Page 72 of Race to Save Her

Without any other provocation, he took a step back in front of the room’s door and kicked it, splintering the frame before a final stomp kick busted the door wide open. The detectives ran inside, clearing various areas.

Katie went to the bedroom and bathroom. “Clear!”

McGaven swept through the living room and kitchenette. “Clear!”

Katie was struck by a subtle breeze. She turned toward the curtains in front of sliding doors. They rippled from the draft. She hedged her way to the drapes and jerked them aside. Out on the balcony stood a man, leaning against the railing with his hands in his pockets. He was in the subtle shadows, making it difficult to see his face clearly.

“Show me your hands. Now!” ordered Katie.

McGaven backed her, creeping toward the balcony next to his partner. “Do it now!”

The man was like a statue; unmoving and silent. It was unnerving; he almost appeared to be a mirage.

Katie moved forward, not daring to spook him into possibly opening fire.

Finally he spoke. His voice was clear, precise, and had the force of hateful intent behind it. “You will never be able to catch me, Katie. You can’t save them.” He leaned into the light where his face became well lit. He had a perfectly trimmed dark beard, piercing beady eyes. The man was handsome, but because of his obsession and disgusting ways of dismembering women’s bodies he was the ugliest man Katie had ever seen.

“All right, buddy, enough of the drama. Show us your hands,” said McGaven.

The man laughed, though it was barely audible.

Chills went down Katie’s arms as if she were standing in a freezer. She moved closer to him.

Suddenly the man turned and, like an experienced gymnast, he put his hands on the railing, vaulted over it and disappeared. Seconds later, there was a loud splash.

Katie dropped her gun.

“No!” said McGaven, who knew what she was about to do.

“We can’t let him go,” she said and climbed to the railing, using a chair for leverage to look down, where the pool seemed a lot smaller at this height. She flung off her purse.

“Katie!” McGaven tried to grab her but it was too late.

Katie remembered to keep her body vertical and rigid. She dropped at an incredible rate, while everything felt different and otherworldly. She wasn’t going to let a killer get away, no matter what his psychopathic obsession pushed him to do.

She thought her fall was taking too long and that’s when she sliced into the water, going under. She could see the entire layout of the pool from the underwater lights. It obscured her vision, making her feel as if she were going through a wormhole.

Within seconds, she popped to the surface, taking a deep breath of air. She heard McGaven yelling from above, the words were lost between the floors. Her own obsession was forcing her to get out of the pool and follow the man. He couldn’t get away.

McGaven continued to yell.

Katie didn’t remember running from the pool and garden area, heading out toward the parking garage. She passed a few surprised people staring at her with concern. She kept running, bursting through the doors to the low-level parking area and realized she had lost the trail. There was no way of knowing where he went. He had a good minute on her. Looking down and seeing she was soaking wet with bare feet, she realized there were no wet footprints showing which way the man had run.

“No!” Katie’s frustration of being so close to the killer, where she could almost reach out and touch him, filled her body with an element of almost rage. She had never quite felt like that before. She walked to the cement wall and leaned against it, feeling the cold press against her back.

As her anger subsided, she felt the usual culprits begin to return to her body: anxiety, heart pounding, headache, dizziness, and all the other prickly and sweaty feelings of post-traumatic stress. It was always waiting in the shadows until something terrible woke it up again.

There was a slam of the doors and McGaven ran through. He was breathing hard and sweating. It was clear he had run all the way down the stairs. He grabbed Katie and held her. “It’s okay.” He saw the signs of her distress.

She hugged him tightly and tried to push all the evil of the world away from her mind. They continued to hug for a while.

Katie heard voices as a few people meandered out of the hotel to the parking garage. They were loud and it was clear they had been drinking and having a good time.

McGaven released her and wiped a few tears from her face. “Don’t you ever do that again. Understand me?”

She nodded and realized how reckless she had been. “I’m sorry.” She could barely speak her voice was so hoarse.

“Can you even imagine what it’s like to see your partner jump off a seventh-story balcony and not know if the pool is going to keep them from dying a horrible death?”