Nalani sighed loudly. “Blake and I were talking about that just now. If Dirk isn’t caught in two weeks, we both think you need to leave the state, get another job where Dirk won’t find you. That way, you can at least have some peace. I know how much this is going to affect you daily, Cari. You’re not the kind of person to deal with this type of situation long term. If they don’t apprehend Dirk, we don’t have a hundred thousand dollars a year to pay for one bodyguard, much less two of them, to protect you and me.”
“Is that how much it costs?”
“Actually, most bodyguards get around a hundred and fifty thousand dollars and upward, a year. We don’t have that kind of money.”
“And I don’t either,” she whispered wearily.
“His hatred is aimed at you, darling girl, and we’re sick over this. We’ll be fine. Blake is a hunter and we have guns in the house. He also can get both of us a concealed carry permit to have a weapon on us, which would make me feel much safer. I know you would not go that route.”
“No, never . . . I saw him fire his gun at Denise . . . it’s something I’ll never forget, Mom. I-I just can’t . . .”
“Which is why we think you should look for another job, Cari. My sense tells me Dirk isn’t going to be recaptured very soon, and we need to keep you safe. We need a long-range plan in case he isn’t in custody in the next two weeks. Also? We’d like you to vacate your townhouse for now. Blake would like to see you go on vacation. Dirk could wait for you when you leave to go to work, too.”
“I’ve already thought of that . . .”
“Would you do that for us? We don’t trust the authorities to know your whereabouts. Computer information gets hacked out of sheriffs’ departments, too. We want to wipe your footprints clear of your job and where you live.”
“To tell you the truth, I hadn’t thought of these things. Yes, I think what I’ll do is take my car and go to Muir Woods and the redwoods. I can get an extended motel room rental in nearby Mill Valley. I would feel safe there because I know the area well. I can do a lot of hiking. The redwoods always give me a profound sense of peace, and it’s so calming and healing an area for me.”
“Plus, you didn’t start going there until after Dirk was in prison. He doesn’t know your haunts, where you love to go.”
“That’s what I was thinking. Did you ever mention my love of Muir Woods to him when you visited him in prison?”
“No, he never asked about you and we purposely didn’t talk about anything regarding you in any way.”
“Dirk never liked Nature. He was a city person. He liked the nightlife, the excitement, noise and lights,” Cari murmured, feeling her heart rate begin to slowly stop racing. The adrenaline in her bloodstream made her feel shaky, a reaction to the fight-or-flight response, she supposed.
“I can call the sheriff ’s department and tell them they don’t need to watch your townhouse twenty-four hours a day, then. We aren’t going to tell them where you are, as I said.”
“Good plan.” She looked up at the clock. It was early May, a beautiful month to be in San Francisco, one of her favorite times of the year. “We’ll know in two weeks,” she said, more to herself than her mother.
“Knowing Dirk? I don’t think they’ll capture him. He’s elusive, like a wild animal.”
Animal was right, but Cari wouldn’t even want to compare Dirk to any other living thing. “He’s a monster without a heart. Soulless. I don’t care what anyone says.”
“He is all of that,” her mother sadly agreed. “You need to get on the computer and look for another job, just in case, Cari. I hate saying that because I know how happy you are with this one.”
“I know. But I’m so afraid of him. I know he’ll come after me.” She rubbed her face, her whole world in a slow motion tumble, being destroyed once more, by Dirk. “Everything Dirk touches dies, Mom. You know that.”
“Yes, and I’m afraid you’re going to have to disappear until he’s caught if we go past this two-week limit we’ve set for law enforcement to recapture him.”
“If only they would!” She could have her life back!
“We’ll see,” her mother answered hesitantly. “Dirk’s mother was a drug addict, as you know. That’s why Blake divorced her. Sherry loved her drugs more than anything else and Blake was worried about Dirk as a baby. He’s sure that she sexually abused him even though he couldn’t prove it.”
“It was proven by his behavior as he grew up, Mom. He was angry all the time. I’ve lost count how many times he flew into a rage if you looked at him wrong, or stood up and confronted him. He hates women in general. All he wanted to do was destroy you if you disagreed with him on anything.”
“Then let’s move forward with this plan. Muir Woods has always been your healing place. In the morning, pack and get out of there. You call us when you find a suitable motel to hole up in. Take your hiking gear, knapsack, and boots.”
She smiled softly, resting her elbows on her knees, phone in her left hand. “You know me so well, Mom. I’ll worry about you two, also.”
“We’ll be fine. It’s you we worry about. You have no protection against him.”
“I can have it by disappearing. He doesn’t know where I live, knows nothing of my life, my likes or dislikes. I’m going to give him a cold trail to follow. I’ll use my degree in agriculture, move to my biology major, and take my camera and photograph the creatures that live in Muir Woods. That will make me happy. I’m always at peace when I’m out in the wilds and in rural areas.”
“I know you are. Who knows? You might run into a honeybee hive out in the woods,” she said.
“Oh, wouldn’t that be wonderful? I’d love that! To see a wild hive? Nirvana.” She laughed, feeling better, feeling some hope in the darkness embracing her.
“I’ll never forget when you were five years old and told us what you’d done to save the queen and her swarm at the day care. That was just incredible. Blake and I knew then that you would one day work with the bee people.”
Cari appreciated her Hawaiian mother. She had grown up on Oahu, outside of Honolulu, where her farm parents had fifty bee hives. Their honey was sold throughout the Hawaiian Islands. Nalani had been taught by her father to become a beekeeper, too. There were five generations of her family who maintained the hives. “Finding wild hives is hard unless you’re deep in the woods where few people go,” Cari agreed.
“Well, let’s get this plan into motion.”
“It’s not fair one person can upset all our lives,” Cari muttered, frowning.
“Nothing in life is fair,” Nalani said gently. “Women are adaptable and we’ll do just that with Dirk on the loose. If we’re lucky? This will be over soon.”
“I hope you’re right, Mom,” she said, no hope in her tone. “My gut tells me my whole life is about to change and I have no idea if that’s good or bad . . .”
Chapter Two
May 15
Chase Bishop barely held back a curse. The beekeeper who was supposed to know “everything” about bees had left an email on his home computer, unexpectedly quitting this morning.