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Cyn blinked Wishes to serve? "Great, that’s great," she said, trying to conceal her disco there staring at her, pale eyes gloith excitement He smiled "Yes, of course We’ll take the stairs"

Downstairs, back in his own doeable professional once again His eyes still watched her a little too closely and a s around his lips, but for the most part, he was all business

"Bodies or files first?" There was a hint of challenge in his words As if Cyn had anything to prove to this guy

"The files, I think"

He opened a desk drawer and withdrew several folders "These are my own files, a combination of the ME’s records and what I’ve been able to glean from other sources They’re confidential, you understand, and don’t exist in any official sense"

"Of course," Cynaround for a place to sit

"Use randly "Take all the time you need"

Cyn wrote a final note and closed the last file She’d filled an entire yellow pad with notes and sketches and Hartzler had long since gotten bored and wandered away to his own duties Apparently watching Cyn read the case files wasn’t all that much of an honor after all

He was nowhere to be found when she pushed through the double doors to the hallway, so she went on upstairs, figuring that’s where he’d be She ly cootten some of it Not that it mattered The information had been tremendously helpful to her which was all she cared about

The door at the top of the stairs swung shut behind her and she heard voices down the hall Figuring it ing her keys out of her backpack

"What the fuck is she doing here?"

Cyn recognized the voice and spun around with a deceptive sain," Detective Charlie Santillo said, ignoring her to glare at Hartzler "What the fuck is she doing here?"

Cyn spoke up before Hartzler could get theator, Santillo, looking for a h proper channels permission to view the bodies of the Jane Does in this facility in case one of theirl I’ave her an unfriendly look "Next tihton, you call s your daddy pulled to get you in here, I knoho you work for and I don’t want youaround my case"

"You have no idea who I work for, Santillo But then you’re pretty clueless about a lot of things, especially these murders" She turned away from him deliberately "Thank you for your time, Mr Hartzler I’m sorry I wasn’t able to help" She started down the hallway toward the door, but Santillo’sher back

"What the fuck does that mean?"

Santillo was an inch or two shorter than she was, but his body was thick with muscle and fat She looked down at his hand on her arm, and then rolled her eyes deliberately up to meet his with a cold stare His hand dropped away

"We’ve got your boy dead to rights, Leighton He won’t get aith it this ti, Santillo, and I can hardly wait to see the look on your face when you realize that" She started walking again, but was once again halted by his voice

"What about Carballo, Leighton? Doesn’t it bother you to work for the creatures who ood friend Benita? Or , huh? You know, I hear vampire sex is pretty daood fuck?"

Cyn spun on her heel "Is that what this is about, Santillo? You got your feelings hurt? Did it make you feel all inadequate when you found out Benita was fucking a bloodsucker instead of you?" The deliberately crude words were delivered with a sweetly solicitous smile And they had the desired effect

"Bitch!" Santillo exploded, closing the distance until he was right in her face His arlic he’d had for lunch, poorly masked by mint, and Cyn’s nostrils pinched in protest as she held her ground

"You got Benita killed, Leighton They drained her dry and left her for road kill, and you’re still defending those bastards"