Cade took the lighter and lit the end of the cigarette, watching as the man sucked in a shaky breath and blew out a cloud of smoke.

“Shit,” he muttered, then took another drag, holding it in this time. When he blew it out, he seemed calmer. “I quit smoking a year ago,” he said, disgusted.

“Tough day?” Cade asked quietly, already knowing the answer. If this guy had been at the crime scene, he’d observed what the divers had brought up.

I’d be smoking something a helluva lot stronger than that. Fresh, the body parts weren’t repellent at all. But after sitting in the water . . . some of them for weeks?

Yeah. The guy had a right to be shaken up.

The man laughed bitterly. “You could say that.” His eyes narrowed. “Who are you, anyway?”

“Dennis Kagan,” Cade answered. Kagan was one of his aliases, and happened to be the name on the driver’s license in his wallet at the moment. “I’m with the Ledger.” Which was a total lie, of course, but this guy wouldn’t know it. “And you are . . . ?”

“Not happy,” the man said curtly. “Go away. I don’t talk to reporters.”

Cade clenched his jaw, then forced himself to relax. “We pay for information.”

It was the guy’s turn to clench his jaw. But he hesitated. “Not interested.”

Cade was about to press him further when an annoyed voice called from behind the crime scene tape.

“Akers! Break time’s over!” The guy who’d been taking a plaster cast of the tire treads ducked under the crime scene tape and stalked halfway to where they stood, his expression intense. “We’ve only got two hours of daylight left. Let’s move.” He started to turn, then reversed to stare at Cade. “Who the hell are you?”

“Oh fuck,” Akers muttered.

Cade’s gut rolled over. Fuck. “Reporter,” he managed.

Intense Guy grew angry. “Really, Akers? You’re talking to a reporter after I expressly forbade it?”

Akers’s jaw tightened. “I didn’t!” he fired back. Then muttered under his breath, “Asshole.” He flicked the ash from his cigarette, ground it out on the van’s tire, then put the butt in his pocket.

Intense Guy glared. “I heard that.”

Akers smiled too sweetly. “Sorry, Agent Taylor. I meant, I didn’t, sir.”

“I’m sure you did,” Agent Taylor said levelly. “You. Reporter. You need to leave now.” He waved at a cop. “Officer, please show this man out. Akers, come with me.”

Akers pushed away from the van and followed Agent Taylor back to the crime scene. Cade put both palms up in a gesture of surrender. “I’m going,” he said.