Page 128 of Sticks and Stones

God, but he hoped this didn’t go south.

At the top, Gene stared into the dumpster. That’s when he saw Corbin’s things—or what he assumed were his things.

“There’s ripped clothes at the top. We have biker pants, a vest, and a pair of boxers.”

Greyson waited.

“I’ll hand these things down to you. They won’t have too much DNA on them, since they likely pulled them off of him before the sexual assault, but we should bag them.”

Even though Gene was focused on work, Greyson couldn’t help but be worried about the man.

“If you do it, Gene, you’re going to regret it. Taking a life isn’t easy. I’ve seen your record. You’ve not had to do that often.”

He glanced over.

“I don’t need a lecture from you. Like I said, I hope you’re never in this position, but I am. I’m going to get him justice.”

Then, he changed the subject.

Again.

Gene had read some of Corbin’s file, and the one from Vice. They had done surveillance on the place.

“The scumbags here won’t be the ones running the operation,” he stated. “They’re just assholes who are involved. The person behind this has been evading the FBI for a while. It takes time to abduct men, and sell them off. We’re going to have to pull old missing person files. This might just be the ones that were found.”

Greyson agreed.

“I’ll start getting them for you.”

That worked for him.

Gene knew that now that he was on the case, all of this would be sorted out.

He’d make sure that he found the people running it, and until he did, he’d make the assholes who hurt Corbin pay.

“Here are his things,” he said, picking them up. They were torn and he knew they’d been ripped from him by the filthy fucking animals.

It made him sick to pick up his bloody boxers, and he knew that he didn’t know half of what happened to Corbin.

And he wasn’t sure he could handle the truth. Hopefully, Ethan didn’t need to talk this out.

Truthfully, Gene would vomit.

Reaching up, Greyson took them,

As he did, Gene kept rooting around. There was no badge, no gun, and no keys anywhere to be found. He was willing to bet the fucker who hurt him kept a souvenir. Since Corbin had to get there somehow, they likely took his vehicle too.

Well, he’d get them back when he found them. The game was on, and he wasn’t stopping. It was time to hunt them down.

Climbing out of the dumpster, Gene dropped to the ground, and pulled out his phone.

They needed DNA to chase these people. If the FBI got it, he could control what the city cops saw, and that was the plan.

“We’ll get the techs here to pull this mattress and the clothes,” he stated. “I need it done off the record, for now,” he said.

Greyson shook his head.

“Don’t do it, Gene.”