Page 187 of Sticks and Stones
Gene needed that first and foremost.
As he went to ask, Reed decided to get chatty, and he started with the twenty questions.
“So, where’s your normal partner?” Reed asked. “Usually, you’re consistently around here with him, and Corbin.”
Greyson kept it short, sweet, and to the point.
For good reason.
“He’s still working with us. Right now, he’s profiling it while we’re doing the legwork,” he admitted. “Miss us?” he joked.
The man laughed.
“Yes, like a person misses chlamydia, scurvy, and tuberculosis.”
Well, that said it all.
This guy really didn’t like the FBI.
They waited as Reed dug out the files, and he made copies of the papers inside for them. It didn’t take long.
Maybe five minutes at the most.
When he handed them back, Gene started playing his own game of twenty questions.
“Did you get toxicology back?” he asked.
The man nodded.
“That’s what I just gave you. I’m assuming you have the official report. As for the drugs I found in the victims’ systems, it was confusing,” he said, talking about it.
“What do you mean?” Greyson asked.
Reed told him.
“I just got the testing back this morning, and it’s inconclusive as to the drugs found in the men’s systems. Their tissue samples showed an opioid-like drug, but it didn’t register what kind. It’s not in the database for testing, so I don’t think we’ve seen it before.”
Well, there it was.
They likely had Snow, and not the shit outside.
“I see,” Gene said, not giving anything away. Now, he had more questions.
They needed answers.
“I’m sure it’s in your file, but can you ballpark how long the men were dead?” he asked. “Or when they died?”
Reed nodded.
“It’s in there, but I can give it to you now. It was befuddling because all of the bodies were found together. Only, it was clear it was more a dump spot, than a spot where they were killed.”
The men listened.
“They were all taken around the same time. Corbin brought me missing person reports, and I got dentals for about fifteen men. The three matched.”
Gene was making notes.
“All of the men were missing from early October and on. The first victim, Elliot Graves, died first. I’m putting his time of death around the end of October.”
