The Hunted Girls by Jenna Kernan (best book club books for discussion txt) 📕

weekends a month was hardly enough, but divorce and a job across the state made more time available only on certain holidays.

“He wants to meet you,” said Clint, as the luggage carousel trundled along with the first bags.

She held her rigid smile, knowing that her assignment to Ocala would prevent a visit with Christopher yet again. The relief made her feel like a traitor.

They stood waiting with the others from her flight.

Clint shared a video from the weekend. He was different with his boy, happy in a way that he wasn’t otherwise, and it made her realize just how important being a dad was for him and how magnificent he was at it. A natural.

Christopher was lucky to have a great dad. Meanwhile, she’d spent her childhood fantasizing about her missing father. In his absence she’d concocted an imaginary dad from every sitcom and family movie she’d seen. She had envisioned that father, who had abandoned the family at her birth, would be normal and kind and wise. All the things Clint was to Christopher. Nadine had dreamed that her dad would return and rescue her from her terrifying home. Of course, he hadn’t and her efforts to find him had failed.

She knew from her years of therapy the depth and breadth of the scar left by her father’s desertion. Listening to Clint talk about his boy reminded her more deeply of what she had lost and illustrated the truth. Clint was a great father, while her ability to be a mother was in serious doubt. Not only was she missing solid role models, she feared she lacked the innate abilities necessary to raise a sweet, funny, normal kid like Christopher.

Her doubt was placing a strain on their relationship. Because every time Clint tried to have a conversation about moving them forward, she retreated.

She wondered if this new assignment was just another opportunity to hold him at arm’s length.

“That’s mine.” She pointed at the first of her suitcases and he sprang forward to retrieve it. After collecting the second, they headed out, reaching the parking area under towering thunderhead clouds more typical of the summer than spring. Perhaps the rainy season had already arrived.

Once in his vehicle she gripped her phone, her foot tapping away on his spotless floor mat as he got them under way.

“If you call him, you might be able to stop fidgeting,” he said.

Was she? Yes, she was squirming like a worm on a hot sidewalk.

“Fine.” She placed the call.

“Jack Skogen.” His voice held a slight drawl, like Texas perhaps. There was a pause, and he must have glanced at the number of his caller. “Dr. Finch?”

“Yes. I’m returning your call. I was in the air.”

“Flying home from Quantico.”

“Yes.”

“You were recommended by Agent Torrin. I’m here in Orlando from DC. Local law enforcement called us in. Seems they have identified a possible serial killer.”

“Two victims?”

“Yes. So far. Both females. No IDs yet.”

Nadine wished she could have Juliette Hartfield go over them. She trusted her friend who was a fine medical examiner with Florida’s District 12. Unfortunately, that district did not stretch as far east as Orlando.

“I’ve already had approval on your reassignment. I’d like you to report immediately.”

She glanced at Clint and then tapped the mute button.

“They want me now.”

“Great.” His words ground with sarcasm.

She hit the button to unmute and then hit the speaker function.

“I can be there tomorrow.”

“Tonight would be better.”

She pinched her lips. “Can you tell me anything about the victims?”

“Local authorities incorrectly initially listed them as an animal attack, but the ME listed them as homicides. That’s when they called us.”

“Where were the bodies found?”

“In the Ocala National Forest on the St. Johns River.”

Nadine’s heart jumped to a wild staccato and she nearly dropped the phone.

“That’s your mother’s old hunting grounds. Isn’t it?”

Nadine pinched her eyes shut, dizzy with how fast this conversation went from seeking her professional opinion to delving into her past.

“Yes. We lived in Ocala.”

“And many of Arleen Howler’s victims were recovered from the forest.”

“How is this relevant to your current investigation?” The sharp bite of her voice must have struck something because she was met with silence.

If Skogen wanted her help because he was a curiosity seeker, he could go spit with the reporters and publishers who flooded her voicemail and in-box with invitations and offers.

“I requested you because of your success profiling the Copycat Killer.”

She made no answer.

“Nadine.” His voice went low and strangely intimate.

Clint scowled at her phone and tightened his grip on the wheel as Skogen continued, his drawl more evident now.

“You know these predators. They don’t take holidays. They don’t stop. They keep hunting and killing until they are caught or die.”

She did know. It was why she had made the decision to dedicate her life to hunting them. But not there. Not where her childhood was tangled up with so many of her mother’s victims. The murder sites, body dumps and the ruined lives. It was too much.

“We only need you to consult.”

Should she? Could she go back there and keep them separate in her mind? The past and the present. Two killers running over the same ground.

“Dr. Finch?”

“How many days between them?”

“That’s one of the disturbing parts. Seems only a few days.”

That meant this unsub—unknown subject—might be searching for the next victim right now. The pressure to stop the killer warred with her uncertainties.

“I’d have conditions.”

Now he was the one hesitating. “Such as?”

“Could you hold for a moment?”

“Dr. Finch, I have two bodies up here.”

She tapped the mute and turned to Demko.

“What do you think?” she asked Clint.

“Great opportunity. But I’m not anxious for you to disappear. Honestly, the last three months have been tough.”

That warmed her heart. “For me, too.”

“And are you really ready to take on the hunt for another killer?”

Was she? She didn’t think so. No. How could she ever be? But she knew also that she could not sit by if a predator was out there, hunting. She’d always been determined to make up for her family’s trail