For the first time since she’d started this investigation she felt as if she might be getting somewhere. She reached the corner and turned the wheel sharply, throwing up a sheet of water as her tires hit a puddle. The van was two blocks up and moving slowly, brake lights intermittently glowing red as he searched for her.

She stepped on the gas, her heartbeat thudding. What if he stopped? He would recognize her car. “Too bad.” She speed-dialed Jay as she closed the distance.

“What happened to you?” he demanded.

“Someone was following us…or me.”

“Jesus, Kris, where the hell are you? Are you okay?” She heard an edge of panic in his voice. “I’m coming—”

“No, I gave him the slip and now I’m following him.”

“I’m calling nine-one-one.”

“Just hang on the line.”

“I’m on my way. Where the hell are you?”

“Don’t know…somewhere off the ten…not far from University Lake.”

“That far south? Holy shit!” She heard keys rattling and he was breathless as if he were running. Then a door slammed. “Tell me the next cross street.”

“Hang on! Oh, no…He’s heading for the freeway.”

“Let it go.”

“Can’t do it.” She tossed the phone onto the seat and hit the accelerator as a sports car, roaring around a corner, cut in front of her. “Idiot!” she screamed, hitting the brakes and feeling the car shimmy beneath her. “You son of a bitch!”

The driver, oblivious, cut around another car and Kristi gunned her Honda onto the ramp for the freeway, but she knew before she merged that the chase was over.

The bastard had disappeared.

She picked up the phone. “You still there?” she asked, already searching for the next exit.

“What the hell happened?”

“Nothing, he lost me. I’m on my way back.”

“For the love of God, Kris. Don’t—”

“I said I’m on my way back. I’ll be at your aunt’s house in twenty minutes.”

“You scared the bloody hell out of me,” he admitted, and she heard it in his voice, how worried he’d been. Which made her feel warm inside. She knew she was falling in love with him. Oh, hell, maybe a tiny part of her had never stopped loving him, but she hadn’t been convinced that the feeling was mutual. Until now. “You know, Kris, this is starting to get dangerous. Maybe we should rethink going to the police.”

She imagined her father’s reaction, the fight that would ensue. She eased onto the exit ramp. “How about we wait until we see who thinks he’s the next Spielberg,” she said. “Once we catch him on tape, we’ll have something more concrete.”

“And then?”