“Interesting thought,” she noted. “We might be physically well-matched, but that doesn’t mean that mentally or emotionally we are.”
“I think we’re better matched than you think.” And he reached down for her hand.
She slipped hers into his, as they walked down the pathway. She pointed out where the bodies were found and noted that already a million footsteps had covered the area.
“It’s sad to think of the passage of time already,” he said. “So many people have run right over the same place, where somebody suffered so greatly.”
“And yet it was over quickly,” she murmured.
“It was. That was the thing that really got me. It came out of nowhere. She had no expectation, no understanding even. At the time, it took her a while to even grasp what was happening. By then, it was way too late.”
“Yes,” she murmured, “that’s the effect of a surprise attack, isn’t it? Catching them while they’re unaware, knocking them to the ground, long before they have a chance to even fight back, effectively taking them out before they really get any defenses up—not to mention the bear spray to take out their sense of sight. Both women were incredibly fit, but I have yet to find out if they had any self-defense training. Not that it’s necessarily a game-changer, with a surprise attack like this, but you’d think, if they had some, they might have recovered enough to kick his ass.”
“Was the ground scuffed up?”
“I took photos of it,” she noted, “and so did forensics, but, with no fresh rain and the effects of a million people running over it day in and day out, it was really hard to tell. We didn’t see any tracks going sideways or anything that looked kicked up, like from a fight. But you know it’s so pounded down here from all the traffic, that’s probably not surprising.”
“Sad that it’s to be expected,” he stated, “but obviously this guy took his time, figured out the perfect timing for when to hit them, and got it just right.”
“That brings up another question,” she added. “If it wasjust right, how many times did he have to practice and get it wrong first?”
He looked at her in surprise. “Are you thinking he has done this before?”
She frowned. “No, not necessarily, I mean…” Then she stopped. “I don’t have any reason to think either way, but it does bother me to consider that, right out of the gate, with no warning, this guy kills two people.”
“Yet we don’t know it was without warning, do we?” he asked. Although his vision said it was. Still he’d been wrong before.
“No, we don’t,” she agreed, “but I didn’t find any similar cases in recent years.” She turned, looked around again. “Now I want to go talk to the husband.”
He nodded, and, as they got back into the car, she saw still more vehicles pulling up, more joggers getting out, some in groups, some singles, but most had somebody with them.
“I wonder what the stats are about joggers these days,” Kate mentioned out loud, “like whether they run in packs, in pairs, or alone.”
“I think you’ll probably find more are alone than you’d expect because it’s hard to find running buddies who can consistently function at the same time frame that you do.”
She nodded. “That’s why these two women ran together all the time because they both wanted to run in the same time frame, and it worked for them. Plus, they liked trail running, not like jogging on a flat rubber track. They also were good friends and were well matched to do the same level of trail running. Like some people enjoy running on the sand, but, for me, it’s not my favorite.”
“Why not?” he asked.
“Because I never did enough to build up those calf muscles. Running on the sand exhausts me,” she admitted. “I’ve been working on it, but I’m not getting very far.”
“Just the fact that you’re working on it says a lot about you,” he stated. “You don’t like to see something defeat you.”
“No, I don’t.” Then, with a laugh, she added, “I’m the same at work.”
He nodded. “And that’s also why you’re good at what you do. Once you get your nose into something, you don’t let up.”
“Should I?” she asked curiously.
“No. Why would you? There’s just so much shit in the world around you, and everybody else needs somebody like you to keep the system functioning.”
“Sometimes I wonder,” she muttered. And, with that, knowing that he was studying her in bafflement, she changed the subject. “Let’s go.” And they walked back to the car. As soon as she got to the vehicle, she turned it toward the address on Pendrell Street, just a block back from the beach.
As they got out, he looked at the area and smiled. “A really nice development is here.”
“Sure, it’s the rage now,” she stated.
“Yes, but you can see houses have been dropped and rebuilt, as new money moved in.”