"I 'predate it." Chuck nodded as he turned, then called back over his shoulder before disappearing into the back of the diner, "If youse want any more coffee, help yerselfs."

A quiet lull ensued, broken randomly by the noise of Chuck shifting boxes in the back room and Felicity stripping open packets of sugar. The static-plagued tune of the Talking Heads "Psycho Killer" fell in behind the duet as it wafted from thespeaker of a tinny radio behind the counter.

Considering what was happening a few blocks away, I suppose the song was appropriate.

"Can you tell me what's going on now, Ben?" I finally appealed.

"There ain't no other way to say this. You've been banned from any investigations involving the Major Case Squad."

I blinked. I waited for him to tell me he was kidding. He didn't, so I spoke.

"Excuse me? Banned? Why?"

"Listen," he started again. "That's what I was gettin' ready to tell ya'. With Bee-Bee runnin' the show, there's not a hell of a lot I can do."

"Who's Bee-Bee?" I asked, shaking my head. "I thought somebody named Albright was in charge."

"That's Bee-Bee. Bible Barb," he explained. "Lieutenant Barbara 'fuckin' holier than thou' Albright."

"But, I thought you were running this investigation," Felicity said.

He shook his head. "I'm just the investigating officer of record for the original case."

"Well doesn't that carry any weight?" I asked.

"For gettin' me outta bed in the middle of the night, maybe, but that's about it. It's pretty simple. She lieutenant, me lowly detective, and that's the size of it."

"Banned?" I repeated again.

"Yeah, Row. Banned."

"Aye, but you seemed to be running things before," Felicity interjected.

"Yeah, well it doesn't usually happen that way. It did then, but only because I was originally assigned the case, and the powers that be gave me some breathing room."

"So why aren't they now?" I asked.

"Well, let's see..." He rolled his eyes and huffed out a breath. "For starters, the lieutenant I reported to with the Major Case Squad retired."

"And this Albright woman is the replacement?" my wife half asked, half stated.

"Exactly."

"Correct me if I'm wrong," I posed, "but I was under the impression that lieutenants were basically management and that they didn't get that directly involved in investigations."

"Yeah, pretty much," he agreed with a nod. "But not always. Some of 'em get involved. As it happens Bee-Bee is a real hands-on, stir-the-shit type."

"So can't you go over her head?" I pressed.

"Not really. I dunno if you missed it, but in the past year we've gotten a newmayor and a new police chief in the city."

"Yeah, so?"

"Yeah, so, there's been a change in management my friends, and I'm not exactly considered a model employee right now."

"Why is that?" Felicity asked.

"Does a little nocturnal incident at the morgue a few weeks ago ring a bell?" he asked.

Unfortunately, it did. During the hunt for the serial rapist, I had convinced Ben to get me into the medical examiner's office to view the remains of a victim from an overlapping investigation. Normally, this wouldn't have been a problem, except that I had talked him into doing so in the middle of the night. The chaotic psychic events that ensued from there had caused quite a bit of commotion in this realm and my friend a generous share of trouble at the time. Apparently, they still were.

"Well, what if I had a talk with her?"

He scrunched his brow and looked confused. "What about?"

"About me and what I can do to help."

"Were you just not listening?" he asked incredulously. "The woman flat out said for me to 'leave my devil worshipper downstairs where he belonged.' News flash, Kemosabe. She was talkin' about you."

"I realize that, Ben, but she doesn't know anything about me."

"Oh hell yes she does," he returned. "At least she thinks she does anyway."

"How can she?" Felicity chimed in.

"Neither one of you is particularly low profile," he answered.

"You mean the papers?" I asked.

"...And the TV." He nodded.

"But that's just media hype," I told him in a dismissive tone.

"That's not going to tell her anything."

"Well, guess what?" he chided. "She's read 'em and watched 'em all, and as far as she's concerned, they're gospel. And she didn't get the nickname 'Bible Barb' for nothin'. She's drawn her conclusion, white man. You're the wicked Witch, and that's all there is to it."

"But that's just her," I objected.

He countered with a statement I hadn't expected, "And a few others."

"Who?" Felicity asked. "Arthur McCann?"

"He's one, obviously. But there're more... A handful of uniforms. Couple of detectives... Couple of the higher-ups, including the new chief..."

"What about my track record?" I asked.He started shaking his head again, "I got news for ya', Row. Your track record has a few potholes which is another reason why you aren't scorin' any points. Right now you're kinda looked upon as a loose cannon."

"What?"

"Yeah," he continued. "Chasin' after Porter on that bridge, the thing at the morgue..."

"What about you?" I asked with a nod in his direction. "What do you think?"

He fell silent for a moment, looked away, then sighed before bringing his eyes back to meet mine.

"After what you did a few weeks back, I think maybe you might be a bit of a danger to yourself, yeah."

He was talking about the fact that I had deliberately run his van through a set of plate-glass windows in order to get inside a building.

"That was different, and you know it," I argued. "The sonofabitch had Felicity in there."

"Yeah," he rebutted. "And that's the only reason I let it go, white man. If you'll remember correctly, I lied about what really happened on my report."

I didn't have a comeback for the comment because I knew he had done exactly that.

"Listen, Row," he started after an uncomfortable silence. "You've still got friends in the department, and I'm one of them."

"Even though you think I'm a danger to myself," I volunteered with a slightly sarcastic edge to my voice.

"Yeah, even though," he echoed. "Cut me some slack here. I know what you can do. I've seen it first hand. And I'm even willin' to trust you if you wanna know the truth."

"Trust me to what?"

"To help stop this bastard."

"That will be hard to do if I'm cut off from the investigation."

"I know."

My friend turned to stare out the window, and I allowed my gaze to follow his.

Our muted reflections stared back from the pane of glass, mirroring our weariness like an overexposed snapshot. The darkness of night was still holding its ground and seemed in no hurry to relinquish its position. A quick glance at my watch told me that there was a pair of hours yet to go before the morning would ooze in above the heavy clouds.

"So, where do we go from here, then?" Felicity piped up again.

"Back to the beginning. Back to what started this whole conversation." He turnedhis gaze to her, then to me. "Do you think you can come up with somethin'

worthwhile off that crime scene?"

"That's kind of a moot point isn't it?" I shook my head as I asked the question.

"No. No it's not," he replied.

"But you said I was banned from the investigation."

"Officially you are."

"Aye." My wife cocked her head to the side and raised an eyebrow. "What are you saying?"

"What I'm sayin' is that if I'm gonna take a chance on losin' my badge, I need to know it's gonna get us somewhere."

I never got a chance to answer my friend's question.

Chapter 4:.

The muffled electronic wail of a pager began sounding from somewhere across the table. By the time it had completed its second demand for attention, it was joined by the steadily rising trill of a cell phone vying for the same.

"Jeeeez..." Ben complained aloud as he pulled the beeper from his belt and fumbled with it until he managed to switch it off, and then peered at the display while sending his other hand to rustle through his coat pocket. "It's Albright," he told us as he laid the pager on the table and withdrew the screaming phone.

Before he could thumb the button on the second device to answer the call, the beeper began pulsing once more, prompting him to clumsily stab at it again.

"Yeah, Storm, hold on..." he barked into the phone while struggling to mute the pager.

The device was swallowed by his large hand, and his searching fingers were no match for its relatively diminutive size. Felicity finally reached out, snatched the noisemaker from his palm, and pressed the appropriate button. He quickly mouthed the word "Thanks" in her direction before turning his attention to the voice at the other end of the cell phone.

"Uh-huh, yeah, I'm here," he said as he sent his free hand on another fishing expedition, withdrawing it from his pocket a moment later and laying his notepad on the table. "Yeah... Yeah..."

My friend held his pen poised over the paper as his eyes closed, and his face noticeably slackened. He dropped the pen and sighed heavily."Yeah, okay. You're sure? Uh-huh. Yeah, great... No, I'll take care of that. Jeez, I don't fuckin' need this... Yeah, I know. Okay. Yeah." He picked up the pen, and his hand began moving as he scratched out a jumble of letters that were legible only to him. "Can ya' spell that? Yeah...Yeah...Uh-huh...t-i-g-k-e-i-t. Yeah. Two S's?

Okay...Got it.

"Okay, yeah. You sendin' someone?" He shook his head as he spoke into the phone. "Yeah. Yeah. No problem. He's with me now. We'll be there in about ten.

Yeah. Later."

He pulled the device away from his ear and immediately began stabbing at buttons in an ordered fashion.

"What's going on?" Felicity asked.

"Just a sec," he told her as he tucked the phone against the side of his head once again. "Yeah, Osthoff, it's Storm... Yeah, tell me about it. Listen, there's a file folder in my desk, middle drawer. Yeah...Yeah...Got it? Good. So there's a list in there.

Yeah. So, I need you to call Ackman and feed him the numbers. Yeah, yeah. It's not good. No, he's with me. Yeah, I know. No, he's on scene so call his cell. You got the number? Great. Thanks. Yeah, I'll tell him. Bye."

The cell phone beeped as he pressed a button to end the call and then stared across the table at us with an eyebrow arched and a pained frown deepening the fatigue lines in his face.

"What?" I finally asked.

"I'm thinkin'," was his reply.

"Uh-huh," I returned. "Now tell me something that isn't obvious."

"Chill, Row." He reached up and rubbed his forehead. "This ain't good."