Free Suffer by E.E. Borton

guy had a bad temper, but he was also smart. He beat the murder and assault charges by getting to the sole witness. Without her, the case was thrown out.”
    “Where did you find him?” asked Grey.
    “We can’t go into details until all the evidence is collected,” said Carol. “But I can assure you he’s our guy.”
    “Why do you say that?”
    Carol pulled Grey away from Kate’s parents to explain. “He had their fingers with him,” she whispered. “There was also a huge amount of blood found on his clothes and in his vehicle. We also recovered what we believe are the murder weapons.”
    “What’s the connection to Paul?” asked Grey.
    “We don’t know yet. But we’ll find it.”
    “Can you take me to where you found him?”
    “No,” said Carol. “That’s not a good idea.”
    “No?” asked Grey. “Look, I know you’ve been holding back information from me and I get it. But if he did it and he’s now dead, what’s the harm in letting me try to figure out the connection?”
    “Sheriff Doyle will be holding a press conference in two hours to let everyone in the Keys know it’s safe to walk the streets again,” said Carol. “He’s going to do everything he can to put this one to bed as fast as possible. He’s not going to let an FBI agent keep knocking on doors, asking questions.”
    “He targeted them,” said Grey. “This wasn’t a random act of violence from a drug addict looking to steal valuables. There are still a lot of unanswered questions here.”
    “And you won’t be the one finding the answers, Agent Collins,” said Carol, becoming irritated. “We will. We’ve done our jobs so far and found the guy who did this to your friends. Cut us a little slack and let us finish. As soon as we have those answers, so will you.”
    “Sure,” said Grey. “You’ll keep me in the loop, right?”
    “I’m sorry we couldn’t announce our every move to you,” said Carol. “The fact we even talked to you at all put our jobs in jeopardy. You’re just going to have to be satisfied we’re taking this case seriously.”
    Carol walked back to where Joel was talking to Abby and her parents. Evan joined Grey in the hallway. “You don’t look very happy that they caught the fucker.”
    “I just want to make sure they caught the right fucker,” said Grey. “The very little they told me doesn’t even begin to explain why this happened. It’s obvious they still don’t want me to be the guy to figure it out.”
    “Well, at least Paul and Kate are safe now,” said Evan. “They are safe, right? I mean, it doesn’t matter why he wanted to hurt them as long as he can’t anymore.”
    “What if Kirsk was just a trigger man?” asked Grey. “The guy who orchestrated all of this could find another. So my answer is, I don’t know for sure that they’re safe.”
    “Is that really the case, or are you just pissed off you weren’t the one who caught him?” asked Evan.
    “What?”
    “We’ve all had a shitty week and need something, anything, that could be considered good news. And this is good news. But you look like someone just pissed on your shoes.”
    “They seem to be satisfied the killer is dead so they can put this behind them and look forward to tourist season,” said Grey. “It’s not that simple, and I’m not trying to be an asshole here, buddy.”
    “Okay,” said Evan. “So what needs to happen before you’ll be satisfied?”
    “Well, the first thing I need to do is turn his life upside down and get into his head.”
    “Into Paul’s?” asked Evan. “I don’t think that’s a good idea right now.”
    “No,” replied Grey, “I meant Kirsk. I need to see where he lived and where he died. I need to find that connection and the reason why he wanted to see Paul destroyed. When that happens, I’ll be satisfied.”
    Grey and Evan fell silent when Abby approached. She was trembling and tears filled her eyes. She wasn’t crying because she was relieved they caught the