Page 61 of Run for Her Life

She’s out there past the cedar rock.

Ticktock, fading fast?—

Something laughs where the branches snap,

And blood runs cold in the hunter’s trap.

Find her soon, or she breathes her last.

THIRTY-SEVEN

Zoe dumped the entire jar of maple syrup over her waffles. Saliva pooled in her mouth and pangs of hunger rocked her stomach. She didn’t stop until the waffle was soaked and soggy.

“Looks healthy,” Aiden said dryly as he dug into his quinoa salad, which made Zoe suppress a gag.

“At least I feel good,” she muttered. Her eyes darted to the impenetrable, green wall of trees surrounding the diner. Somewhere Amy was getting tortured and if Zoe didn’t find her soon, she would receive another tingling riddle.

Lisa was out with the entire force, covering more ground in the area around where Amy was abducted and coordinating with the other counties.

“I told Ethan to get Amy’s phone records and canvass the area,” Zoe said. “Adam was watching.”

“I saw that.”

“Why did the killer take Amy?”

“Annabelle and Jackie stole the prototype. Jackie’s decision to kill Annabelle wasn’t driven solely by greed or betrayal, it was psychologically rooted. The triggering event appears to be the death of her brother in the fire, which acted as a trauma activator for underlying psychopathic tendencies.” He drummedhis fingers on the table. “They were partners, so Jackie must have easily lured Annabelle and pulled one on her. But then someone killed Jackie the exact same way.”

“Why Amy? Because she’s Jackie’s sister?”

He stroked his jaw. “Amy is a high-status woman—confident, educated, and successful. Perhaps the killer’s sense of identity is so fragile, female agency becomes a threat to his core self.”

“Someone must have known what Jackie did to Annabelle, which is why he hunted Jackie in a similar way.”

“Someone like Adam who knew Annabelle,” Aiden suggested.

“Or David Harrington. Maybe he planted the idea of the prototype theft. There are rumors about familial conflict.”

“But we can’t touch David Harrington without further proof. He’s already lawyered up.”

“Do you think he’ll stop?”

“Who?”

She made an obvious face. “The killer.”

“Oh.” He thought about it. “I’m surprised actually. His last riddle about where Jackie’s body was rang with finality.Last step taken, last stage set. No reset, no second bet. Final round, final scene.He literally said in the riddle to find herwhere the game turns clean. Where it all began. He wasn’t subtle that Jackie was the end.”

“But then what changed his mind?”

“The thrill of the hunt.”

Her stomach turned to ice. “He’s hooked?”

He nodded. “Unless there is a specific reason to take Amy—a personal vendetta or Amy somehow discovered his identity. He took her because torturing and killing Jackie was too much fun. Either way, we might have a longer window to find her.”

“Why do you think that?” She idly glanced at a group of teenagers as they sat huddled in a booth behind Aiden and took their phones out and ordered fries for the table.

“Because he’s going to have to think twice about where to leave the body. Fun House was the final destination. A full-circle moment. He’ll likely hunt for a place that has some significance.”