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As Jake ran through the garden, he searched desperately for Fiona. He went around each corner, looking everywhere he could think of. He even looked under every bench and statue—but there was no sign of her anywhere.
He was about to give up when he heard a faint rustling coming from behind one of the hedges. He stepped closer and peeked over it—and saw Fiona across the field.
And she was chasing after a man.
Wilkins.
At that moment, Jake realized that Fiona wasn’t hurt—she was chasing down the suspect. He couldn’t believe it; her thin legs were taking her much faster than he’d expected.
With a burst of energy, Jake took off after them. He ran faster than he ever had before, pushing himself through the garden and out into the open field beyond. The suspect was too far ahead, but Jake kept running as fast as he could, determined to catch up to him.
He raced through the field and over a small hill, quickly spotting Fiona and Wilkins in the distance. They were heading toward a small creek at the bottom of the valley—and it looked like they were about to cross it.
Jake pushed himself harder, his lungs burning with each breath he took.
Finally, he reached the edge of the creek and saw Fiona and Wilkins on the other side. Wilkins was struggling to get away, but Fiona had a tight grip on his arm. Even still, she wasn’t trained for this type of takedown, and if Wilkins decided to fight back, he could easily damage Fiona.
“Red!” Jake shouted, his voice echoing through the valley.
Wilkins threw an elbow back at Fiona, and she ducked down, narrowly avoiding a hit to the face. With Wilkins distracted, Jake had his chance to dive in.
He leapt into the creek and tackled Wilkins, sending them both crashing into the cold water. Jake held him down, keeping him from getting away. Fiona ran over and helped restrain Wilkinsas Jake pulled out his cuffs and snapped them onto the man’s wrists.
“You’re not going anywhere,” Jake said firmly.
Wilkins tried to struggle, but Jake held him tight.”What is the meaning of this—let me go!” Wilkins shouted, thrashing beneath Jake in the water.
“You just fled from the FBI, Mr. Wilkins,” Jake said. “You better start explaining yourself, now.”
Jake pulled Wilkins to his feet. He was an older man, slightly overweight, but Jake sensed that was just from alcohol. He could smell the beer on Wilkins’s breath.
“I don’t care what you are,” Wilkins sneered. “I’ll have your head for this. This is my property!”
“We need to talk to you about Senator Barlow,” Jake said.
At that, Wilkins’s face hardened. “That’s what this is about?” he said. Suddenly, his demeanor changed, becoming calmer. “I heard what happened to him.”
“And you’re running because you’re guilty,” Fiona said, “right?”
“Guilty of what?” Wilkins said. “His death was an accident—no?”
“We don’t believe it was,” Jake said. “Now, if you’ll cooperate with us, we’d like to ask you some questions.”
Wilkins looked from Jake to Fiona and back again. He seemed to be considering his options, and finally, he nodded. “Alright,” he said. “I’ll talk.”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Fiona marveled in amazement at the collection of bugs around her. She had probably never seen a collection this big.
Inside of Gerald Wilkins’s house, Jake sat across from the man on his couch in the living room. Jake had taken the cuffs off him, and Fiona glanced over to see Gerald rubbing his wrists, a disgruntled look on his face.
“You can start by explaining why you ran from us,” Jake said.
Gerald scoffed. “You can start by explaining why you busted down my door without a warrant.”
“I heard a woman scream,” Jake said. “I made a judgment call.”
Fiona stood in awe of the specimens laid out before her. Her attention was pulled away from the conversation and toward the display of arthropods in their tanks or terrariums. Araneae, Coleoptera, Chilopoda, Orthoptera, and other small hexapods were present in their respective habitats; some containers were covered with lids or gas lamp hoods while others were left open to the atmosphere. Taxa from a variety of plant families filled the racks and were complemented by ligneous decorations that provided ample opportunity for exploration and adaptation. The complex assemblage of these invertebrates gave the room an aesthetic and dynamism that Fiona could not ignore. It was clear to her that these insects were living good lives.
