Chapter Four #2
He knew for sure now that this had nothing to do with Daniel and the other hunter dating monsters.
The new victim had been married to another hunter for twenty years.
There were no monsters in his life that Archie could find, which meant that wasn’t the thing that linked all three of them.
The only thing that did was the hunters’ organization.
And that was what Archie needed to focus on.
He tapped his fingertips on his desk and stared at his computer screen.
A lot of his job was done at his desk, looking into things and making phone calls.
This wasn’t any different. He’d gotten all the information he could find on this last hunter in the hunters’ database, and now, he needed to put the information together.
That was the only way he would find the killer.
It had to be the sanctuary. That was the only thing that connected all these people, but unfortunately, it didn’t help Archie pinpoint the person responsible.
It was clear they were getting revenge, though, so if he had to guess, this person was a monster.
They’d probably lost something or someone during the attack on the sanctuary, but why had they waited so long to start killing the people responsible for it?
That was what didn’t make sense and what Archie couldn’t find a reason for.
He reread the report he’d copied from the database.
The hunters were already investigating, and they were taking this seriously.
They had a witness, although that person hadn’t seen much.
From what they’d told the hunters, they’d seen a figure move away from the crime scene calmly, as if they hadn’t just killed a man in the middle of the street.
That person hadn’t run or seemed afraid.
They hadn’t stopped when someone had called for them to.
They’d vanished in the darkness, and no one knew who it had been or where they’d gone.
That still didn’t tell Archie who was responsible, but it told him that this was very much premeditated.
The killer had planned it, and it felt like they were going through a list and checking every item.
How many hunters and ex-hunters were still on that list?
Were there monsters there, too? Archie didn’t know exactly what happened at the sanctuary that night.
The hunters’ reports had been careful not to mention anything, and the only person he knew for sure was there was Sarah, but he hadn’t talked to her yet.
He didn’t want to ruin things for Jasper, but he might have to.
Of course, he didn’t owe Daniel anything.
He’d told Petra he’d do his best to solve the case, but he’d also warned her that they might not be able to.
She’d paid him knowing that, and he was more than willing to give her money back.
The problem with stopping was that he wasn’t sure that Jasper was safe.
If the killer was killing hunters because they’d been involved, then Jasper didn’t have anything to do with that, but what if they had another reason?
Archie wouldn’t know until he found out who the person was, which meant he couldn’t stop investigating.
He heard the door open and close. From the footsteps, he could tell it was Jasper, who stopped to say hello to Cullen in the entrance.
The two of them chatted for a bit, and Archie considered what he was supposed to do.
He couldn’t hide this from Jasper. Even if he wasn’t personally involved, he deserved to know.
It was somehow linked to his family, and he might be of some help.
“Cullen told me that you’ve been in your office all day,” Jasper said as he walked in. “He said something about a new case?”
“It’s not a new case,” Archie said. “There was another murder.”
“You mean with the symbol?”
“Yeah. It was found by the body. This guy wasn’t an ex-hunter. He was still working for the organization.”
Jasper dropped into one of the chairs in front of Archie’s desk. Archie wanted to ask him how coffee with Sarah had gone, but he knew Jasper would want to talk about this. They’d have to talk about Sarah, anyway. She might be the only way for them to find out what was going on.
“So obviously, they’re killing hunters who were there the night the sanctuary was destroyed,” Jasper said.
“You don’t even know who the last victim is.”
“I don’t have to know. It’s a pattern.”
“You’re right. I checked the reports, and the last victim was there, too.”
“So either someone’s going after hunters, and it’s a coincidence, or someone’s specifically going after hunters who were at the sanctuary that night.”
Archie agreed. “Why wait so long, though? It’s been almost twenty years.”
“Maybe they were hurt the night of the attack and had to take time to recuperate. Maybe they had to leave the area. It’s clear that this is extremely well-planned, though, and it probably took years.” Jasper hesitated. “Or it could’ve been someone who was very young during the attack, like me.”
“You’re not behind this,” Archie said. He was sure of that, but he wouldn’t be surprised if some of the hunters tried to pin this on Jasper.
If the killer was a sanctuary survivor, Archie would hate to find them. They would be in the right to want to kill everyone who’d hurt them. Archie needed to be sure that the hunters weren’t going to pin this on Jasper, though, and that he wasn’t in danger. He wasn’t quite sure how to do that.
But he would find a way.
* * * *
JASPER COULDN’T SAY he cared much about the hunters. He’d never been friends with them, and while he vaguely remembered Daniel, they obviously hadn’t been close.
To be fair, the only hunters Jasper had ever been close to were Kerry and Corey, and they’d left the organization at the same time he had.
He didn’t know why Daniel had, although it seemed like something had happened that night at the sanctuary that spurred him to leave.
Whether that made him a good person or not, Jasper didn’t know, and he didn’t think it mattered.
Daniel was dead. Whatever he had or hadn’t done when he was alive wouldn’t change that.
Jasper had had nothing to do with his death, and he couldn’t do anything about it, but a part of him couldn’t help but identify with Daniel.
Like Daniel, he was an ex-hunter who’d left after one specific case that had been too much for him to deal with.
The thought of leaving had already been there for weeks, but it’d been easier for him to stick around.
The hunter’s life was all he’d known, and at one time, it was all he’d thought he’d ever know.
He knew differently now. Leaving the hunters hadn’t been easy, but it’d also been the best thing he could have ever done for himself.
He’d found another life. He’d brought his friends along, so he hadn’t lost the people he considered family, but at the same time, he had another job, Archie, and new friends in Braith and Cullen.
He wasn’t as separated from the hunters as he would’ve liked, unfortunately, but maybe, once this mess was over, he could finally reach a point in which the hunters wouldn’t be a part of his life anymore.
He needed to find out what was going on because it was clear that all of it was linked to the sanctuary, and that was where he’d been born.
It was a past he didn’t know but wanted to.
Maybe it wouldn’t bring him anything of value, and maybe he wouldn’t like what he found.
Right now, he didn’t care much about that.
He only cared about making sure that the killer didn’t hurt anyone else and finding out who they were.
Had they known his parents? Why were they killing? Whom had they lost?
Jasper identified with the killer, too. If they really were someone who’d survived the sanctuary, Jasper was in the same boat as them.
The only difference was that he didn’t remember ever being at the sanctuary or the people who’d been there, but it didn’t change the fact that he very much had been present when the sanctuary had been attacked.
He couldn’t help but wonder if he would’ve grown up to kill Daniel and the other two if he’d been a little older.
He never would’ve been pulled into the hunters’ organization.
He wouldn’t have been adopted by Leroy. Where would he have ended up?
Jasper didn’t know, and in the end, that didn’t matter, either.
It wasn’t what happened. What happened was that Leroy had taken him and adopted him.
He’d forced part of the hunters’ organization to keep quiet about Jasper’s presence there.
Most hunters who worked there now had been unaware of what Jasper was until it was revealed to them.
They’d come in after the sanctuary. They’d only ever known Jasper as Leroy’s son.
Now, they knew better. Everyone did, including Jasper.
He still had many questions, and he still didn’t understand why his parents had decided to take him in, but he didn’t think he would ever get an answer to that.
His father refused to talk to him, and his mother, well.
She never went against what his father wanted.
Leroy had all the power in the relationship, something Jasper had learned when he was very young.
Maybe she hadn’t even wanted him. Maybe it was a decision Leroy had made that she was forced to live with.
It would explain why she’d always been a little cold and distant.
Or maybe she just hadn’t wanted a monster as a son.