Earthbound : A gripping crime thriller full of twists and supernatural suspense Fynn Perry (if you liked this book TXT) 📖

“So, in every single case the bouncers were the last people to see the victims either alive or before they went missing.”

“That’s correct, and statements were taken from the bouncers and the club managers. They all stated that club policy had been followed. In fact, they all said the same thing. I quote: ‘The use of a rear exit from the club, which is only accessible by staff, to expel any guest behaving badly is to save both the guest’s and the club’s embarrassment.’”

“Of course, that is the only reason!” Jennifer snickered.

“I share your skepticism,” Lazlo said. “Faced with a victim displaying brain-death symptoms while still in the club, El Gordito’s men would almost certainly not call the authorities. El Gordito hates any bad publicity when it comes to his clubs. Dumping a body to avoid an inquiry at his club is exactly what he is capable of.” He took a deep breath. “But unfortunately, there is no evidence to support that is what happened. The fact that a number of victims who had been to his clubs were found, and at a short distance away from his clubs––in random backstreet locations, which they could have easily wandered into––does on the surface seem to align with the statements of the club staff that the victims were still alive when they were thrown out.” He paused for a moment. “That’s not to say I have any doubts that El Gordito is behind the bodies being dumped and the disappearances. My experience with trying to find Mark Kendrick has convinced me of that.”

“Do you think that Kendrick’s body might have originally been taken to an entirely different location along with the other victims who were thought to have gone missing?” suggested Jennifer. She hoped Lazlo had considered that possibility and by doing so had also wondered what would determine El Gordito’s choice of whether a victim’s body would be left out in the open to be discovered or taken away to give the impression of the victim disappearing.

Lazlo didn’t answer straightaway; her question seemed to have triggered the desired thought process within him. “You said ‘taken to another location’ and ‘not dumped at another location,’ ” he finally said. It was clearly meant as a statement, not a question. “I hadn’t thought of it before but now I’m wondering how El Gordito still had access to Kendrick’s body two days after Kendrick was last seen at DNA? I mean if the idea was to make it look like he and the others had gone missing, El Gordito would have immediately burned their bodies or destroyed them some other way. He wouldn’t store them and risk them being found.”

“Did you compare the profiles of the missing victims against those of the victims found around the clubs?” offered Jennifer.

This time Lazlo answered without any delay. “The ones he left to be discovered at both locations all came from rich or wealthy families. People of money and power. And the victims that went missing have working- or middle-class backgrounds. They went into the NYPD’s Missing Persons Database, along with thousands of other unrelated cases, only after forty-eight hours. As you know, the police don’t consider someone missing before then,” he said.

“And their families would have no power or money to influence the police to prioritize their cases and start looking before forty-eight hours,” suggested Jennifer.

“So, the victims that El Gordito chose to make appear as if they have gone missing, were the right ones if he had a use for them. But what use? How could he profit from them?” Lazlo asked thoughtfully. “I suppose if the organs were in good condition, then organ harvesting could be a possibility. It’s highly profitable but that would be a complete departure from El Gordito’s business model. As far as we know, he has always been strictly into narcotic trafficking and made a point of keeping to what he knows best.”

David and Jennifer said nothing and just looked at each other, encouraged by how effortlessly Lazlo had reached that conclusion.

“Just let the pieces fall in place. He’ll get there,” advised John in a confident tone that only Jennifer could hear.

“One more thing,” Lazlo offered. “When the composition of the two pills was analyzed, in one of them remarkably pure cocaine and heroin were found to be the only ingredients. The other also contained heroin, but of poorer quality, and no cocaine was present. There were, however, additional ingredients. One was a synthesized version of PCP, a drug that causes violent, paranoid behavior, and the second was a synthesized pharmaceutical drug which, in the right doses, can cause brain-death-type symptoms.”

“That second pill could have been made from the earlier experimental batch the guard spoke to the bioscientist about,” John whispered to Jennifer, while Lazlo paused.

She was unable to respond before the detective resumed talking. “The thing is, my guy said the heroin and cocaine were pure in the pill where they were combined, without any trace of the chemicals normally used to refine the raw plant ingredients. So pure, in fact, that he believes that they must have been produced by some radical new method––”

David motioned to his daughter to give Lazlo the two printouts she had prepared. “We did some research and found news articles which state that in the future, it’ll be possible to genetically engineer strains of yeast capable of churning out tons of any compound normally derived from plants, including those which are used in the drug industries, both legal and illegal. That means also heroin and cocaine.”

Lazlo took the printouts and pored over them. “You’re kidding me! Drugs will be able to be made like beer using just yeast?” he said, looking at the first article. “Hell! We’ll have crackheads in every household in America!”

“Only if the specifically modified strains capable of doing so were ever to become widely available. But right now, only one man has come close to