“And how far is it from where the bodies were found?” he asked, covering his bases.
The man did the math.
“It’s on the opposite side ofSan Juan.”
For Gene, that didn’t fit.
“No, the killer wouldn’t load them up, take them somewhere, abuse them near that boardwalk, and then load them up, transport across the city, and dump them in the water from a boat.”
On that, Ethan agreed.
“I think it’s safe to say the sugar burns are from something else.”
Gene went there.
“But we keep this on the back burner, Corbin, simply because if everything else fails to pan out, we have this.”
He got it.
They were being thorough.
Will was curious.
“Okay, so if we look at what else you said, if it’s not ritualistic, why is this person pointing it at that? Because crazies do nothing accidentally. Right? Or is this all intentional?”
Ethan went there.
“I’m going to say that this is all a cover. Someone was trying to keep the cops and Feds off of their tail, and is continuing to do that from victim one. Only, when they killed the last fed, they didn’t realize that we’d be here, and take over.”
Greyson agreed.
“With Director Moore’s new directive, had you not been here, I would have come down with someone else. Before that, someone here would have fielded it. You guys have shit luck when it comes to your vacations.”
Oh, they were well aware.
Because he needed them to have a comprehensive list, and a way to do this, Ethan headed toward the whiteboard on the wall, and he uncapped the marker.
That’s when he began laying out the evidence for them, so they’d have a roadmap.
This killer was consistent, and with Corbin handling half the information that morning, they needed it all consolidated.
On the board, he wrote the victim’s names.
‘Jaden Mendin—restaurant owner who showed up dead on a beach.
Aaron Figueroa—cop who was working Jaden’s homicide, ends up dead on a beach.
Jarod Shand—Fed who was working on cop’s murder and ends up dead on a beach by feds.
?’
What Gene didn’t like was the last line. The question mark said it all.
Ethan expected there to be more.
“Oh, shit. There’s going to be a few more.”
Blackhawk nodded.
