By three o’clock in the afternoon, Special Agent Pendergast had been working with Special Agent Anna Cady for approximately seven hours. He had found her to be an instinctive investigator, gifted and perhaps even brilliant. But she gave him pause. “Her methods are a bit unorthodox.” Pendergast sat on the park bench and chose his words with care as he watched the joggers and rollerbladers pass back and forth before him on the path several yards away. “Beyond the gadgets and the wide assortment of weapons she carries, her entire demeanor is unusual.”

There was a moment of silence on the other end of the connection. “Pendergast,” Mike Decker said somewhat dryly, “You are not the only unusual agent with unorthodox methods in this office. You are not the only one whose behavior elicits complaints. And you are also not the only one I find myself having to, shall we...   read more »