Page 20 of The Perfect Prey

“I have my ups and downs,” Kat said vaguely, “but I feel good about where I’m at.”

“What does that mean?”Hannah demanded, unconvinced.“Jury selection for her trial starts in a week.There’s another hearing tomorrow.Are you honestly telling me that you haven’t thought about that?”

“Of course I’ve thought about it,” Kat answered indignantly, “but that doesn’t mean I’m obsessing.”

“Okay,” Hannah said, relenting slightly.“Just tell me this then.When was the last time you were at the courthouse?Yesterday?Today?”

“I live downtown,” Kat protested.“I pass by it all the time.”

“That’s not what I mean, and you know it,” Hannah protested.“I’d bet a pastry from that coffee shop you hang out at across the street from the courthouse that you were there today.”

“Have you been following me?”Kat challenged.

Hannah smiled.

“I haven’t,” she said.“I’ve been cooped up in this house all day, but your answer tells me everything I need to know.So you broke your promise.”

Kat struggled to fight off a smile herself, despite getting the third degree.Hannah’s perceptive skills seemed to be improving every day.Pretty soon, the young woman would leave both her and Jessie in the dust.

“I promised totrynot to obsess,” she shot back, not in the mood to verbalize the compliment in her head right now…“I didn’t say I’d be successful.And I certainly didn’t agree to just throw my hands up and leave it to the dubious security efforts of the L.A.court system to make sure a trained CIA assassin is kept under lock and key.”

“Keeping people under lock and key is what they do, Kat,” Hannah told her.“They spend all day dealing with violent offenders, often murderers, transporting them safely to legal proceedings and then back to jail.They’re the exact right people for the job.”

“First of all, they didn’t do such a great job when Pierce escaped and killed four guards, then came after you,” Kat said sharply.“Youdoremember that?”

“Considering that she came looking for me right after she got loose, yeah, I have some recollection,” Hannah replied.“That’s why I have confidence that they’ve made adjustments.”

“They’ve made adjustments for a run-of-the-mill killer, not for a woman who’s an expert in evasion and escape,” Kat countered.

“And you still don’t believe that she lost her memory and might have lost some of those evasion skills along the way?”

Kat shook her head vehemently.

“You know I don’t buy her amnesia story,” she admitted, “but that doesn’t really matter.Whether the memory loss is legit or not, she still has that skill set buried in her brain somewhere.On top of that, she’s well aware that her freedom is on the line.She doesn’t have to recall who she was to know what she can do.”

Hannah sighed as they reached their cars.

“So what are you going to do,” she asked, “sneak into the courtroom and take her out before she can make a move?”

Kat smiled.

“I don’t need to sneak into the courtroom,” she said.“Technically, I have every right to be there, just like you do.But to answer your question, I have a friend on the inside who’s been letting me in a side entrance for every proceeding.That way, I don’t have to deal with the press or curious onlookers.I haven’t missed a single hearing in this case.And you can bet that I’ll be there tomorrow.And once the trial starts the next week, I’ll be there every day for that too.”

Hannah seemed to take that information in stride.While she may not have known what Kat had been doing, she didn’t look surprised.

“What about your job, Kat?”she asked.“You’re a private investigator.Isn’t it going to cut into your income stream a little if you have to beg off on following a cheating husband or someone committing insurance fraud to watch every minute of the Ash Pierce trial?”

“It’s a risk I’m willing to take,” Kat said defiantly.

Hannah, looking defeated, unlocked her car door and was about to get in.But then she stopped and turned back.

“I get how you feel,” she said softly.“You know I do.Pierce tortured and nearly killed you.I was there.But she tried to kill me, too—multiple times.So I know how dangerous she is.I’m not pretending otherwise.But I came to a realization a while back that I hope you reach sometime soon.”

“What that?”Kat asked.

“You can’t live your life fixated on her or you won’t have any kind of life,” Hannah said.“Eventually, she’s going to be in a small cell for the rest of her days.But if you don’t move past this, you’re going to be in a cell too, one of your own creation.”

“I hear you,” Kat assured her.

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