The Eustice Murders (Complete)

*Chapter 25*

Sam and Sarah had been working together for the last three hours comparing and discussing the details of each other's cases and in particular the involvement that Anthony Drummond may have had in each of them. Sam found himself in complete agreement with her regarding her case believing that Drummond may well have been the one to have given the order to kill the unfortunate trafficking victim rather than actually stabbing him himself. She was also in agreement with Sam over Drummond's involvement with his and Hank's case, although was less convinced about the extent of it.

"Hmm, maybe he's just doing the cleaning," she suggested. "Turning up after the event, cleaning the scene to protect the killer? Maybe even cleaning the pool ball and possibly the body itself? Helping someone out."

"Helping them out? Now, where have I heard that before?" Sam pondered out loud as his mind tracked back to the pool hall that he and Hank visited recently. "Anthony is my cousin, we help each other out," he remembered the manager telling them. Wow, could that be it? Could the pool hall manager be the killer? Was Drummond helping him out by cleaning the scene and protecting his cousin from being caught? "But what about the FBI though?" Sam asked.

"What about them?" Sarah frowned, not understanding quite what he was asking.

"I'm just thinking if they have been watching Drummond, they would have known that he would have turned up at each of the last three places just prior to a body being found in all of them. Certainly, indicating his involvement, if not proving it. Surely, they would have told us that?"

"But would they though?" Sarah queried. "Armed with that information, there's a pretty good chance you'd have moved on it and that might have harmed their own case. They would probably keep that kind of thing quiet until such a time they were ready to make their own arrests and then once they had whoever they wanted in custody they'd pass the details on. It wouldn't have mattered to them because they had what they wanted."

"Oh my god, you're right!" Sam nodded. 'Have the FBI been withholding information in order to protect their own investigation? That could change things considerably,' Sam thought to himself as he started to gather his papers together again.

"Wait, what was that?" she asked, grabbing his arm to stop him, "that drawing."

"This one? Oh yes, this is a copy of something found on the last victim yesterday," Sam told her, retrieving the printed photograph of the diagram of pool balls arranged together into the diamond shape used to begin a new game of pool. "The real one is still in the lab being tested," he told her.

"Strange choice of words don't you think?" Sarah asked, looking at the photo. Sam smiled to himself wondering if she was about to make the same mistake that he did at the scene previously. "Frame two?" she read out loud looking confused. "Why would you put that, that particular word choice?"

"I'm guessing they meant the first game was finished and they were ready to start another one," Sam offered. Sarah didn't look impressed at this answer and raised a brow, looking at him almost in disbelief.

"But that's not an American term," she explained. "We would never say that. We call them racks. Rack two would make perfect sense but frame, not in this game. That's very odd. Some Europeans used to say that but even they are coming round to calling them racks now."

"Ok, now that is interesting," Sam replied moving in closer.

"I think you could potentially be looking at a European killer," Sarah suggested. "Or at least someone with a European heritage or background. And one with some very outdated ideas as well," she added.

"So, how was your afternoon?" Hank asked as Sam returned to the office, all the papers in hand stopping him from closing the door behind himself.

"Good," Sam told him. "She's actually quite easy to get along with. And I can see why the captain rates her so much. We've had some really good constructive talks and I've got a few things I want to look into." With that, Sam put everything down and looked at Hank.

"Glad to hear it," Hank smiled before getting up and heading towards the coffee machine, closing the door along the way.

"How about yours? Any luck?" Sam asked taking his seat.

"Not too bad," Hank began, taking a sip of the bitter brew. "Nothing solid though. No evidence of any training or education at all. Which I guess is good news in itself really." This was like music to Sam's ears. Perhaps now they could finally drop that preposterous idea of the former detective getting himself involved in all of this and possibly even acting as some sort of copycat. "Although, in all fairness," Hank continued, "as we both well know. As a detective, he would have known exactly who to ask to get something like that done."

"Really?" Sam asked, wondering why Hank seemed so determined to persevere with this line of inquiry.

"Maybe someone felt sorry for him? Maybe they've teamed up to try and get the old case open again?" Hank suggested.

"Oh, I get that," Sam replied. "Just seems like a lot of work just to investigate a former law enforcement officer. And one who knows more than most the hurt and grief something like this can cause. I may be biased but I think it's highly unlikely that he's involved."

"Yeah, you're probably right," Hank sighed. "I just need to find out what he was up to while he was away."

"Erm away?" Sam asked, lifting his head up in confusion.

"Yeah, it seems Carl Mitchell moved over to Ireland after graduating high school. Stayed and studied over there for a few years. Even trained and became a cop there before finally transferring and returning back home a few years later."