It didn’t help that she was trying to avoid Reid. The cabin wasn’t big enough for that trick. He spent most of the day at the desktop computer set up on a small table near the kitchen, on-line at the Crimewatch site from what she could tell. Looking for tips about Bigelow, probably. She kept herself to the second bedroom, lying on one of the twin beds and wracking her brain trying to figure out who was behind the murders and the frame-up. Every name she came up with, she ended up discarding. Desperate for a diversion, she abandoned her sanctuary, flopped onto the green corduroy couch in the main room and switched on the TV. Before long she found local news. She got a quick shock. The top story was about her. She punched up the volume just as nighttime video of her abandoned white Kia Sephia rental car, surrounded by cops and yellow crime tape, filled the small screen. A chill ran through her body. A woman reporter’s voice boomed from the TV. “—found last night and was towed to a police facility for DNA tests and other analysis. Police have confirmed that wanted serial-murder suspect Annette Rowell rented the vehicle at Orange County airport six days ago, only hours before bestselling novelist Michael Ellsworth was slashed to death in his Corona del Mar home.”
