as the i hunt killers series returns with a new book, i can’t help but consider an au where neil josten was instead taken in by the FBI as a criminal expert thanks to his upbringing by both nathan and mary. he definitely has the capability to think like a serial killer, having been raised in a similar way to jasper where nathan trained him like a weapon. he also has the ability to think like someone on the run, given his own experience of fleeing his father with mary.
imagine if, after mary died, he tracked down the agents he remembered to be investigating his father all those years ago. imagine he struck a deal for protection/immunity with them rather than ichirou. imagine his first encounter with exy and kevin after all that time was after figuring out the cases they’d been investigating were tied to both the moriyamas and the ravens…