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The following , Veck sat at his desk, and stared over his Starbucksat a fast clip, his face ani in circles

" - the whole godda blew out" Bails paused and then waved in Veck&039;s face "Hello? Did you hear me?"

"Sorry, what?"

"The entire first floor of Caldwell Bank and Trust at Trade and Thirteenth is in the fucking street"

Veck shook himself into focus "What do you lass of the lobby as blown out There isn&039;t anything left but the steel fraht"

"Was it a bomb?"

"Dae in the lobby - well, so area&039;s chairs had been blown back, but there&039;s no evidence of a detonation - no ring of impact There was some weird paint on the lobby floor, sparkly shit that looked like fingernail polish, and the place s"

"Officers on scene check the security tapes?"

"You better believe it, and guess what? The system flickered off at about eleven and stayed that way"

Veck frowned "It just went dead?"

"Dead Even though no power surge in the neighborhood was reported The lobby lights appear to have been fritzed as well, although no other electricals, or syste their alar weird How do you lose your vid and nothing else?"

Veck&039;s nape went tingly on him For chrissakes, where had he heard that before

"So yeah, it&039;s weird"

"That&039;s one word for it"

Bails tilted his head, his eyes narrowing "Hey, are you okay?"

Veck turned to his computer and called up his e-mail "Never been better"

"If you say so" There was a pause "Guess your partner&039;s going in with Kroner"

Veck jerked around "She is?"

"You didn&039;t know?" Bails shrugged "De la Cruz texted ain today, but IA is getting the next crack at him - no doubt to tie you up in a pretty bow of not-the-perp ribbon"

Fucking hell The idea of Reilly anywhere near that monster uess"

And what do you know, his first instinct was to get over to St Francis at a dead run Which was no doubt why she hadn&039;t stopped in this

"Anyway, I&039;ll see you Gotta get back to work"

instinct, Veck grabbed his phone and checked it Sure enough there was a text that he hadn&039;t heard come in and it was from Reilly: I&039;ll be in late today R

"Fuck"

He looked around, like that was going to do any good Then he tried to focus on the screen in front of him

Da while she interviewed a madman

And, actuallythis was an opportunity, wasn&039;t it

Taking his coffee with hi a louie, and headed for the eency exit In the concrete stairwell, he went up two steps at a tih the steel door, and beelined for the evidence room

Inside, he checked in with the receptionist, did a little small talk - like this was all just routine - and then after an appropriate chat-up, he was inside the stacks

As a beat cop down in Manhattan, he&039;d spent a good deal of tis, cell phones, and is that were used Now that he was in Homicide, it was more about bloodied clothes, weapons, and personal effects - things that were left behind

Heading down the long rows of shelving, he zeroed in on the back of the huge facility where the tables were

"Hey, Joe," he said, as he came around a six-foot-tall partition

The veteran criator looked up fro?"

"Workin&039; our way through"

As the guy lifted his arainst the workstation, all casual "How you holding up?"

"The night shift is easier than the day Of course, after this week, both suck"

"There h it all?"

"Maybe forty-eight hours There&039;s a trio of us We&039;ve been going around the clock except for last evening"

Veck looked over the collection of things that had been cataloged and sealed up, as well as the ed iteed

The investigator used tweezers to take what turned out to be a hair tie froht After he placed the black twist in a plastic bag, he took a long, thin neon yellow sticker, and went up and over the opening Then he ned his initials, and tapped on a laptop&039;s keyboard Final step was to pass the bag&039;s bar code over a reader, the beep signifying that the object was now officially in the system

Veck took a sip of his coffee "So I&039;irl"

"You want to take a gander at e got?"

"Would youout of here"

Veck started at the far end of the low-slung shelving that had been teiven a permanent ho to be all over the objects

Skipping the jars of skin samples - because Cecilia Barten hadn&039;t had any tattoos?he focused on the s, bracelets, barrettes, necklaces

Where are you, Sissy? he thought to hi down, he picked up a clear plastic bag that was sealed with the signature of one of the other investigators Inside, there was a stained leather wristband that had a skull&039;s head for a "charm" Not Cecilia&039;s style

He ed in In all the pictures at the Bartens&039; house, the girl had been wearing gold

Where are you, Sissywhere the hell are you?

Over at St Francis Hospital, Reilly was all business as she strode down one of the hospital&039;s thousands of corridors As she reen nurses and casually dressed patients and fa for was all the way down to the right, and she took her badge out as she approached the nurses&039; station A quick conversation later and she was directed down farther, to the left As she turned the final corner, the guard by the glass cage got to his feet

"Officer Reilly?" he said

"That&039;s ?"

The man shook his head "Just had breakfast" The clipped answer dripped with disapproval - as if the guard wished the suspect would go on a hunger strike Orhi so well Do you want me in there with you?"

Reilly se away and took out a small pad "I can handle him"

The private security officer seemed to measure her, but then he nodded "Yeah, you look like you can"

"It&039;s just not appearances Trust lass door, pushed back the pale green curtain - and froze at the sight of a nurse leaning over Kroner "Oh, I&039;m sorry - "

The brunette looked over and smiled "Please come in, Officer Reilly"

As Reilly stared into eyes that were so black, they appeared to have no iris at all, she felt an irrational bolt of terror: Every instinct in her body told her to run Fast as she could go As far away as she could get