“Is he able to say whathappened?”
“They’ve had him sedated since he got here, so, no one’s been able to talk to him. Two agents responded to the call and were on scene when our guys got to the homeless encampment.”
There are several agents already in the hallway. “Who was first on the scene?” I bark.
Two special agents standing toward the back step forward, and one of them answers. “We were.” He looks young. His partner is a step behind him and looks like an asshole.
Sliding my hands in my pockets, I focus on them. “Tell me what happened and how you came to be there.”
The one who spoke up says, “One of the detectives on the scene recognized Agent Conway and called the generic inbound line. We were having lunch nearby, and I’m sort of dating one of the operators, so she called me.”
The lack of protocol and the number of people involved right now is blowing my fucking mind. They’ve probably never even processed a scene. “Well, did anything stand out while you were there against protocol?”
I’m containing my anger because they know as well as I do, they shouldn’t have been there, and since they both look like they just finished academy, there’s no telling how much they missed while they and local law enforcement were stepping all over the scene.
The one who spoke up has the presence of mind to look apologetic. His partner, who still hasn’t said anything, looks bored, and it’s taking immense self-control to resist the urge to knock him down a few pegs.
“At first glance, it appeared to be a homeless individual overdose, but the battered condition of the body would have made it hard for him to administer the dose himself. It’s obvious he was beaten before he was given the drug and dumped near the encampment.”
“Was there anything on or around him?”
“No, sir. He didn’t even have shoes on, only a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. No identification or money in his pockets, he could have been ambushed.”
The asshole finally speaks up. “Or the homeless in the immediate area stripped him of everything they could get before anyone got there. The entire area was littered with trash and people just hanging around.”
I stare at him, trying to get a feel for him, but he only stares back. “Describe the scene on your arrival.”
The other one speaks up again. “Yes, sir. Paramedics were there. They had administered the NARCAN already and were performing CPR. The detectives were there but kept a respectable distance. We tried to look around the scene, but Jacobs is right,” he points his thumb at his asshole partner, “the entire area was littered with trash and there were footprints everywhere. It’s my belief that he was dumped there.”
“Why?”
“Well, sir, there was no blood on the scene, and based on the state of his body, there should have been a lot of blood.” He pauses and looks sheepish. “There was a lot of sand in the area where he was found, and there were no scuff marks to indicate a struggle. Like he was pushed from a vehicle.”
“What’s your name?”
He steps forward and holds out his hand. “Andrews, sir. Special Agent Edward Andrews.”
I shake his hand and nod my head when I say, “Thank you, Agent.”
Turning to Sanders, who is leaning against the wall behind me, his hands stuffed in his pockets. He’s looking at the floor when I turn and looks up when I face him. “Any word on labs? Do we know what he overdosed on?”
He shakes his head. “The doctor said we should knowmore within the next hour or two.”
“Is there any way we can have it expedited?”
“I already asked, he said they are short a person in the lab, and he would see what he can do.”
Looking around, I don’t see anyone else from our team here. “How are you here? How did you know before me?”
He looks confused by the question. His eyebrows twitch together. “I was chatting up one of the operators when the call came in. I came right over.”
Sucking in a deep breath, I work up the courage to walk into the room and see the damage for myself. He’s almost unrecognizable. Both arms and legs are broken, and his head and face are wrapped in so much gauze that he looks like a Q-Tip.
Pulling up a chair, I sit next to Conway’s bed and make myself comfortable. When I slouch in the chair, I glance down at my shirt and see the small bloody spots from Kinley’s scraped hands.
Earlier today, when my phone let me know the back door had been opened, I watched her walk out to the pool in the tiny coral-colored bikini. My dick was immediately hard, and I watched her slim body swim zig-zags across my pool.
But when she pulled herself up out of the pool and the water slid down her backside, her long hair sticking to her back, I nearly burst out of my pants. The little triangles of her bikini barely covered her, and I was pissed that Swan was there getting a front-row view.
