Page 28 of So Normal

Amy and her team showed up fifteen minutes later, along with two dozen more uniforms in riot gear. The riot officers were far rougher with the crowd than the rank-and-filers, but fortunately, the onlookers dissipated before they had to resort to non-lethal rounds.

Amy briefly conferred with the CSIs before telling her assistants to load the body onto the gurney for transportation. She walked over to the two agents, Rameses, and Wales and said, “Well, same as before, no marks, no signs of weaponry, nothing that might indicate any kind of harm at all. We’ll do a full workup on him, but dollars to donuts the only thing we’ll find is a needle mark and traces of phenol.”

Faith glanced at the still-considerable crowd of onlookers and said, “Let’s have the rest of this conversation at your office.”

“Right,” Amy said, scanning the crowd. “Guess there’s nothing good on TV.”

“What could possibly be as good as this?” Michael said sarcastically. “It’s not every day you get to see a murder victim.”

“If only that were true,” Rameses said without a trace of humor.

An hour later, the five of them sat in a small meeting room at the coroner’s office. The body lay in the next room. The full autopsy would take place later that day, but the preliminary examination proved them correct. The victim had been injected in the back of his neck, just above the hairline where Michael’s cursory examination wouldn’t reveal the wound. The toxicology report would have to wait for the full autopsy, but they were all certain that the report would come back positive for phenol.

“Do we have an ID yet?” Faith asked.

“We think so,” Rameses said. “We didn’t find a wallet or an ID of any kind, but the victim carried a pocketknife inscribed with E. Richardson. I did a search and the only E. Richardson who looks like our victim is one Everett Richardson, forty-two. The brother’s on the way to confirm.”

“So, our killer took his wallet but left his weapon?” Wales asked.

“Why disarm a man you’ve already killed?” Michael said. “He probably saw the knife and didn’t think to check if it was inscribed.”

“Maybe he was surprised,” Faith said. “The terminal’s open twenty-four hours now. We saw the other night that it’s busy enough that it would be difficult to stage a body without being seen.”

“I’ll talk to my captain,” Rameses said. “We can put out a bulletin and see if anyone noticed anything out of the ordinary. Maybe we’ll get lucky, and someone will come forward with something useful.”

“Do that,” Faith said.

“Why would he stage the body in the same place?” Michael said. “Is he just toying with us?”

“Maybe,” Faith said, “or maybe he works at the terminal. Or he just takes the same train as the victims, and he’s connected to them somehow. We should wait until we interview the brother before we jump to any conclusions.”

“I just don’t get it,” Michael said. “Killers normally hide their victims. Even when they stage them, like the Donkey Killer, they don’t stage them in a crowded, public place. It’s like this guy’s begging to be caught.”

“Or bragging that we can’t catch him,” Rameses posited.

“I could see that,” Faith said. “He got away with it the first time, and now he needs the same rush, so he stages this victim near where the other one was killed so he can watch the crowd react.”

“The crowd didn’t react last time,” Wales said. “There were a few people being crazy, but they were far fewer and more easily managed at the first scene. This, what I saw today, this was different. People were mobbing around like it was some kind of circus show.”

“You’ll get used to it,” Rameses said.

Amy’s cell phone buzzed. She answered, and after a moment, she nodded and said, “All right. Send him in.”

She hung up and said, “Brother’s here.”

“All right,” Rameses said. To the agents, he said, “Policy is that only the coroner and the next of kin can view the body. You two can wait in here, and Amy will send the brother in after the positive ID is confirmed. Wales and I will return to the station and see about getting that bulletin up. I wouldn’t get your hopes up too much. Those things usually result in nothing but false leads.”

“It only takes one good lead to make a difference,” Faith encouraged them.

They left, and a moment later, Amy returned with a man who was clearly related to their victim, although a little younger and a little shorter. They watched through the window as Amy carefully pulled the sheet back from the victim. The brother sighed heavily and slumped forward, then nodded. Faith noted that he didn’t seem surprised to see his brother dead. He did seem saddened, but mostly, he seemed frustrated and angry.

Amy talked with him a moment and pointed at the conference room door. He looked up and met Faith’s eyes, and Faith saw defeat along with the other emotions mixed in. He had seen his brother’s death coming. Faith was sure of it.

CHAPTER TWELVE

Amy led the brother into the room, and Faith noticed that Turk immediately walked to him and rubbed against his legs. The man smiled faintly and reached down to scratch behind his ears.

Faith couldn’t officially rule him out as a suspect just yet, but Turk’s instincts had been rock-solid so far. The uncomfortable memory of Turk leaping protectively in front of Faith as Ellie reached forward to embrace Faith flooded her mind. She pushed the image away and introduced them.

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