At the two hours flight time
she had w
hat
she
needed and would print it out when they landed. Now it was time to
meditate and be ready for the meeting with the governor of
California.
The buckle up lights came on
and Brad and Mike put away their papers and prepared for landing.
The sun was shining Brad noticed and looked forward to the warmth
of the sun after the cooling of the coast. It had been about four
months since their last case.
It was fairly straight
forward as he remembered. There were tons of new methamphetamine
was coming into the southeastern states. Georgia in particular
along with Louisiana and it was his job to find the source in
Mexico and put a damper on the influx of cooked methamphetamine so
cheap anyone could afford it. The old war on drugs had mostly shut
down the manufacture of the chemical drug in the States and now
Mexico seized the opportunity to make some big dollars. Brad and
his team found what they were looking for and eliminated the leader
and his rival drug lord. Everyone knew it was only a band aid on a
wound that needed a much larger covering to staunch the flow of
drugs across the border, but that was another story for the
politicians to work out.
The landing was smooth as
silk on the new runway of the Executive Airport in Sacramento. The
airport was designed for corporate type jets and the sleek Gulf
Stream fit the bill to a T. An hour later they were entering the
capital. They had a two o’clock appointment and while they waited,
they had lunch in the cafeteria. Brad as usual was quiet and barely
ate his cob salad. Sujin fed Rocky the chicken from her salad and
Brad's left over chicken. The guard took one look at Rocky when
they walked into the capital building, but when Brad showed the
guard Rockies ID saying he was a US Marshal, he was flustered to
say the least as they made their way to the cafeteria.
At two pm they were sitting
in the outer office of the governor. Precisely at two he came out
with the smile we all know from his movies. He shook hands with all
and a small bow to Sujin. He knew better than to touch the dog so
he invited them into a side room used as a conference room. In the
room they were introduced to the agent in charge of Sacramento’s
FBI office; and two other men with whom they never knew the names.
Both were old men and very well dressed. Later Brad found out they
were representatives of AARP. A very powerful force in America with
lots of political clout sent by the president to calm the senior
citizens with an inside look at what the government was doing about
this madman killing innocent seniors for no apparent
reason.
The FBI man was going to
gray with dark circles under his eyes adding years to a middle aged
man. Brad felt sorry for him knowing what kind of pressure was in
him. He also noted his eyes were glaring and full of contempt for
outsiders to interfere with his business. Brad looked him in the
eyes with the same look gave and the governor noted the animosity
and coming conflict about to surface once the meeting
started.
The governor took command by
saying, “Before we begin, let me make something very clear from the
beginning. We are here to apprehend a killer and to not battle over
whose turf we are stepping on. You will work together or if you
don’t want to work together on this case, now is the time to pack
your bags and head for the airport. These are a team problem and
only a team effort will put this joker behind bars. Now, having
said that, I would like Jake from the FBI to begin his report
followed by Brad who will give us his insights in this case; and in
case you haven’t noticed, I understand Rocky will keep any tempers
from coming to a boil.”
Jake Gladhand cleared his
thought and began his report. “We have just been informed a few
minutes ago of another killing. This one is right here in
Sacramento. Our men are on site as we speak. It appears the same MO
and this is the first one this far north of Los Angeles. I don’t
have a lot to add to the files Mr. Lewis has, but this time he was
seen leaving the premises and stopped to talk to the mailman. The
mailman has a good memory and he is with a sketch artist now. I
know what you
're
going to say and that the disguises are good enough to fool
anyone. However, upon asking who he was visiting in the apartment,
he gave a good enough answer, but failed to know that his brother
lived with him. The old man seemed to get a little nervous after
hearing that and made excuses about having to go somewhere. The
postman watched him walk away and noticed he sure walked spry for a
guy looking close to seventy five. The postman walked into the
apartment and hid behind the entryway as he watched the old man
drive away in a car getting only two numbers and he didn’t have a
clue to the make or model.”
Brad noticed he looked all
in and decided to take the heat off him with a question or two.
Brad said, “Jake, leaving the present killing for a moment, may I
ask what have you and your team did in the way of research knowing
this person must have worked or had access to cosmetics in addition
to acquiring many different types of disguises?”
“We have a team of agents
checking with suppliers and going to all the film companies big and
little to see about a person leaving recently from any make up
department. So far no leads have surfaced and we continue to come
up empty,” he hung his head and it was visible to all he was at an
impasse. Brad looked away and his eyes locked onto the governors
intense blue gray eyes. He was waiting for Brad to bring forth his
game plan while Brad took a drink from a bottled Evian. Reaching
into his bag he brought out a map of California and the overlay he
had shown earlier to Steve.
The governor stood up and
when Brad put the overlay over the map he saw the letter ‘N’
clearly like a neon sign. Jake saw it also and sucked in his
breath. Brad said, “We think he is sending us a message with the
location of each death. I know this doesn’t get us any closer to
finding the man, but maybe some computer work will assist us in
giving a location of his next intended murder. Have we any idea yet
what the murder weapon is?” He looked at Jake for an answer to this
question.
Jake said in a low voice
fiddling with some papers, “We only know it is a long sharp round
steel tool or something to that effect. Our expert from the home
office has been trying to replicate the weapon and here is what it
looks like,” passing a drawing across the table to Brad he sat back
down and rubbed his eyes. Brad and Mike with Steve and Sujin
peering over his shoulder looked at the drawing. Something in the
back of Brad’s memory told him he had seen something like this
before, but couldn’t place it. It would come back to him sooner
rather than later. The governor looked at the drawing after Brad
passed it to him and said, “Maybe we should send this out to all
the film companies and see if they can ID it”
Jake perked up and said, “We
are doing that now and by evening I hope to have an ID on the
murder weapon.
Brad asked the FBI man if
they had an office his team could work out of, but it doesn't be
much as only himself would be using it. He informed Jake that Sujin
and Mike would be going to the Los Angeles area and would he please
supply an agent to Sujin. Mike will run on his own so no need to
worry about him. Brad said, “Any questions you might have direct
them to me. I think we have done all we can for the moment and I
for one would like to find a desk and a phone. The man you haven’t
met with our team is a computer guy and needless to say, looks and
talks the role. Bear with him as he is very capable in what he
does. His name is Billy and he is probably waiting outside on the
steps smoking in an area designated nonsmoking.”
The governor showed his gap
tooth smile and said, “I must meet this guy so I will follow you
out.” At that all stood up walking out Jake told Brad he could ride
with him and another car or cars were standing by for the rest of
his team’s disposal. Brad told him one car would suffice to take
his wife and Mike to the airport for their trip to LA.
Billy was sitting on the
steps with a cloud of blue smoke rising like a signal to an Indian
tribe. He was tuned into his MP3 and totally oblivious to his
surroundings. Brad gave him a friendly poke in the back with his
foot and Billy jumped up and turned his music off. He saw the
governor and blurted out that he was sorry he never voted for him,
but if he voted at all he would have voted for him. Brad started
laughing and so did all the others present including the governor.
Billy was tall and rail thin. Long brown hair hung like a mop
drying next to the wall. His eyes, however, showed an intelligence
that belied his appearance: Ragged jeans and sweatshirt. Rocky was
all over him standing with his front paws on his chest making
whining sounds. Steve was shocked to see the ever stoic Rocky
showing friendship to another besides Brad and Sujin. Brad told
Rocky to behave and Rocky returned to his master’s side.
Mike with Sujin made their
way to a waiting car with garment bags and her laptop. She’d asked
the governor's secretary to make copies of what she had downloaded
and with the documents in hand told Brad she would call him from
the motel tonight on his cell phone. Billy, Rocky and Brad rode
with Jake to the FBI office not so far from the capital off I-80 on
Orange Grove. All was quiet on the short ride and after parking in
the underground area and taking the elevator up to the seventh
floor where Jake led them to his office. He picked up his messages
from his secretary and she told him an agent from Hollywood was
anxious to talk to him. He nodded and with his head down looking at
the messages led the way to a back office. The office was fairly
typical of a government office only this one had a large conference
table opposite the large metal desk. The usual computer and family
pictures sat waiting for someone to notice they were looking at
them. The walls painted blue with an off blue green carpet made the
metal desk and conference table look totally out of place. A
picture of the current FBI director sat on one wall and the other
wall was a bookshelf from one end to the other. Brad noticed many
law books and knew Jake was a lawyer by degree. A large window sat
in his back making anyone sitting in front of Jake would see only
an outline of him. Two chairs sat in front of the desk and Brad and
Billy both moved them to either side of the desk so they could see
Jake as plain as he could see them. The movement of the chairs
didn’t go unnoticed by Jake as he punched in some numbers on his
phone. It must have been answered quickly as he spoke into the
phone saying rather curtly to update him on what was so urgent. He
listened and made some notes on a legal pad and said he would get
back to him later tonight.
Brad and Billy waited
patiently while he thumbed through his messages and then cast them
aside. They waited for him to speak. Jake raised his head and said,
“That was one of our agents reporting that he has a lead on a
disgruntled employee that used to work for one of the major
filmmakers. He’s tracking him down now and is sitting at the guy’s
house waiting for him to come home. He says there is a wife and at
least two kids in the house so he figures he will be home
soon.”
Brad changed the subject by
saying, “Jake we need to get a blow up map of California and
overlay it with the kill sites. Billy needs access to your computer
center and given a free hand to do his thing. Meanwhile I would
like a place to land and go over again the ME report along with the
latest on a profile of this person. I presume you have a profiler
working on this person and if so, where is the report?”
Jake was taken a little
aback by what he heard and quickly recovered by calling his
secretary in. She popped through the door like a cork from a
champagne bottle with notebook in hand. Billy rolled his eyes at
the plain Jane, but as soon as she focused her eyes on Billy
through thick glasses, Brad knew Billy had fallen in love again. He
smiled inwardly and thought that this secretary was in for a
pleasant time having Billy hanging around her desk asking off the
wall questions and in general making a fool of him.
Jake gave her orders and
Brad and Billy left Jake to muddle the late afternoon out by making
a plan his agents could follow.
Meanwhile Brad and Jake
followed Vicky down the hall to an office that was more like a
broom closet than an office. She turned the light on and the only
thing in the room was a small metal desk with a phone sitting
looking lonely waiting for some action. One chair sat next to the
desk and a desk chair creaked when Brad sat down. The desk was
covered in dust and Vicky was totally embarrassed and said, “The
cleaning crew will be here at ten and I will make sure they do a
very good cleaning job tonight.”
Brad replied, “That would be
fine and by the way have someone get me a computer and printer set
up and operating by six am tomorrow morning. In addition, make sure
I have a list of numbers and staff by the same time. Now I will
follow Billy and you to the computer center.”
Vicky was making notes that
probably didn’t need to be made, but she saw the look in Brad’s
eyes and felt her knees start to buckle. God she thought, what a
powerful man he must be. The way he made Jake tremble must mean
this man is someone to respect. What is the dog for she also
wondered. Never mind as she turned to lead them down two floors to
the computer center.