Page 58 of Preying Game

“And we stop at a drugstore on the way,” she insisted.

He shook his head. “I’m afraid your picture of a drugstore is going to change radically.”

They drove in the car he usually used, a Honda with all kinds of features she’d never seen before—like an ignition that didn’t require a key, headrests and a warning that forced you to use a seat belt.

And he was right about the drugstore. It was as large as a supermarket in her day, and had aisle after aisle of health and personal care products she didn’t recognize. Plus other shelves were full of things she might have expected to find in a five and dime. Expect there were no nickel and dime items. The prices made her jaw drop in shock.

“How can anyone afford this stuff?” she asked as they left with their purchase in a white plastic bag.

“Well, salaries are higher—although they haven’t kept pace with the cost of living. A lot of middle-class jobs have gone overseas where labor is cheaper.”

“You’ll have to explain that to me.”

“People in countries like Vietnam don’t make as much as Americans, so the goods shipped from there are cheaper.”

“Wait a minute. Vietnam? Wasn’t that a Communist country—and we were sending troops there?”

“Not anymore.”

“What about the Russians?”

“That’s complicated.”

“Are we still in a Cold War with them?”

“The short answer is “no.” We can sit down and talk about geopolitics later.”

When they arrived at the office, Frank was already there.

“I was hoping you’d come in,” he said to Alice.

“Why?”

“I wanted to see how you’re doing.”

“And I wanted to talk to you about an idea I had.”

“Then let’s all get comfortable.”

They retired to one of the staff lounges. Jonah and Alice sat together on the couch. Frank took one of the easy chairs opposite.

“You look like things are working out,” he remarked as he noted their relaxed appearance.

Jonah grinned. Alice felt her face redden a little and wished she could stop reacting like a nervous virgin.

Because she was embarrassed about Frank’s imagining their night together, she jumped right in, “I want to talk about stopping . . . Hayward.”

His gaze sharpened. “Explain what you mean.”

“What if we could find out when he took his first victim and . . . kill him first?”

“You’re talking about murder?”

She raised her chin. “Technically, yes, I guess. But we’d wait until he was capturing the first woman. That would be proof of what he was going to do. Then it would be . . . legitimate to stop him, wouldn’t it?”

“That sounds right, but we’d better nail some stuff down before you go any further.”

The tone of Frank’s voice put her on alert.

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