The Eustice Murders (Complete)

*Chapter 24 *

The atmosphere had lifted considerably since the meeting had begun but captain Beesley was still keen to press home one further point. "So just to wrap things up, once we had decided to go external, Sam and Hank here were the only people we even considered for the role. They both have extensive experience in homicide cases and an exemplary record in ones containing serial killers. And on top of that, despite any previous conceptions one or two of you may have had, they have actually joined us from a small town called Resmar probably similar in size if not smaller than Eustice, so no they are not the big city types you may have previously thought either." That caused a ripple of laughter to once more reverberate around the room.

"Actually I know Resmar," Detective Moorland suggested. "My nephew goes to the college there. My brother and I went to check it out just after his application was accepted. Lovely place, and yes it probably is even smaller than Eustice."

"Yeah, the college there is enormous and very well renowned, I believe. But other than that, there's not much else there really," Sam responded. The four of them nodded and smiled in agreement while captain Beesley sat back in his chair looking on, feeling delighted with the success of his meeting.

"Well, I'm pretty much covered for the rest of the morning but I have an hour or two I can spare this afternoon if you want to compare case notes?" Detective Brookes asked.

"That sounds good to me," Sam answered. "I've got a few things to tie up but otherwise I'm waiting for the coroner's report from yesterday so that sounds perfect."

Back at the office, Hank sat down with a rather troubled look on his face, causing Sam to do a double take at him as he sat down as well.

"Ok, so what's caught your imagination?" Sam asked tentatively. Hank muttered something in-between a grunt and a grumble, his face looking even more troubled. "Oh boy, I'm not going to like this am I?" Sam added, becoming even more curious.

"Well. No." Hank paused between each word, his eyes pointing down, focusing on his desk. "It's a rather dreadful thought really but we need to rule everything out right?" he continued finally looking up towards his partner.

"Of course," Sam told him, sitting back in his chair. It had been a good day so far so what could be troubling Hank like this?

"Well, did you see Brookes' response when the captain mentioned that only three people would have known about the specific details of the crime scenes? That just got me thinking."

"Ha, yeah, almost like she was thinking the captain was about to....," Sam trailed off, realizing he was the only one to be laughing, the penny slowly beginning to drop as to what Hank may have been thinking. There was a slightly uncomfortable pause as both detectives looked at each other in silence. "Hold on, you're not seriously thinking that one of us could have done something like this?" Sam finally asked.

"But is he one of us though?" Hank asked. "I mean really? He left the force years ago and given the way he left, he probably felt like he was pushed out. Maybe he wanted to hit back at a system that he feels let him down?"

"Well, yeah, I guess it's possible. He was angry but to become a copycat killer? There are easier ways to hit back than that." Sam shook his head, still not sure how or why Hank was even considering this.

"I know," Hank responded, looking almost apologetic. "Like I said dreadful thought. But a copycat would explain a few things, plus it forces us to re-open the original case again. Think about it, his own wife was murdered and just a few months later the force pretty much prevented him from investigating it and finding whoever did it. That sort of shit's got to eat away at you over the years. Maybe by recreating the scene, he thought that we would finally catch his wife's killer?"

"Ok, so that may give him the motivation perhaps, but even still," Sam queried reluctantly.

"And the skills," Hank added. "As he said, only three people could have recreated that scene accurately. On top of that, he's been installing security systems for fifteen years so he would have known exactly how to get in and out of those buildings undetected." Sam's mind was tormented with conflict now. On one hand, the very thought of an officer or even a former one committing something so heinous wasn't something he cared to entertain. But on the other hand, Hank was actually making some form of sense no matter how outrageous the idea was. And as he readily agreed earlier, every possibility had to be ruled out.

"But the cleaning though? These places weren't just clean, they were spotless. That was a professional job," Sam protested.

"And that's what I want to look into," Hank told him. "What else has he been doing since he left us? Has he had any studies? Or college courses? He could have easily rearranged his work schedule to incorporate picking up a few new skills."

"Ok," Sam told him reluctantly. "But whatever you do, don't let anyone around here know that you're investigating their colleague or we're going to be straight back to square one again. They've only just accepted us being here."

"Yeah, tell me about it" Hank replied.

A little later in the afternoon, there was a knock at the door. They both waited for captain Beesley to appear but the door never opened. "Come on in, it's open," Hank called out. The door opened and detective Sarah Brookes gingerly peered around it.

"Afternoon guys, you still ok to compare case notes on Anthony Drummond?"

"Ah yes, no problem," Sam told her. "Although is there anywhere else we could go? Leave Hank to crack on whatever he's doing there?"

"Yeah, sure, we can use my desk. I think Dustin's popped out for a couple of hours anyway so we should be left alone there."

"Perfect," Sam smiled. He took a couple of files from the cabinet and followed detective Brookes out of the office.