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

“Yes. And the security detail is here.”

“Stay with him. Don’t let him go anywhere without you until I get there.”

“Yes.”

“Right with him. Promise me.”

“Yes. I promise.”

She ended the call and pivoted to face Special Agent Skogen.

“What?” she asked.

His words and voice were somber as a shroud. “The Huntsman just made this a contest between you and him.”

Nadine began to shake. Skogen moved closer. He reached out as if to pull her into an embrace and she stepped back.

She didn’t need comfort, not from him. She needed answers.

Nadine turned to the entrance. “Let’s get that letter.”

Two hours later, Nadine was back at the office. Special Agent Vea had dropped the new communication from the Huntsman to the FBI evidence lab in Orlando and she was waiting for a digital copy.

On her arrival Tina gave her a chef’s salad and a bottle of green tea.

“Green tea?” she asked.

“You need the antioxidants,” said Tina.

She needed a sedative.

“Thank you. Where’s Demko?”

“Up in Marion County with the sheriff searching Lake Bryant for remains.”

“What about the detention center? Do they still have Santander?”

Tina’s shoulders sank.

“No. They never had her. Her attorney told me it was a mistake. The wrong person. Same name.”

Nadine’s stomach flipped. “She’s still missing?”

Her assistant nodded, looking close to tears.

“Call Juliette. Tell her this. Ask that social worker to contact the family and get something to identify her. Scars, tattoos, dental records. Something. Then get that to Juliette.”

“I can contact the family. I have her brother’s number.” Tina sped away.

Nadine dove into her work. She knew no other way than to focus all her anxiety and panic than to pinpoint it onto her profile.

It was clear that Darnell and Karnowski had been lured into the forest. But had Linda Tolan been lured or had the Huntsman followed her from the hotel? In either case, their unsub’s method had clearly changed when Tolan had escaped. He’d taken her from her home. He’d presumably taken April Rupp from her yard.

What had made him change his method?

She stared at the names and dates and places as an idea began to form, a new pattern and the important date where the entire thing pivoted, Tuesday, March 30th, the day she had arrived in Ocala.

In the outer office, she heard Tina on the phone speaking in rapid Spanish. A moment later, she rushed in.

Nadine gave Tina her full attention. The sinking feeling was back in her stomach.

“What?”

“I reached the brother of Bianca Santander. His sister worked two jobs. Housecleaning and breakfast attendant at a hotel.”

Apprehension rippled over Nadine on a current of air.

“Which hotel?”

“The one where we all stayed.”

Nadine’s heart clenched as she thought of the small, anxious woman at the breakfast area on her very first day at the hotel.

Bibi.

Nineteen

Nadine sucked in a breath as Tina continued.

“Her brother gave me the name of the dentist they use.”

“Call Juliette. Give her the name.”

Tina’s eyes brimmed with tears. “You might have met her, too!”

“I… I, yes. I remember a small woman in the breakfast area my first day here. But we don’t know for sure that it’s her.”

Tina gulped.

Nadine was on her feet. “Call Juliette.”

She headed for Skogen’s office.

There she found him with Special Agent Wynns hunched over a computer monitor reviewing security footage.

Wynns glanced up at her.

“Dr. Finch?” he said, causing Skogen to glance up.

She told them what Tina had discovered, about the arrow point in the hip of their Jane Doe. Finally she relayed the interaction she’d had with Santander at breakfast.

“When?” asked Vea.

“It was Tuesday, March 30th, just after eight a.m.”

She’d covered for the woman with her boss after Santander had accidentally discarded Nadine’s uneaten breakfast. And Linda Tolan had shouted at her, so had Mrs. Rupp. Had these slights doomed them? It seemed unlikely but the notion was taking root.

“Pull up March 30th,” said Skogen, lifting his phone and speaking to Special Agent Vea, instructing him to contact the hotel to verify employment for Santander.

Nadine waited, watching as they began.

They found the footage and she pointed.

“There. That’s me.”

Strange to see the scene played out again from a different perspective.

“That’s Bibi.” She pointed again.

“Bibi?”

“That’s what her boss called her.”

“Okay. We got it.”

She hovered and then left them, pausing midway to her office. Poor woman. She thought of the partial remains, unrecognizable.

Was that Bibi?

Nadine covered her face and let the tears come.

“Hey, hey. Come here.”

She glanced up to find Clint Demko closing in, his gaze sweeping over her. She said nothing, just lifted her arms, seeking what she needed most.

Demko drew her in. He held tight, resting his chin on the top of her head. She sagged, letting him take some of her weight. He did so easily.

He rubbed her back, his hands confident and soothing as they moved rhythmically up and down. His breath warmed the top of her head. She pressed her cheek to his chest, feeling the Kevlar vest and inhaling the comforting scent of sandalwood.

“I thought you were in Marion County,” she said.

“Wanted to check on you.”

She kept her eyes closed and her cheek pressed to him as he rocked her.

“We’ll get this guy, too, Nadine. We’ll put him away so he can’t touch you or anyone else.”

She nodded. That was what she wanted, why she was here.

“He’s watching me.”

“You’re his opponent. He’s a hunter, so he likes games. This will make him easier to catch.”

He didn’t pull away until she stepped back.

“How did you hear?”

“Juliette and Tina.”

He rested his hands on her shoulders, gazing straight into her eyes.

“We’ll get him, Dee. We will.”

She nodded, struggling with the knot corded in her throat.

His hands dropped away. The warmth of his touch lingered, and she no longer felt lost. She felt determined.

“I have so much work to do.”

He smiled, as if he suddenly had her back.

“Have you seen the card we picked up yet?” she asked.

He shook his head.

“I have a copy.”

They walked to her office.

Nadine retrieved the copy of the greeting card sent by the Huntsman that she’d received from Skogen and passed it to him, trying and failing