Page 86 of Girl Between (Dana Gray FBI Mystery Thriller #5)

Dana’s fingernails were already suffering and that was before Henri Taurant sauntered into her office with his insufferable sneer. “Look who decided to grace us with her presence,” he crooned to no one—it was just the two of them inside the old mansion.

Thanks to the FBI’s pre-dawn meeting, she’d been up and at ‘em at an ungodly hour, waiting to hear if she’d be invited onto the joint task force between the NOPD and the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit.

With a million questions rattling around her brain, she’d gone for a run and still managed to arrive at the NOSA office first today.

A fact she knew would be useless to mention to the irrational Taurant.

Instead, she offered her sarcastic condolences.

“I know you’ll be sorry to see me go, but I’m only here to wrap up loose ends. ”

“I have to agree,” he said in his usual mocking tone. “Your work here has been rather loose .”

“For your information, I’ve been recruited into a federal investigation, which trumps ancient ship manifests. I’m here to give my official notice and write up a report of my findings thus far. ”

“Which are?” he drawled.

When she didn’t answer he gave a victorious little harumph. “That’s what I thought.”

Dana fought the urge to roll her eyes. “You know as well as I do that vampiric origins have not been ruled out of New Orleans. They probably never will be. I would love to stay on and continue my research, but this is ancient history,” she said, gesturing to the pile of ship manifests she’d been cataloging. “It’s not going anywhere.”

“Wow, how ever did the Smithsonian manage without you these past few weeks?” he mocked. “Your devotion is so admirable.”

“I take my career very seriously,” she seethed. “But saving living people takes precedence over cataloging the dead.”

Taurant’s bushy brown eyebrows rose. “You’re talking about the Harvest Girls, aren’t you?”

“I never said that.”

“You didn’t have to. This is a small town, Dr. Gray.

I told you that already. We may be backwoods compared to Washington D.C.

, but one plus one still equals two here.

You paid a visit to the Goode sisters’ cabin yesterday with Detective Gorgeous George, and today the FBI ride into town. That’s not happenstance.”

“How do you know I was in the bayou?”

He laughed. “I make it my business to know everything that goes on in my town.”

Dana could easily see Taurant sticking his oversized nose into his neighbors’ lives. The mercurial man turned hovering into an art form.

“Did you really think I wouldn’t hear about a twenty-year-old cold case re-opening in my own backyard?” he chided. “Those little girls used to ride their bikes down this very street.”

Dana ignored the shiver creeping up her spine. “If you know something about what happened to them you should go to the police.”

“I did, twenty years ago. You’ll find my statement in their report, assuming you do a more thorough job for the FBI than you’ve done here. ”

Dana swallowed her anger. “Well, if you know anything else, you should call the FBI tipline.”

Taurant’s wicked grin showed too many teeth. “The secrets I could spill.” He sighed, straightening his pastel pink bowtie. “Alas, none of them would bring those poor girls back. Though it might be fun to bring down a government official or two.”

“This isn’t a joke,” Dana seethed.

He clucked his tongue. “Oh that’s something I know much better than you, my dear. Word of advice? Some graves shouldn’t be dug up.”

“That sounds like a threat.”

“Take it how you like. But those families have been through enough. Just about every one of us still standing in this town has been through enough. Scratching old wounds won’t change anything. Just causes more pain.”

“Well.” Dana hit a few strokes on her keyboard and fired off the email she’d been working on. “Lucky for you, I’m done here,” she said, slamming her laptop closed. She stood and gathered her belongings. “I wish I could say it’s been fun …” She trailed off purposefully.

“Oh, there’s still plenty of time for fun. Save me a dance at the wedding.”

“What?”

He clucked his tongue again, making Dana wish he would choke on it. “Can’t believe you turned Gorgeous George down. Made a lot of ladies in this town happy. And men, too,” he added with a wink.

Dana breezed past him, ready to be done with this unpleasant exchange already. But Taurant didn’t know when to stop. “I don’t blame you,” he called as she moved into the foyer. “I wouldn’t be able to pass up that fine FBI friend of yours either.”

Dana was on him in a second, hands on his scrawny throat.

The thoracic choke was a martial arts technique she’d perfected, but unleashing it on Taurant was much more satisfying than her jiu-jitsu instructor.

She squeezed harder, restricting blood flow to his head as she compressed his upper airway.

Taurant’s beady black eyes bulged with fear.

“What do you know about Agent Shepard?” she hissed into his ear.

“N-nothing.”

“Then keep his name out of your mouth! Do you understand me?”

He tried to nod, but he couldn’t move his head. His gaunt cheeks were turning blue so Dana released him. “You may know this town. But you don’t know me,” she snarled. “Remember that the next time our paths cross.”