“You know her?” Trinity whispered.

Victoria nodded. She looked back at Jason, watching from the shed door. “She needs a hospital. She has a serious head injury.” Maybe. “I can’t get her to wake up. Do you know how she got here?”

Jason shook his head again. The teen looked horrified.

“Jason, do you know why she’s here?”

Jason looked pleadingly at her, turmoil rolling in his gaze.

She tried again. “Jason, what is going on with your father?”

The teen’s shoulders slumped. “I think he killed those girls. The ones last week.”

Trinity sucked in her breath. “Your father? Why? Why do you think he did it?”

“Because I found some pictures on his camera. I was going to use it and I scanned through some of the pictures saved in the memory and saw pictures of those dead girls. Brooke was one of them.” His voice wavered on her name. “I wasn’t supposed to be using his equipment.”

“Why didn’t you go to the police?” Trinity asked. She looked heartbroken, her crush on the boy disintegrating. “How could you cover it up?”

“They were just pictures, you know? They didn’t mean that he’d done it. I couldn’t figure out what was going on. And then I found the skulls… I didn’t know what to think. How could my father be a murderer?” His voice cracked on the word.

“Skulls?” Victoria asked. “Three of them?”

Jason nodded. “I stuck the skulls and the camera in my bag. I wanted to go to the police but I didn’t know what I’d say. And what if he didn’t do it?”

“Is that why you were avoiding him?” Trinity asked.

“Yes, he’d discovered his stuff was missing and he was on the warpath. Grandpa thinks he’s a big wimp, but when he gets mad he can be kinda violent.” Jason wouldn’t look at either one of them. Victoria wondered what pain Leo had inflicted on the boy.

“You need to help us get out of here,” she said in a hushed tone. “He’s killed before. He’ll do it again. I don’t know why he got me to come out here, but I don’t think it’s to give me a present.” She looked at Isabel. “I think he plans to kill all of us.”

Tears streamed down Trinity’s cheeks. “No,” she whispered. “This isn’t happening.” She looked at Jason. “Come with us. You don’t want to stay here with them.”

Jason looked from Trinity to Victoria and back. “I can’t. I can’t do that. He’ll—”

“He’ll what? Hit you? Do you think he arranged for me and Isabel to be here so he can throw us a party? Your father is a cold-blooded killer, Jason!” Victoria clenched her arm tight to her chest, her wrist throbbing. “We have to get out of here now.”

A shadow loomed behind Jason. “Hello, Victoria. Did you get to chat with your mother again?”

Victoria wanted to cry.

“You ladies need to change your clothing,” Leo ordered. “There’re some lovely white dresses in that box.” He gestured to a cardboard box in the corner of the shed. “You.” He pointed at Trinity, who shuddered. “There’s black hair dye in there, too. I want your hair black. Now.”

“What?” Trinity gasped.

“Hair. Black. Now.” Leo stared at her. “Get moving.”

He was re-creating the tableau. Panic immobilized Victoria at Isabel’s side. The white dresses. Three of them with long black hair.

That was how he planned to kill them.

“Where is Seth?” she asked.

Annoyance crossed Leo’s face. “He’s busy. Change your clothes. Now.” He didn’t move.

She glanced at Jason. The teen looked miserable.

“Don’t look at him. It’s about time he learned to grow a spine. I was younger than him when I figured it out.” He slapped the teen on the back. “Time for you to grow up and face your roots, son.” He pointed at Victoria. “This is what we call shameless. She’s the type of woman who lives only for herself. She doesn’t care about anyone around her. She can’t please a man in marriage. She tries to pretend to be a man.”

“What utter bullshit,” Victoria spat.

Rage crossed Leo’s face. “You can’t speak to me like that.”

“I believe I just did.” This prick had pushed all her buttons. “What are you going to do about it? Make me drink some poison and pose in the woods to make yourself feel powerful?”

Leo stepped inside the shed, his shotgun still at his side. Victoria stood up to meet him. She’d rather go down with a fight than cower in a white dress.

“Dad.” Jason put a hand on his arm. Leo slapped it off and continued toward Victoria, his face irate. Jason stepped back hesitantly, and then abruptly turned and silently leaped out of the shed and ran. Leo took two more steps toward Victoria.

“Put on the dress. Dye her hair. You’ve got ten minutes.” He held her gaze. His pupils dilated in the dark cabin, and his stare drifted down to her mouth. A slow smile stretched his lips.

He’s aroused. She wanted to puke.

He glanced at the unconscious woman on the mattress. “She’s not much to look at, is she? You had no idea you came from such garbage, did you?”

Leo sent the note about my mother?

“She’s not garbage,” Victoria said quietly.

“You needed to be taken down a notch, going around with your snooty airs. You’re nothing special.”