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"It’s Secret And no" My olf half had a bad habit of needing to win staring contests, and I didn’t look away until he did

He nudged the folder towards me, but I didn’t bite Curiosity killed the cat, but I was a wolf I leaned back in uilty of soer to see the evidence would only make uilty or not, I didn’t want to be too rash I’d killed plenty of people--or at least monsters that looked like people--but none without reason Try explaining that to the huh, and you come across like a psychopath They didn’t tend to love the they had it coic

It was Mercedes who broke the silence "Secret, we’ve asked you here because we know you and Mr Keats specialize in ot on our hands right now definitely qualifies as unusual"

"You want ht Cedes had rebuffed the offer, I was interested in what had happened to bring on such an official change of heart

"Did you think we brought you in for so more sinister?" Tyler’s tone was sarcastic but ht his eye and frowned

"The invitation was a little ht you liked to be cloaked in mystery," he countered

I snorted "Am I here to offer a professional opinion, or a-awaited jabs atso harsh, but I wasn’t willing to be dragged through theI didn’t deserve He frowned and dru

"We’ve been trying to keep this case quiet for as long as possible," Mercedes confessed "But toeance"

She flipped open the folder, and a dozen glossy photos fluttered out across the table towards me At first I couldn’t et a better look, my stomach clenched

"Is that…?"

"That one was found on the desk of the Times editor" She handed me another "This one at the Post And this one…" She put a third photo in my hands "This one was delivered to my desk this afternoon"

Each photo was of a cheery Christ, red boot with a fuzzy white tri by the red-hued, ragged edges of the pieces, they wouldn’t fit back together all too cleanly I shoved the photos into the folder and slapped it shut

"Who delivered the packages?" I asked, trying to drive the ies from my mind

"That’s part of what’s so weird There were no deliveries The boxes weren’t mailed or dropped off They just showed up," Mercedes explained

Tyler exhaled loudly through his nose

"Is there any way to hold the press off?" This kind of story would create a frenzy in the city People were already frantic this time of year Throw in a serial killer who ripped people apart and shit would hit the fan

Tyler spoke up at last "The Post is shitting the to use the headline Ho-Ho-Homicide? The Ti Especially when Ellen Klein has blood all over her editorial desk No, we can’t hold the press off"

I played with the edge of the folder, nervous energy rattling through my body "What do you think I can do to help?"

"We know you and Keats have dealt with sos as delicately as possible with Tyler around My guess was he’d insisted on sitting in on theher to coest case of their careers I couldn’t blame him, but it made it difficult for Cedes to tell me what she needed

"We’ve seen our share of ht look through your old cases and see if any red flags popped up"

"Check the records for soru to follow up on every lead There’s more" She placed another folder on the table next to the one we’d just closed, and I was hoping it wasn’t going to be worse "We’ve been looking at this as a ed Since we’re now dealing with one of the scariest mass homicides this city has seen in thirty years, we have to be prepared for the two things to be connected"

"What , all under fifteen And with this develope of some of the other victims, there’s a chance this freak has taken theretted my Santa remark "I’ll take a look at our case files Keaty…Keats is out of town, but I’ll see if I can get in touch with hiet your hopes too high I can’t re we’ve dealt with remotely like that" I tapped the first file

It was true I’d never known of a s before But I knew there wereMonsters the NYPD had no business dealing with Which was probably the real reason Cedes had called me

"Every little bit counts," Tyler ad for uy like him was no exception to that rule

"What else can you tell me? Any connections between the kids and the other victims? Were any of the adult victims reported as MIA before their bodies showed up?" In another life, I ht have h le" style="display:block" data-ad-client="ca-pub-7451196230453695" data-ad-slot="9930101810" data-ad-format="auto" data-full-width-responsive="true"></ins>