And toward Serena.
Colin knew he couldn’t outrun the car; no way he could so much as dodge it. But Serena was even more helpless, and Manning knew exactly where she was.
Gritting his teeth, Colin staggered forward as fast as he could, creating distance between him and Serena. Hoping Manning would follow him. Hoping Manning would flee. But the headlights remained aimed in Serena’s direction. Not knowing what else to do, Colin stopped and began waving his right arm, trying to draw Manning’s attention.
He flipped Manning the bird.
The Camry immediately veered away from Serena and toward Colin, accelerating and closing the distance. The icehouse continued to emit an eerie high-pitched shriek as fire consumed it. Colin staggered as fast as he could away from Serena, knowing he had only a few more seconds, knowing he was about to die. The car was almost upon him when all at once, the ground in front of him was bathed in another set of headlights racing up from somewhere behind him.
He barely saw the blur of Evan’s Prius as it crashed into the Camry with ear-splitting force, pushing both cars toward the fire. The Camry smashed into the corner of the icehouse, the Prius bulldozing it forward. The roof of the building began to collapse as flames leaped farther upward, toward the sky.
Colin tried to rush forward, but his legs gave out. Blood continued to pulse from his wounds, and as he lay on the ground, he could feel himself growing dizzy again. He could hear sirens now, competing with the sound of the fire. He suspected they were too late, that he wouldn’t survive, but that didn’t matter to him. He couldn’t take his eyes from the Prius, and he watched for the door to open or for the window to go down. Evan and Lily could escape the fire if they moved fast, but the chances of that happening were slim.
He had to get to them, and tried again to rise. Lifting his head nearly caused him to black out. He thought he saw swirling red and blue lights on the side streets and bright headlights moving closer. He heard panicked voices calling out for Serena and for him, and he wanted to shout at them that they should hurry, that Evan and Lily needed help, but all that came out was a raspy whisper.
He heard Maria then, heard as she screamed his name and reached his side.
“I’m here!” she cried. “Hold on! The ambulance is coming!”
Even then, Colin couldn’t answer. Everything had begun to spin and images became disjointed, nothing making sense. In one instant, the Prius was swallowed whole by flames; when he blinked again, only half of the car was gone. He thought he saw the passenger door creak open, but there was too much smoke and there were no other signs of movement, and he couldn’t be sure. He felt himself slipping away, darkness settling in, and in his last moment of consciousness, he prayed that the two best friends he’d ever known would somehow make it out alive.
EPILOGUE
April never ceased to surprise Maria. Though she’d grown up in the South and knew what to expect, there were always a few glorious days, perfect days, when it seemed as though anything were possible. Cloudless blue skies would greet green lawns that had been brown all winter, and everything would suddenly explode with color. Dogwoods and cherry trees and azaleas would burst into life throughout the city, while tulips sprang forth from carefully tended gardens. Mornings were cool, but the days would warm up as the sun rose bright in the sky.
Today was one of those ephemeral spring days, and as Maria stood on the carefully tended lawn, she could see Serena chatting animatedly with a group of people Maria didn’t recognize, the smile on her face wide and joyful. Seeing her now, it was hard to believe that until recently, Serena had struggled to smile at all; she’d suffered nightmares about her ordeal for months, and when she’d looked in the mirror, she’d seen bruises and cuts Manning had inflicted while she’d been tied to the chair. Two of the cuts had left scars – one near her eye, the other on her jawline – but they were already beginning to fade. In another year, Maria doubted anyone would notice them at all, unless they knew exactly where to look. But that would also mean they would have to remember that horrible night, and with those memories there was always pain.
It had been two weeks before Detective Wright, along with a still recuperating Pete Margolis, had met with Maria and admitted that Colin had been right about everything. The remains of Atkinson’s body were found in what was left of the burned-out icehouse. Ballistics testing eventually connected the bullet in Atkinson’s head to the gun that had been in Lester’s possession. The fire made it impossible to determine exactly when he’d been killed, though investigators suspected that it was around the time he’d vanished. They were able to determine that his body had been stored in a large, otherwise empty freezer in Dr. Manning’s garage in Charlotte thanks to a few strands of Atkinson’s hair found frozen to the sides. Research into Manning’s bank accounts showed numerous cash disbursements, the numbers matching the amounts that had been transferred into Atkinson’s accounts to pay his bills, and also confirmed the rental of the bungalow in Shallotte.
Lester’s fingerprints had been found in Atkinson’s car, and investigators had hoped that Lester would provide even more answers. It was not to be. After spending three days in the infirmary under constant supervision, he was evaluated by a psychiatrist and deemed fit to be returned to a cell, subject to frequent monitoring. Later that afternoon, Lester met with his attorney, who reported that Lester, though heavily medicated and shaken by the loss of his father, seemed fairly lucid. Lester agreed to be interviewed by detectives the following day, as long as his attorney was present. He was returned to his cell and finished the tray of food that had been brought to him. Video recordings indicated that guards checked on him every fifteen to twenty minutes, but Lester nonetheless managed to hang himself, using strips from the bedsheet that he’d tied together. By the time the guards found him, it was too late.