“Jesus, Zander,” Dylan said quietly. “This shit is serious. You should have spoken out.”

“To who? She told me it was done. Are you telling me she’s still using?” Zander looked devastated.

“How the hell could you not know that?”

“Dylan.” Piper touched his arm, “this is not Zander’s fault.” At least she hoped it wasn’t his fault but the jury was still out on that.

He exhaled as Grace patted his face.

“Yeah, you’re right. Sorry.” He held out his hand to Zander, and they shook.

“Don’t sweat it. You’re worried, like I am,” Zander said. “I gotta get back to work now, but I’ll go see Ava after. Don’t tell her what I told you.”

“I won’t.”

They walked away. Dylan still held Grace, his mind processing what he’d learned.

“He knew, he had to.”

“Maybe.”

“How long has Ava known him?”

“Since coming here, like I told you.”

“You’re sure?”

“That’s what I know. Zander’s harmless enough surely… well he seems that way.”

“People can be good guys on the outside, but once you dig deeper they’re evil.”

“I don’t know, I mean he’s not my favorite person, but most people seem to like him.”

The sigh came from his toes.

“I guess so, it’s just a lot to take in right now. I mean, she’s got her whole life to live, but before she does, she’s facing one hell of a battle.”

“But now she has you and Charlie to help her with that.”

He looked at her, but Piper wasn’t entirely sure he was focusing, because that FBI profiler brain of his was trying to work through what was going on with his sister and how to fix it. This time she doubted the answers would be that easy to find.

Chapter 28

Dylan handed Grace back to Piper as his cell started to ring.

“Excuse me, I need to take this call,” he said, noting the ID. “Mickey.”

“Hey, Dylan, how’s it going there?”

“Yeah, I’ve had better days, man. What you got for me?”

“You remember that case we were called into. Guy’s name was Troy Fielder?”

“Yes.” Dylan remembered it, all right. Fielder had been their worst nightmare as profilers. Intelligent, bordering on genius, and the most mentally unstable man they’d ever encountered. He’d kidnapped three women so he could torture them. Dylan had been the one who broke the case. He’d managed to get in the guy’s head and work out his next move, but not before Troy Fielder had murdered the women.

“What about him?”

“This business with your sister, I can link it back to that diner in Queens he spent all his time emailing those women from.”

“What?” Dylan stopped in the street. Piper looked up at him. “He’s inside, Mickey. No way could he be involved.”