Page 30 of Midnight Creed

“I’m not sure I know the whole story. Will’s dad was killed in Afghanistan before Will was born. She doesn’t talk about her parents. I’m not really sure if they’re still alive. I just know she felt really alone and overwhelmed. So, when her mother-in-law offered to step in and help, Taylor let her. The rest is a bit fuzzy.”

“Fuzzy” was a strange word for him to use, and immediately, Brodie realized Jason knew more. She could tell. But this much was what he was willing to tell her. She found herself wondering if Will knew the whole story of why his mother gave him up. Or what version he had been told. She felt a sudden kinship with the boy, though she’d never met him. Adults were good liars.

The woman who kidnapped Brodie convinced her that her parents didn’t want Brodie anymore. Iris Malone had been very convincing, so much so, that when Brodie was finally rescued, she didn’t want to see her own mother. Even now, a year later, they were still working on a fractured relationship borne entirely out of lies. She couldn’t help thinking that Taylor’s son could be feeling something similar. As a kid, it’s a tough lesson to learn that you can’t trust the adults in your life. They’re the people you count on to take care of you, not hurt you. Lie to you.

“Hey,” Jason said, glancing over at her.

She stopped herself from sitting up straight. Tried to look like she hadn’t gone away even as she casually searched his face in the light from the Jeep’s dashboard.

Jason could sense stuff about her. It probably didn’t help that he had witnessed one of her worst PTSD breakdowns. In a hotel just over the Missouri border in the middle of the night. It was the first time she’d left the security of Ryder and Hannah’s home. Of course, it didn’t help matters that they were headed right back to Nebraska, where she had finally escaped.

“You were on fire tonight,” Jason told her.

Oh good. He was talking about poker.

She didn’t want to tell him that she could guess what cards the rest of them may or may not have, simply by remembering the ones they had discarded. It was easy to keep them in her head, sort them according to suit. The longer the game went, the more cards got discarded and the easier it was to figure out what ones were left to remain in their hands. It was such a natural thing that she didn’t realize everyone couldn’t do the same thing.

“You’re a good teacher,” she told him instead and was instantly rewarded with that full, genuine grin. The one he gave her earlier. The one that made her feel close to him. “It’s fun. I like listening to you guys.”

And she liked spending time with Jason. Even doing kennel chores together was something she looked forward to every morning. They had grown closer during that road trip to Nebraska, in spite of how tough it was. Not just her breakdown. Ryder and Grace had gone missing. For the first time since being rescued, she had to think and worry about someone else.

She wanted to tell Jason not to worry about Taylor. She wanted to tell him that, of course, Taylor must enjoy spending time with him. He was funny and smart and kind. That everything would work out. But Brodie also knew—even though she didn’t know Taylor very well—that the woman had quite a few disastrous relationships with men before. Men had killed and been killed because of her.

A part of Brodie didn’t want Jason to be involved with Taylor at all. She didn’t want him to get hurt. Brodie realized she didn’t have actual personal experiences, but she read a lot. Women like Taylor Donahue rarely had healthy relationships. But there was one thing as far as men were concerned. Women like Taylor usually got their way.

20

Lydia’s Bread and Soup Kitchen

Washington, D.C.

Maggie watched R. J. Tully roll up his shirtsleeves. He eyed the pre-plated meals they were about to serve as if he couldn’t wait for their free one at the end of the evening. The food actually looked really good. She hadn’t eaten since her doughnut and coffee with Nessie.

From what she knew, this organization took leftover or surplus food and turned it into meals. Quantico’s new assistant lab director mentioned it. Izzy Kuszak had been a chapter leader at her college. The woman still looked like a college student, and Maggie was having a difficult time envisioning her as Keith Ganza’s replacement. She’d worked with Ganza since she was a newbie. It wouldn’t be the same walking into that place and not seeing his gray ponytail and ever-changing rock band T-shirt under his dingy white lab coat.

Everything in her life and surroundings were changing all at once.

“When you asked us to meet you for dinner and dress casually,” Gwen said while looping the apron over her head, “I expected some new, low-key bistro.”

She glanced over. Her friend, Dr. Gwen Patterson, didn’t look as enthusiastic as Tully. In fact, she did not look pleased.

“Hey, I had to pull some strings to get us out here serving instead of in back cleaning up.”

She handed Gwen a pair of plastic gloves. Tully was already pulling on his pair. Gwen rolled her eyes but took the gloves.

They hadn’t opened the doors yet, and the regular employees and volunteers were busy preparing. Only the director knew they were with the FBI. The others thought they were just new recruits.

Maggie took Gwen and Tully into the empty dining area, comfortably out of earshot.

“This place is close to both sites.” She didn’t need to tell them what “sites” she meant.

She had filled them in earlier about the murders. Or at least shared the details she knew about. Racine was slow in getting her the reports, even though Maggie had called twice to remind her.

However, Racine was quick to tell her, “Not everyone moves at the speed of O’Dell.”

She knew Racine’s crew was strapped for resources. It was one of the reasons her boss was probably anxious to off-load this case. But it still annoyed Maggie. In Maggie’s mind, their response would be much quicker if the victims weren’t homeless.

Was that the reason Racine’s attitude seemed a bit too nonchalant even for Racine? Or was there something more? Something personal?