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“Just explaining.”
“Do you believe you could draw, aim, and shoot before I closed the distance between us?”
“I don’t know, but if you run at me, we’ll find out.”
I stood there and let the breath out of my body until I felt quiet inside. It was like white static inside me, empty and peaceful. It was how my head always used to go when I killed. Lately I hadn’t seemed to need it, but as I looked at Olaf in the quiet trees, I didn’t try to hide what was happening inside my head. I figured if anyone would understand, it would be him.
“You continue to surprise me, Adler.”
“Good,” I said, voice low and controlled.
My hand was hanging loose and ready next to the full-frame .45, and then I realized no, my AR-15 was on a tactical sling. All I had to do was move my body for it to spill into my hand. I could aim and start firing with it at my side. It wouldn’t have been as accurate that way, but I was sure I’d at least wound him before I got the rifle snugged to my shoulder. Once it was there, I was sure I could finish him. The plan helped quiet even the static, so I felt calm inside my head, no fear, no anything. I wondered if that was how it was for Olaf most of the time. It seemed like a peaceful way to go through life, empty maybe, but peaceful. Maybe you couldn’t have peace and give a damn.
He stood very still, hands spread wide to show he had nothing in them. “It is not time to answer this question between us, Anita.”
I liked that he used my real name. I hated that fucking nickname, and I hated that I didn’t feel free to tell him so even more. And just like that, the anger was back, and I knew if he rushed me now, I would be a little l
ess quick, a little less focused, which meant it was a luxury I couldn’t afford.
My voice was almost neutral as I said, “Then let’s head back to the sheriff’s station.”
“After you,” he said.
I smiled. “Let’s go together but not too close until we have witnesses again.”
“Agreed,” he said.
We started walking through the trees back toward the road, the police station, and the witnesses who would keep us both from doing something the other one would regret. I wasn’t a sociopath like Olaf, or even one like Edward, but I had my moments, because part of me thought about shooting Olaf where no one could see us. If I lied and said he’d attacked me, I could probably sell it. The fact that I even thought that said just how much I wanted to be free of my Moriarty. Fucking nicknames.
30
DEPUTY RICO BROUGHT Bobby’s clothes and took over guard duty, so Duke felt he could go home for food and a little rest. Everyone seemed convinced that Rico could hold the fort, even Newman, though he said quietly to me, “Whatever I think of him as a person, he can handle guarding Bobby for a couple of hours.”
“I thought you didn’t like him back at the house,” I said.
“He’s one of Haley’s ex-boyfriends.”
“Oh,” I said, because I couldn’t think of anything else to say.
“He cheated on her. He cheats on all of them, but he never seems to run out of women to date.”
“Fresh meat,” I said.
Olaf spoke from too far away to have heard our conversation. I’d forgotten about his new supersecret hearing. “I will bet that it is not just women who do not know his reputation.”
Newman looked startled but didn’t ask how Olaf had heard us. He knew that Otto Jeffries had popped positive for lycanthropy after the case in Washington State. “You’re right, but I don’t understand it. I mean, he’s good-looking, but not that good.”
“No one is that good-looking,” I said.
Olaf stalked toward us on those long legs that just seemed to eat up distance. “Most women will believe a handsome man when he lies.”
“Most men do the same thing for beautiful women, and the same thing goes for the gay community on both sides of the aisle,” I said.
Olaf nodded as he towered over both of us. “I will concede that beauty distracts everyone.”
“Thank you,” I said, and meant it. When we’d first met, he’d have been pissed if I’d tried to bring men down to the same level that he thought women deserved.
“You’re both right. I saw it enough when I was a regular cop. Women believe that they will be the one that a bad man will reform for, that he’ll never beat me like he did his ex-wife or cheat on me like he did on the last girlfriend. The women believe that it’s the other woman’s fault and not the man’s. He just needs the right woman in his life, and that will be them,” Newman said. “No matter how many times he has cheated on others, he will not cheat on them, because their love is true.”
