Page 19 of The Perfect Prey

She could tell that Hannah knew what she was doing but thankfully, she apparently decided to play along anyway.

“I actually haven’t been doing much sleuthing lately,” Hannah said.“There hasn’t been a lot of free time.With my return visits here the last few weekends and the school workload lately, I’ve been focused mostly on academics.”

“I thought you said the classes were too easy for you,” Kat said.

“They were in the first two quarters,” Hannah confirmed, “but this spring has been challenging.Still, I’m getting by.”

“And the social life?”Kat asked, leadingly, well-aware of Hannah’s on-again, off-again flirtation with a student named Finn Anderton.

“We’ll save that for another time,” Hannah told her cryptically.

“She keeps saying that,” Ryan said, enjoying teasing her slightly.

“And I’ll continue to,” Hannah replied, leaving it at that, “but speaking of school, I should probably head back.Traffic will be lighter at this hour, but it will still take me 45 minutes to get there.Will you be good on your own, Ryan?”

He nodded.

“Yeah.I don’t expect to do much more than move from the couch to the bed for the rest of the evening.I think I can handle that, even if Jessie doesn’t make it back tonight.”

“You don’t think she will?”Kat asked.

Ryan looked over at Hannah, who seemed to know better than him.

“He was sleeping the last time I spoke to her,” she explained, “but it sounded like it might be a late night.”

Kat wasn’t surprised to hear it.She couldn’t remember the last time Jessie had handled a case that was tied up in a nice bow within standard working hours.

“Do you want me to stick around?”she asked Ryan, “just in case you need anything?”

“No,” he said, “thanks for asking but I’ll be fine.”

“Okay, but don’t hesitate to call if you need anything overnight.”

“I will,” he said, though she doubted he would.

“Do we want to walk each other out?”Hannah asked her.It was clear from her tone that there was something that she wanted to discuss outside of Ryan’s presence.

“Sure,” Kat said.

They walked to the front door, where Hannah inputted an eight-digit code on the keypad panel on the wall.

“I’ve activated the overnight security protocol,” she called back to Ryan, “you cool with that?”

“I prefer it,” he shouted back.

They checked the four-screen monitor by the door before stepping outside.Every camera view was clear, and the heat signature map showed nothing unusual in the area.Hannah undid the security bar lock that ran horizontally across the middle of the door, along with the two separate dead bolts and the chain lock before opening the steel-reinforced door.

Kat knew from experience that once they stepped outside and closed it, all the locks, save for the chain, would automatically snap into place.It might seem like overkill, but they all knew it wasn’t.Jessie had been the target of multiple serial killers, not to mention other vengeance-seeking criminals.

And despite their precautions, the man who’d poisoned Ryan and assaulted Jessie had managed to get into their home while Jessie was tending to Ryan.These security measures were more than justified, and with Ryan still not back to full strength, it was reassuring to know the house was well-locked down.

They waited for the sounds of the locks sliding into place and the three long beeps from inside, indicating that the overnight protocol was active.Only then did they walk out to their cars, which were parked next to each other on the street.

“So what’s the deal?”Hannah asked as they walked down the path.

“What do you mean?”Kat said unconvincingly.

“Come on, Kat, don’t make me do this dance,” Hannah replied, pausing and turning to her.“You promised me that you would stop obsessing over the Ash Pierce case.How’s that going?”

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