Page 9

Pre-noon in New York City and the place moved like it always did. Too fast, too loud, too alive. Ella leaned against a bike rack outside The Daily Grind, where cappuccinos cost more than she made per hour. She watched New Yorkers hustle past, all of them too busy with their own dramas to notice a woman wrestling with murder.

Michael Ross, the NYPD detective, had asked her to meet him here at eleven. Something about ‘comparing notes,’ but the look in his eyes suggested more. So, she had ten minutes to convince her boss that this was worth pursuing.

Luca was inside, probably charming the barista into a free refill. He'd insisted on ordering while she made her call. Something about caffeine being essential to murder investigations. But really, she knew he was giving her space to think.

And think she did.

About a perfectly round hole in ancient limestone. About symbols carved with surgical precision. About a man who loved order so much he arranged his rock collection by geological epoch.

The pieces were there, but the picture they formed made her stomach twist. Ella pulled out her phone and scrolled to Edis's number. Time to ruin the director’s day.

He answered on the second ring. ‘Ella. Thought you'd be on a plane home by now.’

‘Change of plans.’ She watched a well-dressed woman argue with a hot dog vendor. Life goes on, even when death comes calling. ‘You remember that missing professor I called you about?’

‘The Mustang guy? You find him?’

'Yes, we did.'

‘Alive?’

‘Very much not.’ Ella watched a pigeon strut past her feet. Nature's undertakers, always first on scene. ‘Sixty feet down a hole in a quarry.’

A pause. A rustle in the background. Edis was never far from his paperwork. ‘Accident?’

‘That's what NYPD thinks. Guy falls into a hole, tough luck all round.’ She cracked her neck. The morning's tension had settled there like concrete. ‘But they're wrong. ’

‘How so?’

‘Murdered.’

Another pause. ‘You sound sure about that.’

‘Because Marcus Thornton didn't just stumble into that quarry. Someone led him there.’ Ella watched a delivery truck double-park. The driver leaped out and started unloading boxes with machine-gun efficiency.

‘Hell of a claim to make, Dark. Walk me through it.’

Ella took a breath. Organized her thoughts. ‘Marcus gets an email with photos of a geological anomaly. Rock types that shouldn't exist together, carved with symbols that look ancient but aren't. The sender knew exactly what buttons to push. Marcus was a limestone expert.’

‘So he went looking,’ Edis said.

‘On a Saturday afternoon. Drove up an abandoned road that isn't even on GPS. Parked up, found exactly what the photos promised – impossible rocks with impossible symbols. Then fell into a hole that looks like it was cut by a laser.’

‘People fall, Dark.’

‘Not like this.’ She stopped pacing. ‘The hole was perfectly circular, three feet across, right at the spot where someone would have stood to inspect the rocks. And those symbols. They weren’t random graffiti.’

‘Could be industrial remains. Old mining equipment leaves marks.’

‘These weren't industrial.’ Ella closed her eyes, remembering the way those symbols had seemed to writhe under her flashlight beam. ‘They were a message. You trust me, right?’

'Come on Ella. You've already used my goodwill against me once.'

‘That was yesterday.’

Edis sighed. ‘So, you’ve got a single body?’

‘Yes.’

‘Did any part of this cross state lines?’

‘No.’

‘Then it’s not a federal crime. We have no cause to get involved. As if we haven’t got enough to worry about over here.’

‘Marcus was a professor at a major university. And this has the makings of something bigger.’ Ella watched a business crowd flow past, wrapped in wool coats and invisible bubbles of indifference. ‘Someone went to a lot of trouble to get him into that quarry. The email, the photos, those symbols – it was all staged. Like a theater set waiting for its star.’

‘You're reaching, Dark. ’

‘Maybe, but I’ve seen plenty of crazy stuff carved into walls. I recognize that kind of crazy a mile off. Someone wanted Marcus dead, and I need to find out why.’

The silence stretched between them. In the background, Ella heard the familiar thunk of Edis kicking his trash can. He only did that when he was thinking hard.

‘You really want this case?’ he asked finally.

‘Yes.’

‘Even with your injuries? The medical board-’

‘The medical board can kiss my badge.’ Ella softened her tone. ‘I'm good, sir. Better than sitting at home watching my legs heal.’

‘And what about Hawkins?’ Edis asked.

She looked at her partner behind the glass, who was now clearly flirting with an elderly waitress. ‘He’s consistent.’ The comment came out sharper than she meant it. Luca seemed happy to use that charm when he needed it, but he hadn’t turned it on her in weeks.

‘And if I order you home?’

‘Then I'll burn some vacation days.’

Another sigh, but this one carried a hint of surrender. ‘Fine. But we need to do this properly. Get the local PD to sign off, then send me everything you've got. Photos, preliminary reports, witness statements. I'll need something concrete to justify assigning federal resources.’

Ella clenched her fist in triumph. In her seven years at the Bureau, few people had ever talked the director into submission. Even Ripley had struggled with such a feat.

‘Already working on it. Detective Ross wants to meet about exactly that.’

'You're still on medical leave, technically. And Hawkins, too. So don't run into any burning buildings again, got it?'

‘Understood, sir.’

The line went dead. Ella pocketed her phone and looked up at the slate-colored sky. Maybe she was reaching. Maybe this was just a tragic accident that her pattern-seeking mind had twisted into something sinister.

Before she could think any further, movement caught her eye. Detective Ross approached from across the street, hands jammed in the pockets of a coat that had seen better decades. His face carried the kind of hesitation that usually preceded bad news.

‘Agent Dark.’

‘Detective. ’

He glanced through the coffee shop window at Luca, then back to her. ‘We need to talk inside.’

Something in his voice set off alarm bells. ‘What's wrong?’

‘Not here.’ Ross opened the door. ‘You're going to want to sit down for this.’