Vendetta Read Free Page B

a ransom note.”
    “
Oooh
,” Cat said appreciatively.
    “See? It’s gonna be a good one. Zilpho plus DeMarco equals job security. Heck, maybe even promotions. Let’s go tell Ward we want this.”
    “In a nice, polite way,” Cat added.
    “Of course.” Tess took another swig from her travel mug and made a face as if she had just swallowed battery acid. “I’m telling you, J.T. makes the worst coffee I have tasted in my
life
. I’m getting him one of those fancy machines with the little pre-measured cups. You can’t screw that up.”
    “J.T. made you coffee?” Cat chuckled. “At your place or his?”
    Tess scoffed. “Are you kidding? This coffee was destroyed on-site at nerd central.” Tess went a little pink, but just a little. “The conditions of my man-cleanse require that no one stays at my house. Staying at my house is messy. In more ways than one.”
    Tess and J.T. had a complicated relationship: Tess had told J.T. to his face that he was all wrong for her. Shortly after that, she had leaped on top of him in his rolling desk chair and planted a long, passionate kiss on him. Cat hadn’t been a witness to this, but J.T. had told Vincent, and Vincent had told Cat.
    As for the other definition, for a neat freak like Tess, “messy” meant that one of the many framed photographs of her and Cat was a centimeter askew. J.T. had no housekeeping skills whatsoever. Give him a place to set down a bag of gummi worms and a beer and he was happy as a clam.
    “Does J.T. mind that you never have him over?” Cat asked as they trooped together toward Captain Ward’s office. The door hung wide open and plain-clothes and uniformed officers were racing in and out. Beyond, the windows were broad rectangles of ebony.
    “The Bronx is down,” a uni said as he sailed past Cat and Tess.
    Rikers
, Cat thought. Former FBI Special Agent Robert Reynolds, her biological father, was incarcerated there. Her stomach did a flip, but she put thoughts of him on hold. As she so often did.
    “What on earth is
happening
?” Tess said. In a lower voice meant for Cat’s ears, she added, “Are you kidding? J.T.
mind
that I’m staying over at his place? He’s having sex on a regular basis. He’s in heaven.”
    “A regular basis?” Cat echoed.
    Tess closed her eyes and grimaced—as if to admit that she’d said too much—and looked past Cat.
    “Captain,” she called.
    Their harried boss glanced up. When he saw them, his expression grew very somber, and Cat swallowed hard. Her cop instincts told her that he had bad news for one or both of them… and that it had nothing to do with the DeMarcos.
    It can’t be Vincent. Vincent is safe. He’s fine.
    “Chandler, Vargas,” he said, by way of greeting. His manner was very grave, even stern, as if they hadn’t partied together hours before, toasting Zilpho’s demise. “The entire city’s in chaos.”
    “Are they suspecting terrorism?” Cat asked. The tragedy of 9-11 was never far from any New Yorker’s mind. Vincent had lost both his brothers in the Twin Towers, and their deaths had prompted him to drop out of medical school and enlist in the army. From there, his own tragedy had occurred—being experimented on by Muirfield, then hunted like an animal so that Cat’s own father could put him down.
    “Unknown,” Ward replied. “But we have plenty to keep us busy while that’s under investigation.”
    “Speaking of which, we have a case,” Tess said. “It’s a case we deserve. Right, Cat?”
    Tess looked over at Cat for confirmation. But Cat was staring straight at Captain Ward. “What is it?” she asked slowly.
    He returned her serious expression. “Chandler, let’s take a minute.” He looked expectantly at Tess.
    “I’m her partner,” Tess said. “You want me to butt out, Cat?”
    Cat shook her head. “If it’s all right with you, sir, I’d like my partner to stay.”
    “Very well.”
    Just then Pamy, one of the civilian secretaries, poked her head in,