Chapter One

KANE

Friday, July 9

For five weeks I’ve been observing Amy Hutchinson’s life, trying to understand what she likes, hopes for, dreams of. What she fears. After five weeks of surveillance, I’ve come to one overriding conclusion: I can’t stand this woman.

I stretch my legs as far as I can in the confines of my Land Rover, a sweat trail working its way down my spine. Tired of cheap coffee, stale air, and even staler recriminations, I open a window. It doesn’t help. Air heavy with dust and exhaust fumes creeps into the car. And on a blistering Friday afternoon, hot air is the last thing I need. I have enough of that just being around Amy Hutchinson.

Shifting in my seat, I scratch at the beard I forced myself to grow. The security guard tasked with patrolling the parking lot outside the glass-fronted restaurant Amy is in makes another slow, suspicious pass in front of my vehicle. Annoyance flushes through me, but I level a smile at the guard. I allow myself the smile because I’ve become good at faking things. Faking the drive that sees me through the day, but barely gets me up in the mornings. Faking the label of an idealist, but one whose principles have a price tag.

The guard doesn’t smile back. My pulse picks up. He’s marked me. Unfolding myself from the car, I make a show of checking my phone before I stroll deliberately past the guard and into the air-conditioned restaurant.

I claim a table close to Amy and her lunch date, ignoring a waiter’s attempt to hustle me to an unobtrusive spot near the restroom. At least it confirms the effectiveness of my disguise: a thick, full beard, brown contact lenses to hide my gray eyes, and a windblown wig to cover up a short haircut. I look like a disheveled sales rep greedy for a good deal. An ordinary, forgettable figure.

Not that I need to concern myself with Amy noticing me. The only person she pays close attention to is herself. Even when tailing her, the few times I caught her staring in the rearview mirror was to apply lipstick or touch up her mascara.

Picking up the menu, I glance over at Amy and her male companion. I don’t know the man’s name and I’m not wasting any time finding it out. It’s my guess that when Mr. Wannabe handed over the bouquet of red roses, he stumbled over his clichéd ineptitude and threw away whatever chance he might have had. A too-hot-for-her-own-good woman like Amy Hutchinson doesn’t settle for banality.

When the waiter finally deigns to serve me, I order an oat cappuccino and a roasted vegetable tramezzini. My phone buzzes. Nolene. I wait until the waiter drifts to another customer before taking the call.

“You still have eyes on her?” she asks.

“Yes, along with every other male here.”

“What’s she up to?”

I look over at Amy in her low-cut top, flashing her knowing smile and long legs, her blue eyes full of secrets. “Torturing another date.”

Nolene grunts. “She should try collecting something else. Like stamps.”

I laugh, surprised at how rusty it sounds. “You all set for tomorrow?”

“Yep.”

It’s Nolene’s turn for surveillance duty tomorrow. Every Saturday, Amy disappears for three hours into some health spa while I simmer in my car, waiting for them to finish what I don’t dare imagine they do to her in there. Regrettably, the day doesn’t end there. The next stop is a hair salon, where a team of metal-studded males fawn all over her long blonde hair. I’ve endured too many torturous Saturdays watching her. No more.

The waiter arrives with my drink and I kill the call. Settling back in my chair, I resist the urge to knead the headache playing at my temples. All day my brain has contended with the past, with a reel of images that both feeds and fells me. I take a sip of my cappuccino, then a longer, more appreciative swallow, the caffeine uncoiling the tension twisting my insides. I think about tomorrow. Amy sees her father every Saturday night, either at her place or his. I’ve planned Amy’s disappearance for Sunday because I want Graham Hutchinson to see his only daughter one last time. I want the memory of her to be fresh in Hutchinson’s mind when he’s forced to look into a terrifying future that doesn’t include his daughter.