Everything She Feared by Rick Mofina

Author:Rick Mofina [Mofina, Rick]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-01-23T15:19:22+00:00

38

Seattle, Washington

A FOURTEEN-YEAR-OLD GIRL walked Buddy, her beagle, every day on the trail through the park near her home in Olympia. On one walk she failed to secure his leash and Buddy chased a squirrel.

She couldn’t find him.

John James Smith was in the park that day and saw that the girl was upset over her dog. Smith was a stranger, but the girl had seen him in the park occasionally when she walked Buddy. Smith offered to help look for Buddy, suggesting they go in different directions. In a short time Smith said he’d found the dog and called the girl to a dense thicket.

Not seeing Buddy, or hearing panting or the jingling of his leash, the girl hesitated. But Smith urged her into the thicket, saying Buddy looked hurt. Concerned, she proceeded. When she got to it, she didn’t see Buddy. Smith pulled her to the ground.

Two female joggers, marines who’d served in Afghanistan, heard the girl’s screams. Rescuing her, they subdued Smith, fracturing several bones in the process. The women called police and paramedics. In the chaos Buddy returned to the girl and was a source of comfort as paramedics and police tended to her.

Smith was charged with assault. Olympia detectives investigating Smith linked him to other attacks where he had stalked girls, learning their routines, waiting for the chance to strike, then assaulting them in wooded areas or empty buildings and lots.

Smith was convicted and served time in prison.

Reading the report, Pierce studied Smith’s physical description again: white, six feet tall, one-hundred-eighty pounds, with a scar running over his left eye to his cheek from a victim who’d scratched him.

Looking at his photo in the offender registry, Pierce thought, Why was Smith at Sparrow Song Park at the time of Anna Shaw’s death?

Benton slowed their SUV, then said: “Here we go.”

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