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“Not like it was tonight.”
He shook his head. “No one could call tonight by that description under any circumstances. Personally, I was encouraged.”
“Even with that bump on your noggin?”
“It showed he wasn’t that good a shot. And you were much better with the nail gun.”
“Until he went after the tubing with—” Her phone was ringing, and she was about to get rid of the call when she saw the ID.
She stiffened. “What the hell?”
Lynch’seyes narrowed on her face. “What?”
“Jackie Gabert. I wasn’t going to take the call. But now I can hardly wait. It seems weirdly suitable to be talking to a nutcase like her while I’m in an ambulance on the way to an ER.” Kendra pushedANSWERandSPEAKER. “Hello, Jackie. I thought we’d agreed to disagree. Why do I have this honor?”
“You’re being sarcastic, but it is a compliment to you that I decided to give you another chance to change your mind. You didn’t really give me an opportunity to explain why I do what I do. You just assumed that I was totally self-absorbed and didn’t care anything for Barrett. That was completely wrong. I did care for Barrett, and, if by some chance he’d been released from prison, he would have been very content with me.”
“If he’d been released from prison, he would have started murdering again. You’d have probably been first on the list.”
“That’s how little you know,” Jackie said impatiently. “Barrett was weak, the quintessential Beta personality, and he needed an Alpha, someone to control him. I recognized that from the moment I started studying him. When I met him in person, I realized he had all the traits. As long as he had an Alpha person as a partner, he wouldn’t have been a threat to anyone. He would have waited for a command. Since I take no pleasure in the kill, I wouldn’t have given the command.”
“You actually believe that?”
“I do. Do you think I’m the only one out there who runs their lives to suit themselves? I can’t tell you how many couples I’ve found who play my game. I’ve been an Alpha partner to any number of people over the years. It can be breathtakingly thrilling. I could have had an exciting life with Barrett. He could have had a satisfactory life with me. I was looking forward to a new experience.” She paused. “But I might have come into his life too late and missed out. I hate when that happens.”
“Is that all you wanted to say to me?” Kendra asked.
“Other than that, you were a mistake. I thought that because you were strong, you might be a challenge, but you would never have given in.”
“No, I wouldn’t. I’m glad you realize that, Jackie.”
“I don’t like people not to understand me. It wasn’t my fault that Barrett died. I was just too late. He must have already found his Alpha.”
She cut the connection.
Lynch looked at Kendra and shook his head. “I can see why you were a bit irritated with her. Jackie Gabert is definitely…unusual.”
“She did irritate me the last time, but she didn’t just now. I just felt as if I was being caught up in some kind of cult. She didn’t think there was anything wrong with the way she was thinking or behaving. She was even trying to convince me there was a world out there like her.” She shivered. “I don’t want to live in that world. There’s no way on earth I could understand it.”
“I can understand it,” Lynch said wearily. “But I don’t want you to live in it, either.” He sat up and his hands were cupping her face. “I know that you’re not going to stop until this is over, but how about planning a vacation and forgetting about mass murderers and kooks who want to rule the world and things that go bump in the night?”
“Sounds good.” She smiled. “But we both know that you’re too in demand for Justice to let you get away for too long. Maybe I’ll just forget about the FBI for a while and get back to my music therapy work. Last time I checked, my kids didn’t want to rule the world.”
***
“If you don’t want to help, I’ll understand, Metcalf,” Kendra said after she’d explained what she wanted on the phone. “You’re just out of the hospital. I could get Griffin to assign someone else to go through those cold cases and see if I can see any similarities that might give me a clue.”
“Don’t you dare,” Metcalf said. “I’ve only been home for two days and I’m bored out of my mind. My mom is hovering and won’t let me do anything but watch TV. Besides, I have a resource better than whatever files you’re sending my way. I have Trey Suber.”
Kendra smiled. Trey Suber was one of Metcalf’s fellow agents at the San Diego FBI office, and he’d distinguished himself as one of the world’s foremost serial killer experts while still in his twenties. A self-professed “serial killer geek,” Suber created and maintained an exhaustive online serial killer database in his teenage years, and his self-published serial killer trading card set was in its ninth printing. Kendra had worked with him a few years before when he was at his previous post at the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, and Griffin had lured him to the San Diego FBI office less than a year later. But now Suber was in demand all over the country—and occasionally overseas—and the Bureau higher-ups were making noises about wanting him full-time in Washington, DC.
Kendra clicked her tongue. “Then I shouldn’t even bring you the files. Suber knows everything in them and much more.”
“Yep, I’ve told him that many times.”
“And I’m sure Suber appreciated that fact,” Kendra said dryly. “No one can say he doesn’t have an amazing ego to match that exceptional memory.”
“I thought you liked him.”
