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“You want to know where he is in case you decide to kill him,” I said.
“No, I want to know where he is in case I have to kill him.”
There was a time in our friendship when I wouldn’t have understood that distinction, but that had been a while ago. Olaf, aka Marshal Otto Jeffries, was a serial killer. Edward and I both knew that, but neither of us could prove it, and Olaf had never committed that particular crime on American soil to our knowledge. I’d never even caught him in the act. Edward had once. If Edward caught him at it again, he would kill Olaf. They both knew the rules of the game. So far Olaf hadn’t done anything illegal that Edward could use as an excuse, but he kept tabs on him, waiting. Olaf had fallen off the radar when he first contracted lycanthropy, even from Edward’s resources. When Olaf reappeared, he had a level of control of his inner beast that most shapeshifters would have envied. Olaf was a scary, sociopathic suspected serial killer, but no one had ever accused him of slacking when it came to training.
“So, if I put out a general call for aid, he’s the nearest help,” I said.
“I’m afraid so,” Edward said.
“Fuck,” I said.
“Agreed,” he said.
“I don’t need backup that badly, Edward. Newman is good enough.”
“Good to know,” he said.
“Yeah,” I said, but I was mentally cursing. “I thought Olaf was out west somewhere at his home base. What the fuck is he doing in the upper Midwest?”
“He’s hunting a rogue shapeshifter.”
“How close to me is he?” I asked.
“Close.”
“How close?”
“Very close.”
“Just tell me, Edward.”
“If he dropped his hunt, he could be there in an hour, maybe less.”
“Flying or driving?” I asked.
“Driving.”
“Well, fuck.”
“You said that.”
“I’ll probably be saying it a lot more if I have to deal with tall, dark, and psycho.”
“You won’t have to deal with him, Anita. You and Newman can hold the fort, and I’ll be there in six hours or sooner.”
“I think having you come in as backup for this may be overkill,” I said.
“If you really believed that, you wouldn’t have called me.”
“I don’t think Leduc is dangerous enough to need you here.”
“Then why did you call?”
I thought about that for a few heartbeats and finally said, “If Newman hadn’t had a gun to his head, I think Leduc would have shot into the cell. I’d given up all my guns before I stepped inside.”
“Giving up your weapons is standard procedure,” Edward said.
“I know. That’s why I did it. I’ve done it before. I’ll do it again for a different case, but usually the danger is the prisoner, not the other officers.”
