Free Undercover Memories by Alice Sharpe Page A

I—”
    “Don’t say anything,” she pleaded, pressing her fingertips against her mouth. “Please, not a word.”
    “But—”
    “We should go. I’ll drive.”
    She practically darted back to the car and slid in behind the wheel without looking at him again.
    He didn’t want to get in her car. He didn’t want to be anywhere near her. His head was pounding now as the children’s screams took on substance—
    He was the fiend in his nightmare. He was the reason they cried.... He walked around and opened the passenger door.
    He must not hurt Paige.
    * * *
    P AIGE PLANTED BOTH HANDS on the wheel and kept her focus straight ahead. The road soon descended with a series of twists and turns to where they finally cleared the trees. A couple of hours later, she drove into a small town and stopped at a gas station. She was less than a hundred miles from home now. The thought of reentering her own life suddenly appealed to her in a way it hadn’t before.
    The truth of that kiss was that it was her fault. She’d known from the moment John woke up that something about him was different, as if he’d gone to sleep one man and woken up another. Still, she’d pushed herself on him, anxious to help.
    When this whole thing was over, she needed to find herself a good head doctor and figure out who she was, because the Paige Graham currently running amok bore little resemblance to the Paige Graham who had been on the verge of marrying Brian Witherspoon. It was time to back off.
    But, wow, that must have been some nightmare.
    John disappeared inside the station while she bought gas. Maybe he was planning to go his own way, hitch a ride or walk. That would be for the best. Things were out of control.
    The attendant gave her a key and she used the restroom to clean herself up. Still, her sister, Katy, was going to be more than a little surprised when Paige showed up all bruised and cut and in clear need of a shower. Hopefully she wouldn’t call their mother and start some kind of drama. No more drama, please. The debacle of the wedding and the past twenty-four hours were quite enough for one decade.
    John was sitting in the passenger seat when she returned to the car. He had a bag full of bagels, he muttered, and two cups of coffee. Bon appétit.
    But she was hungry and she accepted what he offered and ate as she drove on the lovely clear highway with lots of other people around. The horror of the day before receded a little.
    He waited until after they’d eaten to tune in the radio. As it was, it took a few minutes for the news to come on and when it did, it was full of a rehash of yesterday’s grisly find. The Pollocks were referred to by name this time, and Paige felt the last tendrils of guilt unwrap themselves from around her heart. It was all out in the open now.
    Except, they were still looking for John. That didn’t mean they weren’t looking for Korenev, as well—the police didn’t always release every detail they knew. The news did mention finding the Pollocks’ car near Gil’s Tavern. That meant they would also find Anatola Korenev’s blood smeared all over the place.
    The last unsettling comment came at the end of the report when it was mentioned that a honeymooning couple by the name of Brian and Paige Witherspoon, who had been renting a cabin in the mountains in the same general area as the Pollocks, could not be located and that there were signs of a struggle and a macabre find in the freezer.
    “They don’t know I was up there alone,” she said. “And now they think Brian and I are both missing. I should have thought of that.”
    “I didn’t think of it either,” John said as she switched off the radio. He groaned as he added, “My prints must be on file somewhere and they have to be all over your cabin.”
    “But Anatola Korenev’s might be there, too, and his will be in the Pollocks’ car, as well. Yours won’t. Will they? Did you touch it when you got my stuff?”
    “I must have touched the