100 Ways to Solve a Murder-Chapter 206: Puzzle Skin IX

Outside Riverside Funeral

Marco turned to Levi sitting beside him, "By the way why did we need the body from Guys if you were planning on using me as bait in the beginning?" he asked, causing the corner of the blond’s lips to curl up. Amused.

"I only needed the heart. But I knew you wouldn’t have participated as willingly as you did if you knew my real plan." Levi said, observing the view outside of the funeral. Waiting patiently.

"I did participate ’willingly’, Levi" Marco deadpanned, still annoyed at him.

Levi spared him a look, "Exactly." he said.

"The body was just to calm your nerves and give me enough time till I get the drug delivered."

"So, us heading to Guys was simply to keep me occupied." The bearded man scoffed,

"Well, would you have volunteered to drink an experimental drug then being collected by a funeral home and possibly cut open?" the blond challenged.

Marco narrowed his eyes at him, "You’re such an asshole."

"Well, this asshole is trying to enact vengeance whilst attempting to save lives." the blond claimed, turning back to the front of the funeral home.

Marco noticed the change in the blond’s body language the moment he faced forward, and he gazed at the same view he was looking at and saw a man in a motorcycle slow down and stop in front of the establishment. He took his helmet off and Levi swiftly took a photo of him using a camera.

"I’m such an eejit, of course, they’re going to use a motorcycle." the blond thought out loud.

"Are we going to follow him?" Marco asked, just as Levi started the car.

"Yes, Captain obvious." the blond said as they watched the motorcycle drive away. Levi followed behind, watching as the motorcycle disappeared in an alley where they cannot follow.

"Well? Are we?" Marco started to remove his seatbelt but paused when the blond did not bother to react.

"As expected. It’s fine, we have the face and plate number." the blond said, continuing forward.

The blond drove his friend to his flat, slowing down by the front door. "Hydrate Marco, I need you in tip-top shape by the morrow." the blond said, hinting that they were done for today. It was already 3 in the morning after all.

Marco got out of the car and trudged forward heading directly to his bedroom. He might as well get some rest, who knows when will be the next time he would get to sleep on his bed?

.....

7 Eastbourne Rd.

It was in the afternoon when Marco headed to the agency. He had slept in longer than he planned, he reckons the drug had something to do with it. The drug he was sure was almost poison.

He entered the agency noting the blond’s appearance immediately. His hair was a mess and he wondered if he even slept at all.

The blond turned to look at him, "Marco! You’re alive!" he cheered causing Marco to frown at his jest. "Did you stay all night?" he asked, beelining to the pantry to make some tea. "Tea?" he asked,

"Coffee for me please." the blond answered eyes glued on the fax machine. "Your timing is perfect by the way," he added seconds later, taking the first page from the fax machine. Marco turned to look at him. "What’s that?" he asked.

Levi read through the paper, "Anna faxed us the info on the courier last night." he said, and he started reading the paper out loud.

"Devon Tanner, 35 years old. His rap sheet is longer than your grocery list, Marco." Levi scoffed, reading through the rap sheet and creating the man’s psychological profile. "Welfare fraud in the third degree, Burglary in the third degree, Criminal possession of methamphetamine manufacturing material in the first degree, Trademark counterfeiting in the second degree, Aggravated identity theft, Bribery in the second degree, Fraud involving a security interest, Rape in the first degree...." the blond read out loud.

He turned to look at Marco moving towards him to hand him his coffee, "In short, bad guy."

Levi placed the cup on his table, brushing his hair away from his face casually and taking a seat.

"Do we have his address?" Marco asked, taking the sheet of paper from Levi’s hand and looking at it himself.

"It says here he graduated valedictorian in high school and received a scholarship in West London College. I don’t understand why he turned out like this?" the bearded man said, turning to look at his friend who had taught him before the IQ-Crime correlation, stating that on average criminal offenders scored 8-10 lower than those non-offenders. Levi leaned back on his chair, savouring the coffee in his hand.

"Read furthermore, it states that he grew up in poverty and had abusive parents, and based on his past offences like Criminal possession of methamphetamine, it also meant that he had some drug addiction," Levi explained and Marco listened carefully. It was his field of expertise, after all, the psychology of people, more so, criminals.

"As to the causes of why people turn to crime is complex, but those are the part of the leading cause of why criminals do what they do. Some are just at greater risk due to the circumstances that they were born in." the Irishman said. Although as much as science leans on the fact ’evil people’ aren’t born but are instead reared by the environment that they grow up in. He was certain that there are some exceptions, that some people truly were born evil. Like his biological father was.

Based on his research, on the life of Lucas Greene, he was raised in a loving household, living a comfortable life with some old money in a quiet small-town neighbourhood with low to no criminal activity. And although they were Irish, none of his parents was abusive drunks. None of the usual patterns on serial killers applied to him. Yet something in his mind was loose like a switch was flipped. And he was what he was.

"So, we have an address. When do we leave?" the bearded man asked, knowing full well their next step was to tail the guy. He, after all, was their only lead on this illegal operation. At the back of his mind, he couldn’t help but wonder what kind of people was doing it? More so he reckons a surgeon was involved, organ transplant is not an easy feat. And only people with knowledge, skills and experience can do it.

A business with failed transplants and death wouldn’t be good business after all. So he could only assume the success rate is pretty good.

Levi finished his cup of joe and got up his chair, he grinned at his friend, he was thinking on his feet and he liked it. "30 minutes," he said, then heading to his flat upstairs to shower and change.

...

Hours later

Levi and Marco sat in the car, trailing Devon Tanner. This part of their investigation had always bored Marco. A lot of sitting around and waiting was needed to be done and it’s what he hated most, and he knew the Irishman hated it more.

His eyes rested on the blond seated beside him, an obvious frown on his face. The mad hadn’t led them anywhere out of the ordinary in their opinion. And this time at quarter to ten in the evening he had led them to a club.

After the blond slowed down, the two exchanged looks. And they stepped out to head to the club. Marco subconsciously messed with his hair, just to give himself a less serious vibe, he can’t believe he was heading in there. It’s been ages since he last stepped inside one of those. And if he was honest he wasn’t looking forward to it, thank the gods he was no longer lonely and single. Desperately searching for a girlfriend in the darkly lit, noisy and cigar pungent room.

Levi headed in first, entering with no issue followed by Marco. The bearded man swore the gentleman by the door silently was judging him but dare not verbalize it. The Loop was acceptably clean, however, they could both tell the building wasn’t in its best shape, and they wouldn’t really be surprised if they heard it had been shut down all of a sudden. Nevertheless, the club still had numerous customers all due to their free entry policy.

Slicked blond scanned the surrounding, positioning himself by the bar, ordering a couple of pints to drink. He handed Marco one of the glass, as to blend in and the man took it with no complaint. He had been craving some since all these started, after all, the case was honestly stressing him out.

"8 o’clock," the slicked blond said, casually sipping his drink after. Marco nodded softly, a smile on his face pretending he said something funny. His eyes scanned the surrounding, seeing girls dancing to the music, till his eyes rested on Tanner. The man disappeared through a door.

The duo nodded to each other and slowly followed behind where he disappeared.