The Serpent's Kiss

73

The three of them walked out of the Medical Examiner’s Office. Night was coming in full force, the darkness dropping quickly. The temperature had plunged and a chill lurked in the air. Derek’s eyes fairly glittered as he concentrated on what he had just learned. His leg was even stiffer now than before, and part of his mind was on the pain killers in his GO Pack. But otherwise, he was elated that his gut feelings had been vindicated, even if it meant The Serpent was still out there planning something. And probably planning it for eight o’clock, slightly over two hours away.

Agent Toreanno said, “We have to take this to Matt.”

Jill stopped walking, hands up at her waist, held out in a halt gesture. “Whoa! Think that one through.”

Simona Toreanno spun around. “Jill! You can’t just go off and leave something like this.”

“Who said anything about leaving it?” Jill turned to Derek. “Well?”

He shrugged. “I’m not going through Gray. You can. You probably should.”

Jill shook her head. “No. If I… I can’t bring this to him. Think about it, Simona. He won’t listen to me. He’ll only listen to you. In fact, if you want him to pay any attention to you, it’ll have to be you. You can’t even mention we were here. Let Matt think we went home.”

Simona’s dark eyes were penetrating. “You were supposed to go back to the office and file a report, though, right? Won’t he be waiting for you?”

Jill shrugged. “That’s minor. Tomorrow would… hell, Simona. What difference would it make now? I’m already in trouble. But if I came into his office with irrefutable evidence of an attack, he might ignore it just because it came through me. But if I, or even worse, Stillwater and I, come in there telling him he made an ass of himself at the press conference by telling everybody The Serpent was dead, that he’s going to have to tell the press he was wrong, and while he’s at it, shoot that particular bit of news up the chain of command, what do you think he’s going to do?”

Simona nodded. “I guess… I guess it has to be me.”

“Don’t mention us,” Derek said. “But we’re going to pursue those names.” He held up the list of Working Group members.

Simona sighed. “Okay. I’ll see if I can get people going on it, too.”

“Good luck,” Derek said, limping toward Jill’s car.

“Stillwater!” Simona called.

He stopped and turned.

Agent Toreanno said, “You’ve had two strikes today with booby-traps. Don’t get caught in a third. Nobody’s that lucky.”