The Maze

she'd done quickly enough, but who cared'/ She couldn't continue here. He wouldn't allow it; the breach had been too great, her conduct too far beyond the line. No, he wouldn't allow her to stay, no matter what game he was playing with her now.

    She'd barely sat down at her desk before Hannah Paisley said from behind her, "You're stupid, Sherlock, or does he call you by your cute little first name, Lacey?"

    "I'm not stupid, Hannah, I'm just very tired. Well, maybe I am stupid."

    "Why are you so tired? Did Savich keep you up all night? How many times did he fuck you, Sherlock?''

    Lacey flinched at the harshness of Hannah's voice, not the naked word. That naked word conjured up some smutty, frankly silly photos in Playboy, showing contorting bodies. Now that she thought about it, they hardly ever showed the men completely naked, just the women. Really naked.

    "Please, Hannah, there's nothing at all between us. Savich doesn't even like me. In fact-"

    "In fact what?"

    Lacey just shook her head. No, let Hannah hear it from Savich. It would happen soon enough.

    "Just look at me, Hannah. I'm skinny and very plain. You're beautiful-surely you must know that. I'm no threat to you, please believe me. Besides I don't like Savich any more than he likes me. Would you try to believe at least that?"

    "No. I spotted what you were the minute you walked into the Unit."

    "What am I?"

    "You're a manipulative bitch. You saw Savich at the Academy and you got him interested so he'd bring you into the Unit. But you listen to me, you stay away from Savich or I'll take you apart. You know I can. Do you hear me?"

    Ollie came walking over, nearly sauntering, whistling, if Lacey wasn't mistaken, as if he didn't have a care in the world, but she saw his eyes. He recognized what he was seeing and he didn't like it. "Hey, Hannah, what's happening with the Lazarus case? What does the guy use all those Coke bottles for?"

    She wasn't shaking because of what Hannah had said-no,

    Hannah and her ridiculous jealousy meant less than nothing to her. Lacey had seen other women in Savich's office, young women, nice-looking women. Did Hannah go after all of them as well?

    Who cared? Forget Hannah. She turned her back on both Hannah and Ollie and booted up her computer, tapped her fingers while she waited, then punched in Savich's password. Nothing happened.

    Then suddenly, there appeared: Not this time, Sherlock.

    The screen went black. The computer was her enemy. As long as Savich was still breathing, the computer would remain her enemy. She lifted her fingers from the keyboard and laid her hands in her lap.

    "Your aunt all right?"

    It was Ollie. He pulled up a chair and sat beside her. "You look like shit, Sherlock."

    "Thanks. Yes, my aunt is just fine now."

    "You look like you're ready to go over the edge."

    She'd lived on the edge for seven years; no reason to go over now. She smiled at him. "Not really. I'm just tired, and that's what I told Hannah. Thanks for drawing her fire, Ollie. I wish she'd open her eyes and realize that I'm about as much a threat to her as a duck in the sights of a hunter."

    "That's an odd thing to say, Sherlock. Savich told me to tell you to come into the conference room. What's it all about?"

    "Tell the agents how the Ghost gets into the nursing homes, Sherlock."

    She sat forward, her hands clasped together. "The Ghost is disguised as an old woman, a nursing home resident. Ollie showed me how to mix and match report data and plug it into two overlapping protocols. I did it with data from what the witnesses had said after each of the murders. No one found anything unusual in any of these reports-not the witnesses, not the cops, not us. But the computer did." She handed out a piece of paper. "These are direct quotes from the witnesses, just the pertinent parts, naturally, just the parts that, once tied together, pull the killer out of the bag."

    Savich read aloud: '"No one around, Lieutenant. Not a single soul. Oh, just some patients, of course. They were scared, some of them disoriented. Perfectly natural.' " He raised his head. "This is from a night floor nurse." He read down the page. "This one is from a janitor: "There wasn't anybody around. Just old folks and they're everywhere. Scared, they were. I helped several of them back to their rooms.' "

    Romero nearly squeaked when he read: " 'There was this one old lady who felt faint. I carried her into the nearest room, the recreation parlor. Poor old