Leon stepped into the empty apartment after the manager had unlocked the door for him. Before moving any further, he made a quick scan of the immediate room for something that might tell him where the latest victim was last headed.
"The officers here before did a pretty thorough search…" the manager seemed to be worried that perhaps he, himself, would be under suspicion for his tenant's (or former tenant's) death. "They were here quite a long time, dusting for prints and taking a bunch of things in those…zip-lock kinda bags." The shorter, slightly balding man seemed bothered by the memory.
"They were looking for traces of anyone who might have been here other than the victim recently." Leon answered somewhat absentmindedly. He could sense that the man there with him was in doubt that he would find anything more helpful than what the detectives there before him had. "That's the first step." He walked a little further into the living room, glancing at the entryways on either side. "I'm looking for things that might tell us where the victim might have been…" he hesitated long enough to choose the safest way to convey the idea, "before he was reported missing."
The elder man looked up at Leon, and nodded solemnly. He seemed to shudder slightly, and looked around the room, if only for the reason that he felt he could do nothing else to help. As Leon had, he ventured a little further into the apartment, but stayed a few feet behind the detective. "Don't know…" he told Leon in a soft, thoughtful tone, "seems like the sort of young fellas that wasn't home much…"
Leon's head turned quickly back to the man behind him, "Oh?" he let the manager know that he had his full and undivided attention.
The manager glanced up out of his reverie with a look of slight guilt. He shrugged and waved a hand in a quick arc in front of him. "Hardly cleaned the place…but hardly made any kinda mess, 'cept f'r the kitchen…like'e didn't have time't." He looked around again, almost with an expression of disapproval, "…didn't bother t'decorate et all, like he knew there wasn't any point…no one expected, no one unexpected worth worry'n about…loner mostly." Regret seemed to wrap around him at the realization. "Sign of the times, I s'pose?"
Leon turned away from the man, feeling inexplicably uncomfortable. He wasn't sure if it was because the other man was telling things about himself without realizing it, or because it almost seemed as though the gentleman might be talking about… He fought off a sudden shiver. Nah. It was like the guy said; just a sign of the times… The recent memory resurfaced of Jill Freshney off-handedly remarking that two of the people they'd questioned had mentioned Leon reminding them of the victims. The impulse to shiver returned.
Two different people interviewed, that didn't even know of the other's existence, that had said the same thing while he'd let Jill talk alone with them…about two totally different victims. Well, four now, actually.
Leon hadn't told Jill, or anyone else, about the two women that he'd questioned that had said he reminded them of the victims they were being asked about. Forensics had just recently revealed that the two other victims had also been killed in exactly the same manner as two others they were investigating. There was no longer any doubt that another serial killer was at work.