Page 129 of Girl Betrayed

Jake stopped chopping wood. “You still think there was more than one Unsub?”

“I think it’s possible. The Alchemist did, too.”

“Did you ever discuss that with Richter?”

“Yes, but I was so fixated on Dvita I didn’t allow myself to fully explore any other alternatives. I don’t know. I guess it could’ve been Dvita and Max …”

Jake shrugged. “Anything’s possible.”

Dana stood silently stewing on her thoughts, unable to set them down despite wanting to. “You know, if Lennox hadn’t shot Max, we’d be looking for a seventh victim right now.” Dana couldn’t push past the obvious. “I think they were saving Claire for last. I mean think about it. She and Max were supposedly in love, but Dvita always had this possessive vibe about him when it came to Claire. What if this was all just some big game between them and Claire was the prize?”

Seeing her distress, Jake walked over and put an arm around Dana’s shoulders. “Claire’s safe. She’s here, with us. We may never fully understand this one, but the important thing is, it’s over. Let’s just enjoy this reprieve while we can. We’ve earned it. In fact,” he reached into her back pocket and grabbed her cell phone. “Let’s turn this off so we can do what we came out here to do.”

“Hey!” she yelled, trying to take it back but Jake just raised the phone up higher, out of her reach.

Once he’d powered it off, he handed it back. “Already turned mine off,” he said when she started to argue. “We came here to unplug and get some peace, right?”

Dana nodded, stowing her phone back in her pocket before picking up the bundle of kindling she’d been collecting. Jake went back to the log he’d cleared. Together they returned to the campfire with their bounty.

“There’s one more question I’ve been wanting to ask,” Dana said as she stacked the wood once Jake split it into manageable pieces. “What did you say to Claire at the farmhouse when she was trying to get to Max?”

“I told her she’d see him again.”

Dana paused, her eyes meeting Jake’s. “As in an afterlife?”

Jake smirked. “I’m not getting into a religious debate with you, Doc.”

“That’s not what this is.”

Finally, he put the axe down and looked at Dana. “Yes, I meant heaven, the place we go when we die. I know you don’t believe in that?—”

“Claire doesn’t either,” Dana interrupted.

“Maybe you don’t know her as well as you think,” Jake offered.

“What does that mean?”

“Just that she might surprise you if you stopped trying to anticipate and analyze her every reaction.”

“I don’t do that,” she argued, though the defensiveness in her voice betrayed her.

Jake laughed. “Whatever you need to tell yourself, Doc.”

Shock left Dana momentarily slack jawed, but her surprise was quickly replaced with indignation. “Is that seriously how you see me?”

“Listen, your mind is an incredible thing. But you overthink everything.”

Her hands flew to her hips. “Like what?”

“Like us, for one.”

Dana had walked into that trap and was at a loss for words, but Jake wasn’t done. He stalked toward her until she was pinned between him and the wood pile. Grinning, he brushed a stray curl from her face. “And more importantly, Claire doesn’t have a problem with us being together.”

Dana needed to close her mouth before something flew in it, but she was dumbfounded. She tried to step back and break the connection. She couldn’t think clearly with Jake’s hands on her shoulders, but he refused to let go. “You asked her?”

“No, but she’s not blind. She knows both of us too well to not have a sense of what’s going on. She said she’s happy for us.”

“Really? When?”