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on hiht she’d tamed her past and would soon control it coht up to her
He stood over her, his blood pu in his veins as hers pooled around his feet Weeks of planning, and in less than two ed, but he dreaded the inevitable crash
Kneeling, he touched her face, sertips over pale parted lips “You always underestimated me, babe Always”
He reached in her pocket and pulled out the crulance at Deidre, he rose and left through the back door He made his way into the woods and, under the loves and shoved the he’d stashed earlier The cops would be hard-pressed to find any clues linking him to this
The cops would spend days chasing their tails looking for Deidre Jones’s killer, and by the time they were finished, he’d have finished his mission and killed Leah Carson
Leah’s phone was ringing when she turned fro her hands on a dishtowel, she lowered the heat on the burner and answered without glancing at the console Re her conversation with Deidre fifteen minutes earlier, she just assumed it was her friend “Hello?”
“Leah Carson?”
“That’s right” Her voice snapped with impatience “Who is this?”
“This is First National Bank Credit Card Services We have some questions about your account”
“Okay”
After they asked for the appropriate identifying infor expenses that show you’re in Madrid, Spain?”
She turned down the burner “Excuse me?”
“We have charges that show you were in Madrid yesterday and London the day before that Did you es?”
“No, I didn’t” Ihts tripped back to when and where she’d used her credit card She fished her card out of her wallet “What card nu to?”
The operator rattled off the number that matched her card perfectly “Is that the correct number?”
“Yes, it is” She pressed the back of her hand to her head “So what do we do now?”
“We’ve closed the card and issued you a new one It should arrive at your home in five business days”
She thought through the days “That’s the week after next”
“Yes, est you use any backup cards you have”
She blew out a breath She didn’t have a backup card Darocery store today That’s a legit expense” She spent the next fiveand disavowing the”
She hung up the phone and pressed her fingertips to her eyes She checked her wallet and counted thirty-nine dollars in cash If she brown-bagged it this week and watched her gas o to the bank for cash until the end of the week
Leah fuh her purse and pulled out her journal She opened the orn book and s the call: the tie, she reread the entries of the day, fearing she’d find a pattern
Keys Man in the woods And now the credit card
Most people wouldn’t have paidall the time Men were allowed in public parks And a hacked credit card was a terrible annoyance but, in the end, wouldn’t cost her a dime
She stared at the list and absently raised her fingertips to the scar along her collarbone These are just three very randoular people Don’t need to freak out One Two Three I don’t need to freak
She moved toward the front door and clicked the lock back and forth until she was certain it was secure Shethe locks Finally satisfied the place was safe, she released the breath she’d been holding and whispered, “I don’t need to freak”
The mantra would have calmed any normal, rational woman
Normal Rational Woman