Body Count Read Free Page A

the building isquiet and partially dark. I look at my watch. It’s seven o’clock and I should join the others. When they left half an hour ago my boss, Andy Rivers, was pretty insistent.
    â€œWhat are you doing, Anderson? File it tomorrow. It’s time to celebrate. God knows, you deserve it.”
    â€œI’ll come over soon,” I promised. But instead of going to the bar, I started filing the case notes.
    I place the last of my handwritten notes, case files and photos into the file and box it up, ready to go to the D.A. for prosecution. I’ll definitely be called to the stand for Boxley. Eventually my boxed notes will end up in the archives room, where all the solved ones go. Never to be seen again, just like Boxley; he’ll never see the outside of a prison again.
    I like filing the notes as soon as the case is closed. It’s symbolic. I try to erase the case from my memory, at least until the trial.
    I bend over my desk with my back to the door.
    â€œSo—”
    I jolt with fear until I process the familiar voice. Agent Josh Marco.
    â€œâ€”you did it, hey, Anderson?”
    â€œMarco, how do you do that?” He can enter a room without making the slightest sound.
    â€œIt’s my job. What’s your excuse?”
    â€œFinishing up the paperwork and closing the file.”
    â€œWell, though I can see that’s more important than joining us for a drink, I actually meant how do you get so damn close with your profiles.”
    â€œOh, that.” I act coy. “It’s my job. Besides, you get close too.”
    â€œTrue, but you…” He pauses. “Let’s say I’m impressed with your skills. In fact, you may just be the best profiler I’ve ever worked with.”
    I blush. I love my job and I like the thought of being the best, but I’m not there yet. “Nah.” I fidget with the files on my desk. I’m the rookie in this department and the compliment makes me feel uncomfortable. “We all get the profiles right,” I say.
    â€œThat’s what they pay us for.” He smiles. “I’m going over now, you coming?”
    â€œSoon.”
    â€œCome on.”
    I look at my relatively tidy desk. I guess I can send the files to the D.A. tomorrow.
    â€œAll right, already,” I say, putting on my best American accent.
    â€œYou still ain’t got it.”
    â€œGetting there?”
    â€œYeah, another year and you might be able to pull it off.”
    â€œWell I’d like to see you try. Americans are shit at the Australian accent.”
    â€œI reckon I come pretty close,” he says in a perfect Australian accent.
    â€œI’m impressed. You’ve been hiding this talent from me for six months?”
    â€œI had to go undercover as an Australian once, but if I tell you any more, I’ll have to kill you.” He leans on the doorway and gives me a wink.
    â€œThat line might work on the girls in the bars, but it won’t fly with me.” I give him a smirk and an exaggerated flutter of the eyelashes.
    â€œGuess not, Goldilocks.”
    â€œAm I getting you going again?”
    â€œAlways, Goldilocks, always.” He smiles.
    Over the past six months I’ve discovered bits and pieces of the Josh Marco jigsaw, but it still doesn’t amount to much. I know he started off as a cop, was in the air force and did some time as an FBI field agent before coming to the unit. I also know he’s a good agent.
    â€œCome on. Let me drag you away before Rivers gets pissed,” Marco says.
    Rivers…I’ve got even fewer pieces of that jigsaw.
    â€œYou said he’s single, right?” I ask.
    â€œYeah. Heard he was married once, though.”
    â€œDivorced?”
    â€œGuess so. It’s the way things go in this unit.” He folds his arms across his chest. “No one knows squat about Rivers anyway. You know what he’s like.”
    â€œYeah, I guess.”