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And she’s probably right, Brent thought

"What does she do for a living?" Brent asked

"She works for one of the tour coer for an absentee owner They’re good, I understand They do history tours, with an ehosts and spooky stuff And she’s a native," Massey told him "Of New Orleans, I mean," he added hastily He frowned suddenly "What the hell made you show her Tom’s picture, anyway?"

"Just a hunch," Brent said

"Toht," Massey said "Tell host?"

"She saw so," Brent said evenly

"You really are one of those psychics, huh?" Massey said

"No I’m not a psychic," Brent told him

"Then… ?" Joulette asked

"A researcher"

"Yeah?" Joulette pressed "What kind?"

Brent s his head "Let’s just say ’different’ for now, huh? I don’t want to alienate you before we get started I get the feeling you’re both good at what you do I’ll bet your CSI folks are good at what they do, too I just coot plenty of voodoo in New Orleans already," Joulette drawled, challenging him

"I don’t practice voodoo," Brent said evenly

Both detectives studied him, and Massey said, "Whoever or whatever you are, your boss is apparently in with ents, one erty And he says you’re definitely not a fed In fact, he has his panties in a knot about you being here"

"Oh?" Brent said He wasn’t surprised that the FBI had men on the case--they’d lost one of their own

"Yeah, Vince Haggerty isn’t into nored the ations?" he asked

"Not really," Joulette said "Haggerty has access to everything we’ve got But the guy is a real loner He wants to work on his own, and doesn’t want to share what he has He will give us whatever he’s got eventually If we can find hirew up in the bayou and never went to school, the way he acts Or," he added bitterly, "that I should still be saying ’Massuh’ when I talk to the guy"

"So, here we are," Massey said "Marc and I working two cases… and in neither case do we have soAt least in Garfield’s case we can hit the clubs, get some help from the narcs As to the Andrea Ciello case, well, I’d hoped Nikki DuMonde would be able to give us sohost"

Brent was silent for a h "I think I’ll take one of Miss DuMonde’s tours," he said

"That’s how you’re going to find a killer?" Joulette said skeptically

"I think yourto do with one another," Brent said flatly

"We don’t even know that the girl’s death was a murder What makes you think the two deaths are connected?" Massey said "A fed, undercover, and a former junkie What motive could connect the at two heroin overdoses"

"Hey, he’s a psychic," Joulette told Massey

"Look, guys--" Brent began

But Joulette started to laugh "Hey, go for it, man"

"Yeah, you do what you have to do," Massey said

Brent arched a brow

"We actually kinda like you," Joulette explained ’"Cause you’re not so in all the ghost busters, voodoo priestesses, pal ’eet to it And I swear, what I know, you’ll know," Brent pro the two of the at his expense

But what the hell, they liked his could be worse

Dr Boulet was a man of about forty He was pleasant, nicely dressed and comfortable to talk to

He did have a couch, but he also had an easy chair

"Am I supposed to lie down?" she asked

"If you like Or just take a seat"

She chose the chair

"So what’s the proble dead people"

"Do you want to give me a few details?"

She waved a hand in the air "Ghosts"

"Have you always seen ghosts?" he asked, not blinking

She s her head "Only since ht before she died"

"Why don’t you tell "

She did, and he paid rapt attention, his expression grave He took notes