Nolan’s lips pressed into a thin line. “Wasn’t that hasty?” he bit out, tailing at Grayson’s heels as they crossed the tarmac. “We have a catatonic witness who might know the identity of the murderer. Maybe we could use an empath to reach him.”
“No.”
“It’s a gray area,” Nolan protested. “We just use the empath to bring the witness out of the catatonia, we don’t let the empath elicit any testimony and we won’t have a Fifth Amendment problem. We get answers and a quick win, and we’ve got a dead fucking senator so I want a win. Look, Agent Grayson—”
Grayson came to an abrupt stop at the black truck. “I heard an empath already went into the ambulance with that witness. I heard you went in after him.”
“We didn’t know about the empath ban yet,” Nolan protested. “No one saw the harm.”
“Pretty sure Detective St. James told you not to use empaths.”
“St. James is hardly a neutral party,” Nolan said derisively. “People have blind spots when it comes to their little brothers.”
“Some folks,” Grayson said enigmatically. He leaned against the passenger door of the truck. “What happened in the ambulance with Mr. Davies and the witness?”
Nolan huffed. Why was Grayson wasting time with these questions? “There was an EMT—”
“I want to hear how much you know.”
A shiver of unease crawled over Nolan. Why would Grayson care how much an FBI agent knew? “Nothing happened,” he said, because if Grayson wasn’t giving answers, neither was he.
“Agent Nolan,” said Grayson, his neutral gaze never wavering, still casually leaning on the door of his truck. “I just got some news that’s gonna complicate this mess even further. What that means is I don’t have time for you to leave stuff out.”
This uppity kid who thought he had the right to do whatever he wanted—he was nothing but a rumor with a scary name. In fact, how did Nolan know he really was the Dead Man? Why would the Dead Man be this young? Look likethis? Grayson might not have been Agent Grayson at all, just a civilian fucking around where they shouldn’t.
He stepped forward, into Grayson’s personal space. “Are you calling me a liar?”
“Should I be?” Grayson said, without flinching.
Nolan jabbed Grayson in the chest. “Watch your tone,” he snapped. “How do I know you’re who you say are? You have a badge of some kind?”
“I don’t answer to any agencies.”
“So you have no proof and maybe you’re the liar,” said Nolan, reaching for his cuffs. “And maybe I arrest you for interfering with a crime scene and evidence tampering—”
Grayson reversed their positions so fast Nolan’s head spun. The air left his lungs in a painful burst as he hit the passenger door hard enough to dent the metal.
“The people of Seattle do not have time for this.” Grayson’s voice and expression remained as unruffled as if they were having a banal conversation about weather. “Every second you waste could mean someone else’s life. What happened in the ambulance?”
He had Nolan against the truck with one hand in the center of his chest, pinned to the passenger door like a lab specimen to the dissection table. They were nearly the same size but Nolancouldn’t move. His heart pounded as he tried to answer. “The empath refused to do the read. And then he ran.”
“Anything else?”
“Just—theeyes.”
“The eyes,” Grayson repeated. “Talk.Fast.”
Chapter Six
Reporter:...in continuing coverage of the tragic death of Senator Hathaway, no official statement yet from the police. Cedrick Stone, CEO of Stone Solutions, makers of the famous anti-empathy gloves, has promised his company’s resources are at the disposal of those searching for Hathaway’s killer, while American Minds Intact president Beau Macy spoke with us this morning to give his organization’s position on this shocking crime.
Macy: AMI has been there since the beginning. We’re as old as the Empath Initiative; as old as the oldest empaths. And we know that this gruesome death of the most staunchly anti-empathy senator is no coincidence.
Reporter: You believe Senator Hathaway was targeted by the pro-empathy movement?
Macy: Maybe the movement. Maybe more than that.
Reporter: But you can’t think the empaths are behind this. Privacy issues are one thing, but empaths are pacifists, completely averse to violence.
