Total pages in book: 114
Estimated words: 108849 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 544(@200wpm)___ 435(@250wpm)___ 363(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 108849 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 544(@200wpm)___ 435(@250wpm)___ 363(@300wpm)
Val’s stomach clenched, and she pushed the man, running toward Lonni and screaming for help.
“Say hi to your mom and Laurel for me, will you?” he yelled, running away.
Val reached Lonni and shoved her back into the gym. “We need to call the police.”
* * *
Laurel handed Val a warm cup of tea from the microwave.
The girl huddled beneath a blanket on her sofa with her mom’s arm around her. “Yeah, that’s definitely him,” she said, looking at the picture of Jason Abbott on the sofa table in front of her. “But he shaved his beard. I didn’t recognize him. I never really looked at his pictures in the paper, to be honest. He’s really good looking.” She sounded lost.
Stark pale, Kate sat next to her while Val’s sisters sat on the floor near the sofa. Kate looked up, her pupils wide. “I can’t believe he got that close to her. Laurel, what are we going to do?”
Laurel shook her head. She knew Jason Abbott wanted to play games, but she’d never thought he’d go after one of the girls.
Val gulped. “He said I was too young and unaccomplished for him. What does that mean?”
Laurel shook her head and looked at Kate, who was not too young or unaccomplished. She was actually a professional woman and exactly the kind of victim for Jason. “How do you four feel about taking a vacation?”
Kate blinked. “Laurel, I can’t leave you.”
“The whole team is gone, so maybe we all need a break,” Laurel said. “I’ll request temporary workers. Kate, until I catch him, until I find him, none of you are safe.”
Val sniffed. “I don’t feel safe.”
Laurel truly hadn’t thought he would do something like this. “I don’t think I’m underestimating him,” she said absently. “He’s obviously had time in jail to build new fantasies.”
The drowning did make sense to her. The victim was truly helpless with her head held beneath the water, and he’d always liked frozen bodies.
She had the local police trying to track down where he’d acquired the dahlias that he’d placed around Huck’s cabin. This cat-and-mouse game he was playing had to end, but first, she needed to make sure that Kate and her girls found safety.
The sheriff had just left after taking Val’s statement, and the entire school had been alerted by the principal.
“Do we know how he got into the building?” Kate asked.
Laurel shook her head. “Not yet. The police are looking into it. They haven’t seen any evidence of broken windows or locks, so it’s entirely possible someone just left the door ajar.”
“It happens a lot,” Val said. “We feel pretty safe, and no one was really worried. To be honest, I wasn’t that scared when he first started talking to me.”
Laurel took a deep breath as Kate visibly shuddered, holding her daughter closer.
“It’s all right,” Laurel said. “This weather isn’t good for any of us. Walter’s in the Caribbean. Nester’s stuck in Seattle, but I’m sure he’ll be returning any day. So it’s on me. I want to send you all to this wonderful resort in North Carolina. I visited there during a case once, and I don’t know if you know this, but the weather in North Carolina is perfect this time of year.”
Val perked up, her face still pale and her eyes red from crying. “Did you say perfect . . . as in sunny?”
“Yes. The resort where I’m sending you is in an area where it’s in the midseventies right now on the ocean. You are going to love it.” Laurel forced a smile.
Kate gulped. “I can’t let you spend money like that.”
Laurel waved a hand in the air. “Kate, please. I’ve invested well through the years, and I haven’t had anything to spend money on. This is important. Abbott is after me and is going to target anybody close to me. I can’t let anything happen to you and the girls.”
“I don’t know,” Kate murmured.
The idea of being without Kate left Laurel with a sense of isolation she hadn’t experienced in a long time, but she hid that feeling from her only friend. “Really, you need to go.”
“What about school?” Val asked.
Laurel looked at her. “I’ll go speak to each one of your teachers and flash my badge if need be.”
Viv snorted, watching her younger sister. “I think that’s okay. A note from mom should do it. But I wouldn’t worry about it, considering a serial killer just talked to Val in the hallway tonight. I’m sure we could pretty much do anything we want for the next couple of weeks.”
“Good.” Laurel reached for her phone. “I have a travel agent I work with out of DC. I’m texting her now, and she will make the arrangements for you to leave first thing tomorrow morning.”
“It’s three hours later in DC right now.” Kate’s chin lowered.