Oh, the pleasure was his.
Ethan continued breaking it down for the cops even though he had no obligation to do that.
“They were placed in a pile and discarded like they were absolutely nothing to him. Dumped, if you will, on a reservation in the woods. This killer is familiar with the area. They know it well because that particular part of the reservation isn’t traversed often. The ground is swampy, so no cabins can be built there. In winter, it’s hunted, but in spring, when the ground thaws, the remains would have sank into the bog—lost forever.”
Gene pulled out his notebook, and he began making notes on what Ethan was saying.
He would start building the report since he was on desk duty. It was the least he could do, and it kept him from being itchy and wanting to take over.
Sue him.
They had a rhythm, and this was it.
Blackhawk continued.
“What we’ve learned so far about the victims will be added to that profile, once we have confirmation of their identities. I know you’ve given them a visual ID, but I prefer the ME to give us the official one. Now, can you tell me more about the cases you caught? Catch us up, please.”
The female cop went there.
“And then we can help on this case?” Leah asked.
Honestly, the two Feds weren’t shocked.
Truth be told, Ethan had zero animosity in his voice toward the cops. In fact, he had zero anything in his voice. He was in his work zone, and Gene knew that meant he wasn’t playing around.
It also meant he was profiling the two cops by watching their reactions and how they behaved.
Gene could tell he wasNOTimpressed with the female cop, and that was normally not the truth. Most of the time, the female cops gave them the least trouble.
Well, Leah was the opposite of that. She was the kind of cop who would run to her boss and see how much pull he had in the situation.
Gene just ate his bagel and minded his business.
“Again, we’ll see. Please break it down for me, Detectives,” Ethan repeated.
And they did just that.
From where he sat, Dannie hoped that his partner didn’t blow this for them. She was adamant that the FBI was going to fuck this up, but he just wanted the files off of his desk.
If that meant passing it off, so be it.
If that meant helping, cool.
Either way, he was good with whatever they opted to choose. It wasn’t like they weren’t going to have more work tomorrow when they caught another case.
“Do you want me to start at the beginning again for your partner?” he asked. “I know you got my notes, but I’m not sure he did.”
Ethan nodded.
“Yes, please,” he stated, knowing Gene had access to his notes, but it was always easier to start at the beginning, so fewer things got missed.
The man did just that.
“We normally work homicides, but the missing persons division is short a few detectives this week due to the flu. So, tag, we were tossed to that department to help out. It’s a slow murder week, or we believed it to be.”
Ethan was eating his bagel, and his leg was up against Gene’s. His man was hovering, and Blackhawk thought it was sweet. That touch told him that he had his back.
Yeah, he loved his partner for being his biggest supporter. That silent reassurance meant so much.
