During the meeting details
of the laundry in Aberdeen and Anacortes were hashed over. Housing
was difficult to find so it was decided Mike and Julie would rent a
motor home and park in an RV site. That way coming and going would
not be so noticeable with nosy neighbors. In Anacortes an apartment
complex with two single bedrooms was founded for Wendy and agent
Jones. Brad and Sujin were to fly to Spokane and meet the Korean
couple who would man the Stop and Go in Arden. After a week of
setting up a communication system and the installation of cameras
along with intensive training, found Brad and Sujin back in
Seattle. Three weeks after that, all was in place and now it was
mid-January. There was nothing to do now but wait for his next move
which was expected in Aberdeen. The retired FBI agents in place
reported no suspicious looking men or women that weren’t already
know amongst the longtime members of the senior center or the local
clubs, like Lions, Moose, and other organizations.
Meanwhile work went on day
by day and down in Oregon agents of the FBI went from town to town,
city to city posting alerts to the Senior Killer. In addition,
agents made lunch speeches to seniors at their meeting and lunches.
The same program went on in California and never in history had one
serial killer had so many law enforcement agencies and agents in
the field looking for him.
Towards the end of January a
letter arrived at the Seattle Times newspaper office. Of course it
was opened and read, handled and photo copied before the FBI had a
chance to look at it. A front page article with a quarter page copy
of his letter hit the Sunday edition. At least the Seattle office
of the FBI had a chance to read it before it came out early Sunday
morning, but any trace elements or such things had long since been
gone by the time the lab got a hold of it for analysis.
The plain brown manila
envelope had a smiley sticker where a return address was usually
written and the address of the Seattle Times was written in block
letters with a permanent marker. Inside was a one page plain paper
written on a word processor and printed by a common laser printer.
The content of the letter was plain and simple giving very little
information of his state of mind. It said:
Dear newspaper,
I’m writing to tell you how
happy I am after my nice visit with the lady from Naches. Before
her death, I think she felt some excitement in her last moment on
earth.
My goal of ridding the old
people who are just taking up space is proceeding according to
plan. [You Mr. Brad Pratt of the ‘Batt Team’ we will meet soon] and
as you can count, I’m not even half way there yet.
Spring is coming and new
flowers will bloom and the old will give way to the new.
This is not my last mail to
you. If you are thinking you can find out where I am by the
postmark, think again. I’M NOT STUPID!
Going to sign off now and
watch the news on TV. Hope you have a nice day Mr. Brad.
Abe Lincoln had his ways and
I have mine. Bring your raincoat my smart guy.
Senior Killer……
Brad and team on a Sunday
were in Seattle at the office discussing the letter. Billy said it
was too simple that the start of each paragraph sent a message: MY
GOAL THIS SPRING GOING TO ABERDEEN. The team agreed and now they
knew where and when and they also knew the how and why, but they
didn’t know who. Billy and his friends and the FBI could find no
other clues except the flowers mentioned and somehow Billy felt
that was important to remember. And as it turned out he was right
on the button.
Chapter 12
Spring begins around the
latter part of March. Most people think it begins on the first of
March as the weather turns warmer and the first growth of spring
pokes its head out of the earth reaching for the sun. The dreary
days of winter are over for the most part. Spring cleaning takes
place; the lawn mowers are tuned up; leaves are raked; cars washed
on the weekend; and people take on a new attitude of hope and
energy for the coming months ahead. However, in Aberdeen such was
not the case. The atmosphere was tense and nobody went anywhere
without someone going with them. At night the streets were rolled
up and mostly deserted with the exception of delivery trucks and
government vehicles.
On March sixteenth Senior
Killer John made his move. He was cleverly disguised as a fifty
something government agent from Seattle, took his Marlin spike to
an old lady’s house on the boarder of the city limits with Hoquiam.
Some neighbors reported seeing the woman going house to house
warning the occupants to be on the look out for the serial killer.
Still others said they saw her only go in the old ladies house and
back out in five minutes. Regardless, he came, he did and he left
unseen leaving the team holding the bag. Brad was so upset he
disappeared for two hours before returning calm and effective once
more.
How could this happen, was
the question held in a meeting in Seattle the next day. So simple,
Brad thought. A government looking car with stolen plates; and a
person with fake ID made the bureau look like fools. The killing
was history and the media came down on the bureau with such a heavy
weight that it would take a crane to lift the burden slammed on by
the press. Brad knew Steve would be talking a tongue lashing from
Washington. How is it possible to cover all the bases, he thought.
He’s giving us time and place. We know what segment of society he
is murdering. So simple, but yet so clever; now we must determine
what he will be his disguise in Anacortes.
Brad surprised all of them
when he told them that he and Sujin would return to home for a few
days while he took the time to think about the case. Julie and Mike
went with them. Billy stayed in Seattle along with Nancy. Billy
took a trip up to Anacortes to visit Wendy and agent Jones on
location to see what the town looked like. For two days he walked
the streets of Anacortes and spent some time on the docks watching
the boats while looking at his laptop. The flowers were on his mind
and by god, he thought, the key to Anacortes is flowers. Billy went
to every flower shop in town and cruised in his rental car visiting
residential places looking for activities where flower lovers were
preparing their spring beds.
Down on the coast of Oregon
Brad spent a lot of time running and walking the beach with his
dogs. Sujin was having some morning sickness these days so she
stayed at home. Mike ran with Brad. They were more than friends and
between the two of them brothers were more like it. Spring weather
on the beach is usually windy, but days of sunshine broke through
the showers. In March, nobody knows why, a period of calm descends
on the coast and the temps reach mid-seventies and the weather
bring out the locals in droves to enjoy the beach. Rollers instead
of breakers gracefully spill upon the beach in a quiet way. It was
a quiet day when Brad and Mike along with the rare appearance on
the beach of Sujin, found them next to a dune leaning on an old log
playing in the sand with Sandy. Brad was stretched out soaking up
the rare sun on his belly while Sujin laid her head on his back
laying in the sand. Mike was sitting Indian style playing with a
stick making pictures in the sand. Sandy tried to get Mike to play
tug a war, but he was deep in thought about the case. He said,
“Brad, have you got anything we can work with. I for one am so
pissed I can’t see straight. Give me some terrorists and an M-16
and look out. Give me a serial killer who is nuts…. But at least we
know where he is going. Not that we can seem to do anything about
it and I for one would like to play the role of a senior and maybe
he would chose me as a victim.”
“Not a bad thought,” said
Brad “How about we expand on that idea. What if you were seen
around town, at the senior center or some such place? You have just
arrived from California and lonely as hell. You’re begging for
company and invite people over to your small house that is off the
beaten track. You have a flower garden as Billy says this guy has
flowers on the brain. Your disguise could be made simple just
enough to make you look old and slow. Damn, what do you guys
think?”
Sujin had since raised
herself to a sitting position and said, “I like it and what about
you Mike?”
“It can’t hurt to try,” he
said with a lot less confidence than before. “Hell, let’s do it,”
he said with renewed enthusiasm. I need a beard, more wrinkles, eye
glasses, and hair in my ears, a stoop when I walk, and a
professional make-up artist to train me”
Brad said, playing with
Sandy rolling around in the hot sand with her, “When are you
leaving?” So it was decided Mike would leave soonest and a
professional make-up artist would meet him in Seattle. He would
spend a week or less in training and then up to
Anacortes.
Brad made the necessary
phone calls and had the plan set up by the next day. A house would
be located even if they had to move someone out. When Billy heard
the plan he was ecstatic. Wendy and agent Jones went about their
business with the dry cleaners and laundry. By now they were
getting a feel for the town as more and more customers came by to
have their clothes cleaned by the nice people who ran the place.
Agent Jones drove the van for delivery and soon had a lay of the
land. Nancy came and met with the mayor and the mayor provided her
with a list of old people in town who frequented the different
organizations that catered to old folks. A list of
home
bound
seniors
was visited by the FBI and told under no circumstances let anyone
in their house they didn’t know. To prevent a repeat of Aberdeen,
two agents instead of one would always be together so if an
individual posing as an agent would be a dead give away. Nobody
thought he would pull the same MO again, but no chances were taken
this time around.
Brad thought it only time
before another letter came from the brazen John. And sure enough as
April neared a letter was delivered to both the Seattle Times and
an identical one to the FBI office. Like before a smiley appeared
on the top left hand side and a shocker occurred when they saw it
was postmarked Anacortes. The contents are as follows:
Dearest Brad and the witless
Batt team,
How did I do in Aberdeen?
Not bad huh? Catch me if you can.
The half circle is closing.
I didn’t much like the sex part. So don’t put that in the
equation.
Brad, I think we shall meet
again soon as April showers bring May flowers.
GOD I LOVE MY
JOB!
Sincerely, and I mean
it,
Senior Killer:
John.
PS: oh by the way I hear you
and your lovely Korean wife are expecting.
When Brad received a copy
he was livid. How the hell did he find out Sujin was pregnant? This
man knows too much and it is time to increase security around the
house. No telling what this madman might try and do. And the gall
to mail the letters from Anacortes really upset Brad and the entire
team. Brad called Steve and Steve told him he was flying out for a
meeting with him. To Brad he sounded all in and was probably taking
too much heat back in Washington. In addition, Brad’s father had
called three times in one day. He knew he must return the call, but
right now he didn’t feel up to the conversation and questions he
knew were forthcoming.
That night he and Sujin
discussed the future with her being pregnant. Brad wanted her to
stay home and she wanted no part of staying out of the game. She
eventually won him over with her womanly charm, not to mention any
special attention. The next day about noon Steve showed up looking
like he had been drug through the proverbial knot hole.
Steve couldn’t sit on the
floor because he told them he might not be able to get back up.
Sujin fixed him a ham and cheese sandwich and a cup of soup he
could drink out of a coffee mug while he sat on the driftwood sofa.
Very little conversation took place and after Steve finished his
lunch he fell asleep for two hours waking up with a blanket over
him stretched out on the sofa. He had no recollection after the
lunch and seemed a little embarrassed. But then he realized he was
among friends and it was just their way of saying he needed to
rest.
Brad did most of the
talking and Steve listened carefully to the details. He never
mentioned Washington DC. There was no need to. All guessed what
flak he took from his boss and up the ladder to where the buck
stops here place. While they were talking Nancy called and had some
bad news. It seemed that Anacortes had a May flower festival
beginning the week of May twenty second and running for five days.
It seemed Skagit County was a Tulip growing area and thousands of
tourists, mostly from the Seattle area converged on the area to see
the fields of color in April. Anacortes being a tourist town where
people caught the ferry to the San Juan Islands had a special
attraction with the Waterfront Festival along with a local flower
festival. Brad hung up and repeated the conversation with
Steve.
“What the hell else can go
wrong,” he said with a voice that sounded like he just rode a camel
across a dry desert. He shook his head and continued, “This guy is
so far ahead of us it isn’t funny. We are like a dog chasing its
tail. Somehow we must out think this guy. I fear we are about to
lose another senior. I know you and your team will give it your all
in Anacortes, but a more isolated area like Arden maybe is where we
can catch him”