“I need to return that call after I clean up. You want to grab a shower first or second?”

As happy as he would be to mess around in the shower, the stall was barely large enough for one body, let alone two.

“I can wait. You go first,” she said, going to stand in front of the wood stove.

He made sure the doors and windows were all locked. His backup Glock was with his pile of clothes on the couch. He pressed it into her hand. “Keep it close until I’m done. Bathroom door will be unlocked so don’t hesitate to come in if you see anyone lurking. Whatever you do, don’t answer the door no matter who is on the other side. Promise?”

She nodded, her green eyes wide.

He grabbed his clothes and service weapon and placed them on a shelf in the bathroom.

He needed to return that phone call ASAP, but something told him the last thing he wanted was to be naked or horny when he did so.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Eban’s cell rang again as he pulled his t-shirt over his head. He answered. It was a Virginia number. Quantico. “SSA Winters.”

“This is ASAC Lincoln Frazer. I’ve been trying to reach you for the last half hour.”

“Sorry, I was busy.” Eban wasn’t sorry. His mood soared at the memory of Darby coming apart in his arms and then crashed at the implications that this man was calling him.

Lincoln Frazer was a legend in the Bureau as both a profiler and as a personality. He was ruthless. Aloof. Focused. He had the ear of the president and called a billionaire media magnate, friend. Frazer did not suffer fools or mistakes, or other agents ignoring his calls.

Eban had met the guy several times while on secondment to JEH last year when FBI HQ had come under attack. He didn’t expect Frazer to remember him. Eban opened the bathroom door to reassure himself Darby was safe. As he went into the kitchen, she snuck past him to wash off the chlorine from the hot tub. He sent her a reassuring smile—one he wasn’t feeling.

“What can I do for you, ASAC Frazer?”

Darby had left his backup weapon on the kitchen counter where it was clearly visible. Eban checked it and put it in his ankle holster as he spoke to the other man.

“You entered some information into ViCAP earlier today.”

Eban frowned. While he’d hoped for some kind of hit in the system this was not the response he’d anticipated. “That’s right. Two murders here in Fairbanks.”

“I thought you were a negotiator based at Quantico?”

Wrong about not remembering him then. “Correct.”

“Can you tell me your interest in these cases? Why are you even in Alaska? Why were you the one to enter the details and not the local cops?”

That was a lot of questions from a man more famous for querulous silences.