Free Run With Me by L. A. Shorter

now. Kitty. I've seen her on the news, and the full
story is beginning to come together in my mind.
    It's not just the fact that her
auntie and uncle were murdered in their home. It's the fact that
Kitty's own apartment in LA was subject to the same treatment only a
few nights ago. According to the news report, a young woman was found
shot dead in Kitty's apartment on Friday evening. Naturally, with
Kitty missing, the police are going to think one of two things: that
she's dead too, or that she's a suspect. In fact, both theories are
probably being considered.
    Then her auntie and uncle turn
up dead and there are local reports from neighbors that Kitty was
seen staying with them for the night. All of a sudden, the mindset of
the police goes from missing, possibly dead, to full on suspect.
She's alive – they know that now – and three people are dead in
her wake.
    I sit and consider why the girl
in her apartment was killed. Did Kitty manage to escape as she did at
her auntie and uncle's house? Was it simply a case of mistaken
identity, where the hired gun mistook the girl for Kitty herself? The
evidence suggests the latter – that this was a botched job and
that's why Michael Carmine brought me in.
    The trail, for now, has gone
cold. She hasn't been seen, she hasn't used her credit cards. Until
she pops up somewhere on the grid it'll be impossible to trace her.
If she's smart, she'll have realized by now that her phone is her
enemy. It can be tracked and traced, so I'm guessing she will have
disposed of it.
    Why hasn't she gone to the
police? Is it through fear that they'll think she was the culprit?
Has she panicked and run off without considering her actions? Or is
it fear of Michael Carmine? Perhaps she knows that if he wants her
dead, she's dead, and the police can do nothing to stop it.
    Where would she have gone after
escaping her aunt and uncle's house? It's the one question that
continues to burn in my mind more fiercely than any other. Not back
to LA, she wouldn't risk going back there. North, most likely, in the
opposite direction. Fight or flight: she'll have chosen flight, and
will be looking to put as much distance as possible between herself
and the mess behind her.
    But it's risky, especially in
her car. Has she seen herself on the news? Does she know that every
cop in the state knows what she looks like and will be scanning for
her license plate? As soon as she pops up on the grid she'll be
caught, you can guarantee it. She'll have had no experience at
evading the police, at disappearing and moving around unseen. It
really is only a matter of time, and when the police find her,
Michael Carmine finds her too.
    I reach onto the table and
unfold a map of the region. When she escaped the house it will have
been the middle of the night. She'll be tired, she'll be afraid, and
she'll need to rest. It's possible that she managed to find a motel
somewhere for the time being. If she's smart, she'll realize that
using a credit card anywhere is like setting off a beacon for anyone
chasing her. In any case, I've already run some checks, and she
hasn't.
    That leaves a simple case of
trial and error. Over the years I've had to trust my judgment
repeatedly, and it rarely leads me astray. It's easy to find someone
when they don't know they're being tracked. When you give them a
head-start, however, and they know you're coming, things become a
whole lot more difficult. But then, I never fail to bring in a job.
It's a point of pride and the main reason why people hire me over
anyone else. When the evidence is thin on the ground, instinct can be
your most potent weapon. And mine is sharp as a butchers knife.
    The afternoon is drawing on when
I rise from my booth and step out from the diner. It's still warm,
but the air is beginning to cool as the sun makes its descent down
towards the horizon. I walk to my car and climb inside, start the
engine, and begin cruising up the road northwards away from
Bakersfield. There are few main