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.
Chase then called the Sandoval family, a Hispanic family of beekeepers who had, according to the mother, Theresa Sandoval, three generations of expertise on bees. They were from central Mexico. She was the only one he trusted to help him out of this serious business disaster.
A year ago, he’d tried to persuade her family of five to take over the job of managing the twenty-five hives, but they had refused. Was it because of this supposed beekeeper, Troy Court, that he’d hired to oversee the business? The balding man had been an egotistical bastard, bragging about his ability to create successful commercial beekeeping start-ups. And it had been Theresa Sandoval who had warned him that Court was no beekeeper. She’d seen him out at the area where Chase had