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Now she’d have to take care of herself So she had done ain and again, because--

"Shut the fuck up, or I’ll rip out your throats and do it for you," Hector growled

Silence Absolute silence followed the threat Or proh it was no less brutal "Now tellto point out that the men couldn’t shut up and talk to him She was too pleased by his defense of her

S a few of the guys with an elbow to the gut as she did They hunched over, wheezing for breath "I’ht tears to her own eyes "The dress … so long … I tripped …"

Hector coughed to cover a laugh "So? Who called it?"

Hector … a of his di e height, on the slim side, and just a little scared to find hient Dean, sir, uh, a witness called Clai One in a suit One dressed casually Then two others just appeared One was an Arcadian, so we think teleportation was used The other was the victiuy in the suit said, ‘Thinking you could blow the lid off er on a pyre-gun"

Hector had stiffened at the word Arcadian, then growled at the word teleportation He o The ones in the warehouse who had disappeared while in the hospital An Arcadian had been suspected then, too, but had never been found

Noelle knew because she’d maybe kinda sorta peeked at some of his old case files

"How’d the witness knoas a pyre?" he asked

Pyres were al for civilians to carry Plus, they weren’t the only weapons that lit up like firecrackers

"Said there was a flash of bright light, but no booents carrying on that TV show, As the Other World Turns"

Good show Gotta catch up on that

"Anything else?" Hector asked "You check the tapes for alien voice?"

The officer gulped "We did There’s nothing"

"I want to go over them myself"

"Of course As for the rest, the vic was hit in the chest, his organs fried That’s when the witness screaave chase, but the witness hid and called us"

"Did he give you descriptions of the three?" Noelle asked, inserting herself into the conversation My investigation, too, big boy

Those spec-covered eyes flipped to her, softened "No He said it was too dark, and that he only knew one of the men was Arcadian because of the white hair and the instappear act Which is e called AIR"

"Where’s the witness now?" Hector demanded

A thumb hitched over his thin shoulder "Back of my car, sir"

Noelle scanned each of the vehicles and spotted their guy in the back of the farthest, the inside light burning bright A junkie, she thought Human Pasty, papery skin Red, sunken eyes Chapped lips Dirt-streaked his face He rocked back and forth and wasto himself

"Put hiuards at the doors Eyes are to be on hiuy could rush off, Hector reached out and withdrew a pair of latex gloves froloves he still wore as he walked to the trunk of Mia’s sedan There, he grabbed a tool kit

Expression blank, he ducked under the tape and strode away All without a word to Noelle Well, that wasn’t going to stop her She looked at the elegant length of her dress, then at the ground With a shrug, she palh--earned a few more whistles--and stripped off the botto herself bare from the top of her knees down Risqué for a crime scene, sure, but she’d bared more skin at the last cocktail party she’d attended This way, she wouldn’t brush away any prints

As the loves from one of the officers and followed the saht Her personal life would not get in the way

He crouched beside a dark lump Once there, she could smell the coppery scent of blood, the release of bowels Could see … far more than she wanted The man was on his stomach, his face turned to the side, away from her She purposely didn’t study that part of him too intently Already she could see that his mouth was still open in a silent scream

Hector rolled him to his back, careful, so careful The vic wore dress slacks, and his button-down shirt had burned away There was a gaping hole in his chest, the skin at the edges charred, the organs inside deep fried

"Don’t h his now open toolbox He stood before she could remind him that she wasn’t stupid and returned to the tape He walked the edges, stopping every so often to stake a halogen in the ground

By the tihts were bathing the scene with unforgiving purpose, chasing away every soothing shadow

"What can you tell by glance alone?" Hector asked her Lines of tension branched fro to teach her, even though she was now considered his equal? Fine Whatever "There are no tire tracks No footprints, either There’s nothing to suggest the body was dragged So, even though the witness is a drug addict, he was telling--"

Hector gave a start of surprise

"Yeah, I noticed that, too Anyway, he was telling the truth Our vic was popped here and killed here"

"What makes you think he wasn’t killed somewhere else and teleported in already dead?"

Was he serious? "Look at the burnwhen he fell on his face, and charred the grass beneath hi by what the witness heard--‘thinking you could blow the lid off my operation’--this was a pre hidden And our vic was a good Saests he knew his attacker, or at least was connected to hiood observations, Noelle"