Blood Debt

so much time no one has that it becomes real low priority."
    "I think they took off his hands because they wanted to use them."
    "Dead man's prints?"
    "It's a possibility. And organized crime ties into your organ-legging theory."
    "Hey! It's not my theory," he protested. "I just repeated what I heard on that cable show."
    "It adds up, Mike. Organized crime's always looking for new ways to make a buck. They provide bodies so that the rich can buy organs for transplant, then, in their own warped version of reduce, reuse, and recycle, they use the hands to print weapons for hits. It even explains why the body was found in the harbor. The Port Authority is fully unionized, and unions have always had ties to organized crime."
    "What? When Jimmy Hoffa disappeared, he moved to Vancouver?"
    Celluci tossed the papers down on the bed and jerked both hands back through his hair. "You're really reaching, Vicki."
    "All right, forget the unions. But I still say the simplest explanation is usually the right explanation."
    "You think that's a simple explanation?" he asked, the incredulous tone only slightly exaggerated. "And in case you haven't noticed, there's only been one body. Not many bucks made there."
    "There's only been one body found. Either they're just getting started and their disposal's still a bit sloppy, or this one got caught in the wrong current. Either way, no one's going to set up something so complicated for just one kidney."
    "If the kidney has anything to do with the murder and isn't just a coincidence. You remember those, don't you Vicki?"
    She ignored him. "Besides, we have to start somewhere, and God knows, we've got bugger all else to go on. I'll look into the gang aspect tomorrow night. Given the recent rise in Chinese immigrants, odds are good there's a triad presence at the very least."
    "Unfortunately, I can't argue with that…"
    Her mouth made a sarcastic moue. "Poor baby."
    "… but I think perhaps if all this is what the police should be doing, maybe we should leave it to the police. You know as well as I do, that the last thing the investigating officers are going to want is some out-of-town PI—and an out-of-town cop on vacation," he added hurriedly when her eyes started to silver, "—butting in where they don't belong and screwing up the case."
    "Normally, I'd agree with you." She frowned at his expression of patent disbelief. "I would. Unfortunately, Henry's ghost seems pretty specific about Henry avenging him, so we have to find the murderer before the police do or Henry could be playing twenty questions with the dead for eternity."
    "I'm willing to risk it," Celluci snorted, rather enjoying the possibility of Henry Fitzroy backed into a corner.
    "I'm not."
    And that was that.
    "So why should a ghost care who avenges him?"
    "How the hell should I know?"
    "I won't allow Henry to play vampire vigilante."
    "No one's asking you to."
    "It's too early in the morning for that argument." He half-covered a yawn. "But we'll have it, I promise. Hell's going to freeze over before I let Henry take the law into his own hands."
    "Again?" Vicki asked dryly.
    "Just because he's done it before, doesn't make it right." Prodded by his conscience, Celluci shifted uncomfortably in place. The lines between justice and the law had a tendency to blur around Henry Fitzroy—he didn't like it, but so far he'd done absolutely nothing to stop it. Where, he wondered, do I draw the new line?
    Sighing deeply, he peered up at Vicki, wishing she'd move into the circle of the light so he could see her expression instead of just the pale oval of her face. "I take it that I'm to run a few daylight errands for you?"
    She nodded, one finger tracing lazy circles in his chest hair. "I want you to ask that cable interviewer why she thinks it's organ-legging.
    What's she basing her theory on? Maybe she knows something, or has heard something…"
    "Or maybe she's making it up as she goes along."
    "Maybe. And you're right…" She smacked him as he recoiled in pretend shock. "… the missing kidney could be coincidence, but I'd still like to hear her reasons for bringing it up."
    "And if her reasons had more to do with ratings than facts?"
    "Then we still have the gang angle to work on."
    The gleam in her eyes evoked another deep sigh. "You're looking forward to doing some shit-disturbing, aren't you?"
    "Don't be ridiculous."
    "You're still a lousy liar, Vicki." Reaching out, he enclosed her hand in his. "Try to remember you're immortal,