Zane’s lips quirked into a smile. “What can you tell me about the murders?”
Serena sighed. “Straight to business, huh? I miss the old you, Zane,”
she said, glancing at Ty. “Did you read up on the serial?”
Ty rolled his eyes and glanced around for a server. He raised his hand and got the attention of a woman passing by as the other two talked. She came over, smiling at him, and he gestured for her to come closer. When she bent over next to him he turned his head and whispered into her ear, “I’m going to need something highly alcoholic that looks like water.”
She remained motionless for a moment, then she straightened back up and smiled at him again. “Wednesday Night Special, yes, sir,” she said to him softly before turning away. Ty watched her walk away, smiling in appreciation of her discretion and then returned his attention to the table.
“We’ve formed some opinions of our own,” Zane was telling Serena, though he watched Ty’s exchange with the waitress distractedly. “We’d like to hear yours, though.”
“You show me yours,” Serena invited with a flirtatious smirk.
“You first, dear,” Zane responded in the same tone.
Serena smiled warmly at Zane before giving Ty another unsavory glance.
“Look, we’ll get business out of the way then I’ll leave you two to it.
Deal?” Ty offered as he met her eyes.
“Why Special Agent Grady, I didn’t realize you had the ability to be reasonable and gracious,” Serena observed sarcastically.
“I don’t,” Ty grunted. “Call it self-preservation,” he offered.
“Fair enough,” Serena said in her liquid-honey voice as she favored Zane with another look. “What is it exactly that you want to know?”
“Well, first of all, why is the NYPD being such a pain in the ass?”
Zane asked.
“Turf wars, of course,” Serena said, rolling her eyes. “You know all about that ... don’t you, Ty?”
Ty looked up from the empty water glass he had been examining and stared at her, not responding otherwise.
Zane looked between them and wondered if this had been such a good idea after all. “Serena, behave,” he said lowly. She turned light, calculating eyes on him for a long moment, and Zane knew what she was doing. A day ago he would have almost looked forward to Serena and Ty going at it like he knew they were about to do.
She waited another long moment and then smiled. “Since you asked nicely,” she said finally.
“Give us a basic profile on the serial, please,” Zane requested, noting that Ty was still holding his tongue.
Ty glanced at Zane and narrowed his eyes. He didn’t know why they were here, and he didn’t think they needed to be dealing with this woman. She couldn’t tell them anything they didn’t already know, and she was a pain in the ass to be around. Ty and Serena could go back and forth at each other all night, twisting knives in old wounds and making new ones until they were both curled up in their respective corners and crying. They’d done it before.
The part she enjoyed most was watching Ty losing his temper and shouting at her. And the only way he could avoid doing that was to keep biting his tongue or drink. Or both. He preferred both.
“I believe he’s sane and sending a message of some kind. He’s an organized killer, probably plans the murders far in advance. Likely follows the victim for days, maybe weeks before he takes them,” Serena shared.
“Odds are he’s got his next victim, or possibly next two, already picked out.”
“Do you think he’s watching the investigations?” Ty asked in a low voice, curious to see if she agreed with them in that respect as well.
“Closely,” she answered with a smug look at Ty, as if gloating about the fact that he had asked her opinion.
“And not just in the media,” Ty murmured, letting her know what they had been thinking.
“Agreed,” she responded easily, still looking at Ty and seeming to measure him.
Zane got the very distinct feeling that Serena knew a lot about Ty and his past that Zane didn’t, and he wondered if he could learn anything about his new partner from what was obviously a biased source. He might have to get Serena alone later just to pump her for information. He couldn’t force himself to stoop to reading Ty’s file yet. It just didn’t seem right.
“It’s possible he has a peripheral role in the investigation that allows him access,” she went on as Ty nodded silently. “You think it’s someone internal,” she said to him with a small smile. “Is that why they brought you two in?” she asked as she turned her calculating gaze back to Zane. “To run around in the dark and cause internal trouble? Tyler here is very good at that sort of thing.”
Zane cleared his throat and sat back as the waitress returned with Ty’s drink and took their orders. Once that was taken care of, he blatantly ignored her last comment and continued on. “It is possible that it’s someone in the Bureau or NYPD,” he acquiesced. “I’ve flagged a list of items missing from the reports. Different pieces, all small and somewhat inconsequential. It may all be chance ... but I doubt it. So I went looking.”
Serena glanced between the two men, eyes lingering on Ty suspiciously. “What did you find out?” she asked Zane.
“Nothing,” Zane answered with a shrug. “I’ll need to talk to the handling agents in each case, and frankly, the details are so minor they don’t rank being worried over, other than the fact they’re missing.”
The woman nodded. “If you need assistance with the ME, let me know. Karen and I go way back.”
Zane’s face transformed as he smiled openly, eyes bright. “I love it when you’re so helpful.”
“You know you’ll pay for it later,” Serena cooed as she glanced at Ty again, almost as if the continuing flirtation were a challenge to him. “So. Ty,”
she said suddenly. “I won’t say it’s nice to see you. But at least you’ve got a good man to work with on this case.”
“Yeah, he’s a real Boy Scout,” Ty answered flatly as he met her eyes unerringly.
Though she smiled at him, her eyes were utterly frigid. “Don’t f**k him over like you did your last partner.”
“Serena,” Zane said sharply.
She didn’t turn her chin to look at him. “What’s wrong, Zane? Surely you don’t think I’ll hurt his feelings. He doesn’t have any.”