Holly sighed in disappointment as she made it past the Lafayette Regional Airport security and spotted a sloppily clad officer holding a sign with her name spelled wrong. He waited for her at the airport terminal, distracted by something on the ceiling and dangling the sign in one hand.

“Please tell me you’re not deputy Higgins,” Holly said as she approached.

“Oh that’s me,” Higgins said with a goofy grin. He fumbled with his hat and the sign to slick back his thinning hair. After dropping both his hat and sign, he left his hat on the ground and grabbed the sign with both hands, then awkwardly kicked his hat behind himself in a feeble attempt to hide it. He took a deep breath and extended one hand over the sign for a shake. “Nice to meet you, ma’am. Are you Special Agent Holly?”

“Obviously,” She said under a raised eyebrow, inspecting the man’s sweaty hand and choosing not to shake it. She wasn’t sure when the last time he washed the thing was, but it looked like there was a good chance it hadn’t been today.

Taking the hint, deputy Higgins took his hand back and his smile widened, “Welcome to Louisiana. I’ll be your guide while you’re here. I’m honored to get to show you around.”

“Thanks,” Holly said.

“Where to first?” Higgins asked, “I have a few suggestions if you wouldn’t mind me helping to get the ball rolling.”

Holly groaned inwardly. She didn’t want to deal with this man at all, but she forced herself to smile. It was important that she be cooperative as much as possible. Since SAC Brown recommended him personally to her, she didn’t want to risk anything trickling back to the home office that reflected poorly on her.

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“Lead the way,” Holly said.

Higgins led Holly to his squad car where he helped her load her bags and opened the door for her.

On the way to the first stop, Higgins made his best attempt at a debriefing.

”We have multiple families who have come forward about their loved ones being offered a large amount of money for a blood sample. Some never get any further communication from that point, but others will be offered an invitation and even more money to do some kind of something at an unknown location.”

”Some kind of something,” Holly repeated in a mildly mocking tone. She’d heard all of this before, but she didn’t have to try hard to talk to Higgins if he stayed busy talking.

“Right, something, but no idea what.” Higgins continued excitedly, “Anybody who has accepted has not explained any part of what happens to them, most of them end up disappearing soon after, bless their souls..”

Higgins gave a moment of silence before continuing. “I have two leads that you won’t know about.”

”You didn’t include them in your report?”

”No, since one of them texted me before I just started driving and the other I just thought of them today while staring at that stain on the roof at the airport. It looked just like a dollar sign and that got me thinking of checking where the money deposited into the people’s accounts came from. You know how it always says the company name?”

”Waste-Co, Water treatment,” Holly was impressed that Higgins thought of that one.

”What?” Higgins said.

“It’s who was on all of the deposits. From everything I saw, it’s likely a shell corporation that can act as a funnel for payments and protect the identity of the culprit.”

”Wow, you’re amazing,” Higgins said.

“I think it would still be beneficial to visit the site of the treatment plant just in case, but we will want to do that anonymously rather than openly dressed the way we are.”

”Then let’s go to my cousin’s house for now.”

”Is that who texted you?”

“Yes ma’am,” Higgins said. “She said her son just got home after accepting and showing up to the second round. We got a live person to interview.”

Holly’s heart beat at the opportunity, “A live witness has never happened. They always disappear before sharing anything useful.”

Higgins grinned, turned on his sirens and sped through the red light, “Then we better hurry.”