Jake, after they left made a
call to the assistant director of the FBI. He asked only one
question and listened for two minutes and hung up. He’d foolishly
asked who Brad Pratt was and got an ear full. What he did hear was
this guy was well connected and if he asks for something, take care
of it yourself if you
don't
want to retire from the FBI. Jake then made a
quick call to the computer center and asked for the director. He
rapid fired orders to
c
arte
b
lanc
he
anything that a disheveled guy named Billy asked for and in
addition to whatever a clean cut man named Brad Pratt wanted. He
made it clear if he didn’t give these guys everything they wanted
he would be shredding documents by the next day.
Later having dinner at a
fine hotel Billy and Brad discussed the case. Brad brought him up
to speed and told him what he thought was needed from the computer.
Billy thought about it a little while drinking coffee and nervously
reaching for a cigarette then realizing he couldn’t smoke in any
restaurant. Billy suggested they hurry and finish dinner so they
could go outside and smoke. Brad gave him a dirty look and said he
would meet him for breakfast in the morning at six. Brad left with
Rocky and went to his room where he called Sujin. He found her in
her room at a hotel near the airport and said she had spent only a
few hours on the phone, but two places sounded promising about a
recent big sale of cosmetics. Brad told her to call him at the FBI
office when she learned something and said he had some new
documents from the FBI to read before bed.
Also just going to bed was
the hunter going through his role for tomorrow’s play in a seedy
motel located in the mountains east of Sacramento.
Chapter 3
Standing in front of the
mirror in his room at the Bishop Village Motel in Bishop,
California he made ready his disguise for the lunch meeting of the
local Lions Club. He’d come in late the night before wearing thick
glasses a hat with a large overcoat on to check in. The girl at the
desk had been sleeping and he knew she would never give a
description of him that would amount to much. Now he was
ready.
Walking out into the bright
sun, but cold day high in the mountains of this small town of
thirty five hundred, no one saw him leave the motel. He packed his
bag in the car and drove downtown to the restaurant where the
weekly meeting of the Lion’s club met. He’d checked the location
out the day before and parked in the rear of the restaurant. At
noon he walked in and showed his credentials to a man at the door
who welcomed him to the lunch meeting. Two hours later he’d found
his man with the name to match his game: Matt.
It didn’t take long to find
out what he needed. Single, lived alone and no family in the area.
Matt invited him home for a drink and before dark Matt sat with his
head on his chest breathing no more. He cleaned his tool and as
usual left by the front door leaving the porch light on. He limped
to his car and drove away into the night.
Brad sitting with Billy in
the hotel coffee shop at six is listening to what his computer
expert had to say. Billy, now totally focused and showing none of
the antics he was known for, said, “Boss, I burned the midnight oil
and this is what I will do this morning. I will take the map of
California and line up the cities where he struck and then takes
the names of the people and program the computer to make sense out
of nonsense.” Billy knew better than to give his boss tech talk and
this was his way of telling him he was on the job and would have
something for him to look at by days end.
Brad said while drinking
some god awful tea and eating dry toast, “Tell me what you think
about this killer of old people Billy.”
Rocky was under the table
chewing on Billy’s old tennis shoes and having a good time teasing
him. Billy had been rubbing is back with the other foot and it
would seem they had some special relationship between them. Billy
replied thoughtfully, “No doubt this guy or person is a crackpot
and trying to guess his next move will be difficult. A wacko like
this one will make a mistake intentionally sooner or later. He
wants us to catch him so he can put his name out front on national
news as the cleverest guy who ever went on a killing spree. Unlike
Jeffery Dahmer who butchered, this guy can’t stand the sight of
blood.” Billy dug a map out of his bag and showed Brad that indeed
the “N” was clear, but connecting the other eight sites” A” shows
up. Brad had the same thing and both understood the need for the
computer to take this and run his program that Billy would
write.
They tossed around some
other thoughts and when their driver showed up at seven they left
for the FBI office. A nice day Brad thought. A little warm perhaps,
but for one that was used to living on the coast, a change from a
cold wind to a warm windless day felt nice once in a while. The
driver was a little more than nervous with Rocky lying on the front
seat with his seatbelt on. He was so big his nose touched the
driver’s leg. Glancing down once in a while the driver had fear in
his eyes and Rocky felt it. More than once he raised his head only
to feel the muscle reaction of the driver’s leg and the car
accelerated in fits and jumps. Brad knew what Rocky was doing and
he told Rocky to cut it out much to the driver’s relief.
Walking into the office and
back toward where Vicky had shown him his broom closet for an
office was, she met him with a big smile on her face. She said,
“Mr. Pratt, a change of office was ordered and let me show your new
office. Follow me please,” as she tried to swish her hips down the
hall. It was a poor attempt at trying to look sexy, but Billy was
the one she intended it for. He took it hook line and sinker. Vicky
walked past his old office and down the hall on the left a double
door opened into a large conference room. Sitting in the middle of
the table in front of an expensive looking desk chair sat a
computer, fax and all the bells and whistles could ask for in an
office. A young man dressed in the way of agents stood up when the
doors opened. Vicky introduced him as his liaison between other
agents either in the field or here in the office. Brad looked
around and saw a China board at the end of the table with a large
map of California with colored flags of the sites where the killer
has stuck. Brad was impressed and as he took in the rest of the
room Vicky told him that special agent in charge Jake was waiting
for him in his office at his convenience.
Brad said, “Tell him I will
be with him around eight after I go to the computer center with
Billy”
“Fine sir, I will tell him
when I return. Is there anything else you need? If not, just call
me and I will see to it or agent Jones here will help you.” She
coyly looked at Billy and left leaving the doors open so Billy
could see her no hips going down the hall. Billy did notice her
crow’s feet and fantasized about her feet and something erotic to
do with ice cream.
Brad told agent Jones he
would be back soon and yes he had some things he would like him to
do for him. Agent Jones in all of his youth said, “Yes sir, I will
at your disposal from now on as long as you need me”
Brad and Billy left and
Billy looked at his boss and noticed not an expression crossed his
face about agent Jones, but he knew he was laughing inside. They
were given the red carpet treatment in the computer center and
Billy fell in love with the new modern computers. That was last
Brad saw of him until after six pm that night.
Vicky led Brad into Jake’s
office where Brad found Jake in much the same condition as
yesterday. He looked wrung out and if it wasn’t for a complete
change of clothes he would have suggested the guy take a few days
of sick leave and gather up some strength. Jake didn’t offer coffee
or a sit down, but Brad once again moved the chair to the side, but
back away from the desk this time. Jake looked through some files
absently and Brad felt he was trying to find the words to satisfy
Brad the FBI was efficient and on the job. Brad waited and finally
Jake said, “I don’t know who you are, but I was told under no
uncertain terms that you were the boss and I was to follow whatever
you suggested the FBI should do. I mean to tell you that ruffles my
feathers and I would think that the best agency in the world has to
succumb to outsiders to solve a case is beyond my reasoning. Now, I
will give you what you ask for, but step out of line and I will be
there to remind you who you are working with. The FBI will solve
this case and don’t get in our way. You’ve already riled our agents
with your team and with your dog, but I have to live with it. The
FBI profiler from Washington is on her way this morning along with
a pathologist to determine what kind of weapon was used for the
murders.”
Brad noticed Jake felt a
little cocky telling him a profiler was coming and a weapons expert
too. Brad stood up and said, “If that is all, I will leave you to
your work. Oh, by the way, the murder weapon is a tool used by
loggers to braid wire rope and also used by longshoremen to braid
hemp rope. It is called a Marlin spike,” and with that he left the
office with Rocky following on his heels leaving Jake sitting there
with his mouth open.
Brad found agent Jones more
than helpful. He was too raw to be making any political moves and
wanted to show he could be efficient albeit inexperienced. Brad
picked up the phone and called Mike’s cell. Both figured the call
was being taped or listened to, but they both had their own ways of
code talking. Mike answered and said, “I’m hot on the trail boss
and will report in at noon.” In code, which meant he had nothing
and would call Brad on his cell at lunch time after he spent the
morning digging around Los Angeles looking for costume rentals who
sold to a small timer making a big purchase.
Next he called his wife. She
answered from inside a car as the sounds of traffic were heard in
the background. Brad didn’t say much except good morning and she
returned the greeting by saying, “I miss you too. I’m on my way to
Paramount Studios and will talk to you later.”
Brad turned to agent Jones
and said, “Agent what do you think of this madman?”
“I’m not sure what you are
asking but if I think you are saying how do I see this person and
why he is doing it?”
“Roughly yes, but what do
you make of the message he or she might be sending us?”
“Well sir, I think he is
toying with us and definitely feels we can’t catch him. I’m young
sir and think computers are the key to finding this guy. I see a
guy as I think it is a man and not a woman. Why, I can’t explain
the why, but I feel it is a man who is searching for his own
identity and does that through his disguises he uses. He’s telling
us he is the best make up man in the world and never makes a
mistake. I’ve read the investigative reports and he leaves nothing
behind and especially no finger prints. We knew he must be younger
than a senior because of the postman saying he looked out of place
with the quick retreat to his car.” Moving to the board agent Jones
pointed to the map of Southern California. He took the pointer and
showed the “AN” of the two letters of the alphabet. “Before you
arrived this morning I ran a program of combinations of words and
came up with the most probable word ‘CAN’.” He let that finish his
answer and Brad nodded his agreement.
“Agent Jones that is what I
came up with too. We both can’t be wrong,” he said with a chuckle.
Brad liked this guy and his frankness. Too bad Jake couldn’t take a
chapter out of agent Jones’ book.
The phone rang and agent
Jones answered it and passed it on to Brad. Jake was on the other
end saying they had another murder in a small town in the mountains
called Bishop. Jake wanted to know if Brad wanted to take a
helicopter ride and see for himself. Brad told him he would and he
was ready when the call to take off came. Jake said the chopper was
ready now behind the building and agent Jones would show him where
it was.
A couple hours later they
were standing in the house of one Matt Hinginger. Brad had put on
latex gloves and waited for the go ahead to look a little closer.
He got the nod and looked at the wound in the back of the head. It
didn’t look like much of a wound, but he knew how deadly it was
when a twelve inch spike was driven into the brain. Very little
blood was seen and what was there had dried a long time ago. A
lighter streak of brain matter and spotted blood could be seen
across his right shoulder. Brad thought right that was where the
killer wiped off his weapon. Brad said, “Let’s go talk to some of
the Lion members,” he had heard about as the sheriff clued them in
was where Matt was last seen talking to a stranger who showed up at
a Lion club meeting.
The sheriff had done a good
job and had all he members who were there for lunch back at the
restaurant waiting for the FBI to interview them. The sheriff
addressed the group and said, “The FBI would like a few words from
you in a group meeting rather than individually.” He walked to the
side and sat down while Jake came to the front to address the
members. Jake didn’t waste any words by saying, “I don’t want
hearsay; I want facts and please remember that we need information
that will provide us with the apprehension of this killer. Now
raise your hand if you talk directly to the stranger who came today
for lunch,” he waited and a full minute went by and Brad thought
that Jake had scared them off from coming forward with his harsh
words. But then a hand rose tentatively from the back and an old
man struggled to get up.