Lonesome Highway (Violet Darger FBI Mystery Thriller Book 11) by L.T. Vargus & Tim McBain

Author:L.T. Vargus & Tim McBain [Vargus, L.T.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Smarmy Press
Published: 2022-10-30T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 32

Traffic pulsed around them as they hurtled south, back to Roanoke Rapids. The restless energy from the other drivers was palpable even through the glass and steel. Everyone in a rush, in a hurry.

“So…” Darger said.

“Yeah,” Loshak agreed. “That was… bizarre.”

“Do you buy it? His whole story about not remembering anything because he was on drugs?”

“I don’t know. The sheer ballsiness makes me tempted to believe him. Most people wouldn’t admit to doing illegal drugs in front of two federal agents.”

“Right.”

Loshak tucked the car into the right lane long enough to let a tailgating SUV pass them. The blinker ticked out the impatience that seemed to hang in the air here.

“On the other hand, he wouldn’t be the first killer to make up a kooky story.”

“Like the guy who murdered Harvey Milk and said it was because he ate too many Twinkies?” Darger asked.

“Exactly. We’ve had the Twinkie defense. Now we have the Magic Mushroom defense.”

“The drug use does fit the profile. Antisocial, risk-taking behavior.”

Loshak nodded.

“And don’t forget that the guy said he plays with dead animals for kicks.”

“Then there was the stash of underwear some years ago, and the pile of bloody rags more recently.” Darger sighed. “I wish we could have held him until we had the results back on the blood samples.”

“Yeah, well, the samples should be at the lab by now, and they’ve got the green light for overtime hours on it. So hopefully we’ll have at least a blood type soon. And in the meantime, we’ll have round-the-clock surveillance on Riggins.”

They reached the lot outside of the Roanoke Rapids Police Department, and Loshak parked at an angle from the entrance. As soon as they were out of the car, Glenn pushed open the glass door to greet them.

They followed him into the basement. After everyone grabbed a fresh coffee, Darger recapped the Riggins interview for Glenn, and the detective made about five weird faces per second as he took in the odd details.

“A narwhal? He actually said that?” he asked when the story was done.

Darger nodded.

“You said in your profile that our guy is fairly together mentally. So would that rule someone like Riggins out?”

Loshak squinted.

“That’s an interesting question. He seemed normal enough in the interview. Sane. Lucid. But if he’s telling the truth about the drugs…” Loshak crushed his eyebrows together. “The thing is, psilocybin can cause profound dissociative effects. A disconnect from reality. So I’d expect a killer under the influence of magic mushrooms to display disorganized traits. And that doesn’t jibe with the level of planning and sophistication we’ve seen at our scenes.”

“You said, ‘if he’s telling the truth about the drugs,’” Glenn said. “Meaning he could be lying. Misdirection, you know?”

Darger shook her head and let out a frustrated breath.

“We discussed that possibility,” she said.

Glenn snapped his fingers.

“What if we asked him to take a drug test? Prove that he was actually on drugs?”

Hands on his hips, Loshak’s face was grim.

“Problem is, psilocybin is metabolized too quickly for most of the standard blood, urine, and saliva tests.

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