The killing hour

“Not easy being recycled?”

“No. I’m the outsider who showed up halfway through the school year. Worse, I’m an outsider with a reputation half want to challenge and the other half don’t want to believe.”

“Are they mean to you?” he asked soberly, thumb beneath her chin.

“Someone actually short-sheeted my bed. Oh my God, the horrors. I should write home to Daddy.”

“Uh oh, what did you do in retaliation?” Mac asked immediately.

“I haven’t decided yet.”

“Oh dear.”

She resumed walking. After a moment, he fell in step beside her. “I’m going to make it, Mac,” she said seriously. “Five weeks to go, and I’m going to make it. And if some people don’t like me, that’s okay. Because others do, and I’m good at this job. With more experience, I’m going to be even better at the job. Why, someday I might even follow a direct order. Think of what the Bureau will do then.”

“You’ll be like a whole new secret weapon,” Mac said with awe.

“Exactly.” She nodded her head with pride. Then, not being stupid, she regarded him intently. “So why are you here, Mac? And don’t tell me you missed my smile. I know you’re a little too busy for social calls these days.”

“It’s always something, isn’t it?”

“At the moment.”

He sighed, looked as if he wished he could say something clever, then must’ve decided to get on with it. “They found E

“Good.” It had taken weeks to completely a

During that time, volunteers worked the site, tending the woods and seeking some sign of E

“He made it farther than any of us would’ve guessed,” Mac was saying now. “True to his natural ambivalence, he must have decided at the last minute that he wanted to live. He actually hiked a good mile with his bitten leg. Who even knows what got him in the end? The venom pumped into his heart, or the smoke, or the flames?”

“They do a postmortem?”

“Completed it yesterday. Kimberly, he didn’t have a tumor.”

She halted, blinked her eyes a few times, then had to run a hand through her hair. “Well, that figures, doesn’t it,” she murmured. “Guy’s such a fuck-up, he’s gotta blame his actions on everything but himself. His mother, his brother, and a medical condition he doesn’t even have. Doesn’t that take the cake?”

“For the record, he did have a tumor once,” Mac said. “Doctors confirmed his operation two years ago to remove the mass. According to them, a tumor could affect someone’s propensity for violence. I understand there was even a mass murderer in Texas who claimed his actions were caused by a tumor.”

“Charles Whitman,” Kimberly murmured. “Stabbed his mother to death, then murdered his wife, then climbed a clock tower at the University of Texas and opened fire on the population below. In the end, he killed eighteen people and wounded thirty others before being shot and killed himself. He left a note, didn’t he? Said he wanted an autopsy performed because he was sure there was something physically wrong with him.”

“Exactly. The autopsy revealed a small tumor in his hypothalamus, which some experts say could have contributed to his rampage, while others claim it could not. Who knows? Maybe E

“You had him nailed in the begi

“The guy did feel some level of guilt,” Mac said with a shrug. “Hence leaving us clues to find the second girl. Hence contacting the police as an anonymous tipster and getting us all into the game. Hence his personal involvement as an FBI agent, keeping us on track. When he analyzed the letters, he described the author as someone who felt compelled to kill, but who also wanted to be stopped. Maybe that was his way of trying to explain himself to us.”

Kimberly, however, vehemently shook her head. “Did he really want to help, Mac, or did he just want more people to hurt? This is the guy who started out hating his father, but actually killed his mother and brother. He targeted young women, but also set up hazardous conditions for the search-and-rescue volunteers. I don’t think he placed those anonymous phone calls because he wanted you to catch him. He was seeking to involve more people in his game. He obviously didn’t mind collateral damage. And if he could have, he would’ve killed us in the swamp that day.”

“You’re probably right.”

“I’m glad he’s dead.”

“Honey, I’m not so sad about it myself.”

“Any sign of the girls’ cars?” she asked.

“Fu

“Where at?”

“In the Tallulah Gorge, camouflaged with netting, green paint, and a whole lotta leaves. We’re revisiting the other sites now, to see if we’ll find the victims’ vehicles nearby. We also discovered E

“Then I’m doubly glad he’s dead. And Tina?”

“At home in Mi

“They’re in Oregon. They’re pla

“Have dead body, will travel?” Mac teased her.

“Something like that.”

“And you?” His finger traced a slow, gentle line down her cheek. Then both his hands settled on her waist. “What are you going to do in five weeks?”

“I’m a new agent,” Kimberly said quietly. Her hands had come up, resting on the hard curve of his arms. “We don’t have much say in things. You get assigned where you get assigned.”

“Can you list preferences?”

“We can. I said Atlanta might be nice. No reason, of course.”

“No reason?” Mac’s hands stroked up her sides, his thumbs feathering across her breasts.

“Okay, I have a little bit of a reason.”

“When will you know?”

“Yesterday.”

“You mean…”

She smiled, feeling a little bit ridiculous now, and ducked her head. “Yeah, I got lucky. Atlanta ’s a big field office and they needed a fair amount of agents. I guess I’m going to have to learn to talk with a drawl, and drink a lot of Coke.”

“I want you to meet my family,” Mac said immediately. He was holding her tighter now. She hadn’t been 100 percent sure of what he would think. They had both been so busy lately, and you never knew…

But he was gri