Read Online Hunting by Calle J. Brookes - Free Book Online Page B

him and his fiancé the best of luck. Ed and
Marianna were getting married in four weeks. Al, Carrie, and
Paige—if they weren’t on cases—were providing the music.
    It seemed like everyone in
PAVAD was pairing off. Georgia and Hell, Ana and Fin, Carrie and
Lorcan, Ed and Marianna, even Dan and Dr. Brewster from forensics
had paired off, married, and were expecting twins. Al couldn’t help
but feel a small bit of envy for them. What was it like to have
someone who understood the job as deeply as she did? Who understood
that she couldn’t just drop everything to take care of his
needs?
    Who didn’t think she was
supposed to play second fiddle to him?
     

Chapter
Twenty-One
* * *
    Jules went in on Friday
knowing she’d be swamped. She was trying to ensure that Mia wasn’t
overwhelmed by her absence on Monday and Tuesday. She’d be flying
back early Wednesday, and would probably work Saturday and Sunday
to make up for lost time.
    Not that her position was
necessarily a nine-to-five, Monday-through-Friday kind of
thing.
    People died at all hours of
the day or night. And she’d been called in on those
hours.
    With Ruthie coming, that
was going to have to change. Mia was being promoted to a
supervisory position and they were hiring two additional forensic
pathologists. It had always been in the budget, they just hadn’t
implemented the new plan yet. Forley had retired, and Jules knew
she’d have to replace him eventually. The one extra person would
make a huge difference to all of them.
    She had several copies of
paperwork to be distributed to the various teams in the PAVAD
directorate, and she liked to handle that task herself, putting the
files in the hands of each supervisor directly. Less likely for
paperwork to get lost that way.
    She saved the CCU bullpen
for last, knowing she’d want to spend a few extra minutes visiting
when she got up there. Sometimes that was the only place she saw
Georgia in a week. The CCU teams were sent all over the country,
often at a moment’s notice, and it made planning anything together
difficult.
    It looked like the full
complement of agents for the CCU was present for once. Not that
surprising, since it was the week after Christmas, and New Year’s
Eve was the next night.
    Jules was planning on
hanging out with Georgia and Ana’s families until around one, then
heading home.
    She had a big week coming
up, and she wanted some time to relax.
    The first person she saw
was Evan Stephenson. She shivered.
    He looked so much like his
father.
    Roger Stephenson had
featured in a few of her late night bad dreams—how could he
not?
    No woman liked being the
target of a madman.
    Evan watched her, quietly,
like he had done from the first time they’d been in the same
room.
    Just like his father had
watched her.
    Jules deliberately looked
away from him, hoping her feelings weren’t showing on her
face.
    Looked away from Evan and
straight into blue, blue eyes.
    Rats.
    He knew what she was
thinking; he always did.
    The majority of the files
in her arms were for his team. Why hadn’t she noticed that before?
She should have sent Mia…
    She’d done her best to
avoid him since the day he’d driven her home—at his insistence—from
the hospital. Something had happened between them in that North St.
Louis basement to change things between them, and that terrified
her. Confused her.
    Change between her and
Malachi Brockman was not something she would ever be comfortable
with.
    He was walking toward
her.
    Jules held the dozen or so
files out to him, a barrier between them.
    He took them, then wrapped
his free hand around her arm. He pulled her close to whisper. “You
can’t avoid him forever.”
    “ It’s none of your
business.” She tried to shake him off. Why did his touch always
burn her skin?
    She’d been touched by
attractive men before. Some were even available men—if she’d been
interested. None of those men came even close to burning her with
just a brush of a finger. So why