“I don’t think this killer believes he’s a vampire, though if he is seeking followers, he’ll want to convince them he is a supernatural creature. I believe he’ll be like the guy we just got—probably handsome or charming enough to lure victims. Somewhere in his twenties or thirties. Thirties, I think, old enough to have gotten clever enough to clean up a crime scene and have the finances to pull off what he’s doing. He’ll be making sure he gets a lot of press all over Europe. He wants the fame or the infamy.”
“You spent time with profilers?”
“I did,” he said. “And we all know a profile can be wrong—but most of the time, it turns out to be right on. Let’s hope we have good help once we get there.”
“We will. And we have tons and tons of time to study all the files on the plane. Mason, we can make this work. And I know you’re a loner. This is the first time you’ve worked with a partner and a team in a long time. But I swear, I’ve got your back.”
He nodded. “I’ve uh... I’m sorry if I’m...difficult. You’re right. I’ve been on my own for a few years now. And—I swear—I’ve got your back, too.”
She smiled. “Hey, I’ve gotten to see you do that already. And I’m so sorry. I heard. I heard your last partner was killed in the line of duty,” she said.
He nodded, looking away, and not sure why he didn’t want to look at her.
Yes, Stan Kier had been killed. Mason had been nearby when it happened, and seeing Stan, he had felt a burning fury. Perhaps there had been no choice, but the searing sensation of anger and hatred he’d felt when he brought down the killer had been horrible.
There were things an agent had to do. Times when he had to kill.
But the amount of hatred he’d felt then...
It had scared the hell out of him.
It was just something he didn’t want to ever feel again. Though he had to admit, it didn’t come close to the pain of seeing Stan die. Stan had been a great guy, a family man, a friend.
He started, feeling her hand on his knee. He looked her way. In truth, he knew nothing about her.
“Like I said. Not to worry. I’ve seen you in action,” she said.
“Yeah, thanks. And I’m sorry. I’m not sure if I ever said anything to you after the events in the bayou. You were amazing. For what you did in that cabin. That was...”
“Unorthodox?” she asked, wincing.
“I was going to say it was very brave. Coming in unarmed.”
“I had a little Beretta hidden in my waistband,” she said. “I also read up on you and I knew you were a crack shot. The SWAT director there was getting edgy. And while you are such a good shot and you’d have been fine without me, I figured a little help couldn’t hurt. It can be hard to get a guaranteed clean shot. I had talked to Melissa’s parents and... We just couldn’t let him take out another victim.”
“Well, then, thanks. You threw me. I had heard things about the Krewe of Hunters, but I didn’t know you were with them—”
“Newbie,” she reminded him. “Not quite a year. The Krewe was formed over a decade ago. In New Orleans, as a matter of fact. There were originally just six, and now we have dozens of agents, and it’s good—we’re all always out, all over the country.”
“So you were down in this area with the Krewe before?”
“Right before I joined the Krewe I was on assignment as a field agent down here. In fact, it was almost right after the case I was on here that I had my interview—and found out they were real. I promise you, it’s like...sanity in the insane world we’ve chosen to work in.”
“And I think I still doubted in my way—since we’re taught by our parents and families not to let other people think we’re crazy—that what I’d heard could be real, that the Bureau really had a unit in truth that was composed of...”
“Weird people like us?” she asked, grinning.
He nodded.
“As I told you, I’m still fairly new to the Krewe. Well, not that new, almost a year. I went to the academy, started in the field, and then my supervisor told me I had an interview with a special unit,” she told him. “I believe sometimes the head players at the Krewe know from our records or cases... Well, they have it themselves so they recognize it in others. They seek people from other law enforcement agencies as well. I believe Adam Harrison and Jackson Crow are pretty amazing at studying situations.” She paused, smiling. “It’s a wonderful place to be, with others like us, and they just have that talent for determining who the weird people are. And instead of hiding and feeling weird, we get to see that it is amazing, this ability we have, because it’s like so many things with DNA, just a fraction of a fraction of the population has it, so...”
“Hmm.”
“Hmm?” she asked.
He smiled. “I wonder if Norwegian ghosts will speak any English.”
She smiled in return for a minute, and then she was dead serious. Her eyes were a true green he realized—like emerald lasers the way she was staring at him. “We’re going to make this work,” she told him.
“All right. We’re going to make this work. Partner.”
Her phone was ringing and she answered it quickly and told him, “Our plane is ready and the pilot is aboard. I understand the plane is great. So...”
“On to hours of reading in the air,” he said.
“We are going to work well together,” she vowed.
He forced himself to nod. He had been so uncertain; and then again, as Gideon had said, she had balls. And she was unorthodox.
He might even like her. He imagined she was an excellent agent, able to use her natural beauty and abilities in her investigations and takedowns.
Yeah, he liked her. But he was going to be careful.
He vowed he wasn’t going to like her too much.
Because nothing changed the fact there were kill-or-be-killed situations.
It wasn’t a good thing to become too involved with a partner—not in their line of business. He’d learned that the hard way. And he’d worked on his own—with plenty of backup, of course—for several years now. Working as a loner had its advantages.
He would have her back. And he’d try to be a team player.
He just couldn’t lose another partner.
Two
Crime scene pictures tended to be horrific.
And as far as that went, Della had seen far worse: bodies shredded and covered with blood, bodies broken and rotting with bones protruding.