When he was done, Dolan leaned over to him.

“Is my code name Pigeon?” he asked playfully. “That’s kind of insulting, don’t you think? A pigeon is just a rat with wings.”

Murph just shrugged, as his eyes darted around the room, always moving.

“Don’t complain,” Jessie said. “It’s better than Jabberjay. They’re picking literary references to insult me.”

“At least they got creative with you,” Dolan said, before adding, “What literature are they referencing anyway?”

Jessie looked at him, amazed at his cluelessness.

“You are a pop culture black hole, Dolan,” she said.

“And both of you are wasting time,’ Murph noted quietly. “I’m giving you a half hour in here, tops. So you better order those drinks you were so excited about. And Jabberjay, cash only for you, got it? No credit cards. No names. Even here.”

She nodded and waved down the bartender.

“Glenlivet—neat, please,” she said then turned to Dolan. “What are you having, Pigeon?”

“Thanks,” he said before turning to the bartender. “I’ll have a glass of your cheapest bourbon, barkeep—a double please.”

While they waited, Jessie got a text message from Captain Decker. After looking at it, she showed it to Dolan. It read: Still no leads on BC or XT. Hospitals have nothing. CSI still checking Cortez’s body but so far nothing. Stay positive. We’ll get them.

“Maybe you should make it a double too,” Dolan said after reading it.

“Don’t tempt me,” she said as their drinks arrived.

She took a long slow sip, letting the sweet, warm burn of the liquid coat her throat. After swallowing, she turned back to her temporary partner.

“So now that it’s just you and me in a bar, how about telling me the real reason you changed your mind this morning and backed the idea of me following up on the Stanton case?”

“What do you mean?” he asked before downing his shot and motioning for another.

She gave him her best “you’ve got to be kidding me” look.

“I mean, one minute you were ready to bail because the case had no connection to either Crutchfield or Thurman. It looked like I was headed back to that godforsaken safe house. And then you do a total one eighty and back me continuing to investigate, with your help. What gives?”

“I thought you deserved a chance,” he said unconvincingly.

She just stared at him.

“Fine,” he said eventually. “I’ll give you the real reason. But it’s gonna piss you off.”

“So what’s new? Spill.”

“I figured the more you were out and about, pursuing the case, the more likely we were to stumble upon one of those guys. That couldn’t happen if you were in the safe house locked away.”

“So basically, you wanted to use me as bait to draw out two serial killers,” she said.

“I wouldn’t put it that way,” he said, before downing the second bourbon that had just been placed before him. “Okay, I guess I would put it that way.”