Eternal by V. Forrest (primary phonics books .TXT) 📕

“How do you do that?”

Still seated on the step because she was drop-dead tired, she glanced over her shoulder. “Do what?”

“Know who’s behind you. Any one of half a dozen people could have just walked out that door, yet you knew it was me.”

She shrugged. “Aren’t cops supposed to be observant?”

“Yeah, but you’re creepy observant, Fee.”

It was the first time he had ever called her that. She knew he’d heard others call her by the nickname, but from him it seemed more…personal. “So I’ve got good hearing.” She stood.

“So I’ve noticed.”

She looked back at him and started down the sidewalk. “You talk to Stacy? You were gone awhile.” She had no idea why she’d asked, why she even cared, but she suspected that was why he had excused himself. So that he could talk with his lover in private. She wondered if they had phone sex.

“Yeah, the conversation got pretty intense. Eggshell or white linen.”

“Pardon?”

He walked beside her. The sun was beginning to set and the air had cooled off a little. The neighbors had cut their grass and the sweet scent filled Fia’s nostrils, mingling with the aroma of steaks cooked on the grill somewhere on the same block. She relaxed a little. It felt good to be in the open air, away from the stench of Mahon’s blood and burnt flesh that she had still been able to smell in the woods today.

They crossed the street, stepping back onto the sidewalk. The quaint streetlamps were beginning to come on, but not in unison, so as they walked, sometimes his face was illuminated, other times it was in shadow.

“My fiancée,” Glen explained. “She’s trying to decide what color tablecloths to rent from the linen service for our wedding reception.”

Fia glanced at him, unable to suppress her disdain. “And you care?”

“Not a damned bit.”

He grinned and she found herself smiling. “So when’s the big day?”

“April tenth.”

She wanted to comment that he didn’t seem all that excited, but she held her tongue. Fia was finding that, while she resisted, while she tried to remain professional and removed, she was liking Glen more than she wanted to. She appreciated him for his similarities to Ian, but she also appreciated his dissimilarities. Glen was a little more easygoing. He took himself less seriously. He smiled more.

They walked the next block in comfortable silence.

“You know, you didn’t say anything about last night,” she said. “My brothers.”

“I thought I’d already embarrassed myself enough.”

“Why should you be embarrassed?” She stopped at the end of the sidewalk and waited for a car to crawl by. Uncle John waved from the open window of his pickup. “I thought you looked pretty fine wearing nothing but your underwear and a Glock, Special Agent Duncan.”

“You have a pretty fine ass yourself, Special Agent Kahill.”

Fia was searching for a snappy response when she spotted a couple of teenagers standing in a huddle outside the Quick-Zip Market. Columns of cigarette smoke snaked over their heads. It was Kaleigh, Petey’s daughter Katy, one of the Cahall girls, and three human teenagers. At once, Fia raised her guard.

There were anxious whispers and one of the boys flicked a cigarette butt onto the sidewalk, grinding it out with his flip-flop. Another butt landed in front of the soda machine.

“Kaleigh.” Fia walked up to the group; Glen hung back a few steps.

“Fia,” Kaleigh’s shoulders were stiff, her tone resentful. “Agent Duncan.” She acknowledged him with a lift of her chin.

Fia looked to the teenaged boy who stood closest to Kaleigh. Had to be the one she had mentioned. The surfer. “Special Agent Kahill, FBI, and you?” She offered her hand.

The dark, shaggy-haired teen had a surprisingly firm grip. “Derek Neuman, ma’am.”

“My partner, Special Agent Duncan.”

The teen reached around one of the girls to shake Glen’s hand. “Sir.”

The boy seemed polite enough, better mannered than most teens, but that didn’t change the fact that he was a human.

“So what are you up to?” Fia asked, addressing Kaleigh but meaning the whole group.

Kaleigh shrugged. “Going to get an ice-cream cone, I guess.”

“You being careful?” Fia glanced at the others, now including them in the conversation. “Even if you don’t read the papers or watch the news, I know you’re aware of the recent homicides.”

Derek looked from Fia to Kaleigh and back at Fia again. “We figured we were safe.” He hooked his thumbs in the pockets of his cargo shorts and slumped. “You know, as long as we were hanging out together. Safety in numbers and all that sh—” He started to say shit, but finished with a mangled version of stuff.

Glen appeared amused. Fia wasn’t. Hadn’t she and Kaleigh just recently discussed the dangers of human boys? And Derek Neuman certainly looked older than fifteen to Fia.

You know this is dangerous, Kaleigh. Didn’t we talk about this? Fia telepathed. Someone’s going to get hurt.

Fia could have sworn Kaleigh flinched, but if she understood Fia’s thoughts, she gave no indication.

It’s okay, Fee. Katy’s thoughts were clear and strong. It’s just ice cream. We won’t let anything happen to her.

“Isn’t it a school night?” Fia looked back to Kaleigh. “Don’t you have to be home?”

“It’s not even nine yet,” Kaleigh groaned. Then, to her friends, “Come on, if we’re going.”

Fia watched the group of teens move down the sidewalk, more as a single entity than individuals. “I can’t believe their parents are letting them wander the streets.”

“Come on, they’re teenagers and invincible. I know I certainly thought I was at that age. And they’re right. They probably are pretty safe. Both of our victims were alone.”

They halted at the door to the Hill and Fia watched the teens as they appeared to get smaller and smaller. They were not headed uptown in the direction of the ice-cream shop or any market that might sell ice cream. They walked toward the bay and the docks. Fia sensed trouble in the air but couldn’t get a take on what was going on in the little group. The teen girls’ thoughts were