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on her own, she was going to be beyond mad at me, but I couldn’t bring myself to. I’d thought about it, but I couldn’t risk scaring her away, not when I only had a little freedom left. Not when I might die soon.
    Instead of saying anything, I just cuddled closer to her.
    She smiled, nuzzling into me.
    Soon the sound of Jas’s snores and Ashley’s deep breathing filled the room as they both slept. I, on the other hand, couldn’t sleep. I lay there for an hour, my mind racing as I tried to figure out what I would do. I couldn’t just disappear on her. I’d have to write a letter or something. She’d be mad if I did that, but oh, well. It would be better than just leaving her.
    I rolled out of bed carefully and padded to the living room. I wouldn’t leave just yet, but I could get started on the search since sleep didn’t seem like something I would be getting tonight.
     
    One week later
     
    “Jassy!” I exclaimed as I entered the house. The small white pit-bull ran towards me, her tail wagging. “Hello, girl.” I bent down to pet her for several minutes before pushing myself up and striding to the back to let her out for a pee. I placed the spare key back outside where I’d taken it from as I let her do her business.
    Since the weather was nice today, I left the door open as I poured myself a glass of water and looked around the room. I glanced down at the pile of papers on the counter. There were pictures, documents, and phone numbers. All had one thing in common. The name Jake Hanfold.
    I studied them as I bit my lower lip softly. I think it’s time I did something I should have done a long time ago.
    Padding over to my purse, I pulled my small laptop from it. I headed outside and sat down in the warm sun as I opened it and brought up my search engine. I typed in the name Jake Hanfold.
    I wish I could say I was surprised to see the new listing about him. From December of 2005. I thought about the tattoo on his neck. 22/09/2005. It all began to make sense.
    The first article I read was about this Jake guy being beaten so badly that he was in a coma for a week, about the injuries he’d received, and it said that four men would be going to jail for it. I felt like I was going to be sick, my stomach turned and the back of my throat went dry. I knew Jacob had been one of those four men to go to jail. I didn’t have any exact proof, but I wasn’t stupid either.
     
    Jake Hanfold was suspected in the death of 15-year-old Becky Jackson.
     
    That right there. That sentence clicked everything into place. That is why he wanted to find this guy. They thought he killed their friend and … oh God. They’d gone to jail back in 2005 for trying to kill this man; now that they were out they are planning to finish what they started.
    I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I couldn’t process anything.
    How was I supposed to react? Was I supposed to call the cops? Every ounce of my brain said to call the cops, but my heart told me to wait. It told me to hear what he had to say for himself. Maybe … maybe he could explain it away or something.
    I shouldn’t wait, I shouldn’t ask him to explain it to me. He was a killer, and that’s what it boiled down to—I pulled my cell phone out from my pocket and dialed those three numbers.
    I stared at them. 911. All I had to do was hit send, but I couldn’t.
    I erased the number, closed my phone and slipped it back in my pocket as I turned to Jas. She sat in front of me with a ball in her mouth, and I smiled as she dropped it at my feet.
    There was nothing I could do right now, Jacob was at work, and I’d have to wait until he got back to speak to him about any of this, so I might as well play with the dog.
    It was actually calming to play with her. I’d gotten used to having a dog around, and it freaked me out that it could all be ending so soon. If Jacob was about to do something stupid, what would happen to Jas? I could take her I guess … but it would be hard on