Grayce kept her gaze on the road ahead, but out of the corner of her eye, she observed her captor. He looked like a regular guy, calm and in control, but she sensed his frenetic energy and how easily he could snap.
“I won’t ask again. Now talk.”
“I was searching for a missing woman on Beacon Hill.”
“There’s more to it.” He leaned over to take her finger and waited.
Her entire body tightened in expectation of the approaching pain. “I was helping a client find her friend. That’s all it was. Nothing else.”
“Don’t try to placate me.” He dropped her hand. “You’re just like her—always smoothing, always pretending.”
At first, Grayce thought she could reason with him. Now, she realized he was both delusional and paranoid. “Are you talking about Maddy?”
“You can’t stop, can you? Picking and prodding. Always trying to get everyone to do what you want. You’re not going to manage me.” He gripped the steering wheel tightly. His dark eyes had a strange blaze, as if he was in his own world that was ready to explode.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you.” Her voice had become soft and soothing, the same voice she used when she was wary of an unpredictable animal.
“My God, you talk just like her. Looking down your nose on those of us who don’t measure up to your superior standards. But today you’re going to be looking from my perch.”
Her heart struck sharp blows against her chest.
“You’re gonna get to look down on the whole city from the park.”
He needed Grayce to be part of playing out his fantasy. He wanted her to be impressed by his plan. In some weird, twisted way, he equated her with his mother.
“I’m not familiar with Jack Block Park, but I’m sure the views are spectacular.” She had succeeded with an out-of-control, vicious Sun bear at the zoo. She could handle this obsessed, mentally ill man.
“How do you know where we’re going?” His body stiffened, ready to strike.
She had made a huge mistake. Animals were much easier than people.
“Bitch, how do you know that we are going to Jack Block Park? Who else knows?” he exploded, his face red with rage, the veins bulged on his neck.
Grayce detected his musky smell, that of a cornered animal.
“When you turned off at Alki, I knew what park we were going to. There are no other parks at this exit.”
He drove and turned in front of the large park sign partially obscured by trees and bushes. They crossed railroad tracks. He stopped the car part way down, hidden from the traffic, on the access road to the park.
“You just said you weren’t familiar with Jack Block Park.” His ominous calm was more frightening than his rage
“I’ve never been to the park, but I know of its existence. I grew up in Seattle.”
“For lying to me, your stupid dog is going to pay.”
He dialed Gator. “Put your phone on speaker. And kick the dog in the head. I want Dr. Walters to hear the poodle suffer.”
“No, please. I’ll tell you. Don’t hurt Mitzi,” she pleaded desperately. “I found a map of Jack Block Park in a sleeping bag.”
His breathing deepened into aggressive surges. “You went through my sleeping bag?”
Never show your fear to a cornered animal. Fear breeds fear. “We didn’t know it was yours, and we were hoping it belonged to Maddy.”
“Gator, kick the dog.”
Mitzi gave a keening cry that tore away all shreds of Grayce’s composure.
“Brandon, do you want me to do it again?” Gator’s humorous voice thundered in the car.
His name was Brandon. She searched her mind, but didn’t remember meeting him.
“That’s all for now.” He turned toward Grayce. “Gator loves his job.”
His smile was toothy and fiendish. She would have remembered someone so cruel. She had never met him. He never planned to release Mitzi. She had to escape. He had used the devoted poodle to trap Grayce in his sick game.