Page 19 of Drift

Shaun nodded, and he stepped shoulder-level with Gray and brought up another photo. “Take a look at this.”

A puncture wound from a needle pierced Jason’s lower back.

Gray studied it more closely. “That was made after death,” he said flatly. No bruising surrounded the mark, and the puncture wound hadn’t healed, not like it would have done on a live subject.

Shaun nodded. “Saturday evening, to be precise.”

Forty-eight hours after death, with someone else going back on scene to syphon the samples. Gray cocked a brow. “We’re looking at bone marrow theft here.”

“Precisely,” Shaun said flatly. “And he wasn’t marked as a donor. This was done at the victim’s home, after death.”

Necro bone marrow thieves… that reallywasdark Victorian-era play. “But they knew what they were doing, especially overthe time delay.” Gray studied the photo again. Death allowed time for phenotyping over human leukocyte antigens, also to evaluate where there was presence of any potential infectious diseases in the subject. He looked around the image of the kitchen where Jason had been found. “That’s a lot of testing.” No doubt why a weekend had been chosen.

Shaun took his phone back, and Gray’s phone let him know he’d received a copy of the files a moment later, so he took his own out. “That puts the real mark as either medical professional or a wannabe,” added Shaun.

A doctor.

Gray’s stomach somersaulted.

Oh it would fucking be, wouldn’t it?

“It’s too coincidental that they stumbled across the bodies in order to take the sample,” said Shaun.

Gray nodded. The house had been under surveillance, perhaps long before the theft.

“Only issue is, beyond the needle mark, there’s no other visible evidence that anyone influenced Jason’s double murder/suicide,” added Shaun.

“Double?”

Shaun tapped the woman’s file. “His partner was four weeks pregnant.”

Gray looked at the photo: the knife wound to the stomach, the chemical burns around it. Tucker had tried to bleed something out of her. Curious, though. They were dealing with someone who knew where and how to steal bone marrow, so they’d have the knowledge on how to poison the bloodstream, and thismurder/suicide wasn’t exactly what Gray would class as normal parameters. It was too creative. In fact, from the positioning of the woman on the table and Tucker sat having finished getting dinner ready despite strips of skin mixing with potato peel, it looked as if a scene of some sort had been played out, most of it not based in reality. Or it had been made to look that way. He would have been impressed, but with this mark potentially being a doctor…? “One or both were potentially drugged?”

Shaun nodded. “On scene behavioural toxicology concurred with that possible theory. The pathologist is in the process of collecting samples for a full postmortem report from the toxicologist.”

But that could take up to six weeks, even with leaning on the department. They needed time to work thoroughly.

Shaun rested against Gray’s desk. “He did find early signs of swelling on the brain, though.”

Gray frowned. “Cerebral edema?” Drug abuse could lead to Cerebral edema in some drug addicts, but that was drug abuse over a sustained period. “Does he know what caused it and if it relates to cause of death?”

“He just said an accumulation of fluid and that it needed more investigation. Curiously, he did, however, run a basic drug’s test of known drugs with both subjects and found negative results with Jason. But Amanda had heavy traces of pesticide poisoning.”

So Jason was potentially clearof known drugs himself. But that always left room for the unknown. “We’ll see what the postmortem toxicology brings up with them both.” It would be more specialised. “But Jason was what? A curator. A botanist?” Gray double-checked that detail, then ran a look over thephoto of the woman on the table, more the cannister that sat underneath it.

“Yes, he was,” said Shaun, distracting him. “His police file also shows he had minors for GBH in his youth, was taking medication for chronic anxiety disorder, but had no history of abuse towards his wife.” He fell quiet for a moment. “I’ve held off telling Monique because I thought you might want to have a look at the scene yourself, especially with it being Wales.” He gave a rough sigh. “I’m officially passing this onto the cullers as a… concern. There’s a third party at play here. A seriously ill one that doesn’t give a damn about being seen.”

Doing it this way, officially with a culler, it would bury consultancy relationships between Gray and the MC on his culler part and wouldn’t hurt the MC if the Monarchy got to hear about Shaun being the one to call him in. This was direct communication from head of the MET to lead culler. It was still a personal issue with it being a family member to someone at the MC, to Monique, but it would remain a professional passed on concern that needed investigation beyond MI5 domestic terrorism on paper. “I’ll need to talk to Monique once I’ve looked the scene over today.”

Shaun offered a small smile. “Forget avoiding paperwork and old-guard talk over war tables, does the Monarchy know you’re active as a culler? You will tell them at some point, right?”

Gray winked at Shaun. “Welshman here. They know how protective we are over our own. It’s just unfortunate that Wales still falls under the UK flag.”

“I didn’t hear dissention from the Crown’s culler there. Far too much Welsh Dragon in the blood there, Gray.” But Shaun had played on it. He’d known Gray would take a cull thatthreatened home soil. And when it came down to the MC, Gray would protect home there too if Shaun sent out the call. Always.

“Besides,” added Gray. “Delegation. I was told I should practice that art too.” Alya would be teaming up with Cal in MI6 and liaise back his way when needed as far as…talks over the war table went. With the threat on an international level, this was more his father’s lead in MI6 this morning.

“Okay.” Shaun gave a heavy sigh and put his phone away. “I’ve cancelled the FRC promotion for tomorrow but haven’t told the candidates yet, that includes Jan. I can keep them focused for another twenty-four hours, longer if you need.”

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