Liam and I were on our way to the morgue.

We had been told that a body of a male was found floating on the water of the Hudson River. They thought he was the same victim Mark Lewis witnessed getting murdered at the hands of the same men who later killed Lewis, too.

We arrived at the morgue. Agent Craven was already waiting for us there. I could say that I was interested to see his reaction to having us work on the case with him. Especially after the little argument that happened between us while interrogating Sam Walsh.

"Hello, Agents."

Ian Craven met us in the hallway, and to my surprise, he greeted us with a warm smile. I found it a bit odd because he was such a sour face when we first met him.

"I believe an apology is in order. I'm sorry about what happened when we first met in the interrogation room," Craven said. "This case is really challenging to deal with, and sometimes, it gets the best of you."

I gave him a little smile, deciding to put everything behind us. "We understand that. You don't need to worry about it."

He smiled back. "I believe we didn't have a proper introduction."

"Alex Ryan," I said, offering him my hand.

He shook it with a smile.

I noticed Liam was still giving him an intense look, so I decided to take care of the introduction part to ease the mood between them.

"And this is Agent Liam Hunt," I said, gesturing toward Liam.

They shook hands formally, both of them maintaining a hard look. Liam got so pissed off over what happened in the interrogation room. And that day, I found out that both of them were very good at verbal judo as they continued to argue for what seemed like forever. So, to be frank, I didn't really expect them to become best buddies.

"So, how did the autopsy go? Have they found any leads?" I asked, trying to break the bitter look they were both sharing.

Ian sighed and shook his head. "The body's in a terrible shape. I'll be surprised if we got anything useful out of it."

"I think we need to see it," Liam abruptly spoke up for the first time since we arrived.

"Okay, as you wish, but I can guarantee you, there isn't much to see." Ian shrugged, then he started leading us to one of the many rooms.

The body was lying on a metal table, the autopsy scars and marks covering it. Inspecting it more closely, it seemed to me like there was a figure carved on his chest. But it wasn't easily recognizable as the water had dissolved it alongside most of the body's features.

I concentrated my eyes on it for a few minutes, running all the possible patterns in my head. I took out my notebook and sketched some of those patterns until I reached a very familiar one.

"Well, he's most definitely our guy," I said, capturing the attention of both Liam and Ian. I showed them what I found out.

"That damned symbol." Ian scoffed, clearly bothered by the fact that the list of the many victims of it just increased by one.

Although the symbol was in Chinese, the mob necessarily wasn't. We learned that over the years, organized crime had arrested, and was keeping tabs on a lot of people from different backgrounds and ethnicities, including many Americans. So the symbol only meant power and aimed to throw fear in the hearts and souls of whoever dared to stand in their way.

A man in a white coat walked into the room, grabbing our attention.

He approached us, a file in his hand. "Hello, Agents. I'm Doctor Jack Kent, a pathologist, and medical examiner," he started. "Our victim here suffered from many antemortem wounds and facial lacerations. That means that they beat him up pretty badly before killing him. He received a bullet to the skull, which was the cause of death."

"What about the carving on his chest?" I asked, focusing my gaze on the body.

The doctor looked at the report in his hand before he answered. "That was the only postmortem injury we found on the body."

So, the culprits took their sweet time with the body after making sure the man was dead.

Doctor Kent then held the victim's right hand and looked between the three of us. "As you can see, the fingertips are dissolved and most of the features aren't recognizable, so it was really hard to identify the body. But we ran an Odontology test and the matching results just came in. The body belongs to a man called Gerard Warner."

"Gerard Warner!" Ian repeated in a surprised tone.

"You know him?" Liam asked.

"Yeah, he owned a huge shipping and logistics company. We suspected him of being responsible for a lot of illegal trafficking using his company. We have been after him for a few years now, but unfortunately, we couldn't prove anything on him," he replied, disappointment clear on his face.

"It looks like you guys do an amazing job at the organized crime division," Liam said in a sarcastic tone, folding his arms.

Ian gave him a sharp look. Liam shrugged it off with a smirk.

I cleared my throat to get their attention and to save all of us the trouble of another argument. "Do you have any idea about the people who wanted him dead?" I asked, directing my question to Ian.

"Well, he definitely had many enemies. I will have to go back to the bureau and look through all the files we have on him," he answered. "But he was a married man. Maybe you can visit his wife and see if she knows anything that might be useful."

Liam and I agreed.

Liam and I were currently in the car, on our way to Gerard Warner's house.

"You don't really like Craven, do you?" I asked, a little smirk playing on my lips. Yet, of course, I knew I was questioning the obvious.

"I just think he's a little too full of himself," he replied, shrugging.

A laugh escaped my mouth.

"What?" Liam asked, raising an eyebrow at me.

"I just happen to know a thing or two about people full of themselves, and I don't really think you're in a place to judge." I grinned at him.

He narrowed his eyes at me, and that made me laugh even more. He just rolled his eyes at my reaction.

I went back to my serious mode. "Do you think we can really make any progress in this case?"

"I guess we will find out soon," he said, putting the car in park in front of an enormous mansion.

We walked toward the front door and rang the doorbell; a housekeeper opened the door. We showed her our badges and asked to speak with Mrs. Warner. She led us to a vast living room where we waited for her. After a while, a pristine-looking woman came into view. Although she was in her late fifties, she looked much younger and polished. I had an idea that a couple of plastic surgeries might have helped with that.

"Agents, how can I help you?" she asked, lips curling in what I thought was disdain.

Obviously, she was bothered by our presence.

"Ma'am, we need to talk to you about your husband," I started.

"Gerard... What about him?" she questioned, her posture becoming hunched. And I noticed the flicker of fear that clouded her eyes.

Liam and I shared a knowing look, as we figured out she had no idea about what happened to him.

"Mrs. Warner, can you please sit down first?" Liam asked her politely, taking by the rule of always asking people to sit down before delivering the bad news.

She looked between both of us in doubt before she took a seat on the couch in front of us, yet she was still restless.

"Mrs. Warner, I'm really sorry to inform you that we have found your husband's body this morning," Liam told her.

Her eyes widened, and she clasped her hand over her mouth, tears gathering in her eyes. "H—How did that happen?"

"He was murdered," I answered.

A sob escaped her mouth, and a few tears started rolling down her cheeks.

"Ma'am, I'm really sorry for your loss, and I know you need your time to grieve," I said, giving her a sympathetic look. "But we need to ask you a few questions that might help us in the case to find whoever did this."

She nodded, still breathing heavily. She grabbed a tissue and wiped some of the tears that had smeared her makeup.

She took a deep breath and looked at us with her red and puffy eyes. "He was supposed to be outside the country for things related to work. He told me he was coming home next week," she told us, her voice breaking. "I haven't heard from him for days, but I knew he always used to get distracted when he had his hands full of work. I didn't want to bother him, so I was just waiting for him to come back."

Things started to make more sense now. It explained why nobody looked for him or filed a missing report. Also, the fact that he lied to her about being abroad could prove that he had something to hide.

"Ma'am, your husband never left the country, and I'm afraid to tell you he might have been involved in some illegal business. That would actually explain why he had lied to you about his whereabouts," Liam told her.

Her eyes widened. "Gerard! T—That's impossible." She shook her head in disbelief.

"We're still running our investigations," I told her. "But do you know where he used to keep his important papers and files, or about the people whom he really trusted?"

She shook her head. "I don't know anything about any files, but I guess I might know the person who does. The person he trusted the most was his personal assistant; her name is Selene Williams."

"This might actually help us a lot. Thank you for your time, ma'am," I told her. "We will keep you updated if we figure out anything new."

"C—Can I see him? I—I mean the body," she asked, looking at us with eyes full of despair.

I shared a look with Liam before directing my gaze at her. "Of course, you could if you want, but... I don't really think it's a good idea," I told her. The body was hardly recognized. She could definitely spare herself that extra agony.

She nodded, probably understanding what I meant. We thanked her again, then we left the house.

After that, we went to the bureau and asked them to look into the assistant. We searched for her everywhere, but she was nowhere to be found, and she hadn't been home for two days.

We also searched her office in the company alongside Warner's office. We were lucky enough to find a few documents and stuff related to Warner's illegal activities in his personal safe. We also found out that Selene Williams was involved with him, and that made us able to incriminate her. Now, she was on the run, and a BOLO was put out for her.

Taking a sip of my cold coffee, I scrunched up my nose and put the cup away, letting out an exasperated sigh.

I was at the bureau, looking through all the documents we collected on Williams, trying to find something we might have missed before. But I still came out empty. We were desperate for any minor information that might lead us to her.

My landline telephone rang. I picked it up before the second ring. "Agent Ryan," I said through the phone. "What? Are you sure?" I asked with wide eyes. "Okay, thank you. We will be on our way." I rose from my seat and hurried to look for Liam.

I was just told that Selene Williams had been caught at JFK Airport using an alias as she was trying to flee the country and leave for Canada. And now, she was in custody in one of the police departments that was near the airport.