 Linden smiled as he typed on his phone, presumably replying to the e-mails he’d read earlier. “We’ve been friends since college, were assigned to the same dorm room as freshmen and were roomies the whole time. It was a coincidence, of course, but we’re both gay, and it worked out well. He’s an investigative reporter—pretty good too. Randy sells stories to publications all over the world.” He put the phone down and studied Tyler. “However, we’ve never been anything but friends. Don’t light each other’s fires. There are things people will tell a reporter they won’t tell an FBI agent, or any law enforcement, so he gives me some help sometimes, and I give him a story sometimes.” That fact made Tyler happier and more relieved than it probably should have. “I really am happy you’re here. I guess I’m not a very suspicious person and wouldn’t have thought much of seeing those drapes open.” “That’s not a bad thing. Not at all.” Linden sat at the table while Tyler made coffee. “Do you know who Jeremy DeCompos is?” He turned his phone and showed Tyler a picture of a young, nice-looking black man. “He was transferred into my program a week or two before I… left. I remember the name, wouldn’t have put a face to it without that photo, and don’t really know anything about him. Why? Who is he?” Tyler was pretty sure he already knew the answer. “There was a body found in a burned-out abandoned building a few blocks from Hernandez’s apartment. Originally it looked like a vagrant. The fire was started in a makeshift pit, probably for cooking and heat. It’s still unclear which of them died first. Examination of DeCompos’s body will take longer due to the condition.” “Do you think it’s another murder meant to look like something else?” Linden nodded. “Yes. I do.” He got up and crossed to the pullout couch and his laptop briefcase. While Tyler poured large mugs of coffee and filled the small space with a rich aroma, Linden booted up his computer. “Let me show you a few things.” Tyler sat at the table, and Linden moved the other chair so they were close enough together that their knees brushed. He turned the laptop so Tyler could see the screen. A picture of a bathroom, the counter littered with beer bottles, a pint whiskey bottle, and medicine packets. “Is this from Julius’s apartment?” “Yes. He had enough alcohol in his system to be drunk, which is pretty easily guessed by the bottles.” Linden used one finger to point out the empty bottles. “He also had a high level of diphenhydramine.” “Antihistamine. Benadryl?” Tyler asked. Linden nodded. “Yes.” “You shouldn’t mix the two.” “No, you sure shouldn’t,” Linden agreed. “He was face down in his bathtub, which was about half-filled with water, with clothes on.” “Reasonable if you’re going to kill yourself that way. Booze and diphenhydramine will make you groggy, possibly cause you to pass out, and the clothes so you’re not found naked.” “You’d also leave your clothes on so you don’t get cold enough to wake up before you’re dead.” Linden sat back, took a sip of his coffee and held up one finger. “Here’s the thing, those diphenhydramine packets had no fingerprints on them. None.” Tyler frowned. “Those things are a bitch to get into. I slobber all over them using my teeth and trying to pinch the pill out of those little foil packets, cut my finger, and usually end up getting scissors!” “Exactly. Who opens a foil medicine packet without leaving a lot of evidence—fingerprints, saliva, blood, and therefore DNA? They make a mess, and no one is neat about it without a reason.” “That’s why you think it wasn’t suicide, or at least that he had help?” “Body number two, in a burned-out building. Fire destroys evidence and does so very effectively. The kicker is, there were empty beer bottles all over. The investigators were able to pull some prints and found DeCompos’s, but no one else’s. A search of his apartment turned up—” “Let me guess. Empty diphenhydramine foil packets without a fingerprint or anything else on them?” Linden stood up, picked up his mug and Tyler’s, and moved to the counter. “And that earns you a refill.” Bait is available in eBook, paperback and through KoboPlus.    
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