Cut & Run (45 page)

A shiver ran through Ty and he closed his eyes and bowed his head again. “I hate knowing this fucker is smarter than I am,” he muttered.

Zane’s head snapped up. “He’s not smarter than you,” he said firmly.

“He just has inside information.”

Ty sneered at that bit of logic and snorted. “You saying he’s the kid in class with the teacher’s copy of the textbook?” he asked wryly as his knee began to bounce restlessly.

“That’s exactly what I’m saying. It’s easy to beat the other kids’ test scores when you have the answer key,” Zane pointed out.

Ty closed his eyes and rubbed them. “Still doesn’t mean the other kids have to like it,” he muttered as the engines roared and the plane lifted off.

ONCE they arrived in New York, a brief discussion established that they would contact Tim Henninger at the Bureau. It was fairly safe and probably the most expedient way of going about things. He’d risked his neck to help them before, and despite Ty’s inherent lack of respect for the kid, they both trusted him in their own ways.

When they called him, he sounded almost happy to hear from them.

Ty could practically hear him vibrating over the phone as he asked where they wanted to meet.

When Henninger arrived at the diner, Zane was eating as Ty drank a glass of juice. They sat on the same side of the table, Zane somewhat sprawled in the booth, Ty sitting up straight and slightly stiff. Henninger blinked at them, noticing the outward changes; Zane’s scruff set off by Ty’s more polished, professional look. For the first time, it was easy to see the former Marine in the FBI agent.

“Guys, it’s great to see you,” Henninger said quietly as he slid into the booth across the table from them, looking at them in mild confusion. He leaned closer, looking at them both oddly. “But why are you back?” he asked Cut & Run | 273

with a frown.

Ty gave Zane a glance and then looked back at Henninger seriously.

“They wanted someone who could fly under the Bureau radar, as it were. And the … the general feeling was that the killer…missed us,” he answered hesitantly.

Henninger’s dark eyes lit up with amusement, and he smiled and nodded as he laughed softly. The smile gave him an entirely different look, one that Ty probably would have found appealing in other circumstances. “It would appear that he did,” Henninger said with some amusement as the waitress sauntered over to take his order. “So, you’re here to draw him out?”

he went on after he ordered. “If you’re under the radar, how do you plan to make yourself known to him?”

Ty just frowned. That wasn’t exactly why they were here, but it made a certain kind of sense when put that way. If the killer had gone silent because they had abandoned the case, then it stood to reason that their mere presence would kick him back into doing something stupid. That also meant that their mere presence might cost someone else their life.

Zane pushed a bite of waffle around on the plate in front of him.

“That’s not exactly the plan,” he murmured half to himself.

“But you hope to catch the killer’s attention?” Henninger asked as he watched Zane’s fork distractedly.

“We don’t want his attention,” Zane answered carefully. “We want him. Tell us about the cases. We’ve both been out of the loop.”

“Have you?” Henninger responded with wide eyes, looking back and forth at them. “So you don’t know anything about the last two murders?” he asked, his brow creasing.

Ty shook his head in answer, lips pressed tightly together.

“They didn’t even tell you about the other agents?” Henninger asked them in disbelief.

Zane shook his head. “Just the basics,” he said tightly.

Henninger looked between them, clearly surprised. Ty stared back at him, not appearing at all fazed.

“The murders when he resurfaced, medical examiner Karen Bryce and her assistant, Mina Holmes,” Henninger told them regretfully. “They found the two of them in the morgue, locked inside. Looked like a nasty, bloody fight. Karen’s throat was cut, and Mina had been strangled.”

274 | Madeleine Urban & Abigail Roux

Zane cursed quietly and looked away, fighting back the desire to throw something.

Henninger frowned. “How do they expect us to make progress on finding this guy if we keep starting over? I mean, you got pulled right in the middle of things. You hadn’t been killed yet; you were ahead of the curve,”

he pointed out wryly. His eyes shifted back and forth between the two, still puzzling over the changes in them.

“That knock on my head was a bit worse than we thought at first,” Ty answered shortly. “I wasn’t making much sense there at the end.”

Henninger watched him silently for a moment, frowning and pursing his lips. Finally, he seemed to accept that and sat back.

Zane pushed his plate away, unable to eat any more after the news about Karen. “The Bureau has pretty much accepted that he’s one of us now, right? Has anyone done anything about security in the offices?”

“Aside from more locked doors in the building and lengthier pass codes? Not really,” Henninger answered with a shake of his head. “They don’t want to spook him.”

“Jesus fucking Christ,” Zane spit out under his breath, sitting back with a thump and crossing his arms.

Henninger boggled at them. “What’d you two do? Switch brains?”

Ty sat silently and glared at the kid, remembering why he might have disliked him. Zane’s glare matched Ty’s, and Henninger shrank back a little.

“Sorry,” he muttered.

“This is what’s going to happen,” Zane bit off after a little more glaring. “You’re going to get us all the case files—the originals, not copies—

and the personnel files we were working before. I want the manifest lists from evidence, including everyone who’s touched every single piece, and everyone who’s filed a single piece of paper in this case.”

“And you have clearance from on high this time,” Ty added. “No sneaking required.”

Henninger blinked, looked vaguely worried, and opened his mouth to utter a very obvious word, but caught it just in time. “I don’t want to know, do I?”

Ty just shrugged and looked back down at his untouched food.

“Just get it. Then call us when it’s together, and we’ll meet again to pick it up. You’ve got my number.” Zane scooted out of the booth and stood Cut & Run | 275

up, pulling a wad of cash out of his pocket and tossing a twenty on the table.

Henninger watched him rise with a slightly stricken look and then looked back at Ty, who was still sitting and staring at him blankly. “I kind of liked him better when he was you,” Henninger grumbled to him.

Ty gave him a weak, sympathetic smile and slid out of the booth.

Zane rolled his eyes and nudged Ty to get moving. Ty nudged him back, hard, and snarled at him as they left the restaurant. Henninger turned in his seat and watched them go, frowning at them thoughtfully.

Zane pulled out a cigarette and lit up as soon as they were outside. “I still don’t like him,” he said as they started walking.

“What do you mean, still?” Ty asked.

“He’s a puppy dog. Didn’t we have this conversation?” Zane said around his cigarette. He stopped at the curb to wait for the light to change.

“I didn’t think you had a problem with him?” Ty questioned.

“At first I didn’t, but I think that’s because I was so wrapped up in being annoyed with you,” Zane admitted. “But damn, he’s eager. I was never that shiny.”

Ty gave Zane a sidelong glance and shrugged. “Guess that depends on who you ask,” he said.

Zane looked at Ty with narrowed eyes. “You met a caricature. You know that.”

“Yeah, but it’s still fun to watch you get all puffy over it,” Ty laughed softly, a glimmer of the man Zane had first met shining through in his eyes.

Chuckling as they crossed the street, Zane smiled and winked at Ty.

“You just like to poke and poke and get me riled up,” he said with a purposeful double meaning.

“Damn right,” Ty said with a grin, and then he stopped suddenly and kicked Zane in the shin.

“Ow!” Zane cried, though he was laughing slightly in surprise as Ty turned back around and began walking.

“I’m gonna start wearing steel-toed boots,” Ty said over his shoulder.

Zane snorted as they walked. He stopped without warning as he glanced across the street. “Oooh—detour.”

“What?” Ty asked in confusion as he turned and then followed Zane’s 276 | Madeleine Urban & Abigail Roux

line of sight worriedly.

“Come on!” Zane ordered. He actually sounded happy all of a sudden.

He pulled Ty along to the corner and then crossed to the other side of the street and walked partway back up to stop in front of the classy storefront window of a privately owned bookstore.

“What?” Ty asked again as he looked up at the hand-carved sign.

“I’ve heard about this place,” Zane said, looking up at the sign. “It’s all mysteries, suspense, thrillers....” He nearly bounced in place.

“Do you not get enough of that shit in your real life?” Ty asked with a roll of his eyes. “Come on,” he ordered as he turned away. “I don’t do books.”

“Well, I do. Get an espresso or something,” Zane said, pulling open the door and going inside.

“I don’t do espressos,” Ty called after him stubbornly. As he stood outside the doors, his shoulders slumped, and soon he obediently followed Zane into the store.

Zane was already browsing on a table marked “Old Favorites” when Ty stepped through the door. Quiet jazz played in the background, and a slim, white-haired man with spectacles sat behind the counter reading. A full coffee and espresso bar was set up to the side, steaming gently.

Ty forced himself not to groan. He hated these fucking places. Give him McDonald’s black coffee and a copy of
Guns and Ammo
to read on the john and he was set. He didn’t even like coffee.

“I see you’re a man of action rather than one of reflection,” the old man said out of the blue, his twinkling eyes looking over the glasses.

Ty was slightly surprised to be addressed, but he recovered quickly enough to respond with, “I’m prone to paper cuts.”

The man chuckled and closed his book, using a tasseled bookmark.

“Your friend is happy to be here.”

“He’s happy to be anywhere,” Ty grumbled with an unfavorable glance at Zane.

“Perhaps he’ll be better company the rest of the day. Coffee?”

Ty shook his head and glanced at Zane again with a frown. “You can keep him,” he told the man in a grumble as he checked his watch.

Lifting his teacup, the man took a sip and looked over at Zane speculatively. “It changes one’s appearance so, don’t you think?”

Cut & Run | 277

Ty looked up at the old man in confusion and then glanced over at Zane again. The agent was practically beaming, another Jekyll and Hyde turnabout in five minutes flat. Ty watched him for a long moment, blinking in surprise at the twist in his chest. Finally, he gave the old man another look and cleared his throat.

“Help yourself to a seat,” the old man offered.

Ty sighed and moved closer cautiously to take the chair. He realized that he wasn’t used to people addressing him at all, especially strangers. Most everyone shied away from him because of his threatening, grumpy air. Was it slipping or was the old dude just crazy?

The man settled back in his seat, picking up his book again. “Perhaps he’ll take pity on you soon,” he said, opening the pages and going back to his reading, looking through the spectacles that sat low on his nose.

“I doubt that very much,” Ty muttered as he turned his attention to Zane and crossed his arms over his chest.

Within a minute, Zane felt Ty’s eyes on him, and he looked over his shoulder to favor Ty with a smile. Then he nodded and looked at the books he held. He chose three and put a couple back, then walked over to the counter.

“Not even going to look, huh?”

Ty suspected that Zane wouldn’t be enjoying this quite as much if he knew Ty didn’t mind watching him. So he maintained his slightly sulky air and shook his head.

Zane glanced to the old man who was reading and apparently paying them no attention. “Okay, I’m happy. We can go after I pay for these.” It hadn’t even been ten minutes.

Ty looked him over and then sighed softly, allowing a small smile to show through. “We’ve got more time,” he murmured in a low voice.

Zane tried not to grin like a fool. He adored bookstores, and it was a welcome distraction from his worries and brooding. “Thanks,” he said softly with an indefinable look in his eyes. Then he turned to disappear in the stacks that led further into the store.

As soon as he was gone, Ty rolled his eyes heavenward and slouched in his chair in defeat. That look in Zane’s eyes would get him anything.

The old man didn’t make a sound or look up from his book. But he was smiling. “Shut up,” Ty muttered to him. He glanced over at him again, reading the gold lettering on the book the man read: 278 | Madeleine Urban & Abigail Roux

The Complete Works of Edgar Allan Poe
.

Ty frowned at the leather-bound volume as something buried deep in his memory began to click. Anyone who lived in Baltimore for any period of time had read at least one Poe story. The only ones Ty could remember were the one about the heart in the floorboards, the guy being bricked up in a wine cellar, and the name of the last one he had read, the
Murders in the Rue
Morgue
.

“Can I see that?” he asked suddenly, sitting up and pointing at the old book.

The man looked up at him, a small smile curling at his lips. “Of course,” he said graciously, putting his bookmark in place carefully before he closed it and handed it to Ty.

Ty flipped to the index, where he found a list of the stories included in the volume. “Have you read all these before?” he asked without looking up.

“Many times,” the man answered.

“Two people locked in a morgue,” Ty murmured.

“That’s one, yes,” the man answered, mistakenly thinking that Ty was still speaking to him.

“Is there one with a blonde woman and a brunette, maybe switching places?” Ty tried as he looked up at the man. “Or one about a painting? A girl getting her teeth all pulled out?”