Some people would call the shadow part intuitive.
Was anyone lurking?
Not that I saw, but shadows shift, and anyone in them would know how to move fast. Im not saying theres a deep dark plot involved here, but Im not thinking junkie either. The pennies on Forets eyelids, she elaborated at Joes slight frown. Its too old-world for someone whos desperate.
Are you thinking hired hit?
Could be. Foret worked for the State Departmentthats all the information Bergman has or is giving us right nowbut Im guessing he was high level. He was also on that dock for a reason. Well start there.
Well, deep breath, stomach muscles tight, lets have a look at Mr. Forets wounds.
The better part of an hour crawled by, leaving in its wake the eerie sense of mortality that struck her from time to time.
As Joes colleague had suggested, it was the slash to Forets carotid artery that had done the job. Hed bled out swiftly with little time to react and only one hand with which to defend himself. Most of the scoring was on his throat and neck, but there was also a nick on his collarbone and a shallow scrape on the back of his hand.
Theres possible blood and or skin under the fingernails of his left hand, Joe noted. Ill have those things plus the contents of his stomach analyzed and on your desk by noon.
Sunday dinner should be fun.
Joe blinked at her through his wire-rimmed glasses. Is it Sunday already?
Between home, work and the Victims Support Center, you and Liz work way too hard. Angel moved away from the table, shook the smell of death from her hair and arms. You should take a cruise.
We thought about it, but I get seasick.
She couldnt resist a laugh. The man dissected dead bodies, but a few ocean swells did him in. The human mind fascinated.
She heard a thump. The door to the examining room swung open, and a second Dr. Thomas squished in.
Liz called, he explained before his brother could ask. Theres a liver coming in from Atlanta. The patients being prepped for transplant surgery, so I decided to drop in and thaw my nimble fingers. Dead guy on the table aside, have any new donors been wheeled in tonight?
Twisted amusement rose in Angels throat. Forets are the only body parts in the vicinity, Graeme, so put your eyes back in their sockets, go upstairs and scrub.
Several inches taller and a great deal more handsome than his comfortable-looking older brother, Graeme Thomas was nevertheless an inherently nice guy. Didnt mean he couldnt flirt with the best of them. You talk so sweet, Angel. Flashing a grin, he set his cheek next to hers from behind, wrapped his arms around her waist and swayed. Sure you wont marry me?
That would make me what? Wife number four?
Its my lucky number. Come on, what do you say? You, me, Elvis, a neon chapel? Ill even rent us a pink Cadillac.
She smiled and patted his exposed cheek. Really tempted, but Ill settle for dinner and a DVD.
Topped off by a chat with Noah Graydon?
Not you, too. She sighed out a breath, disentangled and turned. Noahs a friend, okay? On the invisible side, but if people can connect through the Internet, then the phone should be a no-brainer.
I guess. But he caught her hand. The Vegas offer stands. You get tired of a voice on the phone, you know where Ill be.
Yeah, up to your elbows in body parts. Ill hold tight to that image. Send the report over when you get it, Joe. Im going to try for she brought her watch into focus whoa, four straight hours of alone time. Tell Liz Ill finish the prelims, and she should go ahead and streak her hair.
Are all women anal with their priorities? Graeme wondered aloud.
Angel pulled on her gloves, worked the fingers down. No more so than men with their HD TVs and game-day rituals. Good luck in surgery, Graeme.
Her boot heels echoed in the empty corridor outside. Swinging her coat on, she murmured, Its like being the last live cell in a dead body. No way could I do your job, Dr. T.
Still, as her newly emancipated mother liked to say, life tossed what it tossed. Go with it or go crazy.
At twenty-nine, Angel didnt think life had tossed all that much her way yet. But three girlfriends and a messy divorce later, her father had done his level best to drive his first wife crazy. Thankfully, poetic justice had intervened. Hed wound up with a shrew for a second wife along with the proverbial stepchild from hell. As Angel saw it, occasionally life and fate got together and tossed a very satisfying fair ball into the mix.
Deep in the pocket of her black coat, her cell phone began to hum. At three-something in the morning, the news wasnt likely to be good, but ever the optimist, she pulled it out.
The number on the screen brought a smile to her lips, even if it didnt surprise. For all his solitary ways, the man knew everything, often before anyone else in the department.
She greeted him with an amused, Well, hi there, tall, dark and mysterious. Whats got you up so late on a Saturday night?
Mostly the thought of you being up so late on a Saturday night.
Noah Graydons voice flowed through her veins like honey laced with dark rum. Shed been intrigued by him since their first conversation, a year and a half ago. Today, she was as much entranced as intrigued. Unfortunately, she was also inured, or heading that way.
Noah was a man of darkness, a voice in the night. For reasons she had yet to determine, he preferred to exist in a world of shadow and half-light. No one saw him except Joe. And no one who knew him, if indeed anyone in the Boston office did, would talk about his predilection for solitude.
And so their entire relationship had evolved over the phone. Didnt make him a stranger exactly, but if shed been the cat Joe had labeled her, curiosity would have killed her several lifetimes ago.
Smiling, even though she knew where their conversation would ultimately wind up, Angel pushed the elevator call button, then bumped her shoulder lightly against the wall while she waited.
Im at the path lab and creeped out, Noah. Say something pretty so I can erase the picture of dead body parts that are whizzing through my brain.
Bed of roses.
She set her head on the wall. Been listening to Bon Jovi, huh?
Thats why the Boston office snapped you up, Angel. Youre all about extrapolation. Okay, pretty. Close your eyes and imagine the Cape. Turning leaves and bonfires. Think cold nights, a walk in the woods and a glass of wine waiting when you return.
A more tranquil smile curved her lips. You have a truly amazing voice, Graydon. I swear I can smell those leaves burning. The elevator doors slid open, and she glanced inside. Yuck. Empty gurney with rumpled sheets. She sidestepped it as she entered.
His low chuckle might have brought back the Cape if she hadnt recalled the unholy hour. A clunk of gears preceded the elevators arduous upward climb.
I hear youve got a body, he remarked.
We do, and Ive just come from a close encounter with it. Its big, pale and hairless, a bit like that enormous baby the drunk stork delivered to the wrong people in the Bugs Bunny cartoon.
Well, theres a picture. Thanks for that, Angel.
Welcome. Do you know what Forets story is?
Hes got ties to the White House.
Figured as much. Just please dont tell me hes related to someone whos going to make my life hell until his murders solved.
Hes a lawyer.
Explains the eight-hundred-dollar suit.
Attached to the State Department.
Saw the credentials. Tell me what I didnt see, or probably wouldnt know.
Hes close personal friends with the current Secretary of State.
At last, the inevitable X factor reared its head. Oh, good. That means therell be pressure to solve and close fast. Bergman cant be aware of the last thing, Noah, or instead of sniveling, his assistant would be apoplectic. Is there any whisper about a dockyard rendezvous?
Give me time, Angel. I just dug up the Secretary of State connection. Any theories yet?
Angel caught herself stroking the bottom of her cell phone and gave her fingers a speculative look.
Only that I dont think he was rolled by someone hungry for a fix. Its true, any cash he had in his wallet was gone, but he was still wearing his platinum Tag Heuer watch, diamond tiepin and ring. Signet, not wedding. So either the killer was dumb as well as desperate, or the money was taken to make Forets death look like a really bad mugging.
How did you read the pennies on his eyes?
Ive heard of similar cases.
Yeah?
Three times last year. Once in Boston, twice in New York. All of the murders had gangland connections. One gang, three killers.
This isnt gang-related.
It wouldnt be, she thought. Far too simple. And you know that because?
Victim doesnt fit the profile.
Yes, well, Noah, its late and Im tired, and it was really cold on that dock. I wasnt thinking profile so much as get him to Joe and find the largest possible coffee.
Another chuckle reached her. It almost reached into her. Dont turn diva on me, Angel. It wasnt a criticism. You only came to Boston eighteen months ago. You cant know what I do.
Eighteen months, and some odd number of days. Angel started to lean a hip on the gurney, but spied the soiled under-sheet and opted for the elevator rail instead. Waiting, Graydon. What exactly is it you know?
This isnt an isolated murder. Softly said, but a chill chased itself along her spine.
Definitely do not like the sound of that. Are we talking serial killing?
Id say so.
Frustration crept in as the elevator ground to a halt. How can you think that already? Have you been talking to Joe?
I dont have to talk to Joe.
Then how?
Look for a note.
Again, the words were softly uttered; however, far from diminishing their impact, Noahs tone gave them a punch that silenced Angels automatic protest.
What kind of note? she asked instead.
A cryptic one. This killers looking to be understood, but only by the cleverest of the clever.
She pictured him leaning forward in his chair, staring at the rain-smeared city lights outside his window.
Itll be small, he continued. Ordinary, like a tossed off scrap of paper. But it will be there. Look hard enough, and youll find it.
Her resistance dissolved. Youre the best criminal profiler in the business, Graydon. I trust you more than anyone I know. So Ill look. And if theres a note, Ill find it. Bergman
Doesnt need to know about my involvement in this case.
His statement surprised her into stopping halfway across the reception area. Say that again? Dont tell my boss why Im doing what Im doing?
It wouldnt be the first time youve withheld, Angel. This ones for me. Call it a personal favor.
She responded to the admissions nurses wave with an absent smile. Something stirred deep inside, but she was fairly certain it had nothing to do with correct procedure and everything to do with an overwhelming resurgence of curiosity.
Cat with a fish, she echoed.
Is that a yes?
The obvious question clawed at her throat, but she swallowed it and looked out into the inky darkness. Youre a fascinating man, Noah Graydon. I respect you, I like you, and God knows I owe you. So if more mysterys what you want, Im in. For your sake and Lionel Forets, its a yes.
INSIDE HIS SPARSELY FURNISHED North Bay loft, Noah propped a bare foot on the windowsill and sipped hot coffee.
He didnt bother to rouse himself when he heard the freight elevator clunk past the twelfth floor. He lived alone on thirteen, had since the only other person brave enough to overcome the eighteenth-century ghost story that was part and parcel of the buildings charm had taken a header out a rear window into a row of trashcans below.
The elevator gate rattled up. Ten seconds later, he heard a knuckle rap, and the door creaked open.
Its me, Noah. You feel like company?
Noah rested his head on the chair back. If I didnt, would you go away?
Probably not. Joe came in, collided with a metal stand next to the door and swore. Friggin vampire lighting. Dont you even want to see where you live?
Noah smiled a little. Did you come here to bitch about my furniture or to pass along useable information?
The second thing, but I swear, some day the firsts gonna cripple me. I smell coffee.
Machines still next to the fridge.
That would be the big black box at ten oclock, right?
Noah kept his eyes on the flickering city lights. Whats the news, Joe?
Illouchpreface it by reminding you that Im not supposed to be talking about this.
Pretend youve made the spiel. Why did Bergman give Foret to Angel and Liz?
Because theyre good not working for you?
Noah merely turned his head to stare.
His friend released an audible breath. Fine, he did it because of you. We might think all pen pushers are jackasses, but one or two of them actually have a brain. Liz and Angel are good, but official or not, youre the prize Bergmans after. Your boss wants you to back off this onewords already out on thatso Bergman had to go for your Achilles heel. Namely, Angel Carter.
Noah turned back to his view. So far, she can tell me as much or more than I can tell her.
What are yououchokay, you moved that table, right? Joe stopped to rub his shin. Whats going on in your head about Forets death?
If you know what my boss is up to, you already know whats going on.
You think its that guy again, dont you, the one who did that string of murders that started seven years ago?
Eight.
Well call that an affirmative. Why?
Noah propped his other foot up. You did Forets autopsy. You tell me.
Teams still running the results, but from the prelim, Id say the wounds are fairly consistent. Still, a lot of murderers use knives. I think youre reaching if your goal is to resurrect a serial killer whos been off the map for half a decade.
Well see.
Joe came to perch on the ledge. Lets get personal, shall we? Howre you doing these days? I cook a mean pot roast, and Lizs angel food cakes are as divine as their name implies. Break down and have dinner with us. Liz is dying to meet you, and Jaynie turned four last Friday. Well have a second birthday party. You can give her money to buy new shoes.