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Her fingers tightened around the neck of the bottle she held

He reached into his pants pocket; she drew back, slah and stepped back again "Man, that’s going to be a bitch for soht It’s finger-size but casts a glow big and strong enough to light up Pluto"

He held up a sht To add insult to injury, he turned it on It nearly blinded her

"What were you doing in the tunnel?" she asked

"Investigating, Ms Anderson That’s what you wanted, right? You think your grandfather was ate"

She shook her head in denial "No one paid any attention to me," she told him "And you just said you hadn’t been to the academy--"

"I haven’t been Yet I’m here on a trial basis"

"I don’t understand"

"At the moment, I’m a consultant I’ve been asked to join the Krewe and we’re seeing if I work out as a Krewe h--and whether I like the job enough to accept it"

Wary, Abby said, "Mr Gordon, you really need to leave You haven’t been through the acaderating is locked Thank you some know it isn’t Now"

"Now--yes, now Can we please have a discussion? A rational discussion Look, you’re the one who sent for help!" he said irritably

"Talk about what? I don’t knoho you are or what you’re doing here if you don’t have the credentials--"

"I was sent here because you asked for help!"

"But--"

"I have a copy of your e the whole bar down if I reach into a pocket again You wrote to Jackson Crow, from the Krewe of Hunters Jackson Crow sent me Take ree you’ve got the right kind of problerandfather was murdered, possibly in connection with thoseabout--then ot ents in the Kreho’d been with the FBI for soone to the acadeent?" she asked in a whisper

"Not yet"

"Oh, Lord," she said shaking "Thenthen what are your credentials?"

"Ah," he itimately licensed At one time I was a detective with the New Orleans police And now I’itimately on the books as a consultant to the feds Perhaps most important, Ms Anderson, I just had a conversation with an ancestor of yours Calls himself Blue Will that do for starters?"

3

Maybe he shouldn’t have ht But, then again, the young woman seemed to think he was a serial killer hi

It hadn’t occurred to him that the place would have emptied out by the time he came back But the tunnel had fascinated him, and he’d followed it from the tavern to the riverbank and backat the pirates who had constructed the escape--or kidnapping or shanghai--route Once in the tavern again, he’d had no choice but to make himself known

Or ent Except that he wasn’t Not yet If he chose to accept an appointo through a course at the academy But he was still skeptical

And neither had he expected to be sent out on his own But, apparently, that was the way Adaan Raintree felt it should be done

Sort of like a baptish Especially after he’d read about the two bodies that were discovered on the riverbank He hadn’t been convinced that the death of a hter had just graduated from the academy and had written such an impassioned letter, soive a degree of credence to her beliefs

So it was a test For them, and as he’d said, for hi to join a unit or "create his own," as he’d been offered They needed more units in Jackson Crow’s specialized area and apparently they thought he was a man who could head up another one

Actually, it didn’t seem like a bad deal Work with people who didn’t think he was crazy or that he was a psychic Trying to convince so others that he did have certaintalents

As Abby Anderson stared at hi woman with a headful of the darkest, richest black hair he’d ever seen and eyes so blue they appeared to be violet or black Her features were delicate and beautifully chiseled, and while she was lithe and fit, she was still well-endowed Slim and yet curvy--hard to achieve