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

Demko escorted Nadine back to her office, where Tina took over care and support. Demko headed back to confront Skogen. They took it behind the closed door of Agent Skogen’s office, but the barrier wasn’t thick enough to completely block their raised voices. She listened as she sipped the water from the mini bottle Tina had fetched.

“You sure you’re going to be okay?” asked Tina. She hovered before Nadine and pressed a hand to her own throat, eyes wide as golf balls.

“Yes,” said Nadine. If she kept her eyes closed, she could hear better and did not have to see Tina pacing.

“Your color is not good.”

“Thanks for that.”

There was no mistaking Demko’s approach. He charged down the hall like an attacking grizzly. Tina flattened against the cabinets to avoid him. He drew up short before Nadine’s desk.

“Come on,” said Demko.

Tina stepped between him and her. “I’m not sure that’s a great idea.”

Nadine’s eyes widened in astonishment that Tina would confront Demko when he was in such an agitated state. It showed either a monumental disregard for her own safety or outrageous courage.

“She’s still white as a sheet,” said Tina.

Demko ignored her as he might a troublesome moth flapping about him. He kept his gaze fixed on Nadine.

“Get whatever you need. We aren’t coming back here today.”

“Where are we going?”

“It’s after six. I’m taking you for something to eat,” he said.

“Clint, I have work to do on my profile. Linda’s still out there. We have to find her.”

He looked to Tina. “Did she eat lunch?”

Tina shook her head.

Demko turned back to Nadine. “Bring your laptop.”

She did, along with her purse and briefcase.

“See you later, Tina.”

She nodded, worrying her hands together as Nadine preceded Demko out of the office.

At his SUV, he opened her door and helped her into her seat, then climbed behind the wheel. They set off in silence. She was happy for the few moments to compose herself and he seemed to need the time to lower his blood pressure.

Clint spoke first. “Withholding that kind of evidence is reckless.”

“Might have allowed me to sleep better not knowing.”

He glanced in her direction and back at the road. “You don’t really think that.”

“No. I don’t. It’s always better to know and prepare.”

They drove away from Ocala and into the national forest, their headlights casting out before them, chasing back the darkness. The trees loomed on both sides of the road, seeming to close in about her.

Nadine pressed a hand over her pounding heart.

“He wrote that letter to you and he’s watching you.”

“It’s why Skogen used me as bait.”

“I could kill him for that.”

She glanced his way, noting his clamped jaw. He looked fully capable of making good on that threat. She was glad they were driving away from the temporary office.

“I wish it had worked,” she whispered. “That we’d caught him.”

But they both knew it might have worked in the opposite manner, with Nadine now locked in a hog trap deep in the dark, dank woods. Her stomach knotted.

“We’ll catch him. But not that way.”

She nodded, drawing on his confidence.

“Nadine, he knows that the FBI has a profiler. He stole your headband and put it in Tolan’s vehicle. He’s trying to figure out who you are. That’s why he’s watching the hotel. Likely, he’s watching the FBI field office. He would have seen all of us. Now he has to fill in the pieces. Linda Tolan was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. If she had chosen a different hotel, she might still be alive.”

“Or if she hadn’t yelled at me.”

He stilled and glanced at her. “You think that?”

“I don’t know. Possibly.”

“Why?”

“Because he could have taken me as easily as he took her.” The truth of that froze the marrow in her bones. “But he didn’t.”

“No. He followed her into the Ocala Forest and took her there.”

“Did he? Or did he lure her there?”

“How?”

She shook her head, unsure. “It’s just a feeling. The others followed GPS coordinates to nowhere. We need to see if Linda Tolan did the same.”

Her lips were still tingling. A sure sign that either her circulatory system or endocrine system had gone into protective mode.

Demko drove them to a marina with a dining room that overlooked the St. Johns River.

He ordered wine and they shared their appetizers—gator bites, deep fried and served with Thai chili sauce, and a smoked fish dip with saltines. The speed with which the food disappeared bore evidence that they were both starving.

The server arrived with jambalaya for him and the blackened mahi dinner for her.

Demko lifted the bottle of red wine, offering to refill her glass.

“No, thanks.”

He shrugged, refilling his. Their interactions felt forced to Nadine. Something was happening between them and it made her uneasy.

They finished their meal and settled the bill, heading out.

Demko checked his phone, retrieving a message. “Hotel vacated the room beside yours. Looks like Skogen is good for something.”

Once back at the hotel, he escorted her to her room.

“I’ve got to move my gear.”

“I’ll unlock the door between our rooms. Come in after you settle in.”

Nadine changed out of her dress. She was in her nightshirt and matching shorts when Molly rushed forward to greet her, tail wagging. His dog was permitted on the floor by request of the FBI and Nadine was glad to have the canine nearby.

She found Clint in their mutual doorway. He gave his dog a few minutes and then called her back to his room.

“You going to work?” he asked.

“Too tired.”

Demko seemed hesitant and their conversation faltered.

He did not step into her room. A new uncomfortable tension radiated between them. It made her nervous. His expression showed concern.

She’d made it a thing that he didn’t stay over in her place, but he wasn’t inviting her to his.

Was he waiting for her to invite him to cross the threshold?

Impasse. Stalemate.

She knew one thing; a stalled relationship was one that was destined to end. Only that scared her more