Watch Them Die by Kevin O'Brien

divorce. And no way was the family going to let her walk away with their grandson.
    She began to hatch her escape plan while in the hospital, looking out the window of her private room. She would gaze down at the water, the bayside park with all the trees, and the happy families walking along those winding paths.
    The doctor had her on soft foods because she couldn’t chew well. She remembered eating a lot of yogurt—too much. At the time, Hannah thought she’d never want to see another container of Yoplait. She could only imagine eating solid foods—and being free of Kenneth Muir Woodley, Junior.
    Sitting on the bleachers, Hannah watched Guy play on the jungle gym. She set aside the peach yogurt and glanced at her wristwatch; only about ten minutes more before she had to hurry back to work.
    In many ways, she still wasn’t free of Ken. He still haunted her. It wasn’t intentional, but she hadn’t been with another man since him. She was afraid of getting too close to anyone, afraid of getting hurt again.
    Pam, the head of the day care center, blew a whistle. All the children started to gather together to file back into the building. Hannah smiled and waved at Guy, who jumped up and down excitedly and waved back. She watched him walk away with the other children. He was the only man in her life right now.
    Hannah suddenly shuddered. She realized Guy wasn’t the only man in her life at the moment. There was another man, imposing on her, playing some sort of strange, deadly game. And Hannah had a feeling that he was just getting started.

Five
    He stared at the piece of wood that she’d lodged in the groove of the sliding window. It looked like the sawed-off handle to a broom or a rake. He smiled. His leading lady was very clever. She’d caught on to how he’d been breaking into her place. She’d changed the locks on him, too.
    It was kind of sweet, really—her thinking she could keep him out with that puny piece of wood and a new dead bolt.
    He stood on the walkway at her front door. He had a good view of the Space Needle from here, but the Needle’s lights were off right now. It was five-fifteen in the morning.
    He’d last been inside her apartment five nights ago. There was something very romantic about that walk in the rain when he’d dropped off the tape of Rosemary’s Baby. He’d missed her these last few days.
    He’d spent far more time than he’d intended figuring out how to break into the Broadmoore Apartments and planning his date with Cindy Finkelston. Of course, she hadn’t known about it.
    She hadn’t been expecting him at all.
    She hadn’t expected to die Sunday morning.
    Smiling again, he touched Hannah’s front door and brushed his fingertips against the doorknob. The newspaper carrier would be around soon. And in about ninety minutes, Hannah Doyle would be waking up. She would drop off her kid at the day care place, then go to the video store. On Tuesdays, she worked nine to five.
    He liked watching her at work. He had hours and hours of videotape footage of Hannah at the video store.
    She might not notice him today. She wouldn’t be expecting him. But he would be watching her every move.

    Guy’s class was taking a field trip to the Woodland Park Zoo. When Hannah dropped him off at Alphabet Soup Day Care that Tuesday morning, she pulled the teacher aside and asked her to be extra-vigilant with Guy. “I’ve got this—stalker situation,” Hannah explained. “I don’t think he’d go after Guy, but—well, I’ll feel better knowing you’ve got your guard up, Pam.”
    Pam was a tall, athletic woman in her mid-twenties with short-trimmed blond hair. “Well, I’ll keep an eye out, Hannah,” she assured her. “Do you know what this creep-o looks like?”
    “Um, no. It’s, um, a telephone talker thing.”
    “Have you contacted the police about it yet? Maybe they can put a trace on your line.”
    Hannah nodded. “Yes, they’re doing that,” she lied.
    “Good. Can’t be too