Cut and Run 1 - Cut and Run

breath and went stalking back out into the main room and grabbed for his leather jacket. Zane stood at the window, arms crossed, staring out at nothing while lost in thought.
    "Back to brooding, I see,” Ty observed wryly as he patted his chest down, making certain his guns weren't overly obvious before he shrugged into his jacket. “Better than actively whining, I guess."
    Zane was silent for a moment longer before grunting and moving to the table to start stacking folders. “Yeah, well, I guess you haven't fucked it out of me yet,” he muttered.
    "Gonna take more than I could ever do,” Ty shot back as he gathered his badge and wallet.
    Shaking his head, Zane fell quiet again. He couldn't keep up the argument if he had any intention of conducting himself properly on the job. All it would take would be one good complaint back to Burns about his lack of professionalism. And as much as local cops hated Feds? Zane didn't want to take any chances. He shoved several files into a canvas briefcase and then reached for his gun.
    It was going to be a long fucking day.
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Chapter Eight
    Detective Steve Pierce's gaze slid from his partner back across the table to Zane. “We've been on this case from the beginning. There isn't anyone else who can give you more information, and we got none. Talk to the coroner, maybe. Or that lady profiler of yours, Scott."
    "We've spoken to Scott,” Ty told him with a curl of his lip. “We don't want to be told what's happened. We want to be told what you think . Here's your big chance to let us know you actually have synapses firing."
    The detective leaned back in his chair, eyes flickering from Ty to Zane, sitting across the table from him. He crossed his arms stubbornly and regarded them silently.
    Zane's eyes narrowed ever so slightly, and he looked away from Pierce, instead addressing Holleman. “You've been to all the scenes. Surely you have some sort of feeling worked out about all this."
    Ty rolled his eyes and looked away, his attention wandering to the wanted posters on the walls. He despised these men. Cops he liked, on a whole. Sometimes, he thought he would have been better as a cop than a Fed. But these two men in particular were complete dicks.
    "You wanna hear my feeling?” Holleman responded with hostility. “My feeling is that you people are so concerned with your meetings and paperwork that you're wasting our time with them. We could be out there right now—"
    "Yeah, you've been doing a bang-up job so far, Steve ,” Ty drawled without looking away from the nearest poster.
    Zane would have laughed if he weren't already so annoyed. These two assholes had been jerking them around for almost an hour now, making snide remarks about the victims and even more insulting comments about the FBI's operation. “The only reason we're in this meeting is to try to get some help. Like Pierce said, you've been here the whole time. No one else knows more about the case. The sooner you fill us in, the sooner all of us can be out there."
    Pierce smiled smugly. “All right, then, I'll give you the rundown. Some of these cases are a serial, sure. But not all of them. How's that for insight ?"
    "Which ones don't you think fit?” Ty demanded.
    "The drug addict, for one. The hooker, for sure. And the other two girls, the roommates. We did some digging; turns out they got around quite a bit,” Pierce told them.
    The hand Zane had on his thigh below the table clenched into a whitened fist. “Got around, huh?” he asked, voice deceptively quiet. Earlier comments about victim carelessness had been bad enough. This was enough to make Zane's blood boil.
    "So what?” Ty asked nonchalantly, not even registering his partner's annoyance. “They got around. So did your momma, but nobody dyed her hair purple and suffocated her."
    Pierce's face twisted. “Asshole,” he snarled. “They got around a lot more than any self-respecting college girls ought to,” he insisted.
    "Christ,” Ty laughed incredulously. “Have you been to a college campus lately?” he asked.
    "We figure they were out hooking casual,” Pierce continued, undeterred, “and just got the wrong guy to take home. Fits."
    "What makes you think they were hooking?” Ty asked as he leaned forward and cocked his head.
    "Client list,” Pierce grunted.
    "Otherwise known as an address book?” Ty asked wryly.
    "Fuck you, Grady,” Pierce snarled.
    Zane could feel the fury just roiling in his stomach