Miles looked at the closed door of the interrogation room.He felt his frustration bubbling up and he knew that the decision he’d just made had been a direct result of that.But for right now, he was fine with that."Give me a minute."
He walked down the corridor to the conference room they'd been using and found the file folders Detective Linhart had compiled for them.He picked up the one with the crime scene photographs from both murders, pulling out four images: Diane Rothschild's face, the platinum visible in her mouth and throat.A close-up of the coating itself, showing the precision of the application.Michael Williams in the hotel room, similarly treated.The platinum watch on the bathroom counter.
He took the photographs back to the interrogation room.As he passed Vic in the hallway, her eyes went wide.Miles barely heard her utter “Oh, shit,” before he walked inside.
Brennan looked up when the door opened.His expression shifted slightly when he saw Miles had something in his hand.Miles sat down across from him and set the photographs face-down on the table between them.
"I want to try something different," he said."You've made it clear you're not going to answer questions as a suspect.I respect that.But I'm going to ask you to look at these as a craftsman.As someone who knows platinum work better than most people in this city."
Brennan was quiet.In his silence, Vic entered the room behind them.Miles was slightly surprised when she didn’t object to what he clearly had in mind.
"You don't have to say anything about yourself," Miles continued."But I need your expertise.If you aren’t guilty—which I still find unlikely seeing as how you ran from us the moment we called out your name—I need your help.I need to understand what I'm looking at here, because the technical aspects of these crimes are beyond my knowledge."He tapped the photographs with one finger."Will you look at them?"
Brennan hesitated as a look of doubt crept across his face—the first real emotion he’d shod since.Then he gave a small, reluctant nod.
Miles turned the first photograph over.
Brennan's eyes went to it immediately.He stared at the image of Diane Rothschild for several seconds, his expression unreadable at first.Then something shifted.His mouth opened slightly and he leaned back from the table as if the photograph itself had pushed him.He looked disgusted one moment, scared the next, and then his body seemed to settle on baffled.
"Jesus Christ," he said quietly.
Miles turned over the second photograph.This one showed the close-up of the platinum coating.
Brennan looked at it and his face went pale.He brought one hand up to cover his mouth and turned his head away, looking at the wall instead of the table.When he spoke again, his voice was hoarse."What the hell is this?"
"This is what we're investigating," Miles said."Two people dead.Both of them were killed this way."
"Why are you showing me this?"Brennan's voice had gone up slightly, anger or shock or both breaking through the careful composure he'd maintained since his arrest."You think I did this?You think I…Jesus…"
Miles turned over the third photograph.This time, it showed what the killer had done to Michael Williams.
Brennan pushed his chair back from the table with a scrape of metal on tile."I didn't do this.I couldn't.I wouldn't."
Miles watched him carefully.The reaction was too immediate, too visceral.This was not a man looking at his own work.This was a man looking at something that horrified him.He was so affected by it that it literally looked like he was seconds away from trying to claw his way through the walls to get away from the pictures.
"Tell me about the technique," Miles said.
"What?"
"The platinum coating.Tell me what I'm looking at."
Brennan shook his head, still staring at the photographs."This isn't jewelry work.This isn't electroplating the way we did it at Ashford."
"What is it then?"
Brennan looked at the close-up again, leaning forward now despite his obvious revulsion.His professional instinct seemed to be overriding his shock."This ismessedup is what it is.”
“I agree.But we need to know how it was done.How does this differ from jewelry work?”
Brenna licked at his lips for a second, as if trying to will them to form words.With a slight tremor in his voice, he was finally able to start.“First of all, look at the uniformity of the coating.The thickness.This is a medical-grade application.The kind of process used for surgical implants and medical instruments.It requires specialized equipment and a very specific understanding of how platinum bonds to organic material."He looked up at Miles."Whoever did this wasn't trained in jewelry.They were trained in something else."
"Medical or scientific backgrounds, maybe?"
"Yeah, probably.But even then…why?"
"That’s what we’re trying to find out.Was there anyone at Ashford who had that kind of background when you were working at Ashford?Anyone who left jewelry work to go into medical applications?"
Brennan was quiet for a moment.Then his expression changed again, this time into something closer to horror as a connection was made."Daniel Hartley."
