The Hidden

“She knows we’re FBI,” Diego told him. “I haven’t had a chance yet to explain about the Krewe.”


“The Krewe?” Scarlet murmured, and looked questioningly at him.

“Brett and I have just joined a special unit within the Bureau,” he explained. “It’s called the Krewe of Hunters, and it deals with the unusual—things that defy logic, things that cross over into the paranormal, the otherworldly. Adam Harrison isn’t only in charge of the Krewe, he’s the man who managed to get it formed in the first place.”

“Adam has an uncanny ability to find people with extrasensory perception and other abilities that help them deal with the kinds of paranormal threats we face,” Matt said. “For at least a decade, he did it quietly, hiring them to work for him privately. He’s also a major philanthropist and knows most of the major players in government as well as private industry. So a while back he made things official and formed the Krewe of Hunters. The unit keeps growing, inviting new members, because this is a big country, and the evil side of the supernatural just keeps going.”

“I look forward to meeting him,” Scarlet said.

“Meanwhile, what do you know about Nathan Kendall and the way he and his wife were murdered?” Matt asked her.

“Do you want the long or the short version?” Scarlet asked.

“We’re here for the duration,” Matt told her.

“Then let’s head up the stairs. You can look at Nathan while we talk about him,” Diego said.

“Oh?” Meg asked.

“Come on upstairs and you’ll understand,” Scarlet said.

She’d half expected that Nathan Kendall would have moved again and was relieved to find that he hadn’t. Maybe he knew she was onto him and this was a good time to behave.

Diego moved the statue over by the window, then leaned against the wall next to it, while the others settled themselves around the room.

“Nathan Kendall was a fascinating person,” Scarlet began. “He was born in Virginia and fought under Lee during the Civil War. When the war was over, a number of the men in his company turned to robbing banks and holding up stagecoaches. They only stole from those they considered to be carpetbaggers, out to take advantage of the South while she was on her knees. But when someone was killed during one of their robberies, Nathan wanted out. He headed west and wound up here. He bought this land from a man named Rollo Conway. Conway had been searching for gold with very little success and needed the money. Nathan must have liked the guy, though, since he kept his name for the ranch.

“At the time, there was a United States marshal living in the vicinity, a widower named Tom Vickers. Nathan fell in love with the man’s daughter. The man didn’t trust Nathan and forbade the marriage, but when the he was out of town, Nathan and Jillian were married anyway. Back then, of course, when a United States marshal was off working, it could be months or years before he got back home. By the time he returned, Nathan and Jillian weren’t just married, they had a baby, Zachary. One night someone tricked Nathan into coming outside, strung him up on a tree and nearly disemboweled him, and when Jillian came running out to his rescue, she was shot and killed. At some point the killer—or killers—decided they were done torturing Nathan, and he was shot, too. Their bodies were found the next day by Rollo Conway, who had come up to see how they were doing.

“There were a number of suspects, including Marshal Vickers, who hadn’t wanted the marriage, and a number of Nathan’s past affiliates, the men he’d left behind after they killed a man. No one ever discovered the truth. Marshal Vickers, naturally, raised Zachary, who went on to have fourteen children of his own. Ben is one of his descendants, and so is Terry Ballantree, one of the current guests here at the ranch.”