Cut and Run 1 - Cut and Run

then back at the bloody floor again. “Anything else?” he asked the crime scene guy.
    "The only thing we've found that's odd is a hole cut in the floorboards. We're pretty sure the murder weapon was used to do it,” the tech answered.
    "Where's the hole?” Zane demanded.
    "Bedroom. Here, I'll show you,” the man answered as he pointed to a nearby doorway. “But it's not a hole. The killer covered it again,” he added hastily as he led them into a front room of the house. “We haven't lifted the cover yet. We just finished taking photos."
    Ty frowned down at the crudely cut square in the floor. “This dude's nuttier than squirrel shit,” he muttered.
    The tech glanced at him and bit his lip to keep from smiling.
    Zane carefully knelt down, staring at the cracks in the wood. “Gloves,” he asked, holding up one hand.
    The tech blinked down at him, then glanced at Ty.
    "Don't you think maybe you should let the crime scene dudes do this, Hoss?” Ty asked Zane pointedly.
    "Give me some fucking gloves,” Zane growled.
    The tech pulled some out of his pocket and handed them over without questioning. After pulling them on, Zane started slowly tracing the cracks in the floorboards with his fingers. Ty watched wordlessly, recognizing Zane's gears turning but too annoyed with him to care.
    All Ty knew was that their perp was getting frustrated with the lack of progress the Feds had been making, and he was now putting on a show. It felt almost like he was excited. The scene had a sense of manic glee to it, something none of the other scenes had carried with them. Ty looked over his shoulder, back in the direction of the room with the platter and the murder weapon, flanked by silver candlesticks.
    It felt like a party. Like a welcome home party, complete with bloody confetti. But that wasn't possible, and Ty frowned as he began to wonder about his own mental stability. The killer had no way of knowing they were back on the case yet. If their theory was correct, he had nothing to be celebrating.
    Kneeling on the floor, Zane pulled at the cutout of the hardwood floor with his fingers, but it was too tight to lift. He reached into his jacket sleeve and pulled out one of his knives, sliding it into the gap between the boards and applying pressure carefully.
    The board lifted easily. He pulled it away and set it aside, then reached for the next one.
    "What are you doing?” Ty asked in alarm as Zane began destroying the crime scene.
    Zane looked grimly down into the hole as he lifted a second floorboard. “Take a look,” he said to Ty as he sat back.
    Ty and the tech both bent over the hole and peered down into it. Inside was a simple piece of white construction paper. Drawn on it in blood was a stylized heart.
    "Weird,” the tech observed flatly.
    Ty turned his head to look at the man, then down at Zane. “Probably our token. What'd you expect to find?” he asked curiously.
    Zane shrugged distractedly. “I don't know. Had hardwood floors growing up, used to hide things under them,” he explained in a troubled voice. He stood up, peeling the gloves off and handing them to the tech. “Thanks,” he said quietly before turning on his heel and leaving the room.
    Ty stood still and watched Zane retreat with a frown, then looked back down at the note left under the floorboards. He sighed and looked back up. Even in here, far removed from what appeared to be the main crime scene, there was blood and gore.
    "Takes a real madman to do this to another human being,” the ME said to him softly from the doorway where he'd been watching.
    Ty gave the ME a glance and shook his head, taking stock of the fact that he himself was trying to figure out how the perp had done it physically, rather than mentally or morally. He stood and walked slowly to the door, standing beside the man.
    "Scarier still,” he murmured to the medical examiner as he looked through the house to the back porch where Zane stood. “I don't think he's crazy at all,” he said softly as he left the room carefully, making certain he stayed on the plastic on his way out.
    Zane stood outside, a cigarette already lit. He didn't move when Ty came out onto the porch. The dark circles under Zane's eyes were pronounced, and he looked exhausted and ill. His eyes were still blank, as if he was thinking about something so hard that he was almost zoning out over it.
    Ty reached over and took the cigarette from between his lips, putting it out against the thick denim