“Then trust me on this one,” Laura said. “Even if you don’t want to trust me as a person, as a friend. Even if you don’t like the way I do things. For the sake of the case and the possibility of saving someone’s life, trust me that I might be onto something here.”
Nate waited a long moment. She watched him, her heart in her mouth. But at last, reluctantly, he nodded. “We go to check out one of the twins, make sure they’re safe, and send Frome with backup to the other?” he asked.
Laura nodded sharply. “Exactly what I was thinking.”
***
Nate watched Laura from the side of his eye as they drove to the address she had picked out. She’d seemed to hesitate when deciding which one they should go after, and which one to send Frome to. Like she didn’t understand which of them would be the be
st to prioritize. Nate didn’t see why it made a difference, if she was so sure they were both going to be attacked anyway.
And that was why he was watching her. Trying to catch some kind of sign. It wasn’t as though this was the first case they’d worked together where she’d had one of her weird hunches, but in the beginning he’d thought it was just a quirk. Then, as he began to think it might be something more, he’d thought she would tell him.
Now, he was realizing that if he wanted to know anything, he was going to have to figure it out himself.
She seemed to be concentrating only on the road, giving him no outward sign of anything out of the ordinary. Out of the ordinary for Laura, anyway. Her pretty, delicate face was marred by a frown that pulled down the corners of her lips. Worry. She was worried that they weren’t going to get there in time, he thought.
She was always worried. She always seemed to take on every case as a huge personal responsibility. Yes, as federal agents, it was their job to solve tough cases, sometimes in a race against time. But the responsibility was never shouldered by one person alone. She had a partner. They often had locals on the ground to back up the investigation. They worked as a team.
For Laura, it always seemed different. Like she thought she was the only person alive who could stop something bad from happening.
And Nate had to wonder why that was.
“I think this is it, up ahead,” Laura said, ducking her head to peer through the top of the windshield at an apartment block that was looming in the near distance, just down the street. It was tall and modern, shiny glass marking floor-length windows in each apartment. Most likely a sight more expensive than the ones they had visited earlier, where Ruby and Jade had met their ends.
Nate adjusted his position in his seat, gearing himself up mentally. They would have to go up there and talk to this guy, try to explain everything. If Laura was right, he would be in danger. There might even be a chance that the killer was around somewhere. It was still late afternoon, the evening some time away yet, but with the year getting later it was getting dark earlier. There could be danger here.
If Laura was right.
But what unsettled Nate so much was that she so often was.
He watched her as she parked in a private lot under the apartment building, flashing her badge at a camera until the gate buzzed open for them. Behind them, a marked police car followed, their own backup. The closer they got to the apartment, the more and more anxious she seemed to be. Everything about her tightening, tensing. She was getting ready for a fight.
It was her certainty that troubled him the most. She knew. Or, at least, she was convinced she knew. And where did that conviction come from, if it really was just a hunch like she kept pretending?
They traveled up to the main building in an elevator, not saying a word. Nate noticed how Laura’s hand strayed to her gun, checking it, while they waited to arrive at the correct floor. When the doors pinged open she was through them first, practically charging down the hall. The cops were still far behind them, maybe still walking to the elevator, she’d moved so fast. She knocked on the apartment that was marked with the right number without waiting for him to catch him, practically thrumming with nervous energy.
An energy that, clearly, set the young man who opened the door instantly on edge.
“Hello?” he said, raising a questioning eyebrow as he looked at the two strangers standing in his doorway. He was blond and blue-eyed, looking more like he should be an aspiring movie star in LA than here in Milwaukee.
“My name is FBI Special Agent Laura Frost, and this is my colleague, Special Agent Nathaniel Lavoie,” Laura rattled out quickly, giving him no chance to jump in and speak for himself. “We need you to come with us. We have reason to believe you may be in danger. There’s no need to panic just now, we’re going to look after you. But you do have to come away from here into our protection.”
The man blinked a couple of times, looking between the two of them as if expecting this to be some kind of prank. When he peered at their badges and apparently found them authentic enough, his tanned face paled slightly.
“What?” was all he managed to respond.
Laura made an impatient movement with her head. “Kevin Wurz,” she said. “I need you to come with us into protective custody. Your life may be in danger if you don’t. We’re here to protect you.”
Kevin blinked again, shaking his head. “Why?”
Laura forced herself to take a breath. Nate saw it, how she was trying desperately to hold herself together and explain it to this man. She wanted him to just comply so she could do her job. She was frustrated. “We believe someone—a killer—may be targeting identical twins. Now, it’s not certain that he’ll strike here, but we want to get you to safety in case he does.”
“My brother,” Kevin said immediately. “Kenneth. Have you—”
“A team is on its way to his home right as we speak,” Laura replied. Behind them down the hall, the elevator doors were opening, the cops walking out. Nate spared them a glance. They looked pissed at having been left behind. “This is a precautionary measure, and we can’t force you to come with us, but I really do recommend that you come along. It’s for your own safety.”
“Yeah,” Kevin said, still blinking, totally bemused and baffled by what she was saying. He scratched the back of his head, turning to look into his apartment and then turning back. “Um. Should I bring anything with me?”