The Powerful Pride of an Immortal (Immortal Supers Book 4) Kurtis Eckstein (psychology books to read TXT) 📖

really got him. Now that we have his identity, we’ve been able to trace his previous locations to potentially over two dozen other unsolved cases spread across the last ten years, many of which we had no idea he might have been involved in, since the brainwashed perpetrators won’t talk. And that’s just the obvious ones after a couple of hours! The bastard usually only told his victims, through his brainwashed puppets, that he was their ‘assailant via proxy’ just before they were killed, which meant we had a lot of homicides that we didn’t know who was truly responsible for. But his previous locations overlap with a ton of perpetrators he likely used, just like this case. And who knows what else they’ll uncover, as they continue to look into it. Not to mention, now that he’s dead, it’s even possible those who were brainwashed will start talking.”

Winter didn’t respond.

“Everything fine?” she asked. “Are you on your way back? Our guys said you weren’t there when they arrived.”

“Yes.”

Jackie paused. “Sam is there, right? Can I speak with him?”

“I’m here, Jackie,” I said automatically. “Just driving. We pretty much left right away. I didn’t even think about staying to talk to the police or anything.”

“No, that’s alright,” she replied. “When dealing with the local police, sometimes it’s better that they don’t engage with our undercover supers. Otherwise they might mishandle the situation, since they basically have a homicide on their hands, with the potential perpetrator walking right up to them and saying hello.”

I scoffed. “Lovely. I can only imagine.”

She chuckled. “But hey, it sounds like you guys did an amazing job. Well done, Sam.”

I hesitated. “Thanks,” I replied simply, deciding not to clarify that it was all Winter.

“And this just means that Lexi doesn’t have to worry anymore. With the situation resolved, she can go back to living her normal life. And Ms. Fowler can be free to do as she pleases now as well.”

Winter flinched in my arms, the phone trembling briefly in her hand.

“Right,” I agreed hesitantly. “Although, I still need to use the S-CIA’s resources to take care of a couple other problems before I can fully relax.” I paused. “Might also need to hire Ms. Fowler to continue helping, at least until I’ve been billed for a few hundred intelligence hours.”

Winter flinched again.

Jackie was silent, realizing what I was implying – that there was still a threat. One that might require a decent amount of time and energy to resolve. “I see. Okay, well, I will try to strong-arm them into making you a priority then. After all, we do owe you a thousand hours before the end of the year. And I apologize for them refusing to schedule with you sooner.”

“I understand. But now that this problem is solved, maybe they can spare the time.”

“Yes,” she agreed. “I think I’ll work on making sure they make the time. Thanks again, Sam. And tell Winter I said thanks as well.”

“Will do,” I agreed.

She hung up.

Winter slowly returned the phone to her pocket, but didn’t say anything. I didn’t either, still just holding her against me.

Finally, after a moment she spoke up.

“I don’t think your females will appreciate you offering to keep me around for a while longer.”

I shrugged. “We sincerely have an issue that only you might be able to help with,” I replied. “I’m sure you’ve heard enough of our passing thoughts to have an idea of what’s lurking in the shadows of our lives.”

She nodded.

“And really, you just being around isn’t really the issue they would have. If they even did have a problem with it.”

She nodded again. Then, after another short pause, she carefully climbed out of my lap, and settled back in her seat. I wasn’t necessarily implying that she needed to do that, but it probably wasn’t best if I continue to keep her in my lap when she seemed to be doing better now.

“Hungry?” I wondered randomly, just kind of wanting to do something for her. Maybe dessert, at least, unless she wanted to actually have a meal.

She glanced at me for a moment, before a small smile touched her lips.

“Yes.”

I grinned in response. I was really starting to find her habit of giving only short answers as being kind of adorable.

“Dessert,” she added, trying to hide her smirk now.

I went ahead and turned off the autopilot, planning on just stopping at the next exit, since I was sure we’d be able to find something, but then she leaned forward and began messing with the touchscreen on the dashboard, seeming to search for something on the navigation map.

She then paused what she was doing, not looking at me. “Can we take a small detour?”

“Oh, umm, yeah. Sure.”

She nodded, and then tapped on the map, picking what seemed like a random spot. I went ahead and just put the car in autopilot again, watching as we took the next exit anyway, only to begin traveling down some backroads, drifting further and further away from the interstate.

When the car stopped on the side of a dark road, indicating we’d arrived at our destination, I was thoroughly confused.

“What are we doing here?” I asked, glancing at the trees on either side, lining the street.

Winter popped open the door and climbed out without responding. Of course, I climbed out too and followed after her, trailing her as she crossed the street and began walking straight into the trees. Figuring I’d just have to wait and see, I continued to walk with her, only for us to break through the trees to discover a large pond.

Well, it was almost not enough to call it a pond, because it was massive, more like a tiny lake. I realized now I’d seen the body of water on the map, but didn’t think twice about it.

Winter stopped right at the edge, and then leaned down to lift up her pant leg, pulling out the large thin pocketknife she’d used to kill the Sheriff. She then held it in