Page 47 of Dead Fall (The Quantico Files 2)

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The four of them worked for a couple of hours, trying to think of anyone who could be accessing information about the case, but they made no progress. Logan hated bringing up Jeff’s daughter, but that idea was shot down quickly. One of Jeff’s hard-and-fast rules was to never share information about a case with anyone outside of work. Especially family.

“It’s just not possible,” Logan said. “I know it’s not always easy to raise a headstrong daughter, but Jeff loved Stephanie. I saw them together a few times, and she loved him too. That was clear.”

“She’ll have to live with refusing to leave town when he asked her to,” Monty said. “She may blame herself for what happened.”

“If the UNSUB hadn’t used her, he would have used someone else to manipulate Jeff,” Kaely said. “I think he picks his target and then gets to them any way he can. He seems to be pretty dedicated to achieving his goals.”

“I agree,” Alex said. “We need to get back to our profile. We’re getting distracted. Can we look at the information from Australia? I’m really curious about it. It’s the only killing that happened out of our guy’s comfort zone. Bayne is the odd man out.”

“Sure,” Logan said, “but how about some lunch first? It’s almost two o’clock. I’m starving.”

Alex was surprised to hear the time. She hadn’t thought about food. For some strange reason, she kept feeling that she’d missed something, but she couldn’t figure out what it was. It felt as if it was right in front of her, but she just couldn’t see it.

Everyone agreed to break for lunch. As they walked toward the door, Alex said, “Are you sure those files will be safe?”

“I have a feeling the police officer guarding our door will be sufficient,” Monty said.

Alex smiled. “I think you’re right. Feels strange to have so much security. I mean, we’re profilers, not field agents.”

“You’re right,” Monty said. “But we still deal with unstable, violent criminals. We can always be a target for them, I guess.”

As they left the room, Logan locked the door behind them and spoke to the officer sitting in the hallway. Then he caught up with the others as they made their way down the gerbil tunnels. “He’ll be there for another two hours before the new officer checks in,” Logan told them.

“I don’t want to take too long,” Alex said. “We need to work.”

“We also need to eat and relax a little. I’m not at my best when I’m too uptight.”

“Okay, I get it,” Alex said. She smiled. “Look at you. Unit chief for such a short time, but you’re doing a great job.”

“Maybe. I think I like being an analyst better. Being in charge is ... tough.”

As they headed for the food court, Alex realized Kaely had been surprisingly quiet. “Everything okay?” she asked.

Kaely nodded. “Just thinking.” But by the look on her face, Alex could tell something was bothering her. Alex ran everything that had been said through her mind, but nothing stuck out. Everyone was trying to narrow down the possible leak. Had Kaely seen something the rest of them missed?

They reached the food court, and Kaely went for Chinese. Alex ordered tacos, and the men asked for pizza.

On Alex’s way toward a table, Logan came up beside her. “I’m surprised you didn’t get Chinese food too.”

“I’m not idolizing Kaely,” she shot back.

She walked faster, getting ahead of him. She noticed the other half of their unit sitting around a table. She hurried over to them.

“Hey,” Robin said with a smile. “It’s weird we’re in the same building but rarely see you.”

“I agree,” Alex said. “Maybe we could meet here for supper tonight?”

“That would be great,” Todd said.

“You guys doing okay?”

“We’re working hard to come up with the investigative strategies Logan asked for,” Bethany said. “We’re also using ViCAP to look for possible suspects. Nothing so far.”

“We’ve been checking for possible connections to our victims as well,” Nathan said. “So far we haven’t found any names linked to all of them.”

Alex sighed. “Our profile is being fine-tuned. This guy is something different. I’ve never seen anyone like him before.”

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