“A seal ring,” said Dr. Fell, holding out an evidence bag. “In Agent Monterra’s stomach.”
Reis took the bag, though the actual object was not strictly necessary. Projected on the wall behind Dr. Fell were four close up photographs of the ring, showing it in far greater detail than he could make out from the gold ring in the plastic bag.
“I thought you weren’t going to look through his organs,” he said, handing the bag back, feeling a little sick.
Dr. Fell shrugged. “Well, you were so determined, I thought I would run a scan while waiting for the blood analysis. That turned up and gave me a reason to go further.”
“I see,” Agent Reis said, glancing over at the Sheriff, who was squinting at the bagged ring as if it might suddenly come to life and tell him exactly how it had ended up in the stomach of their victim. Reis, however, posed that question, Mark. “How do you think it got there, Dr. Fell?”
“He swallowed it. Of his own volition,” he said, shrugging again. “There were no signs in or around his mouth, or on his teeth to suggest that he was in any way forced.”
“Do you recognize these symbols?” Reis asked, pointing at the magnified image of a scroll with an inkpot and quill behind it.
Both Mark Fell and Sheriff Hardy shook their heads. Reis sighed. Another useless lead. What was with this town?
Agent Reis pushed away his annoyance and moved back into the realms of science. “What did the blood work tell you?”
Dr. Fell straightened, his blue eyes losing their thoughtful edge as he scooped up a clipboard. “It looks like Agent Monterra stopped taking his medication at least a week prior to his death, but no more than two weeks. He ingested a large dose of sedatives, around the same time.”
Reis’s eyes flashed up to the light blue ones watching him. “You think that’s when he was taken, then? About a week to two before his death?”
Dr. Fell nodded. “I did a test on his muscles after finding minor traces in his blood. It proved that he had been given a sedative in a large enough quantity that it had actually caused damage to his muscles. He would have been completely immobile for at least a day or two and then very weak and in pain, suffering from muscle spasms for at least a week after. Unfortunately, of the compounds that are left, there is no way to narrow the field down enough to track exactly what sedative it might have been.”
Reis swore, and the Sheriff sighed. “Anything else, Dr. Fell?”
“No, Sheriff, but I believe the casts of the footprints we found are still being processed.”
Reis raised an eyebrow and turned a barely concealed glare on the Sheriff. “Is there some reason your people are taking so long? Perhaps they need some encouragement.”
Sheriff Hardy stood, bristling around the edges. “Now see here, Agent Reis. You may well be FBI, but this is still my town. We are working as fast as we can, even if it isn’t going how it usually goes in your fancy big cities.”
Reis uttered a humorless chuckle. “I wasn’t comparing your people to those in the cities. I was comparing them to Dr. Fell. He has completed a full blood workup, analyzed muscle tissue, scanned the body for foreign objects, and collected said foreign object in a single day. Yet your men have had the casts for almost a week and have come up with nothing yet?”
Dr. Fell shifted and hid most of his face behind a folder, but not before shooting Reis a ‘keep-me-out-of-this’ glare. Reis smirked and turned his eyes back on the Sheriff.
Hardy’s face turned an ugly puce, but he managed to keep his tone level. “I am glad that our Dr. Fell is up to standard. As for my men, I assumed you did not want to deal with the many dead ends the casts would undoubtedly provide. After all, they were taken from a golf course, frequented daily by many people. None may be usable.”
“That’s not exactly true,” said Dr. Fell, glancing over the top of his folder, looking like he hadn't actually meant to speak his contradiction out loud.
Reis swung around, placing the Sheriff in his shadow and drawing Mark’s eyes to him. “What are you thinking, Dr. Fell?”
The other man sighed but finished his thought. “Umm, just that the course was shut over the Independence Day holiday. It wouldn’t have been frequented at all. Only ground-keepers should have been moving around. The quality of the casted footprint might help us to determine the more recent ones. It might at least narrow the field a little, or it will be exactly as the Sheriff was saying, implicating almost everyone in town.”
Reis nodded in thought, and even the Sheriff pursed his lips in reluctant approval, then he flashed Mark an ugly grin. “As you are clearly the expert, Dr. Fell. I will send you the casts so that you can determine which we should pursue first.”
Reis clapped the young Dr. Fell sympathetically on the shoulder as the Sheriff spun on his heel and left the room.
6
Rosa stopped at the entrance to the mission and turned to Cam.
“Have a good day, then.”
Cam knocked her shoulder against Rosa’s. “Don’t say it like you’re dropping me off at school!”
Rosa managed a chuckle then turned to leave, but Cam caught her arm.
“Hey, Rosa, is everything alright? You’ve been really distracted lately. I mean,” Cam lowered her voice and stepped closer. “You found that letter from Lucia, so we know she’s okay and will be back soon, right? What’s left to worry about?”
Rosa just managed to hide her wince.
