"I could-"
"I'd rather you didn't. We may well need your influence at some point, but using it now isn't likely to help us-or the investigation."
LeMott nodded slowly. "I have to defer to your judgment on that."
Whether you want to or not. "Thank you."
"But why would the Director object to exchanging some of your people for more-conventional agents?"
"He doesn't really see the difference."
"Ah. The crux of the matter. He doesn't believe in psychic abilities."
"No. He doesn't." With another faint shrug, Bishop added, "We've weathered a changing of the guard before. We will again; our success record is too good to easily dismiss, no matter what the Director may or may not think about our methods. But in the interim…"
"You have to follow orders."
"If I want the SCU to continue, yes, I do. For now. At least officially."
"And unofficially?"
Reluctant for too many reasons to list, Bishop said, "Unofficially there's Haven."
Chapter Two
THE BOX CUTTER'S blade was new and sharp, so he used it with care as he cut around the part of the photo's image containing the girl.
She was pretty.
She was always pretty.
He enjoyed her curves. It was one reason he took such care in cutting the images out of the photographs and newspapers, because his knife could slowly-so slowly-caress the curves.
He was careful even with her face, though the curves of nose and chin and jaw barely caused a ripple inside him.
But her throat. The very slight, gentle curves of her breasts, just that faint hint of womanliness. The delicate flare of hips. Those his knife lingered on.
Sometimes he scanned the pictures into his computer and manipulated the images to suit a variety of fantasies. He could replace clothed flesh with naked, change all the different hairstyles to the short, dark, nearly boyish look she almost always wore. He could pose her any way he liked, do wild things with color and texture. He had even found autopsy photos and superimposed her head onto those bodies that were laid out, their exposed organs gleaming in the cold, clinical light.