"What's the job?"
"I don't know yet, actually. It's a bit of a head-turner."
Jo leaned in close to look at the research Caleb had spread out before him. It was pages of police interrogations, and gruesome crime scene photographs of the two kids who had somehow died in a locked room. That might not have been so mysterious if their hearts had not been found outside of their chests.
"Werewolf?" Jo wondered aloud, scratching her unpainted nails along the rough bar she and Caleb were sitting at. Ever since she could remember much, he had been around the roadhouse. First he was a friend of her father's, and then he stuck around for her and her Mom. Jo had the feeling that he wanted to protect them, wanted to make sure that they were okay.
"It could have been, but the lunar cycle isn't right." Caleb looked at the spiral-bound notebook Jo had tucked under her elbow. The sharp corner of the notebook was a thin piece of paper that Caleb had given her from his own hunting journal. "You still building that hunting journal?" He didn't really think it was the smartest idea for a teenager to get into hunting so soon, but he would rather she do it with people who could protect her.
Jo nodded, taking her elbow off the top cover. It had been her pride and joy since her mother had given it to her to use as a journal. That was years ago, before her father died, and the hunting instinct was born in her to avenge her father and the closeness she missed so much. The men that came around the roadhouse were either nomads, or people who gave her the creeps. None of them came close to a father figure, apart from maybe Caleb.
"Yeah. I've been getting intel from some of the drop-ins." It was easy to tell the regulars apart from the drop-ins from out of state. Gordon Walker had been one of the few who had regularly stuck around, and made a habit of dropping in every now and then to train Jo and also enjoy some of the famous beer they served every night. Thanks to him, Jo thought she was finally getting somewhere with her skills.
"Hmm," Caleb murmured. It was easy to see that he did not look pleased. Jo knew that he could be protective of the people he loved, and she could see that side of him was rearing its ugly head. "Which people have been training you?"
"Not really training, training," Jo corrected. Her mother would never allow her out of her sight to go anywhere long enough to be trained. "Just knowledge skills. Looking at gross crime scene photographs, and picking apart witness statements. Stuff like that." The detective work thrilled her, but she longed to be out in the field where she could finally put her knife collection to good use. Being in the field, learning about it, was about the only place she felt at home.
She wasn't ever sure if that feeling of belonging was due to the hunting gene inside her, or if it was sheer determination to be closer to her father. Ever since his death years before, Jo felt like she had struggled to reclaim the memory of him. She remembered the most important parts of him like his appearance, and the smell of his jacket when he came through the door after a hunt, but she was starting to forget the closeness. Glancing at Caleb, she could see he was not satisfied with her answer.
"Which people have you been talking to?" Sometimes he reminded her of her mother, though less insistent on her staying home.
"This new-ish guy. Gordon Walker. He started coming around-" she shrugged, trying to recall the time as she reached into her knife sheath for her father's blade. Twirling it around, she kept an eye on the time when she knew rush hour would start. "-About a few months ago." He had come in fresh from a job, and Jo could not resist picking his brains. Ever since then, he had tried to impart some of his wisdom onto her.
Caleb nodded slowly, and Jo could tell he was debating whether or not to start another argument with her about the dangers of relying on strangers. In the hunting world, a bad connection could mean the difference between life or death. Adjusting herself on her seat, she slid some of Caleb's research to herself, and started looking through the meticulous evidence that had been collected at the scene. The kids were siblings, and looked to be twins, based on their incredible physical similarities. Apart from that, there was no indicator as to why their hearts would be outside of their chests.
"Does your Mom know about this guy?" Caleb took the papers from her, and replaced it with a detailed description of the health chart of the twins. "'Cause I've heard some things about him through some hunting circles before."
Jo nodded slowly, moistening her lips. "She knows about him. She's not thrilled he comes around so much, but what she can do?" In theory, there was a lot Ellen could do, but she would rather not think about that. "What kind of things have you heard?"
Caleb shrugged, pursing his lips. "Just that he can be...ruthless when it comes to taking down prey." There was a sacred distinction in the hunting world as to the level of brutality that could be displayed when hunting prey. Gordon had an unfortunate reputation for taking joy and pride in the kill, and that was why most circles regarded him with caution.
"Isn't that a good thing?" Jo bit back a laugh. "It means he takes it seriously."
"It can be," Caleb quietly agreed. He would much rather focus on the job at hand, than disagree with her on something like that right then. "Can you pick out something about this case from the health chart?"
Jo did not say anything. Instead she bent her head over the paper, her blond hair falling around her shoulders as she studied. Looking at her pick apart details of the case to form a complete puzzle was like watching her father all over again. Caleb had been with Bill during the planning stages of many hunts before-he never liked to go as a team-and he had been struck with how careful Bill was to make sure the details all lined up. It was that kind of expertise that usually got a hunter far.
"It says Cade and Emily were both born with no obvious physical issues. A routine delivery," Jo summarized. "But after a post-birth physical exam, Cade and Emily were both tested and diagnosed with atrial septal defect, holes in the heart in the upper chambers. It was treated, but they continued to have relapses in their health."
It was these kinds of cases that Jo thrived on: The investigative work, although boring, often proved insightful and challenged her critical thinking skills. Those skills had been taught to her by Caleb and Joshua, another hunter whom she shared a close connection to. The physical part of hunting, the kind that challenged her in a whole new way, was most recently taught to her by Gordon. Although Jo had an inkling that her mother would start to put a stop to his frequent, private visits to her daughter before too long.
"Okay," Caleb said, breaking her thought pattern. "So we got the twins having a heart condition. Both of them. That could be a contributing factor-"
"But why were they in a locked room?"
"And why were their hearts outside their bodies?"
Jo shook her head in amusement, cupping her hand under her chin. "I've never heard of a heart defect that caused the heart to jump from the chest and cause a bloody mess." Referring back to the photographs, she was struck by how young and innocent these two kids looked. It was these cases where she wondered how her father managed to put his personal feelings aside. It was hard for her to see them, and then look at how they died. It was gruesome, even for her eyes to take in.
Her blood was already boiling at the idea of taking down whatever had caused these kids' deaths. Whether it be a demon, spirit, or some other monster, she was ready for their terror to be long over with. Tightening her grip on her hunting knife, she had half a mind to sneak out with Caleb before her mother knew where she was, but she knew before she could even propose the plan that neither Caleb or her mother would go for that. Slumping in the bar stool in defeat, she heaved a sigh and twirled her knife around, as though that would provide a solution.
"So we have to dig deeper. We have to go through the family history, look at what kind of dynamics were at play here. Was there a bigger issue than just these health concerns? Was it a happy home? Or were there problems?" Caleb was used to working these kinds of cases. He had done largely alone ever since he was a teenager.
"How do we do that?"
"We insert ourselves into their town, see if we can snag interviews with family and friends, and-"
Before Jo could get a second look at the documentation in the case, a hand had come from behind the counter and snagged it from her sight. Lifting her head to glare at whoever had taken the evidence from her grasp, she was not surprised to see that it was her mother. Ellen gave one look at Caleb with her eyebrows raised, and then turned her fury over to her daughter. Jo knew what her mother had gone through with losing her father, but it still did not give her enough reason to excuse why her mother refused to allow her to be closer to her father the way she wanted. Ellen skimmed the information, and shook her head at Jo.
"Mom, I was just looking at-"
"A case?" Ellen prompted. "Of course you were!"
"Yeah, I was! I was being careful and looking at the facts-"
"Oh, you don't know how to be careful! If you knew how to do that, we wouldn't be sitting here having this discussion. Especially not after Texas!"
That was a low-blow. A time when Jo had been careless and had snuck off with one of the newcomers to go on a hunt in Texas. The hunt had turned out to be a shifter that had nearly cost her her life. Stumbling out of the sewer where she had been taken after she was knocked out, she had almost run right into her mother. The argument that followed on the way home (after Ellen had made sure her daughter was okay), was one of the worst fights Jo could remember having with her. If anything, her brief foray into the hunting world had not discouraged her. On the contrary, it had only deepened her understanding and need to do it.
"That was different. That was before Gordon started-"
"Gordon?" Ellen's eyes leveled dangerously. "That's why you've been getting goo-goo eyes for him? That's what you two have been whispering about and sneaking off to play video games by yourselves for?" Mentally cursing herself for her stupidity, Jo knew that her time with Gordon was most certainly coming to an end.
"And I'm glad that he has been teaching me! If he hasn't been teaching me what he knows, I wouldn't be nearly as prepared as I am right now-"
She was stopped from furthering her argument by the gentle but firm hand that Caleb placed on her arm. His silent gesture was meant to dissuade her from continuing her argument with her mother. When she began fighting with Ellen, Jo often found it hard to stop herself when she knew that she had a valid point and her mother refused to listen. Tearing her eyes from her Mom, Jo looked into Caleb's reasonable ones, and tried to take a deep breath before her chances were completely shot.
"Jo, you need to take a breath. Now I understand that you want to go with me, and I understand that. However, do you really want to go under this situation?"
Yes. Yes she did. "I am perfectly capable of doing this hunt."
"Oh, sure you are-" Ellen started to say.
"Ellen," Caleb interjected, holding his hand up. "Please, just let me take a shot at this." Taking a breath, he turned back to the novice hunter. "It's not a question of if you're capable. I know that you are, but you're not going if you're mother says no."
Jo looked between her mother and Caleb, and knew that the battle had been lost. Caleb was one of her few friends who she looked at as a friend, and also as an uncle. He was someone she respected immensely, and if he was communicating a negative answer, she knew the battle had been lost. Scooting her chair back with a loud squeak, she strode behind the counter and into the private living quarters where her room was.
A/N Should I continue this beyond a one-shot?