Vail 01 - The 7th Victim Read Online Free PDF Page B

said it near her right ear, barely above a whisper, but it snagged her full attention.
     
    Vail’s eyebrows rose. “Yeah? Had enough of Pocatello?”
     
    “Vienna’s a small town. Not a whole lot to do, you know? Counting the Dead Eyes vic, three murders in fourteen years.”
     
    “A waste of your talents?”
     
    Robby shrugged. “I guess you could put it that way. Just so many robberies, car thefts, and dom vio’s you can take before you’re staring out the window, hoping for something more . . . challenging. Sounds bad, huh?”
     
    Though Vail hadn’t known him all that long, she had come to learn that Robby was very intuitive. When they first started working Dead Eyes, she found they could talk to each other without words, and often did.
     
    “Why the Bureau? Why not apply for a slot with Bledsoe’s department? Plenty of action there.”
     
    “I was thinking about profiling.”
     
    Vail gave a sideways glance at Hancock, who appeared to be listening with half an ear. She took Robby’s elbow and rose from her crouch. “Let’s go get some air.”
     
    They moved outside, and the chill struck her body like a slap to the face. She sunk her hands into her pants pockets and walked over to the curb. “You know, Robby, there’s another option. The International Criminal Investigative Analysis Fellowship. It’s a two-year understudy training program. You’d have to be sponsored by an agency, one that’s big like Bledsoe’s. You’d spend the last month with my unit, then take a test. You could then do profiling for the police department.”
     
    Robby shrugged, then said, “Not quite the same.”
     
    Vail nodded. “Okay, but you can’t just apply for the profiling unit. You have the street experience, but you’ve got to be an agent for a while. You know, pay your dues, meet some pretty rigid criteria. There are a lot of candidates for very few openings.”
     
    “You don’t think I have the talent.”
     
    “I didn’t say that. From what I’ve seen, I think you’ve got great natural instincts. But it’s a lot more than that. A good profiler is open-minded. He can see the big picture and keep his feelings and emotions in check. He needs to be able to look at a scene and instantly analyze things logically: why did the offender do this —or not do that? He has to be able to think like the offender. I haven’t really assessed you in those terms. I’d need to work more cases with you before I could say you’ve got all the tools.”
     
    “My mom’s friend thinks I do.”
     
    “Man, it’s cold. Gotta walk, move the blood.” She started down the sidewalk and Robby followed. “So your mom’s friend thinks you’ve got the knack. That’s great, Robby. But who the hell’s your mom’s friend?”
     
    “Thomas Gifford.”
     
    “My ASAC?” Vail asked, referring to the Assistant Special Agent-in-Charge of the profiling unit.
     
    “Yeah.”
     
    Vail stopped walking and turned to face Robby. “You never told me that.”
     
    “Never came up. I wasn’t that close with my mom till she got sick, when I moved back here to take care of her. Gifford came around from time to time to see if she needed anything. I got the feeling they might’ve had a thing once. Anyway, after she died, suddenly the guy’s in my life, trying to help me out with all sorts of stuff. Probably made my mom a promise.”
     
    “So you want to be a profiler. Well, you’ve got a good ‘in,’ which will definitely help.”
     
    “I don’t want my mother’s friend pulling strings to get me a job, Karen. I want it legit.” Robby glanced up at the high sky as rain-drops began to dot the pavement. “Come on, we should get back.”
     
    They turned and headed toward Melanie Hoffman’s house.
     
    “Wanting to earn it on your own is fine, but don’t ever overlook inside contacts. Sometimes merit means shit. Good people, better people, get passed over all the time.”
     
    “Fine, so I’ll use one of my inside