“That would make sense,” Erin conceded.
“Yes, it would,” Dusty agreed. “What was it he said to her the other night? That she wasn’t afraid of him anymore?”
“That’s right,” Erin exclaimed. “He did say that. Maybe that is it. Maybe he did just mean to scare her.”
The profiler nodded. “He could have felt he was losing her in some way, and he just couldn’t resist the opportunity to pull her back in. If so, then I think we can assume he was trying to frighten her, not kill her. And then somehow, the whole thing just got away from him.”
“But is our guy the kind who would let something like that get away from him?” Erin wondered. “I mean, everything he’s done so far has been so calculated, so meticulous. Would he really take a chance doing something he wasn’t positive he could control?”
“If he feels you’re getting closer, he might,” Wendy replied. “Remember, this is about her, but it’s also about you now, too. You’re onto him. You know what he’s done before, and he knows it. In both of the previous cases, the police got involved relatively late in the game -- after he was calling Laughlin at home, and after Medina was already dead. This time, you got in earlier.”
“That’s true,” Erin conceded.
“And he may be feeling the pressure,” Wendy said. “In fact, it’s quite possible that Clare Durant might actually end up becoming secondary to his outmaneuvering you. Which means that his whole game plan could be changing, and he could even be changing his timetable, too.”
Erin turned to Dusty. “It’s absolutely essential that we get a good description of him out of her,” she told him. “Even if we have to hypnotize her to do it.”
***
“I thought you people were going to protect her,” Richard Durant barked.
He had cut his business trip short the moment Doreen notified him, and took the first plane out of Birmingham, arriving back in Seattle at ten o’clock Saturday night, to sit with his wife while she drifted in and out of consciousness, alternately complaining of the pain and the dizziness, and apologizing for wrecking the car.
“This was completely unexpected, and we’re very, very sorry,” Erin tried to explain. “He threw us a curve, and we were unprepared for it. But I promise you, nothing like this is going to happen again.”
“You bet it won’t,” Richard declared. “I go away for two days and he gets to her. Well, that’s it. You’ve had your chance. I’m not leaving town again, not as long as this guy is still on the loose.”
“I know how upset you are,” Dusty assured him. “And I can’t say as I blame you. But there was no way we could have anticipated what happened to your wife. Our man has changed his pattern, and we believe it’s because he knows we’re onto him, and he thinks he can outwit us.”
“And as far as I can see,” Richard snapped, “he’s doing a damn good job of it.”
“Mr. Durant, please.”
“Look, I appreciate everything you’re trying to do,” Richard said in a more moderate tone, “but my wife means a hell of a lot more to me than whether or not you catch this creep. All I care about is keeping him away from her.”
“All right, so let’s say, just for the sake of argument, that you’re right, and that we blew it,” Erin interjected. “How are you going to protect your wife? Lock her up twenty-four hours a day? Surround her with an armed guard? Sling an Ak-47 over your shoulder and follow her everywhere?”
“That’s a start.”
“The start of what -- the rest of your life?” Dusty inquired. “What makes you think that, just because you’re around, this guy is going to go find himself another target?”
“Well, maybe he will, if he can’t get to Clare,” Richard said. “You don’t know that he won’t.”
“Not for certain, of course,” Erin conceded. “But let us remind you that he took three years to plan this, three years to pick your wife as his next victim, to learn everything he could about her, to study her habits, to get to know her, to get inside her head. I don’t know what that tells you, but it tells me that he has an infinite amount of patience, our stalker -- patience, I might add, that I suspect will far outlast your willingness to play bodyguard. And there’s something else you might want to consider. If he wants your wife as bad as we think he does, he won’t mind going through you to get to her. Who knows, he might even prefer it. He has killed before, Mr. Durant. He has no reason not to kill again.”
“Hell, I don’t mind risking my life, if it’ll save my wife,” Richard asserted.
“And that’s admirable of you,” Erin said. “But what if it won’t save your wife? What if it won’t save either of you? You have two children. Do you care what happens to them?”
Richard opened his mouth to respond sharply and then shut it again, because the detective was talking sense, and he knew it. “Of course I care about my children,” he muttered instead. “Of course I care what happens to them.”
“Believe me, we’re not trying to beat up on you,” Dusty said. “We’re just trying to get you to face reality. As police officers, we’re trained to deal with people like our stalker. You’re not. And most of the time, I think we’re pretty good at what we do.”
“Then why has this guy been on the loose for so long?”
“It’s true that he’s been elusive,” Dusty conceded. “But we’re gaining on him. We’re getting to know him better. We’re studying his habits. We’re starting to get inside his head. To him, this is a game, a game in which he is perfectly willing to risk everything because he has nothing to lose. Now, if you try to block our efforts, and you’re not
