Cut and Run 1 - Cut and Run

storefront across the street from the crime scene. He'd been watching for twenty minutes, not moving at all. Ty stood beside him, a little further away from the window because he was restless and couldn't quite stand still.
    They watched as the local police set up a perimeter to keep out curious bystanders, cordoned off possible witnesses, and spread plainclothes agents through the gathering crowd to spot possible suspects. They watched Detectives Pierce and Holleman stand and scratch their heads in bewilderment, and they watched Ross and Sears arrive with Henninger and Morrison in tow and scratch their heads, too. They watched the medical examiner arrive—the new one—followed by two techs and a body bag.
    "Looks pretty chaotic. I think we can get in and out and never be seen,” Ty murmured to Zane. “The ME is new; he won't know us. And you know he's got it pretty cleared out in there now as he examines the body."
    Zane nodded slowly, still watching. He pulled out his phone, hit a few buttons, and waited. Down on the street, Henninger dug out his phone.
    "We're going in with the ME. Keep the rest out,” Zane said shortly. After a long moment in which the other agent answered, he snapped the phone shut, a grim look on his face. “Let's go,” he said quietly. “Around the block and through the back. Entrance through the back."
    Ty nodded and followed silently. They'd been leaving the bookstore with their newly purchased collection of Poe stories when they'd received the call, and he was almost eager to see if this newest murder would fit into their theory.
    They headed outside and around the block, well away from the gathered law enforcement, and came in through the back alley where the ambulance was parked. There were just a couple cops to stand guard. A quick flash of their badges and some officious government snarls at the overworked men, and they were in.
    Zane shoved his hands in his pockets and walked carefully on the narrow runner of plastic laid over the slick and sticky floor. Each room was bloody. They found the new ME in the living room.
    The man looked over his shoulder at them. “You're the team from the Bureau?"
    Ty glanced at Zane and then back at the ME. “What can you tell us?” he asked without answering the question.
    "Occupant of the house is a seventy-one-year-old male. We don't know if he's the victim yet, but he's nowhere to be found. No way to tell time of death just yet except for the congealing of the blood. I'd say anywhere from three to five hours,” the examiner told them. He stood up from where he crouched, carefully keeping his hands away from his own body. His gloves were stained almost to the wrists. “We're still finding pieces around the house. I figure most of the victim is here."
    "How was the scene discovered?” Zane asked stoically.
    The ME glanced between them. “The victim's heart was delivered to Federal Plaza with this address on a return address label."
    "The heart?” Ty echoed flatly.
    The ME nodded and merely looked at him as Zane rubbed his hand over his eyes, flinching painfully. Ty glanced around and pursed his lips. The blood that was visible was beginning to dry and grow darker. There were indeed pieces, just as the man had said. It was like a scene from some camp slasher movie. But Ty wasn't registering the absolute horror of the scene he was calmly perusing. Instead, he found himself trying to fit it into the profile he had made of the killer all those months ago.
    "Anything else remarkable?” Zane forced himself to ask. He wanted—needed—to get out of there. Very soon. It was messing with his head.
    "The murder weapon,” the ME answered with a nod. He had one of the crime scene techs lead them over to a dresser that was decked out with a white cloth and tapers in silver candlesticks. On a tarnished silver platter in the center of the cloth was a gore-caked hacksaw.
    Zane took one good look, nodded sharply and turned away, clenching his trembling hands into tight fists. It wasn't the blood and carnage that bothered him so much; it was the idea that someone did this to another living person, that it was so obviously planned.
    Ty didn't notice his partner's reactions. Instead, he stared at the placement of the murder weapon curiously, intrigued by it.
    "They found it like this?” he asked with a wave at the platter.
    The tech nodded. “We're the only ones who've been in this room, sir."
    Ty turned and looked over the room, glancing at Zane and