Reckless Creed by Alex Kava Page B

Tabor.”
    Hannah explained about the missing girl, Izzy Donner. How Ryder and Grace had helped find her body. And about the dead robins. Before today none of what Hannah was telling O’Dell would have warranted much concern.
    â€œWe got them to leave,” Hannah said. “But I know he’ll be back. Is there any way you might be able to talk to him? Dr. Avelyn has the dogs quarantined. She sent samples of the dead birds in for testing, and she’s waiting to hear from someone at the CDC. But I’m just afraid he’ll be back sooner than all that.”
    O’Dell jotted down as much information as Hannah had about Agent Tabor.
    â€œCan they do that?” Hannah’s voice was calmer now, but O’Dell could still hear a trace of fear.
    â€œI’m not sure. I know someone at the CDC. I’ll do everything I can to stop them.”
    â€œOh, thank you.”
    â€œHannah, tell me about the young woman they found in the river.”
    â€œActually I don’t know much about her. Rye said she looked peaceful.”
    â€œPeaceful?”
    â€œSaid it looked like she loaded her jacket pockets with rocks, walked into the river, and just lay down.”
    Suicide?
    Instead of saying it out loud, she asked, “Why was Agent Tabor there? What was his interest in the case?”
    â€œYou know, I don’t rightly know.”
    â€œIs there any way you or Ryder could find out what happened to her?”
    â€œRye knows the medical examiner. I suppose he could give him or Sheriff Wylie a call. You think this has something to do with her? It’s not just about some dead robins with the bird flu virus?”
    â€œWait a minute, Agent Tabor actually told you the robins might have the bird flu virus?”
    â€œI believe that’s what he said.”
    O’Dell sat on the edge of the bed. She’d been pacing dressed only in her nightshirt, and now she was chilled. How would this Agent Tabor know? Or was he just guessing?
    â€œHannah, I’m in Chicago, but I’ll be coming down to Pensacola perhaps tomorrow or early Wednesday.” She couldn’t tell Hannah about Tony Briggs. She didn’t know if his family had even been told yet.
    â€œThat would be a blessing to have you here.”
    â€œIf Tabor shows up again, call me or have him call me directly.”
    â€œThank you, Maggie.”
    She ended the call and immediately pulled on a pair of jeans and a sweatshirt to ward off the chill.
    Pensacola, Florida. Tony Briggs’s hometown. Dead robins and a dead girl in a river that sounded like another suicide. She needed to add another name to Agent Alonzo’s list. She grabbed her laptop to send the e-mail. Then she’d search for flights.
    But the television screen caught her eye.
    O’Dell reached for the remote and turned up the volume. A woman was talking to a reporter. The boxed graphic at the bottom of the screen identified her as Amee Rief, a biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. What caught O’Dell’s interest was behind the biologist.
    Right at that moment the camera panned the area, giving her abetter view. The lake looked huge, and every inch of its surface was covered in white snow geese. Rief was explaining that these were migratory birds that usually stopped here every spring on their way to breeding grounds on the Arctic tundra.
    Only these geese were dead. All ofthem.

TUESDAY

24
    FLORIDA PANHANDLE
    Y ou look like hell,” Dr. Avelyn told Creed when he walked into Hannah’s kitchen.
    â€œDid you get any sleep?” Hannah asked. She was scrambling eggs in one skillet while bacon fried in another.
    He shook his head and rubbed at his unshaved jaw. The bristles were longer than he usually kept them, but he figured that wasn’t what the two women were noticing. He knew his eyes were bloodshot. He’d finished the morning chores and it was still dark outside. It had been a mistake letting Jason