Free Cut and Run 1 - Cut and Run by Madeleine Urban ; Abigail Roux Page A

in disgust.
    Sears looked at her partner in apparent disapproval. Ross shrugged at her and then looked past Ty to glower at Zane.
    "Public drunkenness, huh?” Ross snapped at him. “I can smell the beer on you from here."
    "So arrest me,” Zane growled.
    "Wiseass,” Ross grumbled.
    "We're working this case beside you, not under you,” Ty snarled to them both, losing the good-humored glint in his eyes as he interrupted the sniping. “Don't go tailing us when you've got more important shit to do. You want us, you fucking call us on the phone."
    "Got a card?” Sears asked with a little smile, still completely unintimidated.
    Ty's lips twitched in slight amusement again, and he reached out and took her hand. He reached under his jacket with the other, finding a pen in one of the inner pockets as Ross bristled angrily. Ty ignored him and held the woman's hand in his, writing a number on the palm of her hand and then sliding the pen back into place slowly without releasing her.
    She smirked at him, looking him over in amusement and just a hint of interest, before she slid her hand out of his and took her partner's arm to pull him physically away as Ty smirked after them.
    Zane took the few steps to stop beside Ty and watched them go, simmering. “They're going to be trouble,” he muttered.
    "No, they're not,” Ty grinned as he watched them walk away. Ross's hand now gripped Sears’ elbow rather than the other way around, preventing her from looking over her shoulder at them as he griped about sexual harassment. “They don't think much of us, which is just how we want it. They'll want to work this case on their own, keep us out of the loop. Plus, see how possessive he is? He won't let her near us again,” Ty chuckled darkly as he cocked his head to admire the sway of her hips.
    Zane looked after her. “He won't, huh? What did you do? Cop a feel?"
    "Might need me a Sears catalog when we get home,” Ty drawled out with a sly smile.
    "Bastard,” Zane murmured. He dropped the cigarette butt to the concrete and ground it out under his heel.
    Ty sighed and looked around at the empty street corners. “Looks like our quarry has gone to ground.” He growled in annoyance, beginning to walk slowly in the direction from which they'd come. “Did you happen to look at the report on that sheet the body was wrapped in?"
    "Bleached Egyptian cotton, six hundred-count king-size flat sheet, only sold at two places in New York; Bloomingdale's and Henri Bendel. Retail cost four hundred-fifty dollars. No catches, no pulls, no tears, no stains besides blood, still smelled like plastic, thought to be fresh out of the package,” Zane rattled off as he lit up another cigarette.
    "Did anyone follow that up?” Ty asked before they crossed the street at a jog.
    "I'll call Morrison and ask him to have someone call the stores. All the report says is that neither had them in stock for a five-day span around the discovery of the body. Bendel's had a linen sale the weekend before,” he said. “I'm sure they were flying off the shelves."
    "Great,” Ty groaned. “We'll go by tomorrow and talk to whoever. What else? Were the sheets changed with the two dye girls? Was it in the report?"
    "Nothing in the report said they were."
    "Goddammit,” Ty muttered. There had to be a connecting factor. “We'll find the damn thing,” he muttered to himself.
    Zane stopped for traffic, working his way through the cigarette. “I still want to go back to the office."
    Ty exhaled heavily. “Do you understand what we were doing tonight?” he asked softly.
    Zane looked at him, not sure if he should be offended, but still irritated merely on principle. Ty looked over at him and raised a questioning eyebrow. “Enlighten me,” Zane invited tightly.
    "If it's an insider that got Reilly and Sanchez, then he may already be tailing us,” Ty explained quietly. “I wanted to see if I could spot anyone."
    "You're using yourself as bait?” Zane asked