A mad scientist with access to Stone’s technology and books on tor—
No, Reece wasn’t going think about the box; he’d already exceeded his breakdown quota for the day. He looked up at Grayson. “You’ve got a reserved parking spot at Cedrick Stone’s company.” He folded his arms over his chest. “Were you friends with Jason Owens too?”
It was stupid—so stupid—to be upset at the thought that Grayson might have been friendly with this unsettling Owens guy. Grayson had been honest that he was paid, at least in part, by Stone Solutions. Grayson was the Dead Man. Heshouldhave been firmly on Stone and Owens’ side against empaths.
But Frodo was the one to say, “I’d guess Agent Grayson isn’tfriendlywith anyone, and certainly not Dr. Owens.”
“And why’s that?” Reece said.
“Because Owens was a creep,” Diesel said bluntly. “And I’m getting a vibe that if he’d known all this shit about Owens, Blondie here would have broken some bones.”
Reece’s knees buckled. Grayson grabbed him by the sweatshirt before he hit the floor. “Real empath,” he drawled as he pulled Reece back upright by the hood. “Real aversion to violence.”
“Oh, so sorry!” Diesel’s eyes were wide. “I didn’t—”
“You didn’t mean to,” Reece said, trying to steady his wobbly knees. Probably wasn’t helping anything that he’d puked up what little he’d eaten. “Are they right?” he demanded of Grayson. “Not about the—you know—but about the not-friendly part? Why wouldn’t you be best buds with everyone at Stone Solutions? You’re an empath hunter.”
Lie. Lie? Wait, what part of Reece now thought that wasn’t true?
Oh no. Was it the same traitorous brain cell that had turned its back on Team A, the rational minds that were nervous around Grayson, and gleefully yee-hawed its way onto Team B, theWouldn’t Kick Grayson Out of Bedwackos?
“I keep saying specialist,” said Grayson, and headed for the door, with Reece scrambling after him.
Chapter Seventeen
From: Mayor Nguyen
To: Lieutenant Parson
CC: Liam Lee
Subject: Empath PR
With all due respect, Lieutenant, my office needs more reassurance than “the empath isn’t working the case.” Your empath consultant is a liability on his good days and TODAY IS NOT A GOOD ONE. Senator Hathaway is dead and the killer hasn’t been found. People are scared, Stone Solutions is excoriating us, AMI is enrolling record numbers and my phone won’t stop ringing. I want to hear your consultant is a thousand miles away. The city is a powder keg and I need to know an empath isn’t going to light the fuse.
“If Stone’s car drove away,” Reece said, catching up to Grayson down the hall, “does that mean Huang’s off the hook?”
Grayson glanced down at him. “Do I seem like I ever let anyone off the hook?”
“You seem like one bigspecialistsphinx full of riddles.”
As they crossed the floor, a thin man with even thinner blond hair and glasses was coming up the stairs. He wore a Stone Solutions polo shirt, and as his gaze landed on Reece, the man’s eyes instantly narrowed.
“Mr. Egner.” Grayson got between them before Reece could say a word. “The manager’s gonna require your assistance recovering files.”
Reece pointed at Egner. “You know him?” he said to Grayson.
“I sent for him,” Grayson said. “He’s head of IT at Stone Solutions.”
Reece frowned. “But why—”
“You think Mr. Frazier is gonna find his files intact? Or you think someone deleted anything we might need to see?” Grayson jerked his head at Egner and pointed down the hall. “Office is that way. Or are you stalling for a reason, Mr. Egner?”
But Egner had gone still, cold eyes still on Reece. “That’s a real empath.”
Great, another Stone Solutions jerk who hated empaths. Reece opened his mouth but Grayson said, “Mr. Davies is not your concern.”
“Dr. Whitman didn’t say anything about having to deal with a real empath,” Egner snapped. “She said I had to come to the fake empath club and fix whatever an Agent Grayson said—”
