Dallas, knowing Hannah’s cousin was due to arrive, walked out the front door to see if this was her.
He was startled when he saw an attractive young woman with long red hair exit an SUV accompanied by a tall man who definitely had Native American blood in his background. They were an attractive couple, but there was something about them that he instantly recognized: they were some kind of law enforcement.
Why hadn’t Hannah told him? He felt like a fool for worrying about her when her cousin was packing heat in a shoulder holster.
The redhead looked toward the door and looked momentarily surprised to see him. Then she waved and headed toward him, offering her hand. “Hi, I’m Kelsey O’Brien. Hannah and I are cousins. Are you a guest here? I didn’t know she had people in the house right now.”
Dallas found himself grinning wryly. “Ms. O’Brien—or, more accurately, Officer or Agent O’Brien—I’m Agent Dallas Samson, FBI.”
“Samson?” said the man heading up the porch steps. He offered his hand, as well. “I’m Logan Raintree. I’ve heard of you.”
“Oh?”
“I’ll explain when we get inside,” he said.
“Where’s Hannah?” Kelsey asked.
“Upstairs. A woman died during a dive earlier today. Hannah and I helped with the search and found her. She was staying here the night our agent was killed, so I don’t think her death was accidental. Maybe she saw more than she knew.”
“I’m going to go up and see how she’s feeling,” Kelsey said.
“She’s handling it pretty well,” Dallas said. “For a civilian, anyway.”
“She would, but still...” Kelsey trailed off and hurried up the stairs.
Logan walked into the house behind her. He was about Dallas’s height, with striking features. The man belonged on a coin.
“I’m making tea, and I think I hear my water boiling,” Dallas said, heading toward the kitchen. “You know the house?”
“No, first time here,” Logan said, following him. “I feel like I know a lot about the city, though. Key West is Kelsey’s home. She talks about it a lot, but I’ve never made it here with her. Our unit has been traveling pretty much nonstop.”
“You’re not assigned to a city?” Dallas asked.
“Well, we have a base. Offices not far from Quantico. But, no. We go wherever something comes up that fits our parameters. Ours is a different kind of unit. The Krewe of Hunters.”
Dallas froze for a moment. He’d heard about the unit, of course, and he, like many people, had been skeptical, at least at the beginning.
Maybe he’d been more skeptical than most because he knew what was really out there, and few people were the real deal when it came to dealing with ghosts.
But Hannah was definitely the real thing.
And, he was willing to bet, so were Kelsey and Logan.
The Krewe—despite what others might think or what jokes they might make—had a great record, at least when it came to those of their cases that made it into the media.
He supposed it shouldn’t be much of a surprise that Hannah’s law enforcement cousin was part of the Krewe.
Dallas reached the stove and turned off the boiling water. Then he turned back to stare at Raintree. “So. You’re with the Krewe of Hunters?” he asked.
“Technically we’re the Special Sciences Unit,” Logan said with a shrug. “We have equally ‘special’ offices in Arlington. I’m not sure if it’s to keep the information we turn up as quiet as possible or to protect us from everyone who likes to call us the Ghostbusters and consider us the joke of the department.”
“Except you have an amazing record for clearing your cases,” Dallas said.
Logan smiled. “Yeah. Yeah, we do. And we have more history than most people know. The unit was formed by a man named Adam Harrison, who had been quietly called in by the powers that be a number of times over a decade or so. Adam is a brilliant man and a philanthropist who lost a child with special abilities. He started looking for people like him and pulled together a group to solve paranormal cases across the country. Eventually they became official. Our director, Jackson Crow, reports to Adam and heads up the original unit, the Krewe of Hunters. I head up a second unit, the Texas Krewe, so-called because we were first put together for a case in Texas.”
Dallas nodded. “The local Bureau was invited in because one of our agents, Jose Rodriguez, was working undercover to bring down Los Lobos. He was murdered the other night. Our main state office is up in Miami, along with the U.S. Marshals’ main office.”
“Yeah, I know. Kelsey was a U.S. Marshal down here before she became Krewe,” Logan said.
Interesting, Dallas thought. Both women were tall and gorgeous, but since both were able to converse with the dead they were similar in more ways than met the eye.
Logan grinned and went on. “Anyway, I know about you because Adam has an interest in you.”