Page 77 of Stalked

She refused to believe him when he said Steve was dead. Zenger hadn’t been there; he’d been too busy killing that poor agent who’d been with her. There was no way he could know for sure Steve had actually died. Maybe the shot hadn’t killed him.

Steve was alive and would be coming for her. He and Jon and Brandon...they would figure out who Zenger was; they would find him.

Steve would rescue her. He wouldn’t leave her and the baby in the hands of this madman.

She had to hold on to that or there was no way she would survive.

They sat in silence for miles.

“Where are we going?” she asked again finally.

“Back to familiar ground. I’m from Mobile too, you know. I have a nice little place where you can stay.”

“And do what?” She couldn’t keep the revulsion out of her voice, not that she tried.

He laughed, a friendly sound under any other circumstances. “Rosalyn, I’m not like that at all. I don’t plan to force myself on you in any way. That’s beneath me.”

“But killing people isn’t?”

He sighed. “I don’t kill out of choice or some sort of sport. Honestly. It brings me no pleasure.”

“Then why kill at all?”

“For the research. This is all for science, Rosalyn.”

Oh God, Jon and Brandon had been right all along with their profile. That gave Rosalyn hope that they would be able to follow through and find her.

“Science?”

“I am a psychologist. I help people. The data I’m collecting about isolation will be used to help disturbed people for decades to come.”

He honestly believed it.

“Isolation?”

“Yes, yes, that’s what all of this has been about. I take young women and divide them from everyone in their life. I prey upon their worst fears and then see what they do to cope. How long they can last.”

She wondered if he would tell her, if she asked, about the tracking devices. About the dentist and the one in her tooth. But she didn’t want to tip her hand.

“What happens to them when they can’t last any longer?”

Zenger shook his head sadly. “Unfortunately, they commit suicide. It’s a regrettable side effect of this research. But don’t you understand? The loss is acceptable for the greater good. I am on the forefront of research that every mental-health-care professional would love to be a part of.”

If it hadn’t been absolutely sickening, Zenger’s zeal for his work would almost have been commendable.

“Was that what you wanted with me? For me to kill myself?”

“You, my dear, you have been the longest-lasting subject in my research.” He glanced at her again. “And to think, you weren’t supposed to be my original subject.”

“Lindsey was.”

“Exactly. But I realized that the drug abuse made Lindsey a poor test subject. You were much stronger, more resilient. I just had to wait for the right time.”

She assumed that meant wait until she went to the dentist. The dentist that Lindsey had suggested. Had suggested because a doctor mentioned it to her.

Zenger had been that doctor. Had helped orchestrate the entire thing from the beginning.

“I’m sure your pregnancy has played an important role in your resilience. You don’t want to die. You want to live for your baby.”

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