Page 39 of The Perfect Deception (Jessie Hunt #40)

Ash Pierce didn’t like it when she got frustrated.

It prevented her from thinking clearly and that's what she needed to be doing right now. She could feel her desire for retribution getting stronger with each passing day and knew that soon, it would be too powerful to ignore. But for now, at least, she could control it.

She reminded herself that if she stayed patient, she’d eventually find Kat Gentry. It had been slow going so far. But in the six weeks since she’d returned to America, she had uncovered some crucial information.

Apparently, Kat was no longer living at her old apartment or using the same office. Her detective agency didn't exist under its previous name. Ash was dubious that the woman had quit that work entirely. But she'd clearly changed the title to something that didn't include her name.

More than that, there was no company, apartment or house in L.A. County that currently had Katherine Gentry’s name associated with it. She—perhaps with the help of her wealthy, influential friend, Jessie Hunt—had done a good job of hiding all personal details of her business and residence.

Under normal circumstances, Ash would have simply gone to the home where she knew Kat often went: Jessie Hunt’s. But that wasn’t an option right now. First of all, every cop in the greater Los Angeles area was on the lookout for her. Even with well-designed disguises, it was too big a risk. Law enforcement would probably be using facial recognition to search for her on the thousands of traffic and security cameras in the city.

Plus, she had no doubt that there were regular patrols circling Hunt’s neighborhood. And that didn’t account for the personal security that the profiler had surely installed in her home. Hunt had been stalked by multiple serial killers. She would know how to protect where she lived. Not to mention, she lived with a cop. Pursuing her or Hannah Dorsey right now was a no-go and going near their home was near-suicide.

That was fine, because it was Kat Gentry that Ash really wanted to get first. She was the one who had made this personal. And Ash was more than willing to return the favor. But hunting her down was a slog.

For a month and a half now, she’d bounced among hostels, cheap motels, and even campgrounds far afield from L.A. She’d spent short stints in San Diego, Phoenix, Joshua Tree, Las Vegas, and now Palm Springs. She never got too close, but was always within half a day’s drive of Los Angeles.

At least here in Palm Springs, she had a new assignment. A wealthy, older oil magnate had retired here with his much younger wife. But he'd recently learned that the missus had taken up with the golf pro who gave her lessons at the club. The magnate wanted them both tortured and killed, preferably together. He wanted a video of it, and he wanted to have a foolproof alibi.

Ash was happy to oblige. That’s why she currently had both the wife and the golf pro drugged and tied up in her trunk as she drove on a mostly deserted road to the abandoned warehouse where she planned to do the messy work.

This assignment came at a fortuitous time. She could use an infusion of cash. And more importantly, doing to these people what she eventually intended to do to Kat Gentry and the others should satisfy her jones for bloodlust for a while.

But only for a while