“If he was simply unstable to start with, the loss of his comrades could be the precipitating event. He’s so far into the vampire world now that I doubt anything could pull him free. He must have had a fit of conscience, knowing he sold the drugs that killed those kids. He could have wanted to be a part of it all. I don’t know. I’ll have to get his VA records pulled and talk to his treatment doctors there to get a full picture.”

“So where is his tie to our suspects?”

“That’s what we have to find out. Juri Edvin got his drugs from somewhere.”

“Possibly Barent? They run in the same crowd, most likely, if they’re both into the vampire scene. It can’t be that expansive here in Nashville.”

“Probably. You’d be surprised at just how pervasive these countercultures are.”

“Okay. I’m going to go see what Marcus has, and then we can start heading back into town.”

She went inside through the kitchen to the foyer. She took the stairs to the second floor two at a time. She could hear Marcus, followed his voice down a long hall to the third bedroom on the right. She turned in and stopped dead.

The room was draped in black-and-red velvet, with photographs of wide, gaping mouths, fangs dripping with blood, throats thrown open in a scream, every few inches. The effect was startling. She felt like she was about to be bitten, eaten, from every corner. A huge canopied tester bed- probably brass once, but painted black-with black sheets and pillows, stood in the center of the maelstrom of mouths. She risked a quick glance under the canopy-yes, more mouths there.

The room smelled like old things, rotting blood and moldy leaves, overlaid with some sort of sickly sweet incense. Taylor breathed through her mouth, looking around.

Marcus was sitting at a desk that was covered in a shaggy black fur throw, the computer on and running.

‘This is…interesting,” she said, chills running up and down her spine. “It stinks in here.”

“No kidding. I feel like I need a shower, and I haven’t touched anything but the keyboard. I’ve got the creeps sitting in here. We should just take the computer with us- it’s loaded with information. Looks like Barry is a first-class drug dealer. He keeps transactional analyses of what’s working and what isn’t, listings of buyers and resellers. And lots of vampire shit.”

“Did you see any familiar names on that list?”

“Yep. Juri Edvin’s on there. So’s Susan Norwood, though they both go by their nicknames, Thorn and Ember.”

“Bingo,” Taylor said. “That should be enough to rearrest Susan Norwood, right?”

“We’ll have to prove that Susan Norwood and Ember are one and the same, but yeah, there’s enough here to send her away for a long time.”

“Excellent. That’s easy enough-the Edvins only know her as Ember. They should be able to ID her with no problem. Is Barent making all of his own drugs, or is he buying, too? It would be nice to give the Specialized Investigative Unit a cut of this.”

“I can’t tell that. This is just what he’s selling and to whom. I’ve already called Gerald Sayers-they’re waiting for us. He wanted in.”

“Great. This is right up his alley. Okay, grab the computer. Do we need to amend the warrant to include anything else?”

“No.I’ve already called Tim Davis, asked him to ride on up here and do a search. He can bag and tag anything else that we need. I think we need to get back and get to work on this. We’re awfully close.”

He flashed her a grin, looking younger than his years, and she felt herself grinning back. A good morning, all in all.

Thirty-Five

Quantico

November 2

Baldwin hated fighting with Taylor.

Having to tell her about Fitz over the phone was a catastrophe. He should have called Sam first, had her there. He’d heard the cracks form in Taylor’s otherwise rock-hard shell, and it made his heart break. She was the strongest woman he knew, the bravest. And the most foolhardy when her dander was up. He hoped like hell he’d gotten through to her, that she would actually listen to him and stay in Nashville. She’d promised, but he wasn’t convinced. Knowing her friend was out there in need may prove too hard for her to hold back on.

He needed to get this hearing over with and get back to her before she did something stupid.

He checked his watch. They were due to reconvene in twenty minutes. He needed to get a move on.

Reever was waiting for him when he arrived. “What took you so long? I thought you weren’t going to show.”

“There’s some role reversal for you, Reever. That’s how I felt yesterday.”

“Touched “Listen, how much longer do you think this is going to go on?”

“Depends, Doc. How much more do you have to tell them?”

Baldwin looked at his friend. How much more indeed. He could just sacrifice himself, fall on his sword, give them everything right now and walk away. It wouldn’t be the first time he’d considered leaving the Bureau.

But with the Pretender on the loose, he needed the full force of the FBI behind him. No, he needed to continue to tread delicately, not giving them anything that wasn’t absolutely necessary. He still didn’t know what they had hanging over him, though he was starting to get an inkling. And if he was right, he was in more serious trouble than even the disciplinary board realized.

“Baldwin, time to go in. You ready?”

“Yeah.”

They got settled at the table. Tucker entered the room like a judge; Baldwin waited for the cry of “All rise.” Instead, Tucker actually flashed him a smile, which disconcerted Baldwin to no end. It wasn’t friendly, that was for sure.

Tucker made sure his minions were ready, then looked down his long nose at Baldwin. “You may continue where we left off yesterday, Dr. Baldwin.”

“All right. We executed the search warrant at dawn. We had such hope that we would find Kaylie Fields alive.”

Northern Virginia

June 17, 2004

Baldwin

Harold Arlen came to the door outrigged in a terry cloth robe over short blue-striped pajamas, moose hide slippers and a glass of orange juice. Every piece coordinated, he looked like any other suburban guy who’d been startled out of his morning routine.

“What the hell is this?” he demanded.

The Fairfax County detective held up a sheaf of papers. “We have a warrant to search the premises. Please stand back, Mr. Arlen.”

“Search? For what? I haven’t done anything. What the hell is this about?”

“There’ve been a number of little girls gone missing over the past few weeks, and-“

Aden’s mouth fell open. “You think I’m the Clockwork Killer? Are you daft, man? That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard.”

The air crackled, the situation’s intensity ratcheting up. Baldwin and Charlotte stayed back. This was the Fairfax Homicide boys’ show. Goldman was there, overseeing his detectives as they served the warrant. Aden’s probation officer was there, too. When they pushed into the house, moving Arlen out of the way, his PO grabbed him and held him aside. That didn’t help his temper at all-his fury and indignation continued to explode. He met Baldwin’s eye like he knew who was behind this, and Baldwin felt the implicit threat. He just smiled. They were going to wrap this up today. Maybe, just maybe, little Kaylie would be found before it was too late.