gesture
politicians like to throw up when spewing lies behind a smile.
His calm tone couldn’t mask the obvious. The
military wouldn’t care about a serial killer unless it tied into something huge
happening on base. So, either they’re being tight-lipped about an incident at
Patrick, or this shit’s a lot more serious than they’re admitting, Moni
thought. The last time an officer from Patrick sat in on a county sheriff task
force meeting they were discussing security for the space program in the wake
of 9/11.
This
couldn’t be that serious. Could it?
Sneed, Skillings and the other officers pored over
the evidence from five murders. They still couldn’t pinpoint the initiate
causes of death and whether the beheadings took place before or after the
internal trauma to the bloodstream. The crime scenes and corpses didn’t offer
any fingerprints, hair or other traces of the killer. They couldn’t agree on
what the murder weapon might be. Surgical saw, Ginsu knife, laser cutter—they
all had whacked-out theories. They couldn’t find a common link between the
victims, other than they were near the lagoon when they were killed.
“It’s too bad we don’t have a cooperative witness
to settle this debate,” Sneed remarked with a berating eye on Moni.
“Our witness has shown as much cooperation as you
could expect from an eight-year-old who’s been traumatized by her parents’
murders,” Moni said. “She’s making good progress. If you can chill with that
attitude for a while and let her do her thing, Mariella will help us.”
The military man’s taciturn eyes shifted to Sneed,
who looked like he had a bunker-buster launched down his gullet.
“How many more good folks are gonna get their heads
cut off before that brat starts a’ squawking?” Sneed asked. “You forgot what
your job is ‘cause you’re off playing mommy. If you want a companion, get a
fucking puppy and get the hell off my case.”
Sneed pointed toward the door. Moni would have
followed his finger, but that would mean walking out on Mariella too. If she
gave him the slightest hint of a reason, Sneed would pull the psychologist’s
strings and get the girl shipped off to foster care.
Moni couldn’t let the gluttonous detective un-wrap
Mariella like a baked potato in tin foil and stick a fork in her fragile mind.
While she stewed in her sweat, Aaron leaned halfway across the table and stared
right at Sneed.
“I don’t know what that kid saw, but I bet she
doesn’t know the whole story,” the grad student told the seasoned detective,
who had sent plenty of kids his age away for life. Sneed’s gruff frown didn’t
deter Aaron from pressing it. “You need a microscope to see the best evidence
in this case.”
“Our forensic team has already combed the crime scenes,”
Skillings said. “We’ve got every little detail cataloged.”
“But that’s not much good without a conclusion,”
professor Swartzman said. “I took a close look at all five bodies this morning.
They have one thing in common, and it’s something they share with many animals
in the lagoon—the bacteria thiobacillus. We believe the lagoon is contaminated
with a mutated strain.”
The professor recited some complicated mumbo jumbo
about the bacteria eating sulfur, iron and oxygen and spitting out sulfuric
acid. He said the bacteria caused the thinning out of blood and the acid burns
on the victims. The byproducts of the bacteria—sulfuric acid and depleted
oxygen levels in the lagoon—spurred fish kills and damaged organisms along the
lagoon floor.
“If the bacteria keep spreading, the environment of
the Indian River Lagoon could be catastrophically changed,” Swartzman said.
“We’re talking about the death of substantially all marine life and the
extinction of many species.”
“The acidity levels in the lagoon are increasing
and we’ve noticed spurts in some places, which were followed by fish kills,”
said the scientist from the Water Management
politicians like to throw up when spewing lies behind a smile.
His calm tone couldn’t mask the obvious. The
military wouldn’t care about a serial killer unless it tied into something huge
happening on base. So, either they’re being tight-lipped about an incident at
Patrick, or this shit’s a lot more serious than they’re admitting, Moni
thought. The last time an officer from Patrick sat in on a county sheriff task
force meeting they were discussing security for the space program in the wake
of 9/11.
This
couldn’t be that serious. Could it?
Sneed, Skillings and the other officers pored over
the evidence from five murders. They still couldn’t pinpoint the initiate
causes of death and whether the beheadings took place before or after the
internal trauma to the bloodstream. The crime scenes and corpses didn’t offer
any fingerprints, hair or other traces of the killer. They couldn’t agree on
what the murder weapon might be. Surgical saw, Ginsu knife, laser cutter—they
all had whacked-out theories. They couldn’t find a common link between the
victims, other than they were near the lagoon when they were killed.
“It’s too bad we don’t have a cooperative witness
to settle this debate,” Sneed remarked with a berating eye on Moni.
“Our witness has shown as much cooperation as you
could expect from an eight-year-old who’s been traumatized by her parents’
murders,” Moni said. “She’s making good progress. If you can chill with that
attitude for a while and let her do her thing, Mariella will help us.”
The military man’s taciturn eyes shifted to Sneed,
who looked like he had a bunker-buster launched down his gullet.
“How many more good folks are gonna get their heads
cut off before that brat starts a’ squawking?” Sneed asked. “You forgot what
your job is ‘cause you’re off playing mommy. If you want a companion, get a
fucking puppy and get the hell off my case.”
Sneed pointed toward the door. Moni would have
followed his finger, but that would mean walking out on Mariella too. If she
gave him the slightest hint of a reason, Sneed would pull the psychologist’s
strings and get the girl shipped off to foster care.
Moni couldn’t let the gluttonous detective un-wrap
Mariella like a baked potato in tin foil and stick a fork in her fragile mind.
While she stewed in her sweat, Aaron leaned halfway across the table and stared
right at Sneed.
“I don’t know what that kid saw, but I bet she
doesn’t know the whole story,” the grad student told the seasoned detective,
who had sent plenty of kids his age away for life. Sneed’s gruff frown didn’t
deter Aaron from pressing it. “You need a microscope to see the best evidence
in this case.”
“Our forensic team has already combed the crime scenes,”
Skillings said. “We’ve got every little detail cataloged.”
“But that’s not much good without a conclusion,”
professor Swartzman said. “I took a close look at all five bodies this morning.
They have one thing in common, and it’s something they share with many animals
in the lagoon—the bacteria thiobacillus. We believe the lagoon is contaminated
with a mutated strain.”
The professor recited some complicated mumbo jumbo
about the bacteria eating sulfur, iron and oxygen and spitting out sulfuric
acid. He said the bacteria caused the thinning out of blood and the acid burns
on the victims. The byproducts of the bacteria—sulfuric acid and depleted
oxygen levels in the lagoon—spurred fish kills and damaged organisms along the
lagoon floor.
“If the bacteria keep spreading, the environment of
the Indian River Lagoon could be catastrophically changed,” Swartzman said.
“We’re talking about the death of substantially all marine life and the
extinction of many species.”
“The acidity levels in the lagoon are increasing
and we’ve noticed spurts in some places, which were followed by fish kills,”
said the scientist from the Water Management
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