Deadly Fate (Krewe of Hunters #19)(42)

“Stop. We started off with him tackling me in the snow and he really hasn’t been all that nice. Kind of a dickhead, really,” Clara said. “He’s pretty cold. Hard-core FBI.”

“Damned good-looking dickhead,” Larry noted.

“I found him to be very courteous,” Ralph said. “Just passionate—which is very good. He’s looking for a killer.”

“It is quite simply basic nature,” Simon told Clara. “Men are horrible because of biology—scatter as much seed as you can with anyone. Women are selective. They have only so many eggs—gotta get those puppies fertilized by the best there is. And I’ve heard that a man’s scent is something that kind of warns a woman if he’d fight for her or not. Supposed to be huge in the chemistry of two people.”

“Sparks, sparks, sparks!” Larry said.

“And he does smell really good,” Ralph said.

“Guys! Stop with the smells and the sparks. The waitress is coming!” Clara said. And, with her cheeks reddening, she realized that she’d never been so happy to see food arrive.

But while the others forgot their teasing conversation, Simon did not. He reached across the table and took her hand.

“I’m being serious now. We like to tease you about Erikson, yes. But hang with him and Jackson, please. And watch out for Kimball,” he said quietly. “There’s something about him...well, there’s something about him that just isn’t right.”

*

Jackson and Thor left the station.

A company car had been left for their use.

Thor slid into the driver’s seat and looked at Jackson. “You have Clara’s number, right?” he asked.

Jackson smiled. “I do. You’re driving—I’ll call.”

Thor listened as Jackson asked questions, since the phone wasn’t on speaker. “An officer is still on duty in the restaurant? We’ll be no more than another thirty minutes.”

Jackson nodded, repeated the questions and relayed the answers. “She’s fine. She’s having dinner in the Hawthorne’s restaurant with her friends, the officer is great—and she’s anxious to speak with us.”

“Does she know something else?”

Jackson asked the question and turned back to Thor. “She repeated that she’s having dinner with her friends.”

She didn’t want to speak in front of the others, Thor realized.

“We’ll be there soon,” Jackson said.

“Let’s go straight to her. I can go by my house to get a few things after we see her,” Thor said.

Jackson smiled slightly, looking down.

“She could be in danger,” Thor said.

“She didn’t sound as if she was in any danger. She’s at the hotel with three friends and an officer on duty. She’ll be all right,” Jackson said.

“Let’s get her anyway—it never hurts to make certain of anything.”

“Of course,” Jackson said. “I’m surprised Enfield didn’t argue about her coming back out there with us.”

“I think you’d manage to one-up his authority if it came to that,” Thor said, glancing over at his old partner. Crow was a decade older, but he hadn’t changed much. Even as a young agent, he’d been cool and cautious—able to act in the blink of an eye, but just as capable of thinking.

“It’s not me,” Jackson told him, half smiling as he looked over at him. “The acting director of the Krewe—Adam Harrison—answers only to the director of the FBI. Adam was finding the right people to get things done around the country before he became official and started the Krewe. I was his first guinea pig. Adam had his eye out at all times for the right people. He is a bit of a red tape magician—when we need something, we turn to him.” He was quiet for a minute. “Adam knew about Tate Morley, and he knew about my role in that investigation and that I’d been partners with you. So, there it is.”

“Well—nice,” Thor told him. “I knew a bit about the Krewe. Good that you’re here.”

“Right or wrong as far as the Fairy Tale Killer goes, it’s good to be working this with you,” Jackson said. “And...I’m glad I’m here for Clara.”

Thor glanced at him quickly. “You are just friends, right? I mean, I’m not missing something here that I should be seeing. I heard that you were married to a fellow agent. I don’t imagine the man I worked with not being...monogamous.”

Jackson didn’t take offense. “We’re just friends, good friends—I guess circumstances made it so. And yes, I’m married to a fellow agent, Angela Hawkins. She’s a whiz at management, at finding what is needed, at sending the right agents out to the right place at the right time. When I need information that the local people can’t give me in seconds, I always call back to the Krewe offices.” He hesitated. “I’ve actually thought about you in the last years, even discussed you with Adam. But while we work with a few satellite offices, Alaska wouldn’t be in the mix right now.”

Thor was silent.

He thought that Jackson—and the mysterious Adam Harrison—might ask him into the unit.

It was something he would consider.

Except...

He kept thinking that he had to find the truth for Mandy, who had haunted their dreams, and for the other victims.