The same thought Nikki had had. "Thanks for your cooperation, Mr. Dove."

"You kidding? Am I ever going to blog about this tonight."

Heat stepped away to take a cell phone call. It was Dispatch reporting an anonymous tip on a home invasion homicide. She made her way to Raley and Ochoa as she talked, and the other two detectives read her body language and started to get ready to roll before she even hung up.

Nikki checked the crime scene. Uniforms had started their canvass, the remaining stores wouldn't open for a couple of hours, and CSU was busy running a sweep. There was nothing more for them to do there at the moment.

"Got another one, fellas." She tore a page off her notebook and handed the address to Raley. "Follow me. Seventy-eighth, between Columbus and Amsterdam."

Nikki got herself ready to meet a new corpse. The first thing Detective Heat noticed when she pulled off Amsterdam onto 78th was the quiet. It was just past seven, and the first rays of sun had cleared the turrets of the Museum of Natural History and were beaming golden light that turned the residential block into a placid cityscape begging to be captured in a photo. But the serenity was also odd to her.

Where were the blue-and-whites? Where was the ambulance, the yellow tape, and the knot of gawkers? As an investigator, she had grown accustomed to arriving on scene after the first responders.

Raley and Ochoa reacted, too. She could tell by the way they cleared their coats from their sidearms as they got out of the Roach Coach and then clocked the surroundings on their walk over to meet her. "This is the right address?" Ochoa said without really asking.

Raley turned a swivel to scope out the homeless guy picking through the uncollected trash for recyclables up at the Columbus end of the street. Other than that, West 78th was still. "Kind of like being the first one to a party."