“I’m in,” she said. “The detective running the case has in his report that there was trace paint from another vehicle. It was inconclusive, though.”
Gene wasn’t buying it.
“I’m betting she was run off the road. Another‘accident’which gave this lunatic access to her body. That’s my bet on all of this. We do have a killer, but he’s just smart enough to make sure he doesn’t give us his DNA or too much evidence.”
She did too.
It was certainly looking like Chris wouldn’t have to leave anything out of the autopsy when it came to the embalming. Because if it walked like a killer, and acted like a killer, it wasn’t an innocent person.
Only, there was one sure-fire way to find out if this was definitely more.
“We’re going to need warrants signed on them, too. That’s why I wanted everyone on that list sent over. Update the judge’s office via email. I need the warrants to exhume for Joan, Alina, Penny, and Lory. He left Steph out in the open, so she’s free game.”
Gene knew what that meant.
“Tomorrow, their families are going to get wind of this, and we’re going to be the most hated people on the planet.”
Oh, she was aware, but she was accustomed to playing the villain role when need be.
No one wanted their family’s grave defiled, but if they were right, someone had already defiled them.
Like Steph Lewis.
“We’ll get the warrants easily,” Elizabeth admitted. “There’s no judge out there who isn’t going to see three vehicular incidents, a drug OD, and my name on them and fight it. We’ll get them.”
Gene didn’t doubt it.
“I’ll send the update email over. It’s after dark, so we won’t have them until tomorrow.”
She was aware.
Only, it was still only day one, so she had time. It wasn’t like this would escalate that much faster.
Right?
Except the shit was getting deeper, and she knew it.
“Now, I have to call my profiler, and see if he can riddle me something more. I’ll make sure he doesn’t lose his nut,” she said, pulling out her phone. “MATE, how are we doing with the search I asked you to do on the ME?” she asked.
Why?
Well, he’d done a few of the autopsies, and she was covering her bases.
MATE was to the point.
“It’s a deep search. Do you want the results right now? Or when I’ve concluded?”
She could wait.
“I don’t need it now. I do need one thing,” she admitted. “Can you compile me a list of the funeral homes that embalmed the victims?” she asked. “They’d be on the reports from the ME’s office on who signed for release.”
Callen knew where she was taking that.
“We’re going to be visiting funeral homes, huh?” he asked, knowing his wife.
She nodded.
“I just want to cover my bases. If we open those coffins tomorrow, and the heads are all intact, and they weren’t violated postmortem, then the person is fucking with me, and those eyeballs came out earlier. That’s a different angle, and the only way they could have been taken is then between the MEs handling and the funeral. The funeral staff would have noticed missing eyes, and reported it. So...”
