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uniform.
    Jade was grateful both for her cover job and for her own foresight in grabbing her camera bag when she’d left her apartment. Her press pass gave her an excuse to stand at the edge of the crime scene and take pictures, although the cops there gave her evil looks for it. They weren’t likely to let her cross the tape to get closer, even though she had NYPD-issued press credentials, but that was fine. She didn’t need to get closer in order to see what all the fuss was about.
    The crime scene was a mess, and no one had bothered to do any cleaning up yet. The bodies were gone, but the chalk outlines remained, as did the dried pools of blood that suggested this had been a violent set of murders. Three outlines of victims stretched across half a block of sidewalk between Ninth and Tenth Avenues.
    “–idea where the shooter was?” asked a voice at the very edge of Jade’s hearing.
    She strained to eavesdrop on the two men in trench coats standing a short distance away on the other side of the crime scene tape. Detectives, probably. They would be her best bet to figure out what happened.
    “I’m guessing he was in one of those windows, or maybe on the roof.” The taller man pointed at a nearby tenement building, indicating the upper floors. “He had a sniper rifle. We’ll send uniforms to canvass the apartments, but I suspect he’s long gone.”
    “You don’t shoot three people in cold blood and then stick around waiting for the cops to come up and find you,” the first man agreed, and the second man sighed.
    “This one’s going to be nasty, Aaron. I can feel it.”
    Not if Jade had anything to say about it. A mass shooting and a killer on the loose had the potential to destroy the karmic balance of Midtown West, and she would do whatever it took to solve the problem before the Powers found out about it.
    She took a closer look at the detectives, pausing for a moment to appreciate the aesthetic appeal of the taller one. They were both good-looking, but he was the perfect Hollywood image of a ruggedly handsome action hero. He also had a beautifully balanced aura, the faintest shade of green peeking through its white base color. The other detective had a light green aura, as did all of the uniformed officers she’d seen so far that morning. Their collective positive karma lowered her concern that any of them might be involved with the shooting or some sort of cover-up. That sort of thing was rare, but this was shaping up to be the most important case of her life, so she couldn’t afford to overlook anything.
    Jade took pictures of both detectives in profile in case she needed to reference them later, noting again how attractive the taller one was. She didn’t have time to flirt with cute cops right now, but if she had to go haring off after a murderer in order to get her catchment area under control, at least she could do it with some quality eye candy to look at. The cops manning the tape barricade weren’t hard on the eyes either, she realized belatedly as she glanced over at them. The nearest cop was watching her, no doubt suspicious that she’d been eavesdropping on the oblivious detectives. She gave him a winning smile and he reddened, turning away.
    The detectives came toward her. She stood her ground, offering them the same bright smile she’d given the patrol officer. The shorter one, Aaron, smiled back, but the tall handsome one seemed unamused.
    “Any comment you’d like to make for the press?” she asked, knowing the answer but asking the question anyway for form’s sake. The taller man gave her a disgusted look as he shouldered past her.
    “Get lost,” he told her flatly, and continued on toward the unmarked police car parked at the corner.
    His partner wasn’t any more helpful, but he did offer her an apologetic look and a shrug as he followed the first man down the street. Her cell phone rang, and she let her camera drop to hang around her neck as she rummaged through her bag for