“Father?” she asked, as she and Ethan reached him.
He shook his head.
“Director, was this all necessary?” he asked, looking around at the chaos. “This is a mess.”
Oh, well, that happened when you had someone killing people. If someone met their maker the old-fashioned way, it tended to be peaceful.
This was not‘the old-fashioned way’.
Not.
Even.
Close.
Elizabeth ignored that, and instead introduced her partner in this. She knew Ethan was taking it all in, since he’d been incredibly quiet.
“I’m sorry, Father. Let me introduce my profiler, Ethan Blackhawk,” she said.
He shook his hand.
“I’m Father Gregory,” he admitted. “I can’t believe all of this.”
Elizabeth took the man in. He was older than her, probably in his late fifties. He was neat as a pin, but then again, most priests tended to be like that. His graying hair stood up from where he ran his hands through it.
“Well, Father, we’re sorry to stir up the cemetery, and know that we tried to avoid that, but we had DNA come back and it matched previously buried victims. When we opened that first grave, of Joan Gehert, the remains have been tampered with.”
He went there.
“How?” he asked.
Elizabeth knew it would get out eventually. Frank was wandering around, and likely going to run his mouth like most cops did to sink the FBI investigation.
There was no love lost there.
That was for sure.
“Her head is missing. We found her eyes.”
He gasped and crossed himself.
“This is evil,” he said. “Are you a believer in Christ?” he asked.
Elizabeth reached into her shirt, under her vest, and pulled out a crucifix. Granted, it was ruby and diamond, and a spectacle in itself, but it was still something she always wore.
And with good reason.
People were evil, and she needed all the help she could get, and Timothy was likely tired of warning her.
“We’re going to transport,” she said. “Can you tell me a little about your groundskeeper?” she asked. “Jeffrey?”
The man looked confused.
“What did he do?”
She was to the point.
“I had my team contact you yesterday, no?” she asked, knowing she wanted them to.
