Chapter One

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Near Minneapolis, Minnesota

 

Patricia Campbell picked up a newspaper from the lunchroom table in the medical clinic where she worked. The headline read: “Young woman found dead.”

 

Her eyes scanned the story. The victim was only a year younger than she was. Patricia trembled as she set the paper back on the table. Someone might have written that same story about her two years earlier if she hadn’t slipped through the madman’s clutches.

 

Jerry Windham’s handsome face materialized as flashbacks played out like a bad home movie in her mind. A chill crept up her neck. She wished she’d never met him.

 

Her half-eaten sandwich landed in the trashcan, her appetite along with it. Just thinking about Jerry had that effect on her.

 

She left the lunchroom and strolled outside the building. Up ahead, an unoccupied picnic bench beckoned. Patricia took a seat and breathed in the fragrance of freshly cut grass. But it didn’t take her mind off her fear.

 

Jerry didn’t like loose ends. He didn’t like people who knew too much. Patricia knew that. She slumped back into the park bench and shook her head. Would she have gotten away at all if she hadn’t found out about his crimes?

 

She swallowed hard and whispered the truth aloud, “He won’t stop until he finds me.” And if he found her—

 

Patricia shuddered.

 

She got up and ambled down the street. The blustery wind tousled her thick, shoulder-length auburn hair.

 

Yes, she’d been fortunate to escape when she did.

 

As she walked, she took deep breaths to calm her out-of-control anxiety. Why Jerry was still free, and not in prison, puzzled her. The authorities must not know what she knew. But at least the police had given her time to vanish when they detained him back then in Des Plaines, Illinois.

 

Had she left any clues to where she’d gone, or ever mentioned her family to him? She hoped not! Did she tell him she used to live in Minnesota?

 

Patricia gave a short, barely audible laugh. Jerry was too interested in himself to ask about her.

 

Still, she’d been in one place too long.

 

Lunchtime was over. Patricia made her way back to the building and her desk. She tried to concentrate, but the gloomy thoughts persisted. Mounting fears suddenly enveloped her.

 

Rushing into the ladies’ room, she locked the door behind her. She had to stay calm. Figure out what to do.

 

Jerry would send someone to find her if they weren’t looking already. She’d leave the state. But where could she go?

 

She didn’t have much choice.

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