Chapter 357: The Process

Chapter 357: Chapter 357: The Process

Zoe Sawyer took a sharp breath. From the moment they started tossing in the meat, she hadn’t seen the head or any bones.

Those two things weren’t nearly as easy to dispose of as flesh. There had to be another hiding place, or a different method of destruction.

If she could find those two things, the case would be all but solved.

Next, Zoe Sawyer watched as the two men took out bags of blood, packed them into soft molds, wrapped them in work clothes they had prepared earlier, and tossed them into the meat grinder.

Once they were done, the two men checked their surroundings. After confirming they hadn’t left any traces, they departed, satisfied with their work.

The scene provided by the door followed the two men as they moved.

Now that they weren’t encumbered by the bags, the two moved with an expert familiarity of the factory’s layout, avoiding the overhead security cameras and slipping into another workshop.

This workshop wasn’t very large. Inside stood a dozen or so bone grinders.

The silver-white machines gleamed coldly under the dim lights. The feed hoppers on top gaped like bottomless, giant mouths.

"Relax. No one’s needed the bone grinders lately. We’ll hurry up and get this done tonight, then pour the results down the drain. It’ll be like it never happened, without a trace!" The factory manager patted the machine in front of him, a smug smile on his face.

’He had hand-picked this day, guaranteeing no one else would find out!’

"You’re a genius, brother-in-law! This way, not even God himself could find out what we did!" the other man chimed in.

The factory manager scoffed. Wasting no time, the two dragged the bags from the corner over to one of the machines in the center of the room.

Then they began stuffing the contents inside.

"Tch, I can’t get a good grip with these gloves on!" The factory manager shook his hand, pulled off one glove, and forcefully shoved the last bone fragment inside.

Due to the angle, he inevitably sliced his finger on the sharp edge of the feed hopper.

The cut wasn’t deep and didn’t bleed much, so the manager didn’t think anything of it.

He gave his hand a careless shake and continued with his work.

He adjusted the fineness of the bone grinder and flipped the switch, among other tasks.

Once the bones were completely pulverized, the two men poured the buckets of bone slurry down a sewer drain. Then, they used a high-pressure hose to wash the machine, inside and out.

By the time they finished, it was already past three in the morning.

"Alright, all done."

Looking at the bone grinder he’d washed spotless, the factory manager clapped his hands together in satisfaction, then placed them on his hips as he admired the machine.

"Brother-in-law, we still have one thing left!" the man said, pointing to the head sitting in the corner.

Zoe Sawyer’s gaze followed his finger. Even though she had braced herself, the sight of the pallid, severed head made her jump.

The manager seemed to have already figured out a solution. "Wrap it in plastic film and put it in the flash-freezing cold storage.

I remember there’s some reject meat and scraps in the far corner of the freezer, right? We’ll mix this in with that. It could be three, even five months before anyone finds it."

’Besides, I just need to get through the next little while.’

’Once the heat dies down, he can just take the head out and bury it somewhere deep in the woods.’

’Plus, the temperature in the freezer is low enough that there won’t be any smell.’

’It’s pretty much the perfect way to deal with it!’

"You’ve really got all the answers, brother-in-law!" The man gave the manager a thumbs-up.

Now that they had a plan, the two didn’t waste any time. They quickly wrapped the head and hid it in the very back of the cold storage, just as the manager had described.

Just as the manager and his accomplice emerged from the cold storage, the door ejected Zoe Sawyer.

And with that, the vision was over.

"How’d it go? Did you find anything?" Seeing Zoe Sawyer close the door, Evan Keller and Heath Hale, who had been waiting nearby, immediately came over to ask what she’d seen.

Zoe Sawyer nodded. "I’ve got something. Beau, I need you to sketch a few things for me."

As Zoe Sawyer described what she saw, Beau sketched. He drew the two men disposing of the body, a portrait of the victim, and the scenes from Workshop Two: the bone grinder and the cold storage where they destroyed and hid the evidence.

Once the sketches were done, Zoe Sawyer cross-referenced them with the personnel files that had just been delivered. Right away, she matched the face of the second culprit to the workshop supervisor.

"Alright. I’ll send this to the team on-site right now. We’ll try to wrap this case up as soon as possible." Officer Lee took the files from Zoe Sawyer, quickly scanned the sketches, and typed up her verbal account. After ensuring nothing was missing, he sent everything over to Lynn, who was waiting by his computer.

Meanwhile, after packaging the files and sending them to the designated email address, Lynn followed his mentor’s orders and remained at his station by the computer.

A little over an hour later, a reply landed in his inbox.

Lynn gasped when he saw the contents. He immediately started printing the files while calling his mentor, who was still at the factory. "Sir! We got the evidence! Detain the factory manager and the supervisor. I’m printing out the documentation now and bringing it over!"

The senior officer hung up, then immediately dialed the factory manager’s number. He told the manager they had a new piece of evidence and needed him to come and confirm something.

’A new discovery? What could they have discovered?’ the factory manager muttered after hanging up.

’Or did Arthur Sullivan talk to the cops? Did he say something?’

’We were so careful when cleaning up Workshop Two. Logically, there shouldn’t be anything left.’

’If there really was something, they wouldn’t have taken this many days to find it, would they?’

The factory manager’s mind raced.

The workshop supervisor, who had been waiting in the manager’s office, heard him muttering to himself and said with a laugh, "Relax, brother-in-law. The cops have been stuck in Workshop Two this whole time. They haven’t been anywhere else.

We’ve got someone watching Arthur Sullivan, too. He hasn’t said a word, and he hasn’t had any contact with the police. They’re probably just going through the motions."

’As for this ’new discovery’?’

’It was impossible.’

’They had been so careful throughout the entire process; they hadn’t left a single trace behind.’

The manager replayed the entire process in his head and nodded. "You’re right. I can’t lose my cool, or I’ll give us away."

Perhaps because the police hadn’t found anything for the past several days, both the manager and the supervisor naturally assumed that this time would be no different.

No discovery meant they were safe.

With this mindset, the two of them composed their expressions before heading over.

They saw the stony-faced officer flipping through a file and, standing not far off, Lynn staring at them like a hawk.

The factory manager’s heart began to pound.

’Could it be? Did they really find something new this time?’

’No, impossible.’

The manager shook his head, trying to banish the inexplicable sense of dread that was creeping over him.