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

“Listen, Arlo, about my assistant. I’m not sure you should be writing her.”

“She wrote me.”

“Yeah. But she’s only twenty-two. I don’t think a relationship is wise.”

“I know she’s too young for me, Dee-Dee. What are you afraid of?”

“I don’t want her hurt.”

His face flushed and the hand on the tabletop knotted into a fist.

“And you think I’ll hurt her? I’ve told you. I’ve got it in control now. I don’t let my emotions take over.”

She smiled, certain that wasn’t true.

“Great. So… no more emails?”

Correspondence of any sort was valuable to an inmate because contact with the outside world was precious.

“Fine. Be sure to tell her the same.”

“Thanks.”

He heaved a heavy sigh, then finished the soda in several long swallows as if anxious to get the taste of this place from his mouth. When he set the empty can between them, she had an idea. It was terrible, but there it was.

She could take that can and have a DNA sample to run with the others. She could see, once and for all, if Arlo had the killer code sequence she suspected ran through their family like a metastasizing cancer.

When he opened his pastry, she used her napkin to bring the can beside her water bottle.

“You’re lucky, kiddo,” he said. “Lucky to be able to walk out of here. I’d do anything to come with you.”

“Soon.”

“Here’s hoping.”

Rather than enjoy his pastry, he seemed to be choking it down.

“I could be in here, too, Arlo.”

He regarded her a moment.

“You got reason to look over your shoulder?”

“No. But I used a knife on the first person I ever profiled.”

“I read about that. Self-defense. It doesn’t count.”

“I’m not so sure about that. I have to think about it as part of my job. Murder, I mean. Really horrific murders.”

“Thinking ain’t doing.”

The lump in her throat surprised her. Arlo still had her back.

“You’re not like them.”

Nadine looked at the empty soda can beside her water and suddenly found herself confessing about considering taking his DNA sample without his permission.

“So I’m a sneaky little turncoat.”

“But you didn’t take it. You told me. As for the DNA thing, go ahead and run it.”

He was a convicted felon. She had little doubt of the results.

She hesitated. He pushed the can in her direction.

“I’ll put it in writing for you. How’s that? Sign a waiver.” He reached across the table, breaking the rules on contact, and patted the top of her hand. “You could do anything, Dee-Dee. All of us could. But it only counts if you take actionable steps.”

Actionable steps. Had Arlo been studying law?

“Like stealing a DNA sample?”

“Yeah. Like that. But technically, you only moved it.”

“And told you.”

“That part wasn’t wise. Admission of guilt.”

“Actionable steps, admission of guilt. You sound like a lawyer.”

He flushed.

“What?”

“I’m taking law classes. Already finished three semesters.”

“That’s great!”

“I can’t ever practice. Not allowed to sit for the bar.”

“I still think it’s terrific.”

He lifted his pastry and then set it down. “There’s another reason I needed to see you. Something I couldn’t put in writing.”

He’d said as much in his email. She tried to hide her trepidation as she leaned in.

“Go on.”

“Mom has friends in this prison. I’m afraid she might send one of them after me.” Arlo’s face was pale. “It’s easy. Cheap, too. Lots of the inmates have nothing to lose. No chance of parole. Maybe do it for free. I know she writes some of them. I might get shivved in the shower or while I’m sleeping. It’s not hard. The money you just gave me is enough to buy a hit.”

“Oh, God, Arlo!”

“I want you to understand how simple it can be.”

“But why would she send someone after you? I’m the one who cut her off. And you haven’t done anything to her.”

He gave her a look that made her question that assumption and revise her denial.

“I’m about to.”

She leaned in again.

“You remember Mom telling you that she killed some guy by accident and used his truck to move him?”

Nadine sat back. Her suspicion was that this unnamed stranger might have been their dad. She’d told Arlo as much and now wondered if that had been a mistake.

“Of course.”

“You said she told you that he owed her money. And you were right that Dad owed her child support. He never paid her, at least that’s what she said.”

Nadine had heard often in her childhood of her deadbeat dad who ran off with another woman.

“She said she hit him,” said Arlo.

“With a shovel,” she added. “Arleen told me that she used his truck to move him. Then buried the body somewhere near the St. Johns River. She wouldn’t say exactly where.”

“I could help find them.”

“Them?”

“Yeah, plural.” He gave her a hopeful look. “I think she killed them both.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Dad and his girlfriend, Infinity. You look her up, Infinity Yanez. She’s gone. I’ll put money on it. Missing person. You understand?”

Nadine gaped. Her ears buzzed. She considered her options and then told Arlo what she already knew about the woman her father had left her mother for.

“I had the same thought about Mom and had someone look into it. Yanez has been missing since 1993.”

“I knew it!” He pumped his fist as if scoring the winning goal.

“But I don’t have a shred of proof that Mom had anything to do with it,” she said.

“I might.”

Her mouth was so dry. She wanted desperately to find their father. But not like this.

“What, Arlo?”

“I rode over to see Dad the day before he left.”

“On your bike. You told me.”

Arlo had been only eight at the time, but fairly independent for a kid that age. Certainly, Arleen hadn’t reined him in.

“Yeah. I saw them, Dad and Infinity kissing, so I never got the nerve up to speak to him. They drove off in that black truck. I rode over the next day and he wasn’t home, but his truck was there. It had a red sticker on the driver’s-side windshield.”

“What does that mean?” she asked.

“The state police have to check all cars