Page 99 of Girl Betrayed

“What was nice?”

“You, me, Dana, all under the same roof. It felt … normal.”

“I’m not going anywhere yet,” he assured Claire, steering her into the living room where he sat her down on the couch. Taking the chair across from her, he couldn’t help staring.

“What?” Claire demanded. When Jake didn’t answer, her paper-white skin paled even further. “Oh God! I did it again, didn’t I? I fugued out!”

“Is that what the kids are calling it these days?” he teased, trying to ease some of the fear he saw in her eyes.

“How long?”

Jake shrugged. “Not as long as before. Long enough to scare me.”

Claire buried her face in her hands. “Why does this keep happening?”

Jake moved to the couch and tried to take her hand, but she leapt away from him. “Sorry,” she muttered, pacing now. “I just hate this, ya know? It’s scary not being able to trust myself, my memory.”

Jake hated to push her, but he needed to know. “What’s the last thing you remember?”

She paused. “The back porch, with you … and … oh God! Betty!” Claire sank down onto the floor. Jake rushed to her side. “She’s dead, isn’t she?” Claire sobbed.

Nodding, Jake took a seat beside her.

“The Reaper?” Claire asked.

Jake nodded again.

Claire sniffed, wiping her eyes with her shirt sleeve. “When is this going to stop?”

“Dana is working with the BAU as we speak. They’ll figure it out.”

“No, not the Reaper. Me. I don’t want to keep phasing out, reliving terrible moments every time I come to. It hurts too much.”

“I know this is hard, Claire, but we’ll figure it out.”

“Will we?” she whispered, her voice broken. “How? Sending me to another program, another doctor? It’s not working.”

“I wish I had the answers, Claire. I don’t. But I can tell you we’re not giving up.”

She laughed. “Your packed bag says otherwise.”

“I’m not going anywhere right now.”

He meant what he was saying, but Claire was right. Eventually Jake would have to leave if he wanted to track down his father. Sighing, he let his head fall back, reconsidering his plans. It was an impossible situation. How could he choose one family over another? Wade and his mother were blood, but Dana and Claire, they were something more. They were the family he chose.

84

Dana satin the passenger seat of Richter’s SUV, anxiously waiting for Hartwell to arrive with backup. The request for a search warrant had been filed but Richter had warned Hartwell the lengthy process would take too long. Stating he had reason to believe waiting would place others in danger, and possibly allow Dvita time to destroy evidence, Hartwell had agreed to meet them with a team for rapid search and seizure.

That’s how she found herself staking out Dvita’s home office.

“Is this even legal?” Dana asked, adjusting the straps of her tactical vest.

“Exigent circumstances,” Richter replied. “It’s what we do when a suspect spooks,” he explained. “And that man is the definition of spooked.”

Dana had to agree. Dvita had abruptly ended his session when one of his patients asked if he knew who the Reaper would come after next. Feigning the beginnings of a migraine, he excused himself and rushed out of St. Ann’s without another word.

Not following him wasn’t an option. Dana rushed outside in time to see Dvita’s blue Volvo peel out of the parking lot. Thenext thing she knew, she was climbing into Richter’s SUV before he objected.

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