Relentless (Elisabeth Reinhardt Book 1) (13 page)

“
Listen Babe, you have a key and if you don’t feel safe you can just come and crash over here.”

Gina
’s eyes filled up, “Tawny, don’t you understand, I could never do that. Never! If Jake ever got so close that I had to run from him, this is the last place I’d come; I would die before I brought that homicidal maniac to your doorstep.…”

She arrived at the hospital 40 minutes early for her shift. She hoped no one would notice her hairstyle had changed, moreover she hoped no one would ask her about it. She knew she looked odd. Strange even. It was bizarre to move from natural blonde curls that were the envy of all to a mousy brown choppy cut. She still practiced her long striding walk and hoped no one would notice that either. She wasn’t social friends with most of the people she worked with but they were always warm and friendly with each other. They were work friends and close in the way that people are when they share a common workplace and a love of their jobs. They supported each other every day in dozens of tiny ways and depended on each other for practical and emotional support, from lifting equipment to changing sheets to hugging each other in moments of joy or sadness. Still, she hoped they wouldn’t ask. She wasn’t sure what she would say. Did ‘I wanted a change’ sound authentic? It sounded hollow to her. Last night Tanya had said “Don’t worry about them Sugar, just say you wanted a change.” She wasn’t sure about that. But then she wasn’t sure about a lot of things these days.

She’d been careful
on her way to work. Checking hallways, using a small mirror to look behind her, making sure to walk through doorways with other people, she practiced the techniques Gil had taught her. She felt she was doing better at detecting people’s behavior. She noticed when people appeared to be arguing with each other. She noticed when people seemed drunk or sickly. She noticed when people seemed sneaky. ‘Yes,’ she thought, ‘I am getting better at this. If I lose my job at the hospital I can always become a detective! Great! Doctor Holmes I presume….’  She caught them staring at her as she entered the conference room. The walls were lit up with dozens of x-rays and there were stacks of various reports on the table and the head of the surgical team was running the meeting. Gina got a cup of coffee and pulled up a chair nodding to several people as she sat down. The mood in the room was somber as those assembled waited for the rest of the team to join them. This was their initial meeting on the surgery.

The NICU was going to deal with a huge challenge this week. Ten month old conjoined twin girls
, Jane and Judy Pickering had been transferred from Cincinnati yesterday afternoon. They were joined along the lower part of their spinal columns, a rare joining called pygopagus. The girls had their own heads, hearts and limbs but their lower bodies were connected. The treatment team had been reviewing the medical records from Cincinnati and doing additional testing to determine each baby’s viability for independent living.  Judy, the smaller of the two had the greatest chance of survival with good lungs and heart and four functioning limbs, Jane, though more advanced developmentally, was compromised because her intestines were wrapped around the shared spinal column, she had sluggish kidney function and one of her legs was impaired. The team wasn’t sure even if Jane survived that she would be able to use her left leg.

Of course walking was not the concern of this treatment team, right now the biggest challenge was separating them in such a way that both babies could survive. The
ir spinal cords were fused along specific vertebrae and so the team was trying to decide exactly how to separate them. They were planning to use prosthetic devices to enhance each infant’s spine so that each would have some of the original bone and some artificial bone. A prosthetic device company out of Utah had sent several pediatric prosthetic devices along for the doctors to examine. The company representatives were flying out of the Salt Lake City Airport, arriving around 2PM and would demonstrate an array of spinal devices that could be adapted for this procedure. The prosthetic company had manufactured several models and sizes so that the doctors could choose what might work best once they had the babies on the operating table. One of the significant problems facing the surgical team was the issue of size. Since artificial bone does not grow they had to make a decision about which size would work the best until the next surgery. The babies, if they were able to be separated, would be facing several surgeries through the years to replace parts of their spinal columns as they grew. Too large a device and the infant would not be able to move appropriately, too small a device and another surgery would soon be necessary.

Today
, they would form two teams each comprised of doctors, nurses, physical therapists and a team coordinator. The teams would share a social worker whose primary responsibility was the family but who would also manage press and inter-agency issues as they arose. Gina was assigned lead on baby Jane and Geoff Reed was given lead for baby Judy. Gina and Geoff had shared a pleasant, collegial relationship, but the dire nature of their respective responsibilities created an air of tension between them. In high risk cases like these, often one of the babies didn’t survive the surgery. Gina and Geoff each felt protective of their patients. They knew that the time could come when choices would have to be made. Those choices would be based on which baby was most viable and had the best chance of surviving, and there were occasions during the course of all high risk surgeries when G-d-like decisions had to be made. The two team leaders decided that they needed to meet several times before the procedure so that they could coordinate their roles and data.

Since conjoined twins are a rarity, this impending surgery had come under international spotlight.
Although the goal in these situations was to manage information in a private dignified manner news of this unusual surgery instantly sparked media interest. Reporters crowded hallways and camped out on the steps of the hospital, camera lights flashed and the moment a doctor stepped into view someone stuck a microphone under his or her nose. Hotels and restaurants were over-flowing with media personnel. The constant public clamor raised everyone’s stress level.  In the interest of patient confidentiality the hospital imposed a gag order. No staff member was permitted to speak about the case to anyone. Toward that end ‘escorts’ were provided for every staff member. No one was allowed to walk around without their escort.

They left the building with
hats on, heads down and personal escorts to maneuver them through the crowds. They were taken down back stairways and led though underground garages. They were driven to and from work to avoid encountering some extra resourceful media person. With the media came the curious public, police officers and vendors selling everything from hats to hot dogs. In spite of the frigid weather, the snow covered streets and the incessant wind people swarmed sidewalks, hallways and parking garages looking for leads in the Jane and Judy story. There were a number of run-ins between persistent members of the media and members of the Chicago Police Department and these became their own news stories and topics of conversation among hospital staff members. The general atmosphere was one of heightened tension with a hint of carnival added to the mix.

In the midst of all the excitement and activity no one said much about Gina’s hair. There were the occasional comments like, “Oh, you change
d your hairstyle, it looks cute,” but not much more than that. Gina was relieved that she was not subjected to rigorous cross-examinations about this issue. That evening, she was escorted to her condo door, a procedure that would continue until both twins were safely discharged from Comar Children’s Hospital Center. Given her concerns of late, Gina thought this was a really lucky break; she would be escorted to and from work every day, door to door service. She wondered if the escort was armed. She’d check with him in the morning when he picked her up.

That 1999 Plymouth was a treasure trove! Not only was it chock full of DNA and fingerprints it had tons of useful information. The odometer and crumpled receipts pointed to probable travel routes and led to crime reports from the areas where the killers had been; that led to video tapes from banks, stores and traffic cams. Police departments from across the region started flooding in-boxes and fax machines. Reports of stolen and abandoned vehicles and missing license plates created a virtual travel route and connected with crime reports across a 5 state area. The media had done a great job of covering the crime spree and alerting the public to the danger of ‘The Gang’ who the media had dubbed the ‘Parkland Killers’.  The public was warned to be especially cautious in large State and National Parks because of the gang’s attraction to those areas. Forest Rangers teamed up with local law enforcement to systematically check out shelters and cabins for signs of habitation. Tips tumbled in from across the country. Following up on those leads was impossible for the Task Force so additional police departments were brought into the loop to follow promising leads and track down evidence from the various crime scenes.

As
Team 1 drove to a remote area of Putnam County to meet with the owners of the stolen 1999 Plymouth, they discussed the problem. That car had been taken from the owners’ driveway and based on the home’s remote location and the fact that there were no obvious resources that would have drawn the gang to the area, the team concluded there must be a compelling reason why the killers ‘tagged’ that car and followed the driver home. They would interview family members and trace the car’s movements over the previous few days. ‘The gang’ had been driving a different vehicle before they stole this one; a report was issued searching for that car. Did they ditch it, burn it or shove it off a cliff? En route they perused police reports looking for abandoned vehicles, stolen license plates and attempted break-ins of cars or homes in the area leading to or from the Plymouth owner’s home. With thousands of cars throughout the area, what made this old car so special that they would follow the people home, wait until the middle of the night and then push it half a mile down the road before hot wiring it and driving off? That was a lot of trouble to go through for just another ride. The team pondered this. They went back over the interview reports and started doing some research into the family members. Maiden names, family genealogy, other places they’d lived or worked and came up with no obvious connections. They theorized that the theft of this car was certainly
not
about the car itself.

Arriving, t
hey were immediately struck by what they saw. The home was a sprawling brick rancher situated on heavily treed property. The driveway wound through the property and up to a free standing garage. The acreage was surrounded by a 12 foot tall chain link fence along which ‘Beware of Dogs’ signs hung at regular intervals. Across the driveway stood a tall reinforced gate that needed to be manually unlocked before entry. In the living room they were greeted by a gigantic Great Pyrenees and two black Doberman Pinchers. The three eyed the team fixedly, alert to their every move. These were trained working dogs and at the moment, they were working! This house was under their protection! They were greeted by Mr. and Mrs. Swenson, a tall greying man and a petite woman whose straight blonde hair was streaked with grey. As they settled down in the living room their two beautiful athletic-looking daughters, long blonde hair cascading across their shoulders entered the room.

The team nearly shouted “Bingo!!” The killer
s had not been looking for a car to steal they had been stalking these girls! That explained why they had driven into a remote residential area and stolen this old car. The Plymouth belonged to the daughters who drove it home from University of Charleston most weekends. The killers had followed them back here, saw those dogs patrolling the yard and gave up on their kidnapping plans. If the dogs slept inside at night the killers might have felt relatively free to steal the car, perhaps out of spite. But how did they get into the yard and get the car out through the locked gate especially without alerting the dogs? As it turned out there had been a thunderstorm the night the car was stolen, the dogs slept inside and the storm covered the car theft noises.

The team spent three hours with the Swenson family, tracking every minute of their lives for the week before the car was stolen. N
either of the girls remembered any frightening encounters nor had they been approached by anyone, however one of the girls recalled a tall, skinny guy in hunting clothes hanging around outside her dorm. She remembered him because he had the tattoo of a snake winding around his neck. She had seen him talking to another guy heavy set, also wearing hunting clothes near the Arts and Sciences Building. She thought it was weird to see guys in hunting clothes on a campus and wondered what they were doing there. Several of her friends commented on them and said they were going to call campus security. She said she never saw them again and had forgotten about them. She didn’t think she could help with a sketch because she didn’t really see their faces, but was willing to try. The other girl hadn’t seen anyone at all, but said she had heard noises outside her dorm room window, which was on the first floor. Her roommate had drawn the curtain but all she saw were branches moving; she concluded it had been a squirrel.

The team immediately notified
the headquarters about the college connection and 2 officers were dispatched to Charleston. It was theorized that some of the car thefts ascribed to the gang may actually have been failed kidnapping attempts. “Follow up on all car theft reports and see if we have any connections to women fitting our profile or reports of peeping toms, stalking or other suspicious activity,” Lou said.

Before leaving the Swenson’s neighborhood,
Team 1 canvassed the area. The stolen license plate that was found on the Plymouth belonged to a neighbor 2 blocks down.  The young man who answered the door had nothing more to contribute to the case and just wanted to know when he could get his license plate returned. On the way back Team 1 considered the bigger issue of how the car thefts unfolded. Regardless of the vehicle selection process, the killers would have to get rid of the vehicle they were driving and dispose of it.  They wouldn’t just leave it abandoned somewhere unless it was an emergency. Even if they only had it for a few hours it would have contained evidence that could be used against them so each abandoned vehicle would have to be disposed of. The Team decided these stolen vehicles would have been destroyed, maybe pushed over the edge of a cliff or set on fire. They returned to the office and started combing through reports of abandoned vehicles. They also considered that the gang would need someplace safe where they could transfer all of their belongings from one vehicle to another. Given what was found in the Plymouth it was clear that the killers had accumulated a lot of possessions they hauled around with them. The team started looking for the gang’s previous vehicle. They searched out of the way fields and parking areas where they could safely transfer their belongings and for places where they could destroy or dispose of their vehicles without being discovered. That led them to creek beds or mountains with steep cliffs. Six hours later Team 1 stood on a mountainous lookout spot staring down at the charred remains of an old red Mercedes truck. It was dusk before hovering helicopters lowered the crime scene investigators down to the wreckage. By the following afternoon the old Mercedes tied to a flatbed truck was on its way to the FBI lab at Quantico.

Th
at truck had been stolen ten days ago from a rundown tavern near the Gallitzin State Forest in Pennsylvania.  Another piece of the map had fallen into place. This one really interested the Task Force. There had been no incidences of the gang being in that general area since Gabriella (nicknamed Reilla) Cagnolotti had been kidnapped and raped near Boswell, PA in 2004.  Now what were those killers doing up in that area stealing an old Mercedes truck? There must be some reason that they had returned to that particular area. The Team pulled up crime reports from Western Pennsylvania, looking for leads.  Finding nothing of interest in the police reports they began to consider what other connections the killers might have with Western Pennsylvania. What, they asked themselves, were these guys doing up there? They sure as hell weren’t sightseeing!