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“That’s not fair, Blake.”
“It’s not, but I’m stating that I need help if Bobby goes ap
eshit again.”
“You’ve got backup with Jeffries.”
“If we want to kill Bobby, sure. I want help keeping him in human form, keeping him calm. Otto doesn’t know how to do that.”
“And your fiancé does?”
“Micah does, yes.”
“If it was almost anyone else, I’d think they were trying to find a reason to get their lover into town.”
“I actually don’t want any of my lovers near this case.”
In my head, I thought, I don’t want them near Olaf without Edward here. I sure as hell didn’t want Micah near him. I loved him to pieces, but he was my height, within, like, a couple of inches or less. He was in good shape and trained to fight, but so was Olaf. If skills are equal, the bigger person will win a fight unless the smaller person gets lucky. Olaf wasn’t the kind of fighter who would leave room for luck. I realized I really didn’t want Micah here with Olaf.
“That case in Washington State where I met you for the first time makes this one look safe, Blake. You invited some of your people in for that one—maybe not Micah Callahan, but still people you cared about. So what makes this one scarier? What aren’t you telling me?”
I couldn’t tell him the whole truth about Olaf, so I was left not knowing what to say. I could have lied. I was even pretty good at it now, but I wasn’t good at complicated lies, and even the truth about Olaf was complicated.
I finally settled for a half-truth. “I know how to kill the monsters, but keeping them alive is harder, Newman. More things can go wrong.”
He shook his head. “No, Blake, killing them is harder. If I can help save Bobby, then maybe it will wash away some of the blood on my hands.”
“Newman, you knew what this job was before you took it.”
“I knew the facts, but nothing prepares you for killing people, Anita, for just killing them.”
“We save future victims by killing the predators,” I said.
“That’s a great thought. I even believed it once.”
“It’s the truth, Newman.”
“Maybe, but I don’t get to see the future victims we save. All I get to see is the people I kill now.”
“When a shapeshifter tries to kill you like they did in Washington State, do you think of them as people?” I asked.
“No, that’s survival, just like hunting vampires after dark. If they turn into monsters, it’s easier to pull the trigger, but when they’re like Bobby, it feels like murder.”
“You’re too close to Bobby to be on this warrant, Newman.”
“I know, but since so many of the newer marshals have refused warrants or quit, you need a good reason to pass on a warrant.”
“Being friends with the name on the warrant is a valid reason to pass on it,” I said.
“And if I had passed, then it turns out that Jeffries was next closest. Do you really think he would have waited to figure out that Bobby had been framed?”
I answered truthfully, “No, he’d have just executed him.”
“I took the warrant because I thought it was the right thing to do. I figured if Bobby was guilty, I could make sure his death was as quick and painless as possible. If there’d been a mistake and he was innocent, I figured that if I was the marshal in charge, I could help him.”
“It was good thinking as far as it went,” I said.
“I forgot the third option, didn’t I?” he said, face so sad.
