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Zane frowned "Yes I’d been buried in the barrio for al that wasn’t in Spanish in at least that long" He s

Ty nodded That was the answer he’d expected "I lied," he ad "It was the first thing that ca, and I said no before I even thought about it"

"And after you said it?" Zane prodded

"Didn’t look back," Ty answered immediately He produced a thin leather binder and handed it over to Zane

"What’s this?" Zane asked in surprise as he took the portfolio and looked at it warily

"It’s all the clippings I kept about the case when I was in the hospital and after," Ty answered as he crossed his arms over his chest defensively and shifted in his seat

Zane looked up in surprise "You kept up with it the whole time?

Why would you do that? With all the hten out?" He clearly reing in the

"I don’t like being outsmarted," Ty answered in a soft, deteruilty," he admitted

Zane raised his head and looked at hiranted that aoff the past easily His behavior and his attitude all implied that he lived in the here and now, but Zane knew hi to heart, especially his failures And Zane knew Ty considered that wohts on her if Ty hadn’t led him to her Suddenly, whatever Ty had collected in that binder seemed very important to Zane It would tell him about more than just the case It would tell hiht he could care deeply for

"I highlighted some bits Underlined and … scribbled I was cooped up," Ty , and he sh He schooled his features and looked back down at the portfolio sole?" he asked, sliding his hand over the leather

Ty pursed his lips and then nodded his head "The last murders were…" He seemed to hesitate, unsure of how to continue Zane froorriedly "They found theue?" Zane asked with a sudden drop in the pit of his stomach

"The ME and her assistant," Ty answered as he lowered his head

Zane’s head snapped up "Karen? What the hell?" he asked

Ty didn’t look up, merely kept his head bowed as if it was somehow his fault Zane looked back down at the binder with dread, then opened it and turned it to look over the first page The articles weren’t in any sort of order

They were e, however, was about the woory relish of the popular press, and Ty kneord for word He looked away froraph included of Isabelle St Claire in her airline uniform "The way she was found," he said in a hoarse voice,

" the way the bodies were found was even lanced up at hi back to the article "Go on," he invited

"It’s not really the victims he’s after," Ty conjectured "It’s the situations," he went on with a point at the next page "His vics have to fit the situation he’s after, but other than that he doesn’t care who they are He went after the ME and her assistant next"

Zane glanced up at hirients he killed, or like us or the other people he was trying to et rid of It wasn’t like they stu It was methodical I think they were planned victiue for soes, Zane stopped on that article, seeing the picture of the dark-haired woman they’d worked with He shook his head Ty ht before he got the call fro up, soht

"Goddamn," he murmured "They were locked in the autopsy lab But why?

You’re right; there’s so off about it Always before, there’s soht In theback at the other ones The first with the uy found in his bed The second with the hooker found in the graveyard, which happens to be one of the rounds in the city," he added with a point of his finger at the binder "Then the two girls with the dyed hair ere switched in each other’s beds I don’t think it mattered how they were killed or who they were Just how they were found"

"What about the guy with the bird flu? Or the twins that looked like a mutual execution? What was off about thehed heavily and shook his head, looking out theas the plane began to taxi down the runway "That’s the problem with my theory,"

he admitted "The tere the ones that were killed across state lines They were the reason the FBI was brought in at all That is the importance of their location But aside fro special about where or how they were found, just what they were killed with"

"The one man with a rare disease and the others with their oin?"

"Uh huh Nothing else stands out"

"Other than they were different from all the others," Zane said

Ty ently "There’s an answer there, but I’ picture," he added in frustration

Zane kept paging through the binder quietly, reviewing the older cases and then reading up on what had happened since

A shiver ran through Ty and he closed his eyes and bowed his head again "I hate knowing this fucker is smarter than I am," he muttered

Zane’s head snapped up "He’s not smarter than you," he said firmly

"He just has inside inforic and snorted "You saying he’s the kid in class with the teacher’s copy of the textbook?" he asked wryly as his knee began to bounce restlessly