Chapter Fourteen #2
It was rare that they figured out that the killer was screwing with them, right off the bat, but they also likely didn’t think that Gabriel Rothschild would bring in two agents who ran cases like this all of the time.
They.
Lucked.
Out.
The agents at the FBI who worked out of this particular office didn’t get cases like this. They were green compared to Gene and Ethan. They weren’t seasoned investigators or profilers.
This might save their asses and vacation.
Oh, and most importantly, this might be coming back to bite the killer in the ass, and that was the best outcome for them.
For the first time, they were ahead of the curve.
Now, they had to stay there.
It was a chase, but Ethan and Gene were in the lead. The killer would have to beat them to the finish line.
As Ethan pulled his laptop out of his messenger bag, Gene continued working on searching the place. He took pictures so they could add that to the file after the tech team got there, but he didn’t think the killer would be stupid enough not to toss the place in gloves.
Then again, they were trying to make this look like a Voodoo killing—so they’d already dropped the ball.
As he moved around, he was thinking about the mob angle, and trying to make it fit the situation.
Tossing someone’s house and looking for something was very much a mob tactic.
Breaking someone’s bones in an attempt to get information from them also fits.
Taking someone right off the street and torturing them as they broke their bones, screamed mob.
For Gene, it was worth looking into it.
Pulling out his phone, he rattled off a text to Greyson, hoping he could help them.
‘We’re at the Fed’s place. It was tossed.
Can you call Gabe and see what we have on any mob-related issues in this area, and then cross-check them against the first victim, Jaden Mendin?
Ethan and I are pretty sure that someone’s fucking with us, and this is a zero when it comes to being tied to a religious nut. ’
Gene hit send, and kept looking.
He was elbow deep in Jarod Shand’s nightstand when he got the text message back.
‘Give me a few. I’ll make some calls, and I’ll see what pops. If this is mob-related, please be careful. You and Blackhawk get your asses in the WORST predicaments at the WORSE times. This would be one of those times.’
He laughed.
Why?
It wasn’t like he was wrong.
They did tend to get into ridiculous amounts of trouble, but what could go wrong here?
They weren’t expected to show up here to work it, so there was no way that this case could be pointed at them.
Right?
Now, Gene focused on anything else he needed help with from Greyson, and there was one more thing.
‘We have a hunch that this whole thing is to distract us. Is there any way you can get copies of all of Aaron’s cases, and Jarod’s, and see if any of them tie to Jaden Medin? We think he’s ground zero for this fuckery, and if we’re right, this person is trying to bury us in leads to keep us busy.’
He sent it, and waited.
When he got the text back, Gene was grateful that they worked with Greyson. The man was damn good at micromanaging and helping them.
‘Funny you should ask. When you two chuckleheads left, I pulled all of Jarod’s cases.
NONE of them have anything in them tied to Jaden Medin.
There’s nothing there that says he even crossed paths with him.
I called the homicide captain, but he was out of the office.
When he gets back to me, I’ll get Aaron’s files too.
Only, I think you’re right. This feels off. ’
And there it was.
Gene had been sure of it.
The two men were simply killed because they were investigating, and the killer had to stop that.
He’d bet on it.
‘Thanks, Grey! Let us know if you find anything else out from the homicide captain.’
And with that, he sent the text, and got back to work. He’d be lying if he said his head wasn’t spinning as he tried to fit all the information into place.
Quickly.
As he was rooting through the dead agent’s nightstand, Gene found NOTHING. The man didn’t have the normal bedroom accoutrements in there that he and Ethan had, or a straight couple would have.
No condoms.
No lube.
No…anything.
In the man’s bathroom, he looked around, and in his medicine cabinet, there was a box of condoms.
Okay, well, at least that was normal.
He and Jarod were the same age, so someone should have a sex life—or the semblance of one.
Was he married to his job, much like Gene had been? There wasn’t even a hint of porn here.
Which was…weird.
All men had some porn tucked away when the urge hit. Most of the time, it was a video, or a magazine, but nada.
The dead agent’s room was clean.
Well, not clean since it had been tossed, but it was porn-free.
When his phone chimed, he pulled it from his pocket and read the message from Greyson.
‘I reached out to Gabe, and he said there once was mob issues there, but they have since been cleaned up. So, I’m not sure if that’s an angle to waste your time on. Sorry! It was a good theory.’
Well, damn.
It had been too.
Dropping the man’s toilet seat lid, he sat down, and thought this through. Once more, like his files, there were no indications that Jarod had been caught up in something, yet, and nothing at his house was going to help them until they knew what they were looking for.
Was this a drug case?
A gun case?
A trafficking case?
A case of bad luck catching this case?
Because it certainly wasn’t about Voodoo, and now, their boss eliminated the mob.
When he heard footsteps, he looked up, and Ethan was standing there.
“Uh, break time?” he joked.
Gene laughed.
“Not quite. I don’t like using other people’s bathrooms. I’m a take a ‘shit at home’ kind of a guy—but you know that. Find anything?” he asked.
Ethan shook his head.
“I didn’t find anything odd about Jaden’s place of business. It seems to be on the up and up. His taxes are paid, and he’s got long-term staff that works for him. I checked social media, and it’s all normal.”
Gene considered it.
“I don’t think we’ll figure this out until we understand what got him killed. He’s the center point, and all of this radiates out from him. I’ll bet on it.”
On that, Ethan agreed.
“And you?”
Gene laughed.
“A box of condoms and that’s it. No porn, nothing dirty, and nothing saying Jarod Shand was a crooked agent. I think he just got the shit end of the stick by catching this case. This killer didn’t want him working it.”
Probably.
“Oh, and Greyson checked with Gabe, and there shouldn’t be mob activity here, so that eliminates that.”
Damn.
“We’re hitting walls,” Blackhawk admitted.
Yes, yes, they were.
“What else do you have?” Gene asked.
Ethan told him what else he had.
“I searched online regarding Jaden’s restaurant, and once he died, the partner sold out. It’s under new management, and new people working there. The people cleaned house.”
Shit.
That meant interviewing co-workers just got more difficult, and a colossal waste of time.
For them.
“Well, we just got cock blocked.”
Yeah, they had.
Only, Ethan kept going, so Gene and he would be on the same page.
“Earlier, I started running Dark Spirits, so we wouldn’t be going in blind.”
Gene lifted a brow.
“And?”
He told him.
“It’s mostly what we already know,” he began.
“It’s owned by Maria Barada, and it’s been in business for two years.
It’s clean. Taxes are paid, and there’s a liquor license from the government.
No one’s running a brothel out of it, and I can’t seem to figure out why that particular woman, and that club came up in our investigation other than to, and excuse the terminology, crucify her.
If you want the definition of wild goose chase, this would be it. ”
Yeah, he was aware.
Someone believed they were playing him and Ethan like a fiddle.
“What if it's about the location?” Gene suddenly said, switching up paths and taking a new one to the solution.
Ethan paused.
“Pardon?”
Gene explained.
“If we take out the ritualistic undertones on this case, what could it possibly be?” he asked.
Blackhawk contemplated it.
“Money, greed, love, or someone covering something up…”
Gene narrowed it down for his profiler.
“Remember, you said keep it simple, so try now,” he stated.
Ethan didn’t have to think long.
“Most of the time, it’s all about the money, so I’ll lean into that option. Three-quarters of our cases are all about the money.”
Gene accepted that, and challenged him.
“And this place is right on the water, right?” he asked.
His partner nodded.
“What kind of crimes happen on islands?”
Ethan ticked them off.
“Gun running, drugs, trafficking, illegal entry to the US through customs…”
Gene knew what was bothering him.
Despite what Gabe said, he kept the mob angle in the back of his mind for a reason.
Intel could be wrong. What they had was a beach where three bodies all showed up in relatively the same area.
“What if this isn’t so much about Jaden Medin, as much as it is he saw something go down. What if he was working one night, saw something suspicious, and went to investigate?”
Ethan’s eyes went huge.
“So, an accidental homicide because he saw too much, and it spiraled out of control, so the killer is forced to cover it up from there on out?”
Gene nodded.
“What if this person caught Jared Medin staring at them, or they thought he knew too much. Say Gabe’s intel is wrong, and it is the mob. What would they do?”
He didn’t think long.
“They’d do what we did with the case out of Bull’s that involved Corbin. We interrogated them and…,” and that was when the lightbulb went on. “And they’d break bones in order to get the person to talk—plus cover it up to look like something so far from the truth to mess with us.”
Gene nodded.