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"No, thanks - I think I&039;ll let you have lunch with that agent on your own"

As Reilly answered his question, Veck paused in the process of pulling on his leather jacket The pair of the line by line through the Barten reports, and he&039;d been surprised at hoell they&039;d stuck to business

The shit froht before had been put firmly on the back burner, it seemed - at least for her On his side? Hell, yeah, it was still on his mind, and he would have loved for that to be because he was looking for a break in conversation to slide in another lay

Instead, it was because he wanted her Still

Even arette "I&039;ll see you back here in an hour, then"

"It&039;s a date - ah, plan, I mean"

At that, she bit on her lip with her clean white teeth, like she was shutting herself up or punishing her mouth for the "date" reference

There were s to do with that part of her body

Cursing under his breath, he left the Hoot any airti the main stairs, he went down the back way: He was not interested in getting stuck at the Britnae barricade, or in running into any colleagues And as soon as he was out of HQ, he stopped, lit up a Marlboro, and checked the sky The sunshine that had prevailed the day before was buried beneath a thick cloud cover, and the as cold and da he was up for a brisk walk

Five ent Heron was outside the front door, leaning against the building, s ain,

Veck frowned Christ, for so about his BMW Except when had that happened?

Maybe he&039;d just dreaht time is better than food," Veck muttered, as they shook hands

"Aot it"

"You wanna just walk it out?" Veck nodded to the sidewalk "Chain-s than the BLT I&039;d planned on ordering"

"Good idea"

They hit the concrete path together and kept their speed at a meander Beside them, the Hudson River was the sa choppier toward the ht you a copy of our report," Veck said, putting his cigarette between his teeth and taking out the papers that he&039;d folded in half "But you&039;ve probably already seen most of it"

"Never hurts to take a second look" The documents went into Heron&039;s breast pocket "I want to help"

"And I could use whatever you&039;ve got This case is fucking frustrating"

"I hear you"

And that was all they said for a while Cars whipped along to the right of the at one another from time to ti A thicket of bike riders wearing Saran Wrap suits and aerodyna like they were being chased

Unlike the rest of the world, he and Heron stayed in slow-mo

"You&039;re easy to talk to," Veck said on the exhale, his shed "Haven&039;t said much"

"I know I like it Shit, this Barten case is killing me None of it makes any sense, to be honest"

"Yeah"

Veck glanced over "By the here&039;s your team?"

"Not here"

Well, duh And clearly that was a closed subject

At that ht up to his ear "DelVecchio Yeah? Really Shitno kidding"

He felt Heron look overand as the guy did, the strangest warning tickled over Veck&039;s nape

Last nightin his kitchen

Veck&039;s feet stopped and he finished the Bails report about Kroner on autopilot, his eyes locked with Heron&039;s

He&039;d always had good instincts about things, but this was deeper than intuition or hunches This was fact, even though he didn&039;t understand the hows or whys

After he hung up, he just kept staring at the FBI agent "You know, I think soht"

Heron didn&039;t bat an eye - there was no reaction in his hard face at all Which was a tell in and of itself, wasn&039;t it

"I don&039;t know, "

Bullshit It had been Heron As soon as Veck had walked into his kitchen, he&039;d had exactly the sa his now

The question ould the FBI be tracking hiain, file that one under well, duh: His father was being executed in Connecticut in a o copycat or so - and yeah, the Kroner incident helped soooo h law enforcele out and suspend people just because of what they looked like or who they were related to, they sure as shit could work the back angles

Then again, they could be protecting him From his father, or his father&039;s followers In that case, though, they&039;d just come forward and tell him, wouldn&039;t they

"So what did you think of Bob Greenway," Veck er from the Hannaford where Cecilia Barten was last seen"

"As you said, not o on"

"You aren&039;t here for the Barten case, are you"

Heron took a drag on his Marlboro "The hell I&039;e Strauss Have you even read the file?"

The agent didn&039;t blink Didn&039;t seeht in at best a lapse of memory, at worst a lie He remained utterly self-contained, as if he had seen and done things soof the truth, he couldn&039;t give a fuck

"You want to tellhis cigarette into the air

"It is not inaccurate to say I&039;ve taken a special interest in you And it is very accurate to say that Sissy Barten&039;s disappearance is a big fucking deal toon? Does it have anything to do with my father? Because in case you&039;re not aware of it, I don&039;t really know the guy, and I hope they do the world a favor and off the bastard"

Heron leaned down, lifted one boot, and stubbed out the tip of his coffin nail on the heavy tread of his combat After he put the butt in his back pocket, he tapped out a fresh stick fro with the efficiency of a long-ter"

"You could try answering some of my shit first, thank you very much"

"Nah I&039;uy took a suck and exhaled "You ever feel like there&039;s another side to you? So under the surface Maybe every once in a while it coo in"

Veck narrowed his eyes as his heart kicked once in his chest and then stopped dead "Why the hell would you ask me that?"

"Just curious It would be the kind of thing you don&039;t want to see in a mirror, for exauy with his coffin nail "Stay the fuck out ofwhere he was, feet planted in thethat makes you wonder what you&039;re capable of Reminds you of your oldabout it"

"You&039;re fucking crazy"

"Not in the slightest And neither are you"

"You should know I&039;un And I don&039;t care if you&039;re a federal agent - assu you didn&039;t lie about that, too"

Veck pivoted away and started walking, fast

"Look down at your feet, Thoood look at what&039;s doing And then you call h I&039; loony-assloony-ass bitch

It took hiet back to HQ, and he blasted up that front stairwell, gunning for his coot for a greeting was a lot of ringing phones - everyone was out to lunch or working a case soues

Sitting down at his desk, he got the nuation&039;s local field office, and dialed in

"Yeah, hello - this is Detective DelVecchio over at Caldwell Homicide I want to speak with Personnel Yup Thanks" He picked up a pen and began twirling it in and out of his fingertips "Yeah, DelVecchio at the CPD - I want to see if you have an Agent Ji out of state I have e number if you want it" He recited the nu for is Agent Jim Heron Yeah, that&039;s how you spell it, like the bird A man approached me yesterday hat looked like bona fide credentials, identified hi persons case, and caain and I want to verify who he is Yup Just callup

One Mississippi Two Mississippi Three Mississippi Four Miss -

His phone rang "DelVecchio Hey, thanks - really Go fig, no one at all by that name Yup, he&039;s six-four, maybe -five Blondish hair Blue eyed Looks like soldier He had two other men with him, one with a braid, another with a lot of ht down to the hologram Thanks - yeah, please, I&039;d like to know if you find anything - and I&039;ll let you know if he shows up again"

As he hung up the phone, he thought he should have known He should have fucking known - and he should have apprehended the guy right there by the river That talk about shadows, though, had thrown hilanced up Reilly was standing next to his desk, a little McDonald&039;s bag in one hand and a short soda in the other

"No, I&039; not" He shifted his eyes to the co "Reent from yesterday?"

"Heron?"