"Oh, there's nobody here, I checked." Rook raised both his palms up. "But I didn't touch anything, I swear."

"Check anyway" was Nikki's answer to that, and Roach left to sweep the remaining rooms.

When they were alone, he said, "Nice to see you again, Nikki." And then that damn smile again. "Oh, and thanks for not shooting me."

"What are you doing here, Rook?" She tried to remove any hint of the playfulness that she used to hang on his last name. This guy needed a message.

"Like I said, waiting for you. I was the one who called in the body."

"Not what I'm trying to get at. So let me ask the same question another way. Why are you at this crime scene to begin with?"

"I know the victim."

"Who is she?" All the years on the job, Nikki still found it hard to go to the past tense when referring to a victim. At least not at the hour of discovery.

"Cassidy Towne."

Heat couldn't help herself. She half turned to look into the study, but from where she was standing, she couldn't see the victim, only the post-tornado effect of office supplies scattered around the room. "The gossip columnist?"

He nodded, affirming. "The buzz saw herself."

She immediately started calculating how the apparent murder of the New York Ledger's powerful icon, whose "Buzz Rush" column was the ritual first read for most New Yorkers, was going to ratchet up the stakes on this case. As Raley and Ochoa returned and deemed the apartment clear, she said, "Ochoa, better reach out to the MEs. Give them a courtesy heads-up that we have a high-profiler waiting for them. Raley, you call Captain Montrose so he knows we're working Cassidy Towne from the Ledger and he doesn't get blindsided. And see if he can put a hustle on CSU and also get some extra uniforms here, like, now." The detective could already project that the quiet, golden block she had enjoyed a few minutes ago would soon be transformed into a media street fair.