Drained (Edgars Family #6) - Suzanne Ferrell Page 0,73

to see Kevin standing there. The guy didn’t look like he belonged in a lab. Instead of the nerd with a white plastic pocket protector with pens and one mechanical pencil in it like some of them wore, this guy looked like a model in an ad for men’s underwear.

“Kinda short notice, dude,” he said, going back to entering blood bag label codes into the system.

“I know, but something came up and I really need tomorrow night off.” Kevin gave him a grin that suggested this was more than a little schedule change.

“What’s her name?”

“Who said it was a girl?” Kevin asked, looking over his shoulders as if he expected their boss to be standing right behind him.

“Only one thing could have you this pushy for my help.”

A grin split the dude’s face. “You guessed it. Been trying to get with her for months.”

“I’ll be happy to work your evening shift tomorrow, if you do something for me,” he said, closing out the page he was working on.

“Sure, whatever you need.”

“Take this tray of whole blood over to the unit and scan them in for me,” he said, handing them over.

“You got it.”

He watched as Kevin donned a pair of latex gloves. He always wore gloves when handling blood. Their boss said he was the only blood-a-phobe she’d ever met who worked in a blood bank.

“This guy has an agenda,” Carson said.

“Don’t all serial killers have one?” Matt asked. “Isn’t being a serial killer an agenda in and of itself?”

Carson shook his head. “Killing is inherent in what they do, yes. But what they need to get from it drives how and why they kill. Take the Green River Killer. When he was interviewed after he was caught, he said he chose prostitutes because he hated most of them and they were easy to pick up. He did have sex with them and killed them during the process. He dumped the bodies where they would eventually be found but didn’t do it in such a way that called immediate attention to his crimes.”

“By leaving them in heavily wooded areas near or around the Green River in Washington,” Kirk F said.

That got him a nod from Carson. “A few he transported across the state line into Oregon and some of the dumpsites he littered with trash he found somewhere else, just to confuse the police.”

“And our killer?” Aaron asked.

“First, he’s highly organized. He’s methodical, plans out everything to the last detail. You have three crime scenes.”

“Three?” Kirk F interrupted. “We only have two dead bodies.”

“That you know of,” Carson said. “But for each of these killings there are three phases or crime scenes. The place where he procures his victim.” He held up his index finger. “Where he drains their blood and processes the body.” A second finger went up. “And where he stages them to be found.” Third finger. “The first crime scene is going to be consistent in where he comes in contact with his victims.”

“Where the homeless hang out,” Paula quietly said from her spot on the sofa.

“Right. Because we believe his victims are the forgotten part of our society, we can assume he’s stalking them where they feel comfortable.”

Aaron nodded. “So, we’ll focus our search as we have been, following the pattern Brianna has made on Art’s movements.”

“And the second crime scene has to be a private place,” Brianna said. “Because it would take time to drain them of their blood.”

“Yeah, the blood banks I talked to all said there weren’t no machines that would just suck the blood out of you. Most of them just hook you up to an IV and let the blood flow out by gravity,” Kirk F said from his spot, pulling out a folded sheet of paper from his hip pocket. “There is a machine called an apheresis machine. But they said it separates part of the blood and gives you back part.”

“Apheresis is the process of separating the red blood cells from the plasma, then returning the donor’s red blood cells back to them,” Katie explained to them all. “Sometimes hospitals need only plasma and platelets, but not the red cells for patients. A person can donate that more often, because red blood cells take about three months to reproduce in the body.”

Aaron took a big breath and let out a long sigh. “So, we’re looking for a place big enough to house an industrial size freezer and private enough to let the killer slowly drain the blood from his