The queen gave a timorous smile. "We can't have that."
"Now, what'd you find?" Meryn asked.
Brie held up a finger and continued to scroll through the photos. There. That was the one she was looking for. She passed her phone over to Meryn and sat back.
Meryn quickly turned the phone in her hands and looked down at the picture. She scrolled forward a few pictures then back. Brie knew exactly was she was looking for.
The queen looked from her to Meryn then back. "Please tell me you found something."
"I think we found something."
Meryn sat back. "I was right."
"You were right."
"Right about what?" Aiden asked explosively.
"Catherine has only just filled me in on what's been happening in your world, so when Meryn said what she did, it sounded similar to something Catherine had told me." She glanced over at Amelia. "When Amelia was kidnapped, she was also taken to a processing type center. In the report, it said that had Keelan Ashwood not blocked the spell that targeted the unit warriors, they would have been stripped of their souls." She nodded at Meryn, who held up the phone.
"There's threaded holes in the support beams of the warehouse and scrapes on the floor."
Amelia covered her mouth with a trembling hand. "That crystal machine."
Meryn nodded. "Brie and I are only guessing at this point, but I think that the medical examiner will come back with the same time of death for all the fae."
"We go from knowing nothing to having a solid lead, just like that?" Justice asked.
Aiden beamed down at his mate. "My baby is a genius."
Ari rested his arm on the back of her chair and rubbed her back. "As is mine."
Meryn smiled, but her eyes went back to the pictures. "It's just…"
"Meryn, you should have been in law enforcement," Brie said, leaning back against Ari's warm hand.
Meryn scrunched up her nose. "No way." She then looked at Brie. "Do you know what I'm going to say?"
"I have an idea, because it's the one thing bothering me too about our theory."
"On three," Meryn challenged.
"One, two, three…"
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"The pile," Brie said.
"The bodies," Meryn replied at the same time. "Well damn."
"What about the bodies?" Law asked.
Kendrick exhaled and leaned back. "Brilliant. Simply, brilliant."
Meryn held out a thumbs up to the man. "Good for you."
He gave her a flat expression. "So glad I can keep up."
Ari squeezed her shoulder, and she looked up into his questioning face. She took a deep breath. "If the killers used a machine to kill them all at once, the bodies should have been more spread out; they would have been found where they had fallen, but they weren't. The killers took a lot of extra time and effort to dehumanize the dead. They were piled in such a way to make a statement, which is more terrifying than the act itself."