The Eustice Murders (Complete)

*Chapter 7*

"I'm guessing this is where our predecessors lucked out," Sam said after several hours of searching for information and trying to build a personal file on Anthony Drummond. The main focus at present was trying to build a list of known associates, and they weren't having much luck. Sam had been looking into the business card they had found in the evidence box marked A.T.D. Cleaners. The I.R.S had confirmed this business had been registered with them and had been paying their taxes, although no one else had been listed as an employee. So, therefore, the fairly modest turnover had suggested that Anthony Drummond had been moonlighting during the evenings and weekends in an attempt to top up his paycheck from Apex.

Hank, meanwhile, had been looking into the payroll from Apex in the hope that he may have been working alongside a colleague or supervisor, although, the red x's marked by some of the names had suggested this had been investigated previously, with no such luck having come forth. Sam and Hank were both convinced Drummond was involved in some capacity, whether he was an accomplice or whether he was working in some sort of partnership, they weren't sure yet. But as for who he was working with, they had to admit they were starting from scratch on that one.

"Yeah, for sure," Hank agreed. "Looking at the dates on some of these papers they must have spent just over a year building up a case and putting that lot together," he continued, pointing to the filing cabinet they had spent the last three days sorting. "To then have to pretty much start again would have been soul-destroying. And since the killings had stopped it's not hard to see why the case had gone cold, especially as no one outside of the station would have known there had been a serial killer working in the area anyway."

Sam nodded his agreement before adding, "And once that had happened the game was up. Even if the case was reopened at a later date they probably knew it would be reassigned to someone else anyway, given what had happened and their personal involvement in it."

"Yeah, that's got to hurt, don't blame them for quitting", Hank added looking thoughtful. "How can you protect the community if you can't even protect your own wife?" The guys paused for a moment taking in a deep breath and contemplating the situation.

"Well I don't know about you but I could do with a break," Sam added. "Let's head out for some lunch shall we?"

"I'm not going to argue with that." Hank smiled at his partner. It was a beautiful day outside so they left their jackets on the back of the chairs, locked the office, and headed out, stopping at a small burger bar they had spotted. They placed their order and sat down at a table in the corner and began to chat while waiting for the food to arrive.

"You know it's funny," Hank told his partner, "of all the things I thought I'd miss being out here I never thought Barry would be one of them!" This had caused Sam some considerable amusement; although he had to admit he knew exactly what he had meant and was, in fact in agreement with him.

"Yeah, I think I agree there," Sam said, thinking about Barry at the moment.

Barry Coulson was a young junior detective back home in Resmar. They had joked about him in the past but if the truth be known both Sam and Hank had held him in high esteem. They both saw huge potential in him and believed that in the not-too-distant future he would develop into a fine detective in his own right. They had worked closely with him on several previous occasions where he had provided them with both solid research and reliable backup. Two things they knew they would be sadly lacking here in Eustice.

The conversation died off as they tucked into the burgers that had arrived and the bleeping of Hank's cell phone only distracted them further. Sam watched as Hank couldn't help but smile as he read the message he had just received, which made Sam's lips twitch in a smile as well.

"Looks like some company next weekend then," Hank said, finally looking up from his phone. He had tried to mask it but Sam still picked up on the excitement in his voice. "Was talking to the wife last night," Hank explained. "She's still excited about coming out for a visit, I told her the first week here hadn't been a particularly enjoyable one and that it would be great to see her, and well she's obviously taken that quite literally and booked a flight for next Friday."

"That's great news buddy, it'll be good to see her," Sam smiled back at his partner. They finished their lunch and returned to the office continuing where they had left off researching Anthony Drummond, although the afternoon had been much more jovial than the morning session.

"You know I think we need to get out a bit more, change things up a little," Sam suggested. "How about tomorrow we take a break from the research and go tail Drummond for a while, see what he's up to, where he goes, what kind of daily routine he follows."

"I do like the break idea for sure but to be honest I was kind of hoping we could maybe take a weekend off," Hank told him. "It's our first weekend here and I'd like to go and get a few things for the apartment. It's still quite bare really and it'd be nice to make it a little more welcoming you know? Especially if Beverly's coming over next week."

Sam raised a little chuckle before agreeing with him. "Yeah, I suppose if we're going to take any time off now would be the time to do it. Before things start getting a little crazy like they always do on these cases."

"Cool," Hank smiled. "A weekend off and then maybe we can tail Drummond on Monday?"

"Sounds good to me," Sam replied whilst nodding in agreement.