“When did he die Mr.
Mitchell?”
“Oh, years ago.”
“What year Mr.
Mitchell?”
“I can’t remember, he said
looking up at the ceiling if the answer was stuck on the greasy
looking ceiling with large water marks from a leaky
roof.
“Tell us if you have
recently been to California.”
“No, I don’t even know where
California is”
“Can you prove your
whereabouts for the last few months?”
A long time passed before he
answered and rubbed his stubble on his chin and said, “The feed
store in town knows me and I go there once a week for pig food in
my daddy’s pickup truck.” Brad moved to Norm’s side and whispered
in his ear.
“Mr. Mitchell would you mind
if some of our agents look around your farm and in your
house?”
He seemed to think about
that and as if he didn’t know why he played the role well by
looking around the room at the mess and said, “I don’t see why not.
Watch out for the momma pig with little ones as she gets a little
ornery if strangers come around.” Norm left to inform his agents to
look for anything that was not part of a farm. Leave no pile of pig
scat unturned he told them.
Brad and Mike took the yes
to mean to start looking for the place one might hide costumes and
make up cases or bags. Paul sat there and didn’t move for two hours
while the FBI looked in or under or over the complete farm. Brad
and Mike looked for underground places like an old root cellar
where someone could hide or things stashed.
While they were looking,
Wendy was asking him questions about his family and life here on
the farm. Wendy reported later he answered all her questions like a
person who lived here all his life; with nothing out of the
ordinary. But, she added, that there was something not quite right
about the too pat answers.
Disappointed after stopping
off in Yelm at the feed store and finding Paul did come once a week
and usually on a Saturday. They checked the sales receipts going
back for months and sure enough he had charged his
fee
d
every Saturday
like clockwork. The salesperson told them at the end of the month
they send the bill to the local bank and the bank deposits the
amount in their account.
Next they stopped at the
bank to check the account of one Paul Mitchell. They found a six
figure balance and learned from the manager when the daddy died of
a farm accident he left a sizeable insurance policy to Paul the
son. The lawyer set up the accounts for taxes on the farm and
groceries from a local supermarket. Paul never needed to carry cash
or write a check.
Back at the motel the team
sat around discussing the day’s events with Norm and his assistant
special agent, Mark Lee. All eyes went to Brad and he took the lead
by saying, “I looked closely at this hands and fingers. They didn’t
appear to look like a farmer’s hand at all. Also there wasn’t much
dirt under his nails and because his shirt sleeves overlapped his
wrists I could tell if a scar was there or not. My gut tells me we
were with John the serial killer and I did see your agents Norm
getting some evidence to determine DNA. I’m glad now we sent agent
Jones to Sacramento for the books. Get a hold of him and have him
follow up on the grave site DNA. Also, let’s exhume daddy J.J and
check his DNA; in addition, find out the lawyer who handled the
estate. Mike what do you think?”
“If it is John in real life
he is one cool customer. Even if it is him all we have on the guy
would be fraud of an insurance company. We don’t have a shred of
evidence to tie to this bird. I’m holding out on committing who
this joker is, but if it is him, how did he fool the feed store and
how could he be in two places at one time?”
“Easy Mike,” Brad said.
“There is a brother and he was hiding somewhere on the property.
They have had years to build a hiding place and if Wendy is correct
in saying the father abused the kids, maybe he dug a jail type room
somewhere and stuck the kids in it for punishment of some
sort.”
Wendy’s mouth fell open at
the suggestion of what Brad just said. “Of course,” she blurted
out, “it stands to reason. I’m a fool for not thinking about
that.”
Norm spoke up and said, “I
will have the army fly over with a helicopter and use infrared heat
source equipment to see if we can locate an isolated heat image
besides the pigs and one person in the house.” He left the room to
make a call and Sujin spoke for the first time.
“Sandy never took her eyes
off of him. Dogs know. ’
“I think he is gone and to
parts unknown to us at this time. I know,” as he saw Norm about to
tell him they had a watch on the place, “that he has an escape
route and by now you will find the real brother completely baffled.
Norm, I suggest you get the person who is there now his DNA. We
need to look at hospital records, death certificates and so
forth.”
Mike said, “I’m on the
records,” as he left the room to contact Billy and research the
county records and the father’s death certificate.
Meanwhile Norm was in the
corner using his cell phone. First he called the agent to check on
the house. Take his picture and a sample of his DNA. Next he called
the office and had them find out where JJ Mitchell was buried and
dig him up with a court order. In addition, as he was in agreement
with Brad on John escaping, told his office to put an alert out and
stop each car for a search. Fax the description to all law
agencies. There was only a couple ways out of the Bald Hills by
pavement. One logging road was used by a timber company but it had
a locked gate at the east end. Norm took no chances and had them
call the sheriff's office to have someone sit on the locked
gate.
Brad looked at his watch and
saw it was only about noon. He wasn’t hungry but they had missed
breakfast. He thought it prudent to have something to eat and
nodded at Sujin who knew what he was thinking. She took Sandy for a
walk and told the restaurant to take orders from the people in the
meeting room. She ordered for both Brad and her then took Sandy
outside to let her do her thing. Sandy was on a leash; let the
motel guests feel relaxed seeing the police dog. Sandy appeared to
want to sniff the parking lot and Sujin gave her free reign. This
was strange as she normally did her business and whined to go back
where the action was. Sujin went on the alert and her senses became
acute. Looking at a slow point to point 360 she took in what was
normal and anything out of the ordinary. A few cars were coming in
for lunch and no cars leaving. That was natural as it was lunch
time. They passed the FBI van they had used earlier and made for
the back of the parking lot. She looked at every parked car for
human occupants. Nothing. Sandy, ears up, slowly moved toward a
U-Haul van sitting against the back parking lot at an angle to
cross ways to the parking lines. Sujin thought that normal as many
people moving had
similar
vans and parked in the back because the vans were
too big to park straight in.
Sandy was not happy about
the van and Sujin tried to see if there was anyone in the driver’s
seat. Cautiously they approached the driver’s door when the motor
started and the van took off, but not before she caught a glimpse
of what looked like the suspect from the farm. Sandy gave a bark
and looked at Sujin.
Did he follow us to the
motel, she thought. If so, he must have changed places with his
brother very quickly. That would mean the secret room is under the
house. To leave the house through the back and make his way to a
hidden vehicle meant he had planned this from the beginning to find
out who was looking for him. It gave her the chills thinking about
it as they went back to the motel and lunch.
Sujin went to the ladies
room before having lunch with the team. Of course she memorized the
license plate, but she realized it would lead nowhere. The rental
place would have a completely different description of him or her
that what he truly looked like. This was his turf and now he had a
good look at who was in charge of the case and what really was his
purpose of hanging out in the parking lot? Maybe he thought he
could kidnap a member or the team? She would share this new
development with the others as she made her way to a small meeting
room where lunch was being consumed.
She sat down next to Brad
and he took one look at her and Sandy and realized something
happened either in the motel or outside. He made no move to ask and
waited until she was ready to tell the story. She ate her cold soup
and baked trout like nothing was any different. Small talk was
going around the table and that was when Steve, looking like he’d
been up all night, walked in with a drawn haggard look. He took an
empty chair as the waiter asked him if he would like some lunch. He
told the waiter he would have whatever the lady was eating and
bring him some fresh and not old coffee. The waiter saw the look in
his eye and told him he would brew a fresh pot for him right
away.
Brad looked at his friend
and said, “Burning the midnight oil, Steve?”
Steve looked him in the eye
and said, “We have to find this guy and bring this spree of killing
to a halt.”
Brad told him they had found
the killer and plans were in place to try and apprehend him. When
he had Steve’s attention, he told him the story in detail and when
he finished, Sujin took his place relating the parking lot
incident.
Wendy was shocked and
couldn’t believe what she heard. So brazen of him and it appeared
he was teasing them; daring them to catch him and if they did, what
would the charges be. This was becoming so bizarre and complicated
it was making her mind change gears to keep up with the rapidly
changing events of this drama.
Steve asked a few questions
as Norm got up and made a phone call to his office reporting the
story of Sujin encounters with the suspect. He’s been contacted
earlier by the agent at the farm that indeed they took his picture
and got his DNA. Other than that he reported the guy only blubbered
and cried the whole time. He was acting like a ten year old kid,
the agent reported. As to the escape route, the agents found a
trail and a place where a vehicle had been parked on an old logging
road. It had been drizzling rain most of the time and there was a
dry place under some trees next to a gravel road just off the main
Bald Hills road, but out of sight from anyone parked near or at the
farm itself.
Brad took all this in and
said, trying to ease the tension around the table. “Look, whether
or not he intended us to find the farm through the pig book the
fact remains we did. We found him and he held the ace in the hole
by buying enough time to make good his escape. Now if the one clue
was left by him, then that means more clues are waiting for us. The
books will tell us his next move and I think our business here is
over for now. We will leave the FBI to do their jobs finding out
the DNA and following up on the death of father JJ. I think we will
find out the father was murdered and most likely it was John that
committed the murder of his father. Now, one more thing, this guy
followed us here and I don’t want him following us to Oregon.
Steve, tell the pilot to file a flight plan to Seattle and then a
flight plan to Salt Lake City. Meanwhile we will drive to Portland
and meet him there at the international airport next to the
Columbia River.”
Before leaving Brad had a
private word and left Norm a phone number committed to memory after
he gathered the facts about the lawyer who drew up the document;
the father’s cause of death; and the case history of Paul Mitchell,
the retarded member of the family.
In case they were followed
the FBI had a method of deception for just this purpose. First they
drove to the shopping mall. A large eighteen wheel truck stood
backed into an unloading dock next to the J.C. Penny store. At the
opposite side of the store, where the follower might be waiting
thinking they would just walk through the store and out the other
side into waiting cars, they would in fact enter the trailer of the
truck. It was custom designed in the back for on location
communications and other vital needs of the FBI. Thirty minutes
later they were headed down the I-5 southbound to Portland. In the
first rest area a van waited for the passengers to continue down to
Portland. Even Mike was impressed as he sat on a sofa next to the
wall. He was quite comfortable and took a nap until the rest
area.
Chapter 7
Back at what was
euphemistically known as the Round House, the team sat around the
floor eating another delicious Korean dinner. Another storm or as
Wendy thought, maybe the same one hammered rain against the
windows. A nice wood fire kept the damp out of the air. Rocky
replaced Sandy at Brad’s side. Wendy was famished as she used her
chopsticks in a dish she had
heard Sujin
say it was mandu
. They looked like homemade
dumplings and tasted wonderful. Mostly she was told they were
filled with vegetables with only a little ground chicken, and of
course steamed brown rice and baked fish round off dinner. Billy
was happy everyone was back. He’d told the team he had some
important results from the computer and was anxious to share the
news with the team. He gobbled down dinner and headed for the door
to chain smoke a few cigarettes before the after dinner meeting.
Agent Jones was there with the books. Brad was satisfied all was
going as well as could be expected.