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“You were there when I asked Claire to help. She wanted to. She’s stronger than you give her credit for, you know.”
Jake’s anger sparked quickly as he stood, pointing back toward the house. “Maybe she’s strong, but what we made her do in there … that is not helping things.”
“Neither is ignoring the fact that she’s troubled. More troubled than either of us have the capacity for in the middle of all of this.”
“So what, you want to lock her up at St. Elizabeth’s with Meredith?”
The sharpness in Jake’s voice stung, but Dana resisted her urge to bite back. He lashed out when he was hurt. The last thing she wanted was to hurt him further. “No,” she said calmly. “But we have to be realistic. I’m working with the BAU, and you have family obligations once your suspension is up. Claire needs a professional who can help her make sense of whatever she’s battling. You saw how her session ended. She saw herself in thehallway. That means she blames herself for whatever demons she has locked away.”
“People lock things away in their subconscious for a reason, Dana.”
“Yes. And you and I both know that doesn’t do any good.” She crossed the space between them and touched his chin, begging him to hear her. “Demons rule in darkness. They need to be dragged out into the light and dealt with if we’re ever to find peace.”
When he didn’t answer she said, “It’s what I want, Jake. For all of us. A chance for peace in this life.”
Jake laughed. “Anything else? Why not end war and hunger while we’re at it?”
It was a good sign that Jake’s sarcastic humor returned, but Dana was too tired to continue dancing around their issues. “I’m serious, Jake. We don’t know who this Reaper is, but Claire’s a target, you’re suspended, I’m working with the BAU … I don’t know the right move, but I know we stand a better chance if we face it together.”
He shook his head. “You said it. I’m suspended. I hate it, but my hands are tied.”
“That’s never stopped us before,” she pressed.
A hint of interest sparked beneath the calm blue waters of his gaze. “What do you have in mind?”
98
“I’ve got to admit,”Jake said as the elevator began to make its decent. “I’ve actually missed this place.”
“Me too,” Claire agreed.
“I’m just glad Richter agreed to let you come,” Dana added as they descended to sub-level three.
“Mitigating factors,” Jake said, repeating Richter’s term for extending the parameters of his house arrest. “Though, I think he would’ve agreed to anything to get you off the phone.”
“Persistence pays off, right, Dr. Gray?” Claire added, her mood lighter than Jake had seen in days.
Dana grinned. “That’s right.”
“More like pesky,” Jake teased.
Elbowing him, Dana said, “I prefer the term persuasive.”
The ding announced their arrival and the heavy stainless-steel doors rolled open. The potent smell of old books assaulted Jake as he followed the women into the climate-controlled interior.
It was almost as cold as the frigid spring night in the underground section of the Smithsonian, but Dana had been right about one thing. This was the safest place for them to be tonight.
Even with Dvita locked up, threats remained. If someone else was killed with a scythe tonight, they’d know they had the wrong guy. If not, they’d make the most of their time digging into every known legend of scythes, Reapers, and the Seven Sleepers; which is what led them here. Every case he and Dana had worked had started here, in her subterranean lair of all things supernatural below the Smithsonian.
“Work it with me,”Dana had whispered on her porch. “Like we used to. In the beginning.”
Maybe she was right. Maybe the answers they were looking for lay here, hidden in one of these centuries’ old books, just waiting to be dusted off to spill their secrets.
Claire had jumped at the distraction. And Dana had agreed to Jake’s terms. “We stick together. You, me, and Claire, to the end.”
There had been a short argument about him being needed elsewhere, to look for his father, but with Jake’s suspension in place, it was a moot point and Dana reluctantly agreed.
“So,” Jake said, taking in the grand splendor of the towering stacks. “Where do we start?”
