Page 18 (2/2)

Joe

I had every intention of gettingmy hand with this honey him about the threats I’d received As far as he kneas just being altruistic in trying to find Donaldson, and anyone else could be assigned to the task

I wanted hi this cabin He was right I needed this I had let et pulled too deep into the case, and it had becoio had already warned me I was too close to the case to be objective, and he didn’t kno personal it had become Should I tell Devil? He deserved to know, but I didn’t want to ruin our first evening here Maybe X and his men would take Donaldson doithout me

“Come on,” Devil said “Let’s see the inside”

I started to follow Devil, but then I heard sos

“What is it?” Devil asked

I held up a hand to silence him I was hesitant to move quickly The last tier” I’d ended up following had been Devil carrying out his diabolical plan to kidnapme here Maybe this was even less of a threat, like a squirrel or a bear

I couldn’t see anything but the vaguest outline of trees Streetlights had helped in tohen I atching Devil hts on the cabin, there were no other lights anywhere The woods were utterly black

A stick cracked, but that could have been caused by an animal There was no reason to think anyone was out there I was just primed to expect an attack

“Talk to me, Joe,” Devil said

“I heard so, but…”

“What does your gut tell you?”

“So us”

“Was?”

I listened intently but didn’t hear anything other than the hoot of an owl, and the prickles on the back of one now”

Devil nodded “I ”

“You were expecting trouble in Christ on?

“I always expect trouble”

And he usually got it, often because he went looking for it He handed un “Keep this on you”

“I always do, except for when I’m assaulted by overzealous men”

“No otherto touch you”

I loved the visceral reaction from him His possessiveness could piss me off, but it also made me hot as hell

“Who do you think it was? A crazy neighbor? Or is so us specifically?”

Tell hied “There’s no way to know”

Devil moved so his body partially blocked ut say?”