Locke 2 (Blackwater Boys #4)

Epilogue

Locke

L ocke pulled the profile out of the envelope, skimming his eyes over the details on the page.

Name: Todd Worth

Age:67

Occupation: Retired Librarian

Volunteer: Scouter Todd (well aware of the forest environment)

Married: 37years

Two kids: Jordan Worth, Brayden Worth

He’d seen a name several times, buried among the contacts list they’d found in the doctor’s cabin. It wasn’t Todd Worth’s name, but a pseudonym: 4Leaf. At quick notice, you would think he was one of the visitors, but then his men had found 4Leaf’s number in multiple burner phones they’d collected through the network. If 4Leaf was a visitor, why was he on the phones belonging to bigwigs and organisers?

Unravelling 4Leaf was simple.

He was on the visitor records acting as a paid customer, and yet when they raided the checkpoint of a Hole, they found multiple phones, one belonging to a 4Leaf.

If 4Leaf was a customer, why was his burner phone among the organisers?

It sat in the back of Locke’s mind for a while.

And when something sat in his mind, he began to hunt.

He didn’t stop.

He dug. Him and his brothers together. Coming together to search for this man.

And then they did it.

They found him.

They found out who he truly was.

Locke exited the car and approached the muffled man. He didn’t plan on setting him loose. No, Locke had a different thing in mind.

Good old Todd was dressed in his Scouter uniform. He thought he’d be going to an assembly to invigorate new scouts. He thought he was going to be shaking the hands of little boys and girls and that they would have stars in their eyes.

No one had stars in their eyes here.

Locke stood behind the man. He always wondered what this would be like. He thought of how he would look him in the eye as he tore him apart, enjoying the bloodcurdling screams—

He didn’t want to do that anymore.

In fact, nothing stirred in his chest at all.

Conor and Jem held each arm, keeping the man upright. They held him, looking at Locke, waiting for his direction.

Locke came up behind him, and the quivering man must have sensed him because he howled in fear. No, this was certainly not the man that frightened these children once, a long time ago. This was just a coward. A monster. A demon that needed to be welcomed back into the pits of hell.

Leaning close, Locke whispered, “I’m going to do to you what you’ve done to me and countless other little boys. This is the mercy you deserve.”

He nodded once at his brothers and watched as they picked the man up and dropped him inside a hole. There were no final words. No moment of reflection. It was sudden and cold, like it needed to be. His muffled screams were immediately muted as the doors slammed over top of him, covering him in darkness.

Locke looked down at the list.

He didn’t need to cross out the final name.

He no longer cared.

Locke was out of the hole and into the light, and this time the light didn’t hurt.

This time the light felt like loving arms, welcoming him home.

The End.