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“David Spalman.” Kendra’s hand tightened on her phone as she concentrated on Jackie’s response. It wasn’t easy, since they were complete opposites. The woman’s reaction seemed to be a mixture of fascination, absorption, and tension. “Do you know him?”
“David Spalman,” Jackie repeated. “No, of course not,” she added quickly. “I believe I heard something about him when he killed those football players. It caused a big stir, all kinds of stories on all the sports TV stations. Why would you think I’d know anything about it?”
“Because you recognized Tricia Walton’s name when I mentioned it,” Kendra said. “You told me that Barrett said that she was going to get hers. Spalman had a statue of a woman swimmer in his bedroom on the night he died, but it was stolen from the house a week later. Strange coincidence…”
“Not particularly.”
“I disagree. David Spalman’s behavior had changed over that year, and his father thought that he was being forced to do those killings. I immediately thought about all you’d said about Alphas, how you’d claimed to be one yourself.”
She laughed. “That was all bullshit. You totally fell for it. I was really amused.”
“I don’t think you were. I think you were telling me the truth. And that boy’s father definitely thought he’d been influenced to do those killings.”
“Fathers always want to believe their sons are innocent. It doesn’t mean they are. Did he give you a name?”
“No.” Kendra was trying to be patient. “He didn’t know it. So, I thought I’d ask you.”
Jackie laughed. “Why? I told you that Barrett rarely talked to me about anyone he knew. We hadn’t reached that point in our relationship yet.”
“And I believed you. But that doesn’t mean that you weren’t familiar with other Alphas in this area. You’ve been involved with this weird cult for years. You can’t expect me to believe that you hadn’t interacted with other Alphas or their subjects during that time.”
“I don’t expect anything of you, and you mustn’t expect anything of me. Because it was all lies, Kendra.”
“And you just want me to go away and leave you alone.” Kendra was silent, trying to work a way to get what she needed from the woman. “But you wasted a good deal of my time with your tall tales, and I believe you owe me. Suppose we come to an agreement. I’m not going to try to browbeat you into admitting you might know anything about what Spalman was doing that might incriminate you. All I want you to do is give me the benefit of your expertise to help me get to know what to expect from this particular Alpha. I don’t want to make a mistake and get someone killed. I don’t know how they think, how any of you think, it’s utterly foreign to me. If you help me, I’ll give you what you want and leave you alone.”
Jackie didn’t answer for a moment. “You realize I’d only be guessing since I don’t actually know this Alpha?”
“I do. But you’re clever, and I’d expect your very best guess. You should be able to accommodate me. I’ve told you everything we know about how he handled Spalman.”
“Yes. It was really fascinating.”
Kendra was once more aware of that excitement and admiration in Jackie’s tone. But was there also envy?
Another silence. Then Jackie asked, “You won’t call down the Feds on me?”
“I wouldn’t have grounds. I’m only going to ask you a few questions. I’m just tapping your knowledge about the personality of a certain type of individual you might have run across.”
“Then I don’t see why I shouldn’t help you out. Go ahead, ask your questions.”
Kendra released her breath. “Thank you. I’ll try not to take too much of your time.”
“No problem. I’m actually glad you ran across an Alpha like this. You can judge how much better I would have been if you’d taken me up on my offer.”
“I don’t believe we got as far as an offer,” Kendra said dryly. “I remember I shut you down fairly quickly.”
“That’s because you didn’t realize how natural and healthy it was to have two separate but equal partners in a relationship. One would always dominate and the other would always surrender. Unless permitted to temporarily take precedence by the Alpha.” She added earnestly, “I’d have given you that gift frequently. It would be the intelligent thing to do with a partner who has so many Alpha qualities. I wouldn’t be like that Alpha of Spalman’s. That must have been total domination.”
“You’re not being convincing,” Kendra said grimly. “Let’s forget about any weird plans you had for me and concentrate on answering my questions. I didn’t realize there were differences in the amount of power exerted by the Alpha. You guys don’t have some kind of standard rule?”
“Of course not,” Jackie said impatiently. “It’s all about intelligence and how far an Alpha can push the Beta subject. Most of the Alphas I’ve run across have taken extensive courses in psychology to train themselves.”
“That’s bizarre.”
“But it has rich dividends. If you’re good, you can write your own ticket. I’d bet Spalman’s Alpha is very, very good. It sounds to me as if he took a long time preparing and then setting the kid up.”
“And twisted him from being a normal student to something tortured and ugly,” Kendra said harshly.
“I said that he was good at what he did,” Jackie said. “Not that he had any kind of moral compass. That’s always up to the individual. And, in a way, that choice is part of the excitement.”
