I woke up feeling better and surprised I had gotten a few hours of deep sleep considering everything that was going on.

It must have been the sex. He had been right. He was good at sex, so good. I sighed. It the emotional side he wasn’t good at and that mattered more to me. It isn’t like I wanted a marriage proposal, the white picket fence and a couple of kids.

No. All I wanted was for him to be open to something. I had no idea how things were going to work out but I had to have some sort of hope that there was something good on the other side of all of this.

At least I had been honest, if nothing else.

I got up and showered before changing. The apartment was quiet as I left my room and headed to the kitchen. I rand my hands through my short hair.

No Jack. I felt the kettle it was warm. I refilled it and switched it while I peered into the living room. He wasn’t there either.

I headed back down the passage to check if he was in his room. He would not leave me alone, especially in the circumstances.

It was the room with all the photos that caught my attention. The door was open. When I neared, I could hear some activity. I peered into the room.

Jack was seated on a laptop.

It was my declaration the night before that kept me from making my presence known. I wasn’t sure I was ready for moody, annoyed or even indifferent Jack. I wondered which one I was going to get.

“Do you want some coffee?” I asked, entering the room.

“No, I’m good.”

And that was it. He didn’t even falter in his work or whatever he was doing. He was completely focussed. I closed my eyes briefly, not sure I was ready to face him if he was going to be like this.

I turned and went back to the kitchen. With a hot cup of coffee I sat down at the table, trying to think about anything other than what I had said last night.

I had nearly finished coffee when Jack appeared in the doorway. The look on his faced incredulous. Alarmed, I stood.

“What?” I asked when he didn’t immediately say anything.

“They found it.”

I frowned. “Found what?”

His eyes found mine. There was so much sadness and heartache in the depths of his eyes.

“The house.”

House.

For a nano of a second I was going to ask him what he was talking about when it hit be, like a brick wall. The place where Alice and I had been held. Where Alice had been murdered?

My mouth opened and then closed. My mind filled with so many questions but my body was numb. I lowered back down in the chair. Stunned. Where I had experienced true evil and somehow lived through it.

“How?” I whispered, my voice soft. I was dazed.

I never thought it would ever happen. It had only been real in my nightmares.

After all this time.

“It was you. The details you gave were enough to narrow it down.”

I bet it took more than that but I was too emotional to think about it logically. All I could think about was Alice. We were one step closer.

“Beth wants you there..”

My eyes shot back up to his as I recoiled. I held my breath, my heart was hammering in my chest. I didn’t know if I could do this. Seeing it my memories was one thing but actually standing inside the place that held so much evil might be a step too far for me.

“I don’t…”

“I know,” he said. His voice rough. “I know you’re scared but I’ll go with you.”

I trembled feeling like everything I had been fearing for the last three years in my mind was here for me to see in physical form. Would it jog something more?

I was pretty sure there was nothing else to remember even though I had been held captive for nearly a full day.

Absentmindedly, I shook my head. No, I wasn’t strong enough, I didn’t know if I could ever do it.

I stood, unsteady. “No, I can’t do it.”

I brushed past him to escape, needing to get as far away as possible but the truth was I had no where else to go.

Even inside my room I felt trapped, confined and scared.

Jack appeared in my doorway, I had been so preoccupied with my thoughts I hadn’t even bothered to shut the door.

I stopped.

“Just hear me out,” he said, walking into the room holding his hands out to me.

I shook my head. I didn’t want to hear anything he said, I was dead set against anything he was going to say for fear he would talk me into doing something I feared would be too much to deal with.

“You are so determined to remember what happened. You tried going through all the photos but that did nothing. The hypnotist was far more successful but what if the house where it all happened could break through to something…something that would unlock everything for you.” His eyes darker and passionate.

I swallowed. I wanted to remember but I wasn’t sure this was the way to go about it. Besides I wasn’t sure I was ready for everything. What if I wasn’t strong enough? What if it pushed me into another spiral that he couldn’t save me from?

I closed my eyes briefly feeling overwhelmed by the fear. I reopened my eyes to connect with his.

“I won’t force you into this Hadley,” he said. “This has to be your choice. If you don’t want to do it then you don’t have to.” He dropped his hands.

“I need to think about it.” I crossed my arms, keeping my distance from him.

He gave a nod but he didn’t immediately leave. He seemed to have more to say but was picking his words carefully.

“I have to see it.”

It hit me straight in the chest.

“I have been searching for her for so long.” He paused to take a long emotional swallow. “I have to see where she spent her last moments.”

The burn in my throat brought an emotion I hadn’t been ready to face. Alice. The grief, the loss and with it inevitably the guilt that I should have done more.

His eyes sheened over and I understood that pain.

“I’ll be leaving in an hour.”

I nodded.

He gave me one last look before he left me alone with my choice.

I began to pace feeling panicky and fearful but there was a part of me that wanted to unlock everything about my ordeal so I could stop the serial killer. He shouldn’t be allowed to take another innocent life and cause insufferable pain for the family that would last a lifetime.

But to do this I had to be braver than I had ever been before and I didn’t know if I had it in me even with Jack’s support. There was so much at stake, I didn’t know if it was something I could do. There was reasons to go and reasons not to. It wasn’t an easy choice to make but it was something in Jack had said to me that eventually changed my mind.

Like he said this was an opportunity that could lead to the killer and that was the most important thing. I would never have a chance to live any sort of life if I had to live the shadow of the serial killer whose identity I didn’t know. I didn’t even know if I would survive for long if he was after me. He had successfully evaded law enforcement despite all their attempts to crack the case.

What if I was the only one who could bring him to justice? I owed Alice that much, if nothing else.

The man responsible should be punished for what he did and he needed to be stopped. There was so much riding on this but I knew that even with the fear of what I would uncover it was something I had to do.

Besides Jack would be with me. I didn’t have to do this alone.

I took a deep emotional breath before I exhaled slowly. Some people had the inbuilt determination to do what needed to be done no matter what it entailed, I unfortunately wasn’t one of those people.

I was afraid.