They needed to slow that down and for one major reason. The last thing they needed was the media all over this calling it some stupid name to get attention.
Their jobs were easier if they didn’t have to worry about the media up their asses.
“We don’t know. We can’t discuss the case further than we have,” he admitted. “This is about learning about Ivey, in hopes it will bring us closer to figuring out who did this.”
Robert heard a muffled sob coming from the office, and it was everyone trying to help Tristian through this moment.
“I wish we could help you more, but Ivey was a sweetheart. No one had a bone to pick with her. Please let us know if we can help. She was our family.”
He had the detectives’ notes, but he was curious.
“Can you tell me if everything was normal the day she left?” he asked.
Robert nodded.
“Yeah, she waved and headed out. I don’t know if you need to know what she was wearing, but it was a fun plaid outfit with a bright, sunny bag.”
They didn’t need to know since she was found naked and skinned.
But he kept that to himself.
“Other than that, she walked out alone, and that was the last time we saw her. She was teacher of the month, so she had a parking space right next to mine in the reserved section.”
They made notes.
“Thank you for your time, Robert. We appreciate it,” he said, and then, Ethan shook his hand since he’d gotten all he could.
And it was a decent lead.
They now knew that the first victim’s ex might have been problematic in a plethora of ways.
Hopefully, they’d be able to connect Randal to the others. For now, though, this was going to be about picking through the leads they got, and hoping there were no more victims.
Gene also shook his hand.
“Thank you,” he said to him. “Tell Tristan we’re sorry he lost his friend, and that we will do everything to figure out what happened to her.”
The man nodded, and they headed back out the way they came in, leaving the teachers to continue preparing for that afternoon’s memorial.
When they were alone, where they could talk, Ethan went there.
“We need to run a bunch of people. Tristan at the top of the list,” he said.
Gene was curious.
“You think he was off and that wasn’t genuine mourning?” he asked.
Oh, Ethan did think it was off, and he explained to his partner.
“When we introduced ourselves, he sounded…gay.”
Immediately, Gene lifted a brow.
He wasn’t quite sure where he was taking this because they were both‘gay’, and they sounded like people. Had Ethan lost his goddamn mind?
“And what does gay sound like, asking for a man having sex with another man?”
He stopped him before he could get prickly. That was one of Gene’s tender spots, and he didn’t want him to think he was poking it.
