Page 128 of Out of Nowhere

“He believed you?”

“There was no reason for him not to.”

Elle knew she was dealing with someone who’d lost all touch with reality. To keep her talking, she would continue to feed her ego. “You must’ve been very clever stalkers for Calder not to catch on.”

“Oh, we were. Shauna never caught on, either. We knew where they lived, of course. High-and-mighty people like them never notice people like Mom and me.”

Her features tensed into a hateful expression that chilled Elle to the bone. To divert her from whatever thoughts had caused it, Elle said, “You were going to tell me about the day of the fair and how you knew he’d be there.”

“Oh, yes. Well, he’d been working in a downtown skyscraper for several months. Every weekday, we followed him out of the parking garage when he left. He was driving this mediocre car, pretending to be a nobody.

“But that day, he left the parking garage in his Jaguar. We followed. Which wasn’t easy, let me tell you. He drives like a bat out of hell. On that day, he was going even faster than usual. He drove and drove until we had about decided to turn around and wait for another time.

“Then, when we realized he was going to the fair, I knew it was the perfect place. Just dark enough. Tons of people. We could get lost in a stampeding, terrified crowd. I told Mom to get ready.”

“Ready?”

“With our disguises. We kept them in the trunk of her car at all times.”

“Your ball cap.”

“Um-hum. So at a glance I’d look like a boy.”

“But how did you know about Levi Jenkins? The tent he was in, all that?”

“We didn’t.” Again, she looked at Elle with impatience. “We’re not clairvoyant, you know.”

“It really was an ingenious plan,” Elle said, looking at her with feigned wonderment.

Dawn beamed. “Yes, I know.”

“I’m just trying to understand how you pulled it off.”

“Well, we knew that when I started shooting—”

“Where did you have the gun?”

“Inside the pocket of the windbreaker. I shot through it. I dropped the cap on purpose.”

“Weren’t you afraid of leaving DNA on it?”

“No. Weren’t you listening? Compton said they couldn’t test any DNA on the cap until they had a suspect, and I certainly wasn’t one.”

She laughed. “See? Nobody would suspect acasualty.”

Chapter 40

Calder ended his call with Compton and Perkins, swerved out of his lane and onto the shoulder of the freeway, then brought his car to a shuddering stop. He called Glenda again.

She answered with “What’s going on?”

“The Smithson woman. What’s the address of the house you sold her?”

“Calder, where is Elle? She hasn’t called—”

“I know.”

“Why haven’t I heard from her? Tell me what’s happening.”

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