she could be in Grand Central Station with a parade of marines marching past.

She was alive.

And that was all that mattered.

EPILOGUE

Two Weeks Later

Macy stood in the living room of the house where Nevada and she had found Bennett. Forensic teams had collected hair, blood and fiber samples, and preliminary evidence that proved Beth Watson had been murdered here.

Crews were also searching the land outside the house. Kevin had coded at the hospital, and though the staff had tried to revive him, he’d died. His death left law enforcement with the task of piecing together his violent spree.

Bruce Shaw’s body had been the first to be discovered. Dumped in a ditch, it had been hastily covered with sticks and brush. The medical examiner had found a single gunshot wound to the head, which had matched Bennett’s testimony detailing the argument between Bruce Shaw and her attacker, as well as the sound of a gunshot.

Kevin and Bruce, as Ms. Beverly had said, were thick as thieves during their high school, college, and graduate school years. Kevin had saved Bruce from the trailer park, and from then on Bruce had been so grateful he’d have done anything for Kevin.

The casts of the tire impressions found at the park matched Kevin’s vehicle, and fingerprint evidence and handwriting analysis proved that Kevin Wyatt was the author of all the notebooks found in the house. Based on the meticulous notes in the journals, police suspected Kevin had stalked nearly one hundred women. The journals provided extensive details on each woman, including work patterns, recreational activities, friends, and lovers. Kevin’s financial records and old credit card receipts proved he had purchased gas in Baltimore and Atlanta on the same days women had disappeared there. Macy suspected he had murdered the women while visiting Bruce, and Bruce had helped him transport some of the bodies out to the country, where they could be buried in secret near the house.

The forensic teams had excavated the front section of the field and made several disturbing discoveries, including the remains of six women. The bodies, all in varying stages of decay, were transported to the medical center in Roanoke. The medical examiner’s office had matched three sets of remains to missing persons cases in Montgomery County, Maryland.

Currently, law enforcement was trying to match the trinkets displayed in Kevin’s trophy room to the women he had stalked. Why some women were left alone, others raped, and still others killed remained a mystery.

So far, there’d been no sign of Cindy Shaw or any evidence indicating what had happened to her.

Macy now believed Kevin had seen her broadcast, had become enraged, and had summoned Bruce, who had been the one person who knew his dark secret. Kevin had had one more body that needed burying, but as Bennett had testified, they’d argued. Bruce hadn’t wanted any part of killing a cop. Kevin had decided Bruce’s days of being useful were over and had shot and killed him.

Macy was able to piece together the motivation behind Kevin’s need to kill. Apparently, Kevin had struggled to maintain his control and cool not only on the football field but also in school and in the corporate world. Whenever he suffered a setback or felt powerless, he stalked, raped, and then finally murdered.

According to the journals, days before Tobi had vanished, Kevin had suffered a knee injury. The Dream Team’s last and most important game had been days away, and there had been so much at stake. Not only had the pride of the town rested on Kevin’s shoulders, but his teammates had also needed the professional scouts at the game to see them all play well and win. He had been incredibly stressed about letting his team down.

Cindy, still trying to gain Kevin’s favor, had delivered Tobi to him. Kevin had taken Tobi to the barn. He had not intended to kill her but had noted in his journal that the asphyxiation game he’d enjoyed so much had unexpectedly turned to murder.

Panicked, Kevin had dropped Tobi’s backpack and body down the chute. His plan had been to bury both in this field. But they had gotten stuck, and he had lost his nerve. Police suspected he had called Bruce and told him what had happened. It had been Bruce who had told him to leave the body where it was.

The following week, when the entire town had been looking for Tobi, both boys had joined the search crew, and both had been conveniently assigned to the Wyatt barn so that they could report back they’d found nothing.

However, Tobi’s disappearance had scared Cindy, and she had gone to Greene to tell him about Tobi and Kevin. Greene had thought the girl’s drug use had addled her brain, so he had called Bruce and told him to get control of his sister. Bruce had confided in Kevin, and when Kevin had realized his accomplice was now a problem, he’d followed Bruce and Cindy to the bus station. After Bruce had left his sister at the station, Kevin had lured her away and killed her.