The Reckoning - BLACKBIRD book 3

3. big fat nothing

Aldana was coming out of the shower when Gillian brought their dinner to the motel room they shared.

"So the funeral is tomorrow," Gillian said, even duller and broodier than she was in the morning.

"Yep," replied Aldana, wearing her sleeping tee to sit opposite Gillian to eat. "Detective Jones told me they'll be expecting us."

Gillian raised her eyebrows.

Aldana shrugged. "Bobby's parents want to thank us for helping bring him back home."

"Yeah, in a damned casket."

"At least now they can have some closure, Reg."

She looked away, shaking her head. Aldana flashed a quick grimace and kept eating in silence.

Long after they went to bed, Gillian was still wide awake, staring up at the ceiling.

They had nothing to pick the trace of Bobby's killer. It'd been eight months since his abduction, there were no street feeds kept from that time, no witnesses, no hint whatsoever to follow in Rochester. And by dumping the body in the water, the scumbag had made sure any forensic evidence that could track back to him was erased.

Fred entertained the first-timer theory, considering the killer hadn't tied the weight to the body right, but Gillian didn't agree. The killer had taken too many precautions for a newbie. And even if Bobby actually was his first victim, they could only expect more missing boys in the area. Sooner than later. There was no way that somebody capable of that level of detail and organization would stop once he'd given in to act out on his compulsion.

"Reg, speak up or I'm gonna kill you."

Aldana sounded just as awake as her.

"Only if you fetch beer from the minibar."

"That's abusing your authority, y'know."

Gillian heard her get up and turned on the nightstand lamp, sitting up on her bed. "I was thinking about the funeral," she said. "We should keep an eye on everybody."

"You think the killer may show up?" asked Aldana, leaning before the open minibar. "Why would he?"

"To gloat, to mourn—you know how those sick bastards are."

"To try to find out if there's any clue leading to him," Aldana said, handing her a beer.

Gillian sipped it, thinking. "What time the funeral?"

"Ten-thirty. We can have the lads cover the ground."

"Yeah. And we could use a couple of locals. D'you think Jones can get us some?"

Aldana nodded, at the brink of a smile. Now that Gillian had found a line of action to pursue, her voice was closer to her usual energetic way,

"Ron told me you think Bobby isn't his first victim."

"Right. We need to look further back, to see if we can find more missing or dead boys."

"He's a devoted sicko, keeping Bobby for eight months. The boy was well-fed, and had no lesions but those from the abuse. So he took care of him."

Gillian's face was enough to show what she thought about the taking care bit. "What was the COD again?"

"Asphyxiation. He choked Bobby. Maybe a pillow, something that didn't leave any trace. No defensive wounds, so the boy was out when he did it."

"Son of a bitch."

"Why d'you think he got rid of him?"

"That's another thing we need to find out." Gillian gulped up her beer and put it down, snorting. "Gosh! I hate being this empty-handed!"

"We'll get'im, Reg."

"Yeah. Maybe. If we get lucky."

They lingered in silence, lost in their own thoughts.

"We should get some sleep," Aldana said.

"Yeah."

They didn't move.