Page 62 of Double Obsession

Jenna unhooked her seatbelt and leaned over his shoulder. Unfortunately, she couldn’t see anything on the “too damn small” screen.

“Five years ago, an Arkansas Buchanon in Pittsburg was accused of murdering her grandmother.”

“No fucking way,” said Stacie.

“The family minister accused Arkansas of murder and a doctor claimed that the grandmother, Louisa Buchanon, had been afraid of this Arkansas for months. The coroner’s report said Louisa died from cardiac arrest, and after two weeks of deliberation, the jury found Arkansas innocent.”

Jenna’s heart dropped to her stomach.

“Another article states—hold on a second.” Jenna held her breath while her father fought with the device. “Children and Youth took her from her mother and placed her with her grandmother when she was a preteen.”

“Does it say why?” Jenna asked.

“Removal due to parent-child relationship problems.”

“Child abuse?” Stacie asked.

“I doubt it. Probably more of a case of the child abusing the parent.”

“Wow! Really?” Stacie asked.

“It’s easier to think there is a cause or a reason, but sometimes a person is born pure evil. I see it all of the time.”

There was a difference between mental illness and evil. Wasn’t there? However Jenna couldn’t draw the distinction with her loved one being held captive. “But most of the time it’s their environment? Don’t you think?” she asked.

“Most of the time, but not always. And these damn violent video games and all the internetting, political battles, and sext texting aren’t helping.”

“It’s called sexting, Dad. And it’s fun. Just ask Jenna.”

Jenna bonked her sister hard enough to make her shut up, but not so hard that she’d drive the car into the ditch.

“Could you scare someone to death and cause a heart attack?” Stacie asked.

“Stress, in general, can cause one. But it’d be damn hard to prove you scared someone to death,” their dad said.

Jenna jumped when her phone pinged.Thump, thump, thump,beat her heart as she read, then relayed the message. “She is excited for me to bring her the book.”

“Told you,” Stacie said.

With a quivering voice, Jenna read the address.

Stacie kept one eye on the road and the other on the GPS as she typed in Hunter Stone’s location.

Chapter Twenty-Five

Hunter awoke with newfound strength. The nausea-producing dizziness had become a dull off-kilter sensation. While his eyes adjusted to the dark, he planned his escape. Although the woman wasn’t in phenomenal shape, she was freakishly strong and, when angered, could move quickly. He needed to get up the stairs and down the front hall to the door. The sliding glass leading to the backyard provided an alternate route. Then he could take the back gate to the alley, where there were nooks and crannies he could tuck into and hide. Wanting to keep all options open, he searched for the window hidden in the blackness.

He sighed. Not that it mattered, since a window escape involved moving and then climbing onto the furniture. Besides, he wasn’t sure he could fit his shoulders through the small space. And then there was the matter of the bars and the fact that the window didn’t open.

All those years spent hefting weights and shoveling in protein had been for naught. A couple of beatings from a woman and a case of dehydration and he was useless. He cackled out a disturbing sound, then whispered, “Think, think, think.”

He spent the next few minutes trying to free his hands. With each twist of his wrist, his shoulder burned.

Where were the damn meds?

“They’re probably the wrong type of antibiotics anyway,” he told the green eyes that watched him. “They’re left over from the strep throat I had six months ago.”

Fluffy meowed.