Lei Crime Series Boxed Set by Toby Neal

Author:Toby Neal [Neal, Toby]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Toby Neal

Chapter Thirty-Three

Sunday, October 31

* * *

Lei debriefed with the agents by phone the next morning.

“How are you feeling, Marcella?” Lei had dropped the agents off at the safe house the night before.

“Got a headache, but I’m okay. We’ve been conferring with the other agents from BAU and reviewing the footage from last night, and we’re going to just surveil the cult for now. There’s nothing there so far that ties them to the murders. Newsome wants to keep you and me at the Health Guardian to pick up intel in the community and on Jazz, but no more trips to the celebration. Too risky.”

“What about the meth lab and Tiger? That man’s a rapist, at least.”

“We’ve apprised your captain. He’s agreed to hold off on arresting them until we see what shakes out with the investigation. Soon as we know there’s no connection, they can move in.”

“What about the Nakamoto murder?”

“Thought you had someone in custody.”

“I think he was framed.”

“That’s one for your PD to handle. We have to stay focused on the unsub who’s disappearing people. Let me fill you in on the latest so far.” The bones found in the cave had yielded their DNA to the grindstone of the FBI’s portable lab. Two of the skeletons had been identified through a national missing persons database, and the hand bones in the wall cache belonged to five different unknown donors.

“Unsub?” Lei wasn’t familiar with the term.

“Unknown subject.”

“Ah. Feds and their lingo.”

“Separates the women from the girls.”

“Five victims?” Lei shook her head, sipping a second cup of coffee too fast and burning her tongue. “Wow.”

“Yeah. The lab is working on those, but it’s not a quick process. Becky’s been a big help.”

“She’s good at what she does. Anything else about the bones?”

“The bodies were cut up and each of the pieces burned—but not totally, just the meat burned off. I don’t know why the unsub did it that way. He could have eliminated the bones entirely, burnt them to dust so they’d be gone as evidence. Anyway, it’s probably part of his pathology—MO to you police types.”

“Gotcha. I’m going out to pick up the list of heiau sites from Esther Ka`awai this morning. Stevens needs it to organize the Hanalei Valley cadaver search. I’m not looking forward to it. She was pretty fired up about me arresting her grandson.”

“Hey, tough luck on that,” Marcella said. Her concern sounded genuine. “I heard you guys were dating.”

“Unfortunately, I fell for his charm. Shoulda known better.”

“Hey, listen, want some company on the ride out? I wouldn’t mind getting eyes on this Esther lady.”

Lei hesitated. There was an element of her relationship with Esther that went beyond the case, and in spite of what had happened with Alika, Lei hoped something of that could be salvaged. On the other hand, she welcomed a distraction, a chance to get to know Marcella better.

“Sounds good. Meet me at the Bubba Burger in Hanalei town.”

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