“You’re an artist?”Jessica blurted.
Faith stifled a smile.At least Jessica wasn’t mooning over Michael anymore.
Jon grinned.“Yeah, I do sculpture in my spare time.HydroFill is nice because I can make a small model of something, get the details right, then make a mold from that model and create a HydroFill replica, then expand that replica to a larger size.Then I can make the actual sculpture based off of that HydroFill replica.”
“Wow.That sounds amazing.”
Faith decided it was time to return the focus to the case.“What I’m looking for is an industrial-grade epoxy designed to lend rigidity to flow-form structures.Anything like that?”
Jon tilted his head and crossed his arms in a way that made his impressive muscles look even bigger.“Well… I guess you could use it for that.Flow-forming is just a type of metalworking process.It’s kind of like pottery.You take a material, spin it, and use your hands—or in the case of flow-forming, mechanical rollers—to shape it.There are other steps, but that’s the ‘flow-forming’ part.It makes things like wheels lighter weight and stronger.”
“Or windmill blades?”
“Probably the hubs, not the actual blades, but yeah.”
“And how is HydroFill involved?”
“It would be part of the modeling process.You’d have to work out the math to determine the perfect shape of whatever object you’re trying to create, make the small-scale model, then use HydroFill or something like it to create an expanded object, then make the large-scale master and replicate that master.”
“Jesus, Jon, you’re only missing the wire-rimmed glasses and a signed portrait of Captain Picard,” the burly construction worker teased.
Jon blushed and chuckled.“Yeah, I’m kind of a nerd.”
And Jessica’skind of in love, Faith thought, looking at her smitten partner.Aloud, she said, “Okay, I’ll be straight with you.This substance was used to stiffen the bodies of murder victims so that they could be staged in a prayer position without sagging or falling over.”
A chorus of gasps erupted from the small crowd that had gathered around them.One of the others said, “Hey, I heard about that!That guy who was killed in Arlington!”
“There’s one more across the street,” another man said.
“What?”
“Yeah, in the World War Two Memorial.”
The group, except for Jon, all went to the other side of the fence to look at the memorial and see what was up.Jessica frowned, but Faith put a hand on her shoulder.They didn’t need to worry about looky-loos right now.
“Damn,” Jon said quietly.“That’s… really messed up.”
“To put it lightly,” Faith agreed.“My question is, where does one get HydroFill, and how much would one need to render a human body stiff and immobile?”
Jon took a deep breath.“Well.The second question is easy.It expands, so if you put it in the right places, like the joints—especially the knees, hips, and spine—you wouldn’t need much.I don’t know how many vertebra you’d even have to fill.Like… An ounce, maybe?”
Faith took a moment to process her shock.She had assumed the killer needed at least the equivalent of a caulking tube full.An ounce was, what?Like a tube of makeup?”
“And where would someone get HyrdoFill?”
“I mean… anywhere.Hardware stores, art supply stores, websites… I order mine from Amazon.”
And just like that, all of Faith’s excitement over this lead vanished.The killer needed a small enough amount that he could keep enough for five people in his pocket and he could order it from freaking Amazon.
She took a deep breath and sighed, dropping her chin to her chest.“Got it.Thank you for your time, Jon.”
“Yeah, you bet.I’m really sorry.I guess this wasn’t good news.”
“It’s just news,” Faith said.“Whether it’s good or bad depends on what you do with it.”Which was bullshit, but the guy had tried to help, so she might as well make him feel a little better about the situation.
“Well, whoever this guy is, I hope you catch him.”He shook his head.“That’s really screwed up.I don’t know how people do something like that.”
Because you, my sweet hunk, have probably never hated anything in your life.
