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

seem oiled. Wavy brown hair curled from under his cap. He lifted his bright green eyes and pinned her with a look, then a smile.

Something niggled. She knew him, had seen him before. When? Where?

Then it came to her. Clint had been questioning Simon Kilpatrick at the outdoor adventure place. And she had spoken to this man. Their killer, and she’d had no inkling. The trickle of uncertainty slid down her spine.

This was one of the naturalists at Big River Adventures. They’d chatted about bird-watching. She’d feigned interest.

“We’ve spoken before. Haven’t we… Lionel?”

He beamed. “You remember. I’m flattered. That’s so nice.”

He set the water on the table and assisted her to a sitting position. She pulled the sleeping bag up to cover herself.

“I need a shirt,” she said.

“I don’t think so.”

“I’m freezing,” she said.

He ignored her, retrieving the water and holding it to her lips. She glared at him as she drank, draining the contents.

“Where are we?”

“This is a hunting cabin used by some locals. I’ve leased it for the season.”

“Everglades?” she asked.

He shook his head.

“Where?”

“Nadine, you can’t leave. You can’t signal for help. So why do you need to know?”

“If all that is true, why not tell me?” She waited, worried to push further by asking if he was afraid to tell her. Best not to poke too hard.

He smiled. “We’re north of Tampa. It’s a spot you’ve never heard of. A place that everyone hurries by to get to their destination because it’s no place at all.”

“Why me?”

“Don’t you know? I’d be surprised if you didn’t work it out.”

“It was never a game of wits,” she said, tossing out one of her assumptions.

He stroked her cheek. “Though I do admire your wits.”

It was so hard not to make demands. Not to scream and beg and threaten. She gritted her teeth and tried to think.

“You promised to release Jack.”

His expression hardened and he rolled his eyes. “Yes. And you promised to come willingly.”

They faced off. Nadine’s eyes narrowed. Despite being half-dead, she still had something he wanted—her compliance.

“I can still offer you that deal,” she said.

“I have you already.”

“You don’t. What you have is a captive. But you want more than that.”

Now his eyes narrowed. “I do want more.”

“Well then?”

His eyes now glimmered with clear anticipation. “What are you offering?”

“I’ll go with you, willingly, if you release Jack to a location where he will survive and receive proper medical care—”

“Done.”

“I’m not.”

He glared and she met the beady frigidity of his eyes.

“And you prove that he survived to receive care and you promise not to return at a later time to kill him.”

“Like little Linda.” He smiled at the fond memory of the death of Linda Tolan.

The hairs on her neck lifted. Here was the face of the killer, unmasked. Her skin prickled, but she held her expression blank.

“You love him,” he said.

She said nothing to this, uncertain if revealing the ploy would further jeopardize Jack. If she told him, would he leave Skogen or kill him?

Nadine needed to decide how to play this and she needed to do that quickly. She narrowed her eyes on him, showing her displeasure without challenging his fantasies.

“Answer me!” he growled.

“He was the best I could do, until now.”

He gaped and then laughed. “‘Until now.’”

She didn’t respond.

“If that’s true, why do you care what happens to him?”

“Because he’s part of my team and that makes him my responsibility.”

He stared at her with those bottle-green eyes as she struggled with her rising heart rate, feeling blood pound in the vessels at her neck.

She waited through his deliberation, stone-faced, while her stomach twisted and her heart thrashed against her sternum.

At last he said, “I make no guarantee against sepsis or other infections that might kill him after delivery.”

“Understood.” How badly was Jack injured?

“A deal then. Your compliance for his release in a location where he will be discovered alive and no return to kill him at a later date.”

“I need to see him.”

Jack had been left outside in the boat. Who knew how dehydrated or fevered he was by now?

“Soon. First, we need to chat.”

She paused, desperate to get to Jack and check his condition, but recognizing the opportunity presented by the unsub’s willingness to talk. The more she knew of him, the better equipped she’d be to survive.

“You work for the Kilpatrick family. Tour guide.”

“Naturalist. Birds are my specialty. You can learn a great deal from birds.”

“Like how to use a bird-watching app to lure women to you?”

“Yes. I used that method. Rare-bird sightings. I prefer trapping to hunting. It requires patience, but that patience is rewarding. I killed several that way recently in Miami. Only there I used a dating app.”

“And in the Barataria Preserve outside New Orleans?”

He grinned. “Louisiana girls are sweet. Love the accent.”

“Unlike yours,” she said.

“None of them were my equal. But then I read about you.” He squatted before her, stroking her cheek.

She tried not to flinch but didn’t succeed. She closed her eyes as his fingers danced down her neck and clasped her throat.

“Open your eyes.”

She didn’t and he squeezed.

Nadine met his gaze.

“That’s better.” His hand remained at her throat as he spoke. “The great-granddaughter of a killer, granddaughter of a killer and daughter of the most successful female serial killer ever captured. You are the ghost orchid, Nadine. The grasshopper sparrow among finches. After I found you, I moved, set up business in your mother’s territory but with a difference. I let the world see them, my kills.”

Like a cat depositing a dead bird on an owner’s doormat, Nadine thought.

“I knew the deaths of these women would draw you to me. It’s important to use the right bait. And for you, that’s the irresistible sight of brutal, untimely death.”

She pressed her lips tight, scowling, because he’d been correct.

“My wish was to entice the rarest of all females, the profiler with a serial-killer mother.”

“You changed tactics once I got here.”

“Yes. I had your attention and like any eligible male, I switched to my courtship dance. Driving rival females from