He didn’t say any of that to Raina. She surely knew it; she didn’t need to hear it from him.
Jon and Kylie arrived when they were about to leave the hospital; it was nearly 2:00 a.m.
Raina was polite, though she still seemed shell-shocked. Adding more law enforcement officers into the game didn’t seem to mean much to her, though he had told her a bit about Kylie. She might have been too dragged out by the day to remember or for it to even register.
“We’ve both got cars. We’ll meet back at Raina’s place?” he suggested.
“We’ll follow,” Jon said.
“Meet outside the garage,” Axel said.
For once, there was almost no traffic on the streets.
They made it to Raina’s in about twenty minutes. She seemed to start to come alive a little as they reached her house.
“Are they staying here? Are you staying?”
“I’m not leaving your side until we’ve got this solved,” Axel told her. “Ultimately, it’s up to you. Do you have room?”
“Plenty. It’s a three-bedroom house. I’ll get clean sheets.”
Jon had parked and he and Kylie were walking up the steps when Axel quickly warned, “She usually has her dog here, but Andrew kept him when we headed into the hospital. I didn’t want him alone,” he added.
“Titan!” Raina said. “I’m horrible. How could I forget? Should we go back out to Andrew’s house and pick him up?”
“Hopefully Andrew is sleeping, and if I know Andrew, he’s cuddled up with your dog,” Axel told her. He took her by the shoulders. “Please, trust me. Andrew will protect him.”
“And he’ll surely protect Andrew, though I have a feeling, from what we’ve been briefed on, Andrew has a slew of good people watching over the area now,” Kylie said. She smiled at Raina. “We don’t mean to be a burden.”
“No, not at all! I’m delighted to have you,” Raina assured her. “Help yourselves to anything in the kitchen. Just give me a minute.”
“We can certainly help,” Jon said.
“He was a military man. Makes a bed like the best-trained nurse in the country!” Kylie said.
“It’s a talent,” Jon said lightly.
“No, please. I’ll just be a minute,” Raina said.
She disappeared down the hallway.
“Let’s sit, shall we?” Axel suggested.
They did. Axel knew it was good to have them there. He’d liked Kylie the minute he’d met her when she moved to the DC area to be with Jon. Her love of the past had made her invaluable to the Krewe, though she hadn’t opted to go to the academy, join the FBI and become a member.
That didn’t keep her from helping. They often brought people in as consultants.
Kylie was a talented consultant. First, she had a natural ability with people. Kylie could draw them out easily. And she was so calm, cool and casual in her manner that she could bring forward extraordinary memories, or things people knew that they didn’t know they knew.
She and Jon had only been together a few months. Jon had long ago proven himself an ace agent; Kylie had quickly shown she was an incredible asset in both his life and his work.
“You know,” Jon said, “Kylie and I met in Salem, a place I know like the back of my hand. The Everglades? Not so much. Not at all.”
Axel smiled. “This goes a lot further. The reason for whatever is going on has nothing to do with the Everglades—that’s just the dumping ground. And now, well, Nigel wouldn’t have put anyone on guard at the hospital he didn’t trust implicitly, but I’d still be happy if one of us was around and available at the drop of a dime. I don’t want Raina left alone. Someone did try to poison her dog.”
“With human flesh,” Kylie said, shaking her head.
“You’ve both been briefed,” Axel suggested.
“Yes,” Jon said. “Well, you know Adam Harrison, Jackson Crow and Angela Hawkins. We wouldn’t be here without being as briefed as humanly possible. And one would think, if they’re trying to poison the dog, they’re trying to get rid of him to make Raina vulnerable.”
“But tell us about the beginning,” Kylie said. “With Raina...it’s a matter of touch? I mean, we’ve all heard often enough about ‘mediums’—some so-called and some who must be somewhat real—who are given the objects of a missing person in the hopes of finding them. We know dogs go by scent, but...”
Axel looked up. Raina was standing in the arch that led to the hallway and the bedrooms.