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I stopped at a picture of Dr Silver at a ribbon-cutting cereo, and I tried to figure out how somebody who looked so respectable could be, for all intents and purposes, a kidnapper I stared at the picture, looking for clues, until I saw soasp

"What is it, Jane?" Ryu asked, as he stepped up the stair next to me to peer at the photo

I pointed at the woman behind Silver He looked closer

"Oh, that’s Aates Why are you interested in her?" For a second, I nearly told him to look closer Then I remembered I’d promised Grizzie I wouldn’t share her secret

"Uood in some ways, and so evil in others"

"Yeah, it’s hard to believe the guy ns this house is the sa a hand down my back to comfort me "Come upstairs when you’re ready?" he asked

"Sure," I said, turning back to the photo "Just give me a minute"

I stared at the woman in the picture for one last nize her, and why Grizzie claimed few people had made the connection between Grizzie, Dusty Nethers, and Aic, she was the co Grizzie represented Whereas Grizzie oozed sexuality and strength and a kind of chaotic joy that bordered on the anarchical, the woman in the photo could have been a Nazarenea conservative suit in dull taupe and her hair was slicked back in a tight bun But it was her facial expression that I foundShe had an expression that was like the hula Her whole demeanor--the set of her shoulders, the way she pulled in her height as if she were asha to see here Pay me no mind"

Unable to believe that Grizzie had lived like that for so many years of her life, I wondered, sadly, whether I’d ever ate Finally, I turned to join Ryu

On the second floor, beds were stripped and covered and everything was unplugged Except, I noticed, the security cahout the house Ryu’s poirling away,us invisible to them, but they still made n that the man who made this his home was not all that his wholesome exterior claimed

I tried to keep a mental map of the upstairs in my head, as Ryu had asked, and e finished upstairs and h the downstairs, I understood why My spatial perception was excellent, and I’d always been good with floorplans But the mental plan of the upstairs that I’d drawn as we explored did not match my mental plan of the downstairs

"There should be an extra roo roo the issue for a few seconds, I walked out of the living rooe office I paced it again, to be sure, and then looked up at Ryu "This room is short," I said "There should be rinned at me "Exactly But there’s less So where’s the rest?"

I looked around, and then started walking along the walls, followed by Ryu’s eyes The red lights on the cameras settled in either corner, however, blinked blindly at ainst Silver’s desk, staring at them

"Why two ca of interest in here?"

"No Nothing that revealed anything about the lab, at least It was all personal--taxes and shit Nothing related to any sort of business dealings whatsoever Silver obviously didn’t work from home"

"So why have two cao?"

"They’re internal," Ryu replied "They can be accessed by the TVs in each room But we don’t knohere they’re actually controlled fro, somewhere, but we can’t find it"

We both fell silent, staring at the ca This scenario--the cameras inside the house, the foreshortened rooo Okay, so a o on, but filical monsters I now ran with--had to have solaested

"Why?" he asked

"Just a hunch I’ve seen too many action flicks, probably, but it’s worth a shot"

He frowned at ed "Fine, but it’ll mean that Julian will have to hack into the security system to erase the tapes Are you sure this is worth it?"