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“Neither have we,” Nathan said. He smiled. “We’ll keep at it, though. We’ll get him.”
“I hope you’re right. Look, I’ll talk to Logan about dinner. He’ll get back with you so we can set a time, okay?”
“Sure,” Todd said. “We’ll see you tonight.”
As she walked away, she was grateful none of them seemed upset about not being one of the agents working the profile. Jeff was the one who’d decided having too many people would add confusion. In her heart, she knew he’d been right, but it still felt awkward.
Alex had just sat down at the table across from Kaely when a tall man with dark wavy hair walked into the food court. Kaely saw him and smiled. He came over, leaned down, and kissed her on the cheek.
“This is Noah Hunter,” she said, addressing the rest of them. “My fiancé.”
As Kaely introduced each person at the table, Alex noticed she was beaming. Who knew she could beam? And her previous reticence had disappeared. Alex couldn’t help but feel a little jealous. She’d never been in love. Never known anyone who had made her feel that way. Before she realized it, her gaze swung to Logan. She silently chastised herself. She had no romantic feelings for Logan, nor did he have them for her. For all she knew, he was dating someone and just hadn’t mentioned it.
“Excuse me, please,” Kaely said. She got up and walked with Noah to a table away from everyone. When she sat down with him, he took her hand in his. She seemed so happy.
Alex looked away. Maybe that would happen for her someday, but for now, she just wanted to focus on her job. Staying single-minded was vital to her.
Everyone finished lunch and then headed back to the classroom. The clouds Alex had noticed earlier had delivered on their promise. Snow was falling pretty heavily. She loved snow. Although it sounded odd, she’d always felt safer when there was snow. Especially when she was a child. School would shut down, and the strange people her aunt associated with stayed away. It was as if snow stopped everyone in their tracks. Even people with evil intentions. She wondered if their UNSUB would have to change his plans if they got a heavy snow.
She sighed to herself. Probably not. So far he’d stayed ahead of them, pulling off his deeds perfectly—except for killing Monty. But he’d hurt him. If that was his real goal, he’d succeeded. Four deaths. How many more before they caught him? She looked at Kaely, who was a few steps in front of her. Was the UNSUB really going after her next? How could that be? People who didn’t belong had no way to get near them. And she still found it hard to believe anyone in the FBI or on Gorman’s team would help this madman anyway.
She noticed Logan hand a cup of coffee to the officer outside their room. Thoughtful. Alex nodded at their guard, and he smiled in return.
Once inside, everyone gathered around the table while Logan stayed on his feet. “We have a profile based on our first impressions of the UNSUB,” he said. “But I think you’ll agree that he keeps acting outside the parameters we set for him. That doesn’t mean we’re wrong, but we need to narrow down our depiction of him. See if we can make it easier to catch this guy.”
“Don’t you think we should first find out if someone’s working with him—and who?” Monty said. “I know it’s difficult to believe he’s getting help from within the Bureau or the police, but if someone is giving him information, until we root them out, we’re vulnerable.”
“I understand what you’re saying,” Alex said, “but if we get the profile right, that may lead us to whoever is helping him.”
A knock sounded on the door, and the same officer opened it. “Your detectives are here,” he said.
Ben Cooper and Julie Palmer came in. Julie smiled, but as usual, Cooper looked as if he wanted to be somewhere else. What was his deal? He was starting to get on Alex’s nerves.
“Welcome,” Logan said. “We were just talking about our profile. We want to see if we can refine it to help you find the UNSUB.”
“Did you discover anything at the station?” Alex asked. “Anyone who might be working with our UNSUB?”
“No,” Ben said sharply. “No one there would be involved with someone like this.”
“He means we’re still looking,” Julie said. “So far we haven’t turned up anything, but we intend to keep at it.”
Julie slipped into a chair next to Monty, but Ben grabbed one at the end of the table as if he wanted to distance himself from the group.
“Why don’t you sit closer to us, Ben?” Logan said. “It’s easier to share the information in these files that way.”
“Sure,” he said as he got up and sat next to Monty. Then he gave them all a quick, forced smile, but the tension rolled off him like waves of stench. What was wrong with him?
“Ben, we’re trying to stop a murderer,” Alex said. “He’s killed four people. Two of them were close to our team. I’m sorry, but I get the feeling you don’t want to be here. We need you fully invested in this case. Is there something we need to talk about?”
“Alex,” Logan said, “you’re not in charge of this group. Step back, please.”
She looked at Logan with surprise. He’d never spoken to her that way. Before she had a chance to get offended, though, she realized he was right. She’d overstepped her boundaries. Logan wasn’t her colleague now. He was her acting unit chief.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I was out of line.”
“But she has a point,” Kaely said slowly. “None of us want to challenge your authority, Logan. But you know as well as I do that we need to work as a team here.” She looked at Cooper. “Someone with a bad attitude can be distracting.”
“That’s enough,” Logan said. He turned toward Cooper. “Step out into the hall with me for a moment.”
At first, Alex didn’t think Cooper was going to go with Logan, but he finally followed him into the hall. Logan pulled the door closed behind them.
“I’m sorry about him,” Julie said. “He’s just having a tough time.” She shook her head. “I can’t tell you about it because it’s personal, but he has nothing against any of you.”
Alex didn’t say anything, but she was worried about Cooper. Lives were on the line. If he couldn’t get past his personal problems, he needed to be removed.
She rubbed the back of her neck. The muscles were hard and tight, and she could feel the beginnings of a tension headache. She had a terrible feeling the UNSUB was going to strike again. And soon.
