Deadly Fate (Krewe of Hunters #19)(78)

Clara digested the information. “Then Becca set up the room herself. And she’s gone to meet up with him?”

“Possibly,” Angela said. “It’s hard to tell. We found other letters to him, and email—it truly is frightening to see how some men and women become obsessed with such killers. Some because they believe they can ‘fix’ them, and some because they’re suffering some kind of mental disease themselves and admire the work of serial killers. Law enforcement is often after people like that,” Angela added softly.

Clara swallowed. Thor was an agent, a representative of the law. He put his life in danger every day. He had chosen to do so. He was very good at what he did. But now, Tate Morley himself might well be out there, a trap set, along with Becca! And, apparently, both were damned good at...killing. If, of course, Becca was his accomplice.

“They know this, right? You said that Thor and Mike and the other police and agents...they all know this?”

“They know,” Angela assured her. “But remember, too, that alone would never stand up in a court of law. We know that she’s been corresponding with him, but he corresponded with others, as well. Still, with this information, we’re going to process the room at the Alaska Hut, and then let you and Tommy and Nate leave the island. We’ll get you on the Fate with the rest of your coworkers.”

“I see,” Clara murmured.

“Jackson will go with you, and I’m heading out either this afternoon or tomorrow myself.”

“Angela, that’s great!” Clara said. “I mean, it’s not great that the case is so bad, just that...” Just that there was nothing like having another agent close to her—a woman she knew, liked and trusted completely.

“I passed the academy, too, you know,” Angela said, smiling. “I’ve always wanted to come to Alaska.” She was silent and looked toward Jackson. “And I’ll be glad to see this man put away—for good this time.”

Tate Morley’s victims had haunted both of the men who had pursued him.

Clara understood; Angela needed to be here.

“What are they saying to the others?” Clara asked. “I think Kimball will feel justified. Tommy and Nate won’t accept it easily.”

“We’re not making this common knowledge. They’re still looking for Becca. We’re just saying that the decision has been made to bring all visitors back to the mainland. That’s our official line for the moment,” Jackson said. “Enfield is assigning a man to stay here on the island. If we don’t have anything with which to charge Kimball, he and Emmy will soon be free to return to New York or go wherever Kimball wants to be. And, as far as Tommy and Nate go...” He shrugged. “We don’t have anything on them, either. You’re all right with everything?”

Clara scarcely remembered why she was in Alaska...what she did for a living. She’d almost forgotten that next week, she was supposed to be taking part in Annabelle Lee, and that she loved what she did and the people with whom she worked.

She nodded at Jackson. Yes, she was ready to board the Fate. And sail far away from the cold and the fear and the...death.

If only she could.

She managed a smile for Jackson. “With any luck,” she murmured, “we’ll actually do this show.” She nodded. “And Angela is coming.”

“She’s always wanted to see Alaska,” Jackson said. “I don’t actually think that she meant like this.”

*

Thor had law enforcement members assigned to specific areas across the island.

Everyone had been advised that they had connected Becca Marle to Tate Morley. Nothing had proved yet that she was involved in the killings, but her behavior at the Alaska Hut certainly made her suspect.

Thor had chosen the back woods—leading out from the rear of the Alaska Hut and down toward a glacial peak above a group of caverns—for himself and Mike. A number of people had been thirty to fifty feet away at all times, but if Becca had done the work herself—or been instantly incapacitated—it was understandable that nobody had seen anything.

But no one could have passed the front of the Alaska Hut. There was a clearing before the woods; even if a police officer had done some blinking, it would have been nearly impossible for someone to have gone that way undetected.

Of course, that person might have skirted around the woods from the back and gotten just about anywhere. But Thor didn’t think so. Becca couldn’t know the island that well, and if someone was dragging along her lifeless body, they just couldn’t have moved that quickly.

“Being pissed off at Kimball—I can see that,” Mike commented as they moved into a section of the woods. “I can see her wanting to hurt him, maybe even proving what they can do. I don’t know. I just didn’t see the woman as a killer.”

“Did you see her carrying on a letter romance with a serial killer?”

Mike shrugged. “Well, frankly, I don’t see anyone doing that. But people do.”

They’d moved deep into a pine forest. Mike paused, taking a breath, pointing to a tree. “Grizzly territory,” he noted.

Slash marks had torn away the bark. Great.

Thor nodded. “Yeah. Let’s not tick off any grizzlies, huh?”

“I’m with you, my friend.”

They both stood still for a moment. Looking high above the trees, Thor saw circling vultures. He pointed them out to Mike.