Page 38 of The Perfect Revenge
She glanced behind the guy and saw that they were on the second level of the house, which had an open floor plan.This level looked like the living space.She assumed the bedrooms were one floor up.Parts of the floor were see-through so she could see that the lower level, which had beach access, housed the kitchen and dining room.
“You should know that I’m going live with this, so any brutality will be recorded.”
“That’s your right,” Jessie said, before leaning in and whispering, “but are you sure you want to record all this before you know what it’s about?We have nothing to hide but I’d hate for anything embarrassing about you guys to end up online.”
Ranger considered her words, then turned the phone on himself.
“We’ll be live again in a minute.I just have to make sure I’m not about to be defamed.Stay tuned!”
He pushed a button and slid the phone in his pocket.
“Why is a profiler who goes after serial killers at my house?”
She was about to answer the question as carefully as possible when she heard what sounded like a door slide open one level down in the house.
“Are you alone here, Ranger?”she asked.
His expression froze.
“I have the TV on,” he said, which wasn’t even slightly believable.
“That’s nice,” she replied, “but I could have sworn I just heard a sliding door open.Is someone coming in or going out?”
“You probably just need to get your hearing checked,” he said, stepping nervously from one foot to the other.“I know you got your bell rung a few times working those cases.”
“I heard the door too,” Devery said, his tone much more cold and sharp than when he spoke to her.“And my hearing is just fine.”
Jessie was impressed.For the first time in her interactions with him, Devery had actually managed to appear somewhat menacing.Ranger was just opening his mouth to respond when Jessie saw a waifish blonde woman in a bikini darting away from the house.From the back, she looked like the photos of Denise Monroe that Jessie had seen on the way over.
“Who’s that, Ranger?”she asked, pointing behind him.
The guy didn’t turn around, quite likely because he already knew who it was.
“I think it’s time for you to go,” he said abruptly.He was really agitated now.She wondered if he was on something.
"Ranger, I'm here to speak to Denise, and I see someone who looks a lot like her running away.That's really peculiar, and I'm afraid I can't just go."
“Then I guess I’ll have to help you,” he said, as he lurched toward her suddenly, reaching his arms out, apparently intending to push her.He never got his hands on her.
Before she could react, Devery leapt forward, chopped down on Ranger’s extended arms as he kicked the guy in the shin.Ranger stumbled forward as Jessie sidestepped him.Ranger had barely landed face first on the floor before Devery was on top of him, pinning his knee into the man’s back as he pulled out a pair of handcuffs.
“You okay?”he asked her, looking up.
“Fine,” she said, marveling at his quickness.This kid was full of surprises.“Thanks for the assist.If you’ve got this covered, I’m going to see if I can catch up to Denise.”
“Go ahead,” he said, slapping the cuffs on Ranger.“I think we’re good here.”
She hurried into the house, found the stairs leading to the lower level, and started down.The staircase was a narrow, spiral monstrosity, making it hard to move too fast.When she reached the first floor, she dashed over to the sliding door and yanked it open.
She saw Denise about fifty yards away.She had headed toward the ocean and was running on the wet-hardpacked sand closer to the water.But she wasn’t alone.About halfway between Jessie and Denise was Susannah, sprinting full speed after the suspect.She was closing the gap fast.Jessie joined the chase.
She was used to running, travelling about five miles each morning when her schedule allowed.But her endurance was generally more impressive than her pace, and she found that moving fast through thick sand didn't make it any easier.By the time she reached the wet sand, the two women were well ahead of her.Still, she kept at it.Eventually, she'd catch them.
After another minute, Susannah was almost to Denise.To Jessie’s surprise, she leapt at the woman and brought her down like a rodeo cowboy pulling down a steer.She was just starting to straddle Denise, who was on her stomach, when an unexpectedly powerful wave crashed on the beach and surged toward them.
Susannah's back was to it, and Jessie's shouts of warning were drowned out by the noise of the surf.The wave smashed into both women, and they disappeared under the churning white water.When the wave receded, Jessie saw that it had separated them.Susannah was on her back now, violently coughing up salt water.Denise was ten feet away, still facedown but looking less the worse for wear.
As Denise got to her knees, she grabbed something just to the left of her.It took Jessie a moment to process what it was: a thick piece of driftwood, about the size of a baseball bat.She started to get to her feet.
