Drained (Edgars Family #6) - Suzanne Ferrell Page 0,26
in it. As a kid he’d thought it was so grown up and when he’d graduated from high school, Granddad gifted him with one—same compass and stopwatch features. A few years back he invested in a more expensive watch, heavier chain-link band and self-illuminating hands and numbers—good for seeing in the dark, on late night cases, like tonight.
Tilting his head to one side until the tension cracked, he then repeated it the other direction.
“That’s not really good for your neck,” Brianna said. “Causes more damage in the long run.”
Jaylon snorted next to him and Aaron considered making him stay the rest of the night with the patrolmen. He shot him a don’t-give-me-any-grief look before focusing on Brianna.
“Did you get ahold of Kirk F?” he asked, ignoring her comment about his neck.
“Yes, he’s headed home. Said the staff stone-walled him on information anyways.” A little smile teased the corners of her lips. “But he did manage to get a few phone numbers.”
“Good thing that kid wants to be a cop. He’d make one hell of a con artist.” He laughed with her, a little of the sadness from Art’s death easing off his shoulders. Then he grew serious once more. “And your friend?”
“All I told Paula was that we found Art and he was dead. I thought it best not to tell her your suspicions until we know more and I’m actually there with her.”
One of the patrolmen signaled Jaylon to come over.
“How did she take it?” Aaron asked, moving a little closer, wanting to take her in his arms to comfort her, but knew she wouldn’t appreciate it here in such a public place, if she’d allow it at all. Their relationship was one of friends and he had a sinking feeling she meant to keep it like that.
Tears filled Brianna’s eyes a second before she dashed them away with one hand. “It hit her hard, but I think she expected to hear of his death from the moment she started looking for him.” Her hand went down to pet the wire-haired pup snuggled in her lap. “But I think she expected us to find him dead in some alley of natural causes, not…bled to death by some crazy freak.”
“We don’t know that he’s crazy.”
Brianna shot him a sardonic look. “Someone drains blood out of a person, cleans them from head to toe, dresses them in new clothes, then poses them to look like they’re sleeping sitting up for someone to find them. I’d call that crazy.”
“They could just be evil,” he said, appreciating she hadn’t repeated the real label for their murderer.
“Oh, that’s reassuring,” she said with a shake of her head. “Either way, I’m going to have to tell Paula how he died, but I’ll do it tomorrow in person. Nana says she’s staying the night.”
“Good. She’ll have someone with her, and you can get some rest.” He held out his hand to help her off the ledge only to have her deposit Stanley in them. Moving back, he gave her room to slide off the ledge and grab her bag.
“Jeffers, we have a problem,” Jaylon said, joining them as the patrolman headed back out of the room. “Reporters got wind of this and a small group are outside along with some of the area’s residents.”
Residents meaning other homeless people or motorists passing by, stopping to gawk.
“Great,” Aaron muttered. Could this night get any worse? He’d agreed to help Brianna look for her friend as a way to spend some time alone with her, thinking it would be a quick solution and they’d find her at home—which they had—only to end up searching for a homeless man, who now was possibly victim one of a serial killer. Even though he wasn’t ready to confirm it—not with only one body—his gut told him that’s what they’d stumbled onto.
“How do you want to handle it?” Jaylon asked at the same time Stanley wiggled in Aaron’s arms.
An idea hit him.
“We’ll tell the truth. That this little guy led us to a dead body. We don’t know his identity,” he held up a hand to stop Brianna as she opened her mouth to protest. “Which is true. All we know right now is his name is Art, and we won’t know more unless someone comes forward or his fingerprints are in the system somewhere. But we won’t divulge that information. In the meantime, we’ll use a little news conference in our favor.”
He set Stanley on the ground and gave his leash to