Mortal Danger

1999.” She wondered who he’d persuaded to send it on for him.
    Kate
    I am so sorry for what has happened between us. I hope and pray you are okay.
    I’m doing the best I can. I’m scared but decided it’s best to stay in Oregon, attempting to find the courage to deal with this.
    I need time right now to sort things out and put my affairs in order.
    This has been hard on everyone. Please continue to be kind to Tamara and Heather—I know you will.
    You need to know that whatever happens to me you are safe (and so is everyone else). All this has brought me to reality. I want you to be able to go on with your life in peace, prosperity and happiness. I know you will.
    Please accept this letter, as my wish that you be in Joy, not sadness, as you read this. Please think of all the great times we had as John & Kate (And Dr. John and Dr. Kate). I am thankful for all the happy & fulfilling years we had together.
    In spite of things, please know that I Love you and Always will—No matter what.
    Love your,
John
    Kate sighed. It was still all about him, and he didn’t have the faintest idea what love was. How could he possibly expect her to feel safe? She wondered what he wanted from her—probably a way out of the trouble he was in. He was scared. He wanted time to put his affairs in order. And he , as always, was trying to make her feel guilty.
    But his manipulations didn’t work any longer—not with Kate.
    She tried to think where he might be. Since John had emphasized in his letter that he was in Oregon, Kate was sure he wasn’t there. She knew he would be working frenetically to protect himself and to avoid arrest. She guessed that he was probably in California, heading south. He might be trying to get into Mexico. It was unlikely that he’d go north. As far as she knew, he didn’t have any contacts in Washington, and it would probably be more difficult for him to get across the Canadian border than to slip into Mexico, even though he had his ever-present assortment of driver’s licenses in different names. There was a “stolen” bulletin out on her car, and she was working with Dave Gardiner to bring the FBI into the search for John. There was every possibility that he had crossed state lines by now.
    Kate and her father had gone to pick up an extra-strong cell phone from the sheriff’s office (ordinary cell phone signals didn’t penetrate the Gold Beach area) when they spotted her car. Her 1999 Suzuki Grand Vitara was parked in the Fred Meyer store lot, right behind the sheriff’s office. There was no way to tell how long it had been there.
    Had John had a pang of conscience, or was he afraid of being stopped in a stolen car? Whichever it was, she was happy to have her new car back.
    She doubted that John had much money, and the only vehicle he’d had in Oregon besides hers was a 1971 Ford pickup truck that had once belonged to his father. It was virtually undrivable and it was still parked at the cottage. Somehow, he must have made his way out of town, possibly even by hitchhiking, although that or a bus ride would have been iffy with the dragnet of deputies and state police looking for him.
    John’s daughters were in the San Diego area, and his best friend—Stanley Szabo, the dentist who had lived in Kate’s condo so long ago—was in Florida. Kate tried to figure out who would be most likely—and most able—to help him continue his escape. His older daughter, Tamara, had always backed John up. Even if what he was doing was illegal or morally wrong, Tamara covered for him.Kate was quite sure Tamara would be first on the list of all the people he would run to.
    She had lost touch with Dr. Szabo and didn’t know exactly where he was. John had helped Stan out when Stan had been struggling back from an expensive divorce, and she thought he might help John, if John could even find him. “Stan used to sigh and say, ‘He who has the money can pull the strings,’” Kate said, “and back in the days at Solana Beach, it was John who had the money, and he did help Stan.”
    But Kate felt that Tamara Branden was the most likely to protect the father she idolized. Kate sent an article to Tamara about John’s spate of violence. It had appeared in the Curry Coastal Pilot and was entitled “Man Sought in Rape Case.” She followed it up in mid-June with a phone call. She couldn’t get through to Tamara, but she did speak with Dan,* Tamara’s fiancé.
    It was an oddly stilted discussion, during which