Chapter Eleven

Once theyarrivedinNewYork,abriefdiscussionestablishedthatthey wouldcontactTimHenningerattheBureau.Itwasfairlysafeandprobably themostexpedient wayofgoingabout things. He'drisked hisnecktohelp them before, anddespite Ty'sinherent lackofrespectforthekid,theyboth trusted him in their own ways.

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

WhenHenninger arrivedatthediner,ZanewaseatingasTydranka glass of juice. They sat on the same side of the table, Zane somewhat sprawled inthebooth, Tysitting upstraight andslightlystiff.Henninger blinked atthem,noticing theoutward changes; Zane'sscruffsetoffbyTy's morepolished,professionallook.Forthefirsttime,itwaseasytoseethe former Marine in the FBI agent.

"Guys,it'sgreattoseeyou,"Henningersaidquietlyasheslidinto theboothacrossthetablefromthem,lookingattheminmildconfusion. He leanedcloser,looking atthembothoddly."Butwhyareyouback?"heasked with a frown.

TygaveZaneaglanceandthenlookedbackatHenninger seriously. "They wanted someone who could fly under the Bureau radar, as itwere. And the... thegeneral feeling was thatthekiller... missed us," heanswered hesitantly.

Henninger's darkeyeslitupwithamusement, andhesmiledand noddedashelaughedsoftly.Thesmilegavehimanentirelydifferentlook, onethatTyprobablywouldhavefoundappealinginothercircumstances. "It wouldappearthathedid,"Henninger saidwithsomeamusement asthe waitresssaunteredovertotakehisorder."So,you'reheretodrawhimout?" hewentonafterheordered. "Ifyou're under theradar,howdoyouplan to make yourself known to him?"

Tyjust frowned. That wasn't exactly whytheywere here, but itmade acertain kind of sense when put that way. If the killer had gone silent because theyhadabandoned thecase,thenitstoodtoreasonthattheirmerepresence wouldkickhimbackintodoing something stupid. Thatalsomeantthattheir mere presence might cost someone else their life.

Zane pushed abiteofwaffle around ontheplate infront ofhim. "That's not exactly the plan," he murmuredhalf to himself.

"Butyouhopetocatchthekiller's attention?" Henninger askedashe watched Zane's fork distractedly.

"Wedon'twanthisattention,"Zaneansweredcarefully."Wewant him. Tell us about the cases. We've both been out of the loop."

"Haveyou?"Henninger responded withwideeyes,lookingbackand forthatthem."Soyoudon'tknowanything aboutthelasttwomurders?" he asked, his brow creasing.

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

"Theydidn'teventellyouabouttheotheragents?" Henninger asked them in disbelief.

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

Henninger lookedbetween them,clearlysurprised. Tystaredbackat him, not appearingat all fazed.

"Themurderswhenheresurfaced,medicalexaminerKarenBryce andherassistant,MinaHolmes,"Henningertoldthemregretfully."They found thetwoofthem inthemorgue, locked inside.Looked likeanasty, bloody fight. Karen's throat was cut, and Mina had been strangled."

Zanecursedquietlyandlookedaway,fightingbackthedesireto throw something.

Henninger frowned. "Howdotheyexpectustomakeprogress on finding thisguyifwekeepstarting over?Imean, yougotpulled rightinthe middleofthings.Youhadn'tbeenkilledyet;youwereaheadofthecurve," hepointed outwryly. Hiseyesshifted backandforthbetween thetwo,still puzzling over the changes in them.

"That knock on myhead was abit worse than we thought atfirst," Ty answered shortly. "I wasn't making much sense there at the end."

Henninger watched himsilentlyforamoment, frowning andpursing his lips. Finally, he seemed to accept that and sat back.

Zanepushedhisplateaway,unabletoeatanymoreafterthenews aboutKaren."TheBureau hasprettymuchaccepted thathe'soneofusnow, right? Has anyone done anything about security in the offices?"

"Aside frommorelocked doors inthebuilding andlengthier pass codes?Notreally,"Henningeransweredwithashakeofhishead."They don't want to spook him."

"JesusfuckingChrist,"Zanespitoutunderhisbreath,sittingback with a thump and crossing his arms.

Henningerboggled at them. "What'dyou two do? Switch brains?"

Tysatsilently and glared atthekid,remembering whyhemighthave disliked him.Zane'sglarematched Ty's,andHenninger shrank backalittle. "Sorry," he muttered.

"Thisiswhat's goingtohappen," Zanebitoffafteralittlemore glaring. "You're goingtogetusallthecasefiles—the originals, notcopies—and the personnel files we were working before. I want the manifest lists from evidence, including everyone who's touched everysingle piece, andeveryone who's filed a single piece of paper in this case."

"And youhaveclearance from onhigh thistime,"Tyadded. "No sneaking required."

Henninger blinked, looked vaguelyworried, andopenedhismouth 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 untouchedfood.

"Justgetit.Thencalluswhenit'stogether,andwe'llmeetagainto pickitup.You'vegotmynumber."Zanescootedoutoftheboothandstood up, pulling a wad of cash out of his pocket and tossing a twenty on the table.

Henninger watched himrisewithaslightlystricken lookandthen looked backatTy,whowasstillsitting andstaring athim blankly. "Ikindof liked him better when he was you," Henningergrumbled to him.

Tygavehimaweak,sympatheticsmileandslidoutofthebooth. Zane rolled his eyes and nudged Ty to get moving. Ty nudged him back, hard, and snarled athim asthey leftthe restaurant. Henninger turned inhis seat and watched them go, frowning at them thoughtfully.

Zanepulledoutacigarette andlitupassoonastheywereoutside. "I still don't like him," he said as they started walking.

"What do you mean, still?" Ty asked.

"He'sapuppydog.Didn'twehavethisconversation?" Zanesaid 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.

"AtfirstIdidn't,butIthinkthat's because Iwassowrapped upin beingannoyedwithyou,"Zaneadmitted. "Butdamn,he'seager.Iwasnever that shiny."

TygaveZaneasidelongglanceandshrugged."Guessthatdepends on who you ask," he said.

Zanelooked atTywithnarrowed eyes."Youmetacaricature. 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 astheycrossedthestreet,ZanesmiledandwinkedatTy. "You just like to poke and poke and get me riled up," he said with a purposefuldouble meaning.

"Damn right," Tysaidwithagrin, andthenhestopped suddenly and kicked Zane in the shin.

"Ow!"Zanecried,though hewaslaughing slightly insurprise asTy turned back around and began walking.

"I'm gonna start wearing steel-toed boots," Ty said over his shoulder. Zanesnortedas they walked.He stoppedwithoutwarningas he glanced across the street. "Oooh—detour."

"What?" Ty asked in confusionas he turned and then followed Zane's line of sight worriedly.

"Come on!" Zane ordered. He actually sounded happy all of a sudden. HepulledTyalongtothecornerandthencrossedtotheothersideofthe street and walked partway back uptostop infront oftheclassy storefront window of a privately owned bookstore.

"What?" Ty asked again as he looked up at the hand-carvedsign.

"I'veheardaboutthisplace,"Zanesaid,lookingupatthesign."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,Ido.Getanespressoorsomething,"Zanesaid,pullingopen the door and going inside.

"Idon'tdoespressos," Tycalledafterhimstubbornly. Ashestood outside thedoors,hisshoulders slumped, andsoonheobediently followed Zane into the store.

Zanewasalreadybrowsing onatablemarkedOldFavorites when Tystepped through the door. Quiet jazzplayed inthe background, and aslim, white-haired man with spectacles sat behind the counter reading. A full coffee and espresso bar was set up to the side, steaming gently.

Tyforced himself nottogroan. Hehatedthesefucking places. Give himMcDonald's blackcoffeeandacopyofGunsandAmmotoreadonthe john and he was set. He didn't even like coffee.

"Iseeyou're amanofactionratherthanoneofreflection," theold man said out of the blue, his twinkling eyes looking over the glasses.

Tywasslightlysurprised tobeaddressed, butherecovered quickly enough to respond with, "I'm prone to paper cuts."

Themanchuckledandclosedhisbook,usingatasseledbookmark. "Your friend is happy to be here."

"He'shappytobeanywhere," Tygrumbledwithanunfavorable glance at Zane.

"Perhaps he'll be better company the rest of the day. Coffee?"

Tyshook hisheadandglanced atZane again withafrown. "You can keep him," he told the man in a grumble as he checked his watch.

Lifting histeacup, theman took asipandlooked over atZane speculatively."It changes one's appearanceso, don't you think?"

Tylookedupattheoldmaninconfusionandthenglancedoverat Zaneagain.Theagentwaspractically beaming, another Jekyll-and-Hyde turnabout infive minutes flat. Tywatched him for along 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.

Tysighedandmovedclosercautiously totakethechair.Herealized thathewasn't used topeople addressing him atall,especially strangers. Most everyone shiedawayfromhimbecause ofhisthreatening, grumpy air.Wasit slipping or was the old dude just crazy?

Themansettled back inhisseat,picking uphisbook again. "Perhaps he'lltakepityonyousoon," hesaid, opening thepages andgoing backtohis reading, looking through the spectaclesthat sat low on his nose.

"Idoubtthatverymuch,"Tymutteredasheturnedhisattentionto Zane and crossed his arms over his chest.

Within aminute, ZanefeltTy'seyesonhim,andhelooked over his shoulder to favor Ty with asmile. Then he nodded and looked atthe books he held. Hechose three and putacouple back, then walked over tothecounter. "Not even going to look, huh?"

Tysuspected thatZanewouldn't beenjoying thisquiteasmuchifhe knewTydidn'tmindwatchinghim.Sohemaintainedhisslightlysulkyair and shook his head.

Zaneglanced totheoldmanwhowasreading andapparently paying themnoattention. "Okay, I'mhappy. WecangoafterIpayforthese." It hadn't even been ten minutes.

Tylooked himoverandthensighed softly, allowing asmallsmileto show through. "We've got more time," he murmured in a low voice.

Zanetriednottogrinlikeafool.Headoredbookstores, anditwasa welcomedistraction fromhisworriesandbrooding. "Thanks," hesaidsoftly with anindefinable look in his eyes. Then heturned todisappear inthe stacks that led further into the store.

Assoonashewasgone,Tyrolledhiseyesheavenward andslouched in his chair in defeat. That look in Zane's eyes would get him anything.

Theoldmandidn'tmakeasoundorlookupfromhisbook.Buthe wassmiling.

"Shutup,"Tymuttered tohim.Heglanced overathimagain, reading the gold lettering on the book the man read: The Complete Works of Edgar Allan Poe.

Tyfrownedattheleather-bound volumeassomething burieddeepin hismemorybegan toclick. Anyone wholivedinBaltimoreforanyperiod of timehadreadatleastonePoestory. TheonlyonesTycouldremember were theoneabouttheheartinthefloorboards, theguybeingbricked upinawine cellar,andthenameofthelastonehehadread, "TheMurders intheRue Morgue."

"Can Isee that?" heasked suddenly, sitting upand pointing atthe old book.

Themanlookedupathim,asmallsmilecurlingathislips."Of course," hesaidgraciously, puttinghisbookmark inplacecarefully beforehe closed it and handed it to Ty.

Tyflippedtotheindex,wherehefoundalistofthestoriesincluded 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 speakingto him.

"Isthere onewithablonde woman andabrunette, maybe switching places?" Tytried as he looked up atthe man. "Or one about apainting? A girl getting her teeth all pulled out?"

The old man nodded with a confused look at Ty and then at the book. Tystoodupquickly,thrustingthebookbackintotheoldman's hands. "Garrett!"he called out excitedly.

Zaneappearedaroundoneofthelongbookshelves,movingtoward him quickly and obviously alarmed. "What?" he demanded worriedly.

"Ithink youjustbroke this fucking case," Tysaidtohim withagrin. "Gofindacopyofthatbook,"heorderedashepointedatthehardbackthe old man held gingerly in his hands.