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She couldn’t have that bad of judgment, could she?
Roxie sighed. “It doesn’t matter, anyway.”
“Maybe it’s you that needs to go to lunch,” Peter suggested. “Clear the air on some things.”
At least he didn’t suggest they were going to kiss and make up. “It’s not that simple.” She wasn’t in a place in her life where she could “figure things out” with a guy. Wouldn’t lead to anything, so what was the point? Even if her roommate was a hopeless romantic. “Can we just leave the Liam thing alone?”
Peter’s expression softened. “We can.”
Great, now he thought she needed sympathy. She was about to clear the air on that—without telling him why she’d come to Benson in the first place, even though it wasn’t like she had a home anywhere else—when thankfully, Peter’s twin brother, Simon, strolled around the corner into the bullpen. No need to dig a hole with all the things she didn’t want to say.
The twins were identical but very different. When he’d become an operator, Peter had cut his hair short in a military style, though it was longer on top. Simon left his long, so it hung down over his ears, and he ran his hands back through it when he needed to think something over. Peter had gained some muscle through training, but both were lean and five-foot-eleven at least. In comparison, Liam was like a redwood tree.
She didn’t usually feel short at five-foot-seven, but with these two, it happened. She lifted her mug toward the approaching twin. “Want some?”
“I’ve had two cans of Celsius already.” Simon grinned as he approached the side of her desk. “I’ll be awake until Wednesday.”
She chuckled. “Do you need to be?” Maybe he was tech support on a multi-day operation that would last until midweek.
“Probably not.” He lifted his shoulder in a kind of shrug, which Peter returned. Some twin greeting only they knew the meaning of. “I ran the guy you’re working. Looked for similar cases where a veteran was reported deceased. Tried to find any connection I could to another case.”
Roxie frowned. “If it wasn’t murder, because he really did just overdose, why would there be a pattern of kills?” She’d done a ton of research into murder investigation, and Clare—who ran Vanguard—had sent her on several training courses. She glanced at Peter. Why be in denial, except that she’d rather believe someone connected to Liam’s father hadn’t been murdered? “You really think the death was suspicious?”
“I think every death is suspicious. It’s not natural, and it won’t ever be. Even if it’s peaceful.”
His attitude made sense since they’d lost their parents, and almost lost their sister. To Simon, she said, “What did you find?”
He waved her back from her computer and pressed a series of keys so fast she couldn’t keep up. Peter had the same level of skill with tech, but he wanted a different career path than his brother. She didn’t blame him. A fresh start sounded great.
Simon pulled up a series of files in a folder. “Each one of these is an overdose or accidental death of a veteran in the last fifteen years. Four decedents, each one with the same cocktail of drugs, though there are a few minor differences.”
“So they had the same dealer.”
“Maybe.” Simon clicked the mouse, and a bunch of crime scene photos of the victims popped up. “On the surface, they’re tragic deaths of people who should have been better served by the government they sacrificed for. Dig a little, and we start to see correlations.”
She glanced at Peter. “Did you get him working this?”
He nodded. “Looks to me like there’s some similarity in the positioning even. Someone being careful. What about clean up?”
Simon said, “Distinct lack of evidence. Needle marks but no needles. No IDs or money, so it could look like a robbery gone wrong.” He shrugged. “That’s for you guys to figure out.”
Roxie scrunched up her nose. “I’m not sure.” There might not be enough here to show they were connected. “Why does Bob want us to look into this in the first place? That would help us get a clue where to go with it.”
Peter said, “Maybe he doesn’t want to pollute our ideas by giving us a direction to go. Or maybe they don’t want anyone to know they asked us to take a look.”
“What else connects them other than their chosen career and the fact they were set adrift after?” The speculation was interesting but didn’t prove anything. They needed to dig more before she would believe there was something more than just tragedy here. “Support groups. Programs. Anything at all that indicates they were targeted, or why?”
“I’ll find out.” Simon straightened. “I’m still working, but I wanted to bring you this.”
“I’ll run with it. Thanks.” He’d probably wanted to come to this floor and see his brother. Then there was Bob, who might want to take down a local dealer as a favor for a friend.
But the fact there were this many deaths over so many years?
Something might be going on.
FIVE
“Thanks.” Liam waited for Karina to slide into the booth, and then he did the same opposite her.
