Fatal Enemy

Chapter 3

After the fifth lap, cold rain pelting her body, punishing her for screwing up, Jess began to feel a bit better. Although her college racing days were long over, running still cleared her head. The rain slid over her wet skin. She completed a turn around the track and kept pounding, one foot and then the other. She used the steady rhythm that allowed her mind to strategize. The problem wasn’t finding Richard. Despite what Schmidt had said, locating Richard would be fairly simple. Jess knew where to look. She’d been watching him for years.

Extracting Anna from Canada was another matter entirely. A much knottier problem. Every solution she tested got pounded to bits by her feet on the cinders.

And if she managed it, somehow, then keeping the girl away from Richard in the future seemed impossible. Hadn’t Betsy tried to do precisely that and ended up dead?

Jess had briefly considered becoming a lawyer, years ago, after college. But the authorities searching for Peter, and their failure to find him, left her disillusioned and angry with the law’s all-consuming workload as well as its compromises and failures. The system focused on the rights of criminals, in Jess’s view, when it should be more concerned with crime’s victims.

All these years later, she was glad she’d chosen investigative journalism instead. She’d quickly discovered she loved the work. It satisfied her in a way she’d never expected while she searched for Peter. And it allowed her to work privately for crime victims’ rights when she wanted to, unencumbered by the rules lawyers and law enforcement teams were required to follow.

The lifestyle suited her, too. She traveled to research her stories, but she carefully selected worthy subjects and fashioned solutions for victims that protected them as much as possible. People like Betsy Martin and her sister, Bette. The work funded her search for Peter and fueled her resolve. She’d made the right choices, after a rocky start. Every day she prayed she’d turned her life around before it was too late for Peter. But had she?

Jess frowned and shook rainwater from her eyes and Peter from her thinking. Focus. Richard would never leave his child alone unless he was in prison or dead. There was no middle ground for Anna. Jess must resolve that problem, too. She needed a permanent solution.

Jess ran, one foot and then the other, pounding the cinders, lap after lap, ignoring the wind and rain that chilled her. Her plan resolved, she finished by walking twice around, allowing the icy rain to drench her body. The cool air now felt refreshing because she knew what she was going to do. Maybe her plan wouldn’t work. Maybe she’d end up like Betsy. Maybe Richard would win once more. But she had to try. For Peter. She dropped her gaze to the ground and headed into the showers.