The Darkness of Evil (Karen Vail #7)(33)

“I’m so sorry,” she said.

Aside from Jonathan and Robby, DEA Special Agent Richard Prati and his son Ryan were seated in the family room. She stepped around the ottoman and stretched to shake their hands when Hershey pushed his way in to greet her. They all laughed as she cuddled his head in her left palm while extending her right toward Prati.

“Good to see you again, Karen. Working a case?”

“You heard about the escape of Roscoe Lee Marcks?”

“It’s all over the news,” Prati said.

“That’s mine. Working on a Marshals’ fugitive task force.” She turned to the nineteen-year-old. “Ryan, good to meet you.”

“Same here, Agent Vail.”

“Karen, please.” She leaned left and gave Jonathan a kiss on the cheek. “How are you, sweetie?”

“Good. Just found out Ryan’s a Beta.”

Vail straightened up. “You pledged Beta too? What school are you at?”

“University of Florida. I’m in for a quick visit to see my parents, then it’s back at it.”

“I’m going to check on dinner,” Robby said. “Let’s go take a seat at the table.”

As they gathered up their drinks and walked into the dining room—which was meticulously set—Thank you, Robby—Vail asked, “What’s your major?”

Prati laughed. “Ryan has some pretty career-specific plans.”

“Following in your dad’s footsteps?”

“In a way. I’m going to join the Navy, see if I can hook on with the SEALs.”

“That’s a pretty demanding program. I know some former Special Forces guys if you want to talk to them. I’m sure I can get one or two to sit down with you.”

“That’d be cool.”

Prati placed a hand on his son’s shoulder. “Ryan’s already a certified advanced SCUBA diver, lettered in track, swimming, cross-country, wrestling, and lacrosse.”

“You’re kidding,” Vail said.

Robby poked his head out of the kitchen. “Actually, he’s not kidding. That’s one impressive young man.”

“No shit.”

“He’s also a licensed sky diver—”

“Dad,” Ryan said. “They get the picture.”

“I have the utmost respect for Special Forces,” Vail said.

Robby stepped in carrying a steaming tureen and gave her a look.

Okay, fine. I better shut up. I’m not supposed to talk about that stuff. “Jonathan’s taking fencing,” she said, changing the subject.

“Really?” Jonathan asked mockingly. “I’m taking a class in fencing? That’s supposed to be impressive?”

“Hey,” Robby said. “Don’t sell yourself short.” He elbowed Ryan. “Jonathan’s very good.”

“It’s something I’ve wanted to learn,” Ryan said. “You like it?”

“You need a lot of lower body and core strength—obviously that wouldn’t be a problem for you—and like any sport you’ve really got to practice a lot to be good. Things happen very fast, so you’re reacting instinctively rather than thinking. The more you do it, the better prepared you are to respond. If you’ve got to take a split second to think, you’re done.”

Ryan was nodding. “Definitely would like to get into that.”

“And how are things with DEA?” Vail asked as she took the casserole from Robby and set it in the center of the table.

“Never a dull moment,” Prati said. “I’m sure Robby can attest to that.”

“No kidding. Law enforcement’s a tough career for a family.” She picked up the bottle of wine and began refilling Prati’s and Robby’s glasses, then poured one for herself. “Between his work with DEA and mine with the Bureau, we have to work to make time for each other.”

“And I can attest to that,” Jonathan said. “Like today.”

Vail blushed. “Sorry, sweetie. Not how I envisioned it going. But I really had no choice.” She turned to Prati. “I was giving a talk to one of Jonathan’s criminal justice classes when all hell broke loose. Marcks escaped, a police officer who was guarding his daughter was murdered—and both calls came through at the same time … about a minute or two into my talk.” She placed a hand on Jonathan’s. “We’ll get it rescheduled, I promise.”

He grinned slyly. “It was kind of cool, actually.”

“Cool?” Robby asked as he set bowls of broccolini, sautéed spinach, and kale/beet salad on the table.

“Everyone could kind of figure out there was something serious going down. It was a bit dramatic. Especially when you dropped the F-bomb in front of the class.”

Robby covered his eyes and shook his head.

“It sounds worse than it was,” Vail said, giving Jonathan a disapproving glance. “Everybody, eat up.” She started passing around the dishes and unfurled her napkin. “Robby tells me you guys went to the same college in LA?”

Prati swirled his wine glass. “When he called me to help you out on that domestic bombing case a couple of months ago, I googled him, just to see who I was dealing with. I realized we both went to UCLA. A few years apart, but we had some of the same classes. And instructors.”