Prologue
Pierce County Courthouse
Tacoma, Washington
Five years ago…
“Is the prosecution prepared to give closing arguments?”
Eloise Fisher—Ellie to those who knew her well—looked up from the notes she’d been reviewing and offered the judge a friendly smile. “We are, Your Honor.”
Only this time, there was nowe.
There was only her.
“Very well.” The black-haired, sixty-something woman sitting high in her pleated black robe gave a nod. “You may proceed.”
Nerves fired throughout every cell in Ellie’s body, but she kept that smile steady and pretended otherwise. She could do this. Shewoulddo this.
There was no other option.
Words she’s practiced ad nauseam over the past two weeks began rolling through her head. For weeks, she’d gone over what she would say when this moment finally came.
At home. In her car. Whenever she found herself alone in an elevator. On her morning jogs.
Every chance she got, Ellie found herself uttering the perfected words. But the time for rehearsing was over. This was it. The real deal.
And with so much on the line, it didn’t get any more real than this.
You can do this, El. You wouldn’t be here if you couldn’t.
Her lungs filled with a slow, deep breath she prayed no one else could see. On a silent exhale, she rose to her feet and stepped out from behind the prosecutor’s table.
The thin heels of her black patent calf Louboutins echoed against the tan tiled floor as Ellie made her way into the area of the courtroom known as The Well. She forced herself to focus solely on the carefully chosen words she’d prepared rather than the fact that this was the biggest case of her career to date.
Biggest.
Most stressful.
Most frightening.
As an Assistant Prosecutor, this wasn’t the first time she’d taken the lead or led her own solo trial. But this trial was different. It was her first high-profile case. And the defendant—George Ray Harvey—well…
He was Ellie’s first serial killer.
By definition, serial killers are those who murder three or more victims. The cops tracked down and captured Harvey not long after his fourth kill.
The sensationalized story of the man known as the Seattle Stalker had garnered national headlines. News and radio stations from across the country gave daily—sometimes hourly—updates to the general public so they could stay abreast of the happenings inside the courtroom.
As if that wasn’t enough, every social media platform in existence was filled with news clips, memes, and personal videos from random strangers. It seemed as if everyone across the globe had something to say on the matter.
People were constantly being interviewed. Family members of the victims and the monster who’d killed them, as well as a few of Harvey’s neighbors who openly shared their thoughts,opinions, and theories about a man they swore could never commit such heinous crimes.
Of course, to make matters worse, there’d also been an almost constant media presence surrounding Ellie since before the trial began. Outside her firm, her apartment building, her gym…
No matter where she went, the blinding lights from cameras would flash, and microphones would be shoved in her face. The entire world, it seemed, was obsessed with the question of whether the Seattle Stalker would be sent to prison for the rest of his life…or bet set free.
He has to be stopped. I have to stop him.