Oh, and most importantly, this might be coming back to bite the killer in the ass, and that was the best outcome for them.
For the first time, they were ahead of the curve.
Now, they had to stay there.
It was a chase, but Ethan and Gene were in the lead. The killer would have to beat them to the finish line.
As Ethan pulled his laptop out of his messenger bag, Gene continued working on searching the place. He took pictures so they could add that to the file after the tech team got there, but he didn’t think the killer would be stupid enough not to toss the place in gloves.
Then again, they were trying to make this look like a Voodoo killing—so they’d already dropped the ball.
As he moved around, he was thinking about the mob angle, and trying to make it fit the situation.
Tossing someone’s house and looking for something was very much a mob tactic.
Breaking someone’s bones in an attempt to get information from them also fits.
Taking someone right off the street and torturing them as they broke their bones, screamed mob.
For Gene, it was worth looking into it.
Pulling out his phone, he rattled off a text to Greyson, hoping he could help them.
‘We’re at the Fed’s place. It was tossed. Can you call Gabe and see what we have on any mob-related issues in this area, and then cross-check them against the first victim, Jaden Mendin? Ethan and I are pretty sure that someone’s fucking with us, and this is a zero when it comes to being tied to a religious nut.’
Gene hit send, and kept looking.
He was elbow deep in Jarod Shand’s nightstand when he got the text message back.
‘Give me a few. I’ll make some calls, and I’ll see what pops. If this is mob-related, please be careful. You and Blackhawk get your asses in the WORST predicaments at the WORSE times. This would be one of those times.’
He laughed.
Why?
It wasn’t like he was wrong.
They did tend to get into ridiculous amounts of trouble, but what could go wrong here?
They weren’t expected to show up here to work it, so there was no way that this case could be pointed at them.
Right?
Now, Gene focused on anything else he needed help with from Greyson, and there was one more thing.
‘We have a hunch that this whole thing is to distract us. Is there any way you can get copies of all of Aaron’s cases, and Jarod’s, and see if any of them tie to Jaden Medin? We think he’s ground zero for this fuckery, and if we’re right, this person is trying to bury us in leads to keep us busy.’
He sent it, and waited.
When he got the text back, Gene was grateful that they worked with Greyson. The man was damn good at micromanaging and helping them.
‘Funny you should ask. When you two chuckleheads left, I pulled all of Jarod’s cases. NONE of them have anything in them tied to Jaden Medin. There’s nothing there that says he even crossed paths with him. I called the homicide captain, but he was out of the office. When he gets back to me, I’ll get Aaron’s files too. Only, I think you’re right. This feels off.’
And there it was.
Gene had been sure of it.
The two men were simply killed because they were investigating, and the killer had to stop that.
