Page 20 of Deliverance

“How did it go with Nathaniel Drake?” Adrian asked.

Alexander wiped his mouth with his napkin. “Surprisingly well. We didn’t get them as a client, but when I explained the situation to him, he offered to give us access to the cameras his team was installing. We have the link, and Evelyn has the Archers monitoring it.”

“He gave us access?” Marcus asked, a frown on his face. I agreed with Marcus; that seemed odd.

Alexander shrugged. “He is a philanthropist. He seemed genuinely horrified that something like that had happened in his rail yard and didn’t want it to happen again.”

Adrian tilted his head. “Well, that’s a win then.”

Evelyn nodded, but her shoulders were tight. Looked like she didn’t believe it was as much of a win as the others. “Any luck with your federal agency contacts?” she asked.

I sighed and put my fork down. “Unfortunately not. I called a couple of people, and they all told me the same thing. They consider the Director Keller case open and shut. He’s the Kingfisher. Nothing I said seemed to change their mind. Agent Mercer said that they’re getting pressure from other agencies to wrap this up quickly. It’s an embarrassment to all federal agencies, and they have no interest in dragging it out for other theories. Mercer said if I could bring him any proof, he would take a look, but otherwise, there’s no help there. Sorry.”

Evelyn shook her head. “Don’t apologize. It’s not your fault.”

She looked so dejected, and all I wanted was to wrap her in my arms and tell her it would be okay. Wait, where did that thought come from? She had a boyfriend—multiple boyfriends, actually. She was an attractive woman, but she was also off limits.

Sebastian squeezed her hand. “We’ll get him.”

“I know, but how?” Evelyn questioned. “We have no leads. This guy is a ghost. And the leads we do have are going to take time to track down. Time we don’t have.”

I leaned forward in my chair as an idea sparked in my head. “When we had cases like this at the FIA, we helped narrow down suspects by building a profile. What if we built a profile of the Kingfisher?”

“And then try to match people to the profile?” Alexander asked, his blue eyes gleaming with interest. “Doesn’t that approach have some confirmation bias, though?”

“It can,” I agreed. “But it’s a starting point.”

“What’s a profile?” Evelyn asked, her brows furrowed.

“It’s essentially a pattern of behavior. You take everything Kingfisher has done and work backwards. The targets, the methods, the timing—none of it is random. People like to think they’re unpredictable, but they’re not. They have patterns, and a profile finds the pattern and tells you who fits it.”

Evelyn tilted her head. “That would probably help. Or at least give us a starting point.”

“I can reach out to some military intelligence contacts and see if they have any information that could help us build it,” Adrian said. “Maybe some overseas stuff that the federal agencies would have missed.”

Evelyn nodded. “I’ll reach out to the Ghosts as well. See if there’s anything they’ve run into.”

I frowned. “The Ghosts?”

Marcus sighed. “It’s a long story.”

Evelyn laughed. “It’s not that long. They’re a mercenary group we have a friendly relationship with.”

A mercenary group? There were more layers to the Archers than I had imagined.

“I can show you how we build out a profile tomorrow,” I offered to Evelyn.

“That would be great,” she smiled at me, and I ignored the way my heart skipped a beat.

“You all can use a conference room at SDS,” Alexander said. “I’ll have extra whiteboards brought in.” He winked at Evelyn, who rolled her eyes but smiled warmly at him. I wanted her to smile at me like that.

We switched topics after that and moved onto lighter subjects as we finished dinner. The food was great, and the conversation flowed easily. There was a warmth and a lightness in the room, despite all the obstacles we were facing. This was what family felt like.

After dinner, I helped Sebastian clean the table, rinse the dishes and place them in the dishwasher.

“I need to talk to Marcus for a few minutes,” Adrian said. “Dominic, do you mind walking Evelyn down to her apartment?”

Evelyn scoffed. “I don’t need a minder.”