Blood Dreams

how do we know he isn't at least a step ahead of us here?'

'We don't,' Marc said.

'No, we don't. If anything, we have some evidence that he is… playing with us. Leaving signs behind when he never has before.'

Hollis said, 'That might not be deliberate. It could just be him coming apart.'

'But what if it is deliberate? He didn't want the spotlight in Boston, but maybe, looking back, something inside him liked the attention. Maybe now he wants to prove he's smarter than everybody hunting him.'

'Maybe,' Marc agreed. 'And maybe that's a difference we can use to our advantage.'

'He's tricking you,' Hollis murmured, repeating what Shirley Arledge had told her in the predawn hours. 'I'm not the one usually advising caution, but I think we'd better be careful if we even get the chance to play this guy's game. We'd better be very careful.'

* * * *

'Tell me again why I shouldn't clean his clock?' Gabriel demanded.

'With all due respect, Gabe, I wouldn't try it if I were you.' The hollow cell connection did nothing to hide the dryness in John Garrett's voice. 'As good as you are-he's better.'

'I'm willing to test that theory.'

'It isn't a theory. And the last thing any of us needs is you tangling with Bishop. Just don't, okay? He had good reason for approaching Roxanne when and how he did. I agree with his reason. Roxanne agrees with his reason.'

I do, you know. Three more steps the way I was going, and I would have tripped that motion- sensor floodlight. And roused the neighborhood canine watch. And Bishop could hardly stop me any other way without alerting those same dogs. Right?

'Well, I-'

'Gabe. Let it go.'

Gabriel was a stubborn man but hardly a stupid one. 'If you say so, John. But I don't have to like it.'

'I never expect miracles.'

'Yeah, yeah.' Gabriel kept his gaze fixed on Bishop, who stood some yards away and out of earshot in this remote spot overlooking Venture.

He's a telepath, Gabe. Do you really think there's such a thing as 'out of earshot' where he's concerned?

Bishop turned his head and raised an eyebrow at Gabriel, then once again directed his attention to the town.

'Shit.'

John, neither present nor telepathic, had nevertheless spent enough time with psychics in recent years to be able to pick up on nonverbal communication-even at an extreme distance. 'Something I should know about?' he asked calmly.

'No. Just remembering why I don't like working around telepaths, that's all.'

'You can trust him, Gabe.'

'With all due respect, John,' Gabriel said, deliberately using his employer's earlier words, 'I'll make up my own mind about that.'

'Fair enough. But on this particular job, your orders include following his lead as you would mine.'

'You sure about that? Running a parallel investigation with the police is one thing, and we've done it before. But this time we're hunting an honest-to-God monster, and the sooner everybody involved puts their heads together and compares notes, the better our chances of tracking him down before somebody else dies.'

'And do you honestly believe either Bishop or I would do anything to deliberately sidetrack an investigation or delay for even one moment the capture of such an animal?'

'No. I don't believe that.' It wasn't a grudging admission so much as it was an uneasy one. 'But somebody always has an agenda, and Bishop's reputation preceded him.'

'Meaning?'

'You know exactly what it means. He never puts all his cards on the table, John, and I'm betting he hasn't this time. Whether he and Miranda have seen something he's hoping to avoid, or he's just convinced he has a better plan than the rest of us, he's going to keep it to himself.'

'None of us wants Dani's vision to come true,' John reminded him.

'I know that. And if I were in Bishop's place, with a vision warning me of that particular dire outcome, I'd make damn sure my wife and partner was safe under lock and key, and far away. I got no problem with that.'

'But?'

'But he shouldn't be here. He was part of the vision too, and every player we put within the killer's reach makes it that much more likely that what Dani saw is going to happen.'

'Maybe. Or maybe the right person in the right place is all that's needed to change the outcome.'

'John, how many times have you and Maggie told us to be careful where premonitions are involved, because we can't know our actions won't produce something worse? Hell, it's practically our mantra.'

There was a brief silence, and then John said, 'Sometimes things have to get worse before they get better.'

'What the hell is that supposed to mean?'

'It means work with Bishop, Gabe. You and Roxanne. Keep every sense open, and stay on your toes. And please try to remember that we're all on the same side, okay? Check in daily.'

'Right.' Gabriel slowly closed his phone and wasn't much surprised to see that Bishop was already crossing the space between them. He waited until the other man was close before speaking. 'So what now, Chief?' The title held a faint note of mockery rather than respect. 'More warehouses?'

'No,' Bishop said. 'Now we watch Dani.'

Chapter Seventeen

DANI STARED AT THE formidable list of warehouses, storage facilities, and any other isolated building that might provide the space and privacy a murderous serial killer might need, and drew a deep breath.

'Damn,' Paris said before she could.

Nodding, Dani said, 'I had no idea. And I never realized how many of these places have been locked up and abandoned for years.'

'Decades,' Marc said. 'My deputies check the doors during patrols-when they remember to. But we don't have vandals to speak of, and unless there are complaints… In all honesty, these places are easy to forget unless you're staring right at one of them.'

Hollis chewed on a thumbnail briefly as she studied her copy of the list. 'I know big abandoned buildings are difficult to repurpose, but I'd think some of these would have been somewhere along the way. That or torn down to make way for new construction.'

'I might have an answer for that.' Jordan was going over a different list, frowning. 'Marc, take a look at this. And tell me how in the hell we didn't know about it.'

Dani waited until Marc had the list in hand and began to frown himself to ask, 'What is it?'

'Looks like about eighty percent of these old buildings have been bought up by a properties-anagement company.'

Dryly, Hollis said, 'I don't see much management involved. Wait a minute. The same company?'

Marc grunted an assent, then said, 'Huh. How about that. The properties-management company is owned by a church.'

'A church?' Paris asked. 'A single church?'

'Yeah. The Church of the Everlasting Sin.'