Ava mentally slapped her forehead. Why didn’t I think of checking that? “I guess he’s not like a woman who keeps a fat wardrobe and a skinny wardrobe.”

He gave a small smile. “I’ll admit to keeping a loose pair of sweatpants handy. I know if I’m reaching for them, it’s time to increase my daily running distance.” Zander then looked at Ray. “Mason is right to insist on waiting for the computer forensics people to look at the desktop before unplugging it. Do you know if someone supplied his passwords?”

“His chief of staff had some of them. She didn’t know if it was everything.” Ray stepped out of the room to take a phone call.

Zander studied the silent desktop, and Ava wondered how badly he wanted to start mining its hard drive.

“That’s like looking at a juicy burger, isn’t it?” she prodded the computer geek.

Zander gave her a slow smile. “A rib eye, maybe.”

“Steak?” asked Mason.

Ava turned around; she hadn’t heard him enter the room.

“What’s Duncan going to say about us both on this case?” Mason asked the two of them in a low voice. “My commander won’t care, but I suspect yours might take issue with it.”

“We’ve proved we work well together,” Ava said.

“You’ll have to come up with something better than that. He’s going to pull you off the case.”

Her chin went up. “Not if I can help it. Have you heard from the medical examiner yet? Is there a cause of death?” She was determined to push forward until she was in so deep that Duncan would hurt the case if he removed her. The twinkle in Mason’s brown eyes told her he knew exactly what she was doing.

“Duncan doesn’t have a chance, does he?” Mason asked Zander.

“Nope,” Zander answered with a sigh. “We’re setting up a command center back at our building. We’d appreciate any information you’ve already collected.” At the abruptly cool look on Mason’s face, he continued rapidly, “We’re not stealing the case, but you know as well as I do the murder of a congressman is firmly under our jurisdiction. We’ll want the continued support and skills of OSP to add to our investigation.”

Zander would make a good politician.

“Who wants to go to the morgue?” Ray asked from the doorway. “Dr. Rutledge would like to talk to us.” He studied the shuttered faces of Zander and Mason. “All of us,” he said firmly.

Zander followed the group out of the condo. He’d wanted this case from the moment Duncan had told them about it. The indignity forced upon a public representative had set his blood boiling, but he’d kept it inside. That was how he operated. He knew his fellow agents thought he had the patience and temper of a priest, but the truth was he simply knew how to hide his feelings. Inside he was often fighting the urge to hit something. Instead he funneled that energy into his job.

He’d been a software engineer for a decade before he’d decided to apply to the FBI. Now with ten years under his belt as an agent, he’d created a reputation for being streamlined and getting shit done with no fuss.

He liked the sound of that.

Sitting in front of a computer calmed him and helped him focus. The feeling that he could create something with software language was soothing. Give him a bank of data and he could pull whatever was needed. Give him a tech problem and he’d sort the logic through his head until he saw the means to a solution. It was the same mind-set he applied to his current work.

He loved working in the Cybercrimes division, but he had to admit that being on temporary assignment to VCMO was giving him a thrill. All his past assignments had been important. But this was a big one. Solving the murder of a congressman had grabbed his focus like nothing else. It was a good shake-up from his usual assignments, for which he spent the majority of his time behind a desk. He’d been getting stale. Working that kidnapping with Ava before Christmas had shown him he needed to step out from the office.

The kidnapping case had also moved him directly into Special Agent McLane’s circle. Their paths had occasionally crossed when she’d worked Crimes Against Children. He’d gotten to know a detail-focused agent. And an attractive one. He’d held back, knowing an office romance wasn’t an ideal situation. Then he’d had a front-row seat to watch her fall for Detective Callahan.

He liked Ava. When he’d seen the sparks start to fly last December, he’d waited, wondering if her and Mason’s attraction would last. It had. It ate at him that he hadn’t acted initially, but he liked Mason Callahan. It was hard not to. He was a straight shooter without a big ego and Zander respected that. Together, Mason and Ava were a good thing.

He stopped at his car and waited for Ava to join him. She was talking quietly to Mason. Zander had read that cats saw more wavelengths in the electromagnetic spectrum than humans. If he had the eyes of a cat, what would he see surrounding the couple? Because with his inferior human eyes it was apparent that waves of affection-based energy flowed between them.

He grinned. It pleased him that Ava was happy. Over an impromptu beer a week after the kidnapping was solved, OSP Detective Ray Lusco had told him Mason hadn’t fallen for anyone in years. The linebacker-size detective had been optimistic for the couple’s future.

But if Mason hurt her, Zander was going to hurt him back.

4

Two months ago he’d been told he’d be dead in a year.

He’d seen too many doctors, all of them stunned at the growth in his brain and the amount that had metastasized to his other organs. He wasn’t feeling any pain. Yet. The doctors had promised it would come. Soon.