Page 14 of Lime Gelatin and Other Monsters
“You never know what’s going to happen on a call. I always have extra clothes.” Vikash had the gall to look smug when Kyle dropped the second boot and sock into the bag. “But the socks are the only things of mine that would fit you.”
“Not the time for short jokes, Soren. So not the time.”
A tiny smile tugged at Vikash’s lips as he gave Kyle’s feet a once over. “They’re pretty nice feet. Though I’m surprised they’re not hairy.”
It was a good thing for Vikash that the lab techs arrived then or Kyle was sure he would’ve had a scathing retort that would’ve shut him up for the rest of the afternoon. Maybe. Probably not. He was still stuck on Vikash saying he had nice feet.
Chapter Four
The lab boys and girls were still combing through the findings from the site two days later. There had been a second bag of heroin Kyle had missed, a partial boot print farther down the bank, and of course a few zillion photos to pore over. While the street value of the drugs was substantial and Kyle would be glad to get the douchewaffle off the streets, it was the photo of the V-shaped mark in the mud that had his attention.
“It’s the same, isn’t it?” He peered over Vikash’s shoulder where his computer screen showed the photo of the mud V and the V-shaped wound on one of the murder victim’s necks.
“Hard to say,” Vikash said softly. “Roughly the same shape. The size doesn’t quite match up, but the mud may have distorted it.”
“It’s not even a quarter inch difference. It’s the same.”
“Similar enough to be suspicious,” Vikash finally conceded. He’d had to verify exact measurements from the coroner’s report and the lab report first, of course.
Kyle leaned a hip against the desk, absolutely stymied over what to do next. “Too much to ask for prints, I guess.”
“Sara says they’re still working on the bag, but the mud probably erased them.”
They both stared at the photos in silence. Kyle wished Vikash would stop chewing on his bottom lip. Damn distracting. The find had seemed so promising, but all they’d managed was to manufacture another dead end for themselves. Informants hadn’t come up with anyone to match the bits of description they had and the APB hadn’t turned up anything either. Not surprising, with so little information.
“Who are you?” Kyle murmured at the screen.
Vikash pulled out his notebook and flipped it open. “Probably male. High probability of someone young.”
“How do you figure that?”
“The terrain. You had trouble with it.”
Kyle snorted. “That better not be a crack about my age. But I get what you’re saying. More likely somebody young and fit.”
“Fairly distinctive varsity jacket.”
“Yeah. Doesn’t mean he wears it everywhere.”
“Possibly.” Vikash tipped his chair back to glance up at Kyle. “But he wore a six-hundred-dollar jacket down to the riverbank. Don’t you think he would’ve worn something else if he could have?”
“Good point. Maybe. Could be his lucky jacket or something.” Kyle couldn’t help being surprised that Vikash was suddenly so talkative, but itwasabout the case and not personal stuff. Probably made a difference. “The stash was too big for personal use. But not big enough for one of the serious suppliers. Dealer?”
Vikash shook his head slowly. “Unlikely. If he was dealing, he’d want to be able to get to his product. He wouldn’t set up shop in such an out of the way place. A mule?”
“That makes more sense. He was dropping off a shipment for a dealer to come collect later. So we probably have some small-time guy playing mule for extra cash. Why would he be killing people?”
“Wrong place, wrong time?” Vikash suggested, though he didn’t sound convinced.
“Maybe. But he ran from Mrs. Kerns instead of confronting her. And those murders were vicious. If for some godforsaken reason he’s using a gardening trowel to kill people, that’s gotta take some effort.”
“Small fish with big grudges.”
“Could be. If we knew who he was, we could start connecting dots.”
Vikash smacked Kyle’s knee with his notepad. “Time for us to get out there.”
“Yeah. All right. We’re just spinning our wheels in the mud here.”
