“Fine.” She stared at him. Suddenly it was hard not to. He was the crystal ball she gazed into when she went to sleep at night. He was her scarred and weakened guts. Tony’s new and improved screw. Videotaped women screaming for mercy. Her daughter wondering aloud why she never saw her mother. He was so many things to her she could have given birth to him, or vice versa. He waited for her to speak and she could not.

“You don’t have to be afraid,” he said quietly.

“You said that to one of the women you murdered. I remember.”

He moistened his dry lips. “Her name was Sheila. I remember.”

“Where is Sheila now?” she asked carefully.

“Dead.” He did not elaborate. Pushing him could backfire.

“How do you feel about her now?” she asked.

He wanted to shrug. His right hand bumped a small metal stick on his wheelchair and the motor hummed briefly and he was jerked slightly to the left. The sudden motion startled her. She sucked in a breath and realized how scared she was.

“I didn’t know her,” he said.

Kelly fought to remain calm. “You knew her. You knew them all.”

“The only one I felt I really knew was you.”

She forced a sneer. “What do you know?”

“It’s not the case that has brought you here, Kelly.”

“You don’t even know what it’s about.”

“True.”

“I get bored,” she said. “Do you want to help me or not?”

“Tell me about it. I’m all ears.” His tongue touched his lips again and she saw that they had bled and dried. “My ears are practically all I have left.”

She explained her involvement in the case: the initial call, Amy’s dead boyfriend and asshole husband, the foiled ransom, her research on Matt Connor. When she was finished she stated her dilemma. She knew Matt was alive and had the kid and the money, she just didn’t know where he was. She had to wait for Banks to respond. He appeared to be thinking deeply. He was so smart, the fucking psychopath. But his initial comment threw her off balance.

“I see you’re up to your old tricks,” he said.

“What do you mean?”

“You’re tracking Matt Connor by yourself. What is it about you? You stopped me—the infamous Acid Man. You must be a hero at the Bureau. What do you have left to prove?”

She wanted to lie to him, felt its uselessness. “I just want to get the kid back to his mother.”

“No.”

“Fuck you.” She stood and reached for her bag.

“Sit down, relax.” He nodded for her to obey. “You are here. No reason to rush off so quickly.”

She sat back down, blood in her cheeks. “Do you want the case file or not?”

“You may leave it if you wish but I don’t need it.”