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Captain Hawkins was dumbfounded. “I’m sorry, Agent Harris, but I’ve no idea what you’re talking about. We’ve had some murders that we’re having a hard time solving, but there hasn’t been a serial killing in Seattle in years.”
Blake was taken aback by this statement. His computer had found a serial killing before the locals knew there was one. While that was the whole idea, Blake felt like a fool. “Captain Hawkins, I’m going to have my team e-mail you what we’ve found. Once you’ve gone over it and had a chance to weigh in on whether there is or isn’t a serial killer working in your area, call me back.”
There was a pause on the line. “I look forward to receiving your information, but I think you’re wrong on this one.”
Blake laughed. “I hope so, Captain. You have a good day.” Blake placed his cell phone back in his pocket, thinking that his team needed a better system for notifying police departments of their findings.
He picked up a pad of sticky notes and wrote on the top one: “Inform the locals of our information before I get the file.” He stuck it on the cover of the file.
Peter Santos’ voice came over line two: “Blake, would you come to Operations? They found another stiff in Memphis.” Blake winced at Peter’s casual usage, but thought, hey, he’s still a kid.
Leaving his office, he bumped into Taylor. “You heard about the new body?”
“Yes, just got the word.”
Taylor’s cell phone rang, and he put it to his ear. “You’ve got him! Good, he’ll show you where to bring him.” He put the phone back in his pocket and said to Blake, “I’m bringing Wayne back in from the cold. The MPD just picked him up and are giving him a ride home.”
Taylor opened the door to Operations and let Blake pass in front of him. The team were gathered around the table awaiting them. “Good morning, people,” Blake said, “I understand we have a body this morning. Or, as Mr. Santos says, another ‘stiff’.”
Peter shrugged and brought up a picture on the big screen, reading from his notes. “This is a wooded area in Riverview Park. The park is located in South Memphis between Kansas Street and Pretoria Avenue. The body of a black woman was found about 100 yards from the Community Center. It’s been confirmed that she was at the center and left around 10 p.m. The police believe the attack was near Kansas Street, after which she was pulled back into the woods.”
Mary said, “Zoom in on the light-colored area next to the woods.”
Peter zoomed in and a parking lot came into view. Mary stood up to address the group. “There’s a good chance our killer parked in that lot. We need to check for cameras.”
Blake was doubtful. “Cameras don’t last long in that neighborhood. Between rocks and guns, they’re there for a day or two and then someone takes them out. We can have the police canvas the homes within sight of the lot. Someone may have their home camera pointed out toward it, or toward the street.”
Wayne came in at that moment. “What’s going on? The cops pulled me off the streets.”
Taylor pointed at the screen. “Take a look. We have a new body. You see anything that might help us locate this killer?”
Wayne walked to the front. “Back out some. More. Okay, that’s good. I can’t help you with this murder, but—” He pointed to another spot on the map. “I’ll put money on Belz Park being the next place he attacks.”
Taylor’s eyebrows went up. “Why Belz Park? What’s so special about that location?”
Wayne smiled at Taylor. “He likes parks. Take the killing in the field on Mississippi Boulevard. That field had been a park a few years ago. Now it’s all overgrown with tall grass, as are all the other sites. The backside of Belz Park, too, is covered with tall grass and thick woods. If you look at the trees close to the Southend Shopping Center, you can see that this place will call to him. The shopping center backs right up to the park. Easy picking: he parks on Florida Street, walks through the park, picks his victim, pulls her back into the woods, does his thing, and leaves out the Florida Street side of the park.”
Blake handed Peter the two files he was carrying and pointed at the note on the front before turning to Wayne. “Why parks, Wayne?”
“He has them all to himself. Nobody goes into these parks after sundown – not even the homeless.”
This set Blake to thinking for a few seconds. “Do you believe our killer may be homeless or has been at some time in his life?”
Wayne thought for a second. “I believe that’s the only way he would know, or he has at least had dealings with homeless people in the past. I was surprised to find out that homeless people don’t camp out in them. I learned it from an older homeless guy.” Wayne moved his hands down his body. “You should have seen me yesterday. My friend drank too much wine and got the DTs. I took him to the mission and they called the rehab wagon to pick him up. The mission gave me a shower, shave, and clean clothes.”
Taylor smiled. “Thank God for the mission, I was afraid you would show up smelling like you did when I let you out of my car.”
Blake stood up; he had made up his mind. “Peter, work with Wayne. He’s lead on this case now. Get some cameras in whatever locations he tells you.”
Blake looked around for signs that anyone else wanted to suggest something and then started toward the door. “Taylor, I need you in my office.”
Taylor shook Wayne’s hand. “Good luck. If you need anything, you call me.” He hurried out the door behind Blake.
Blake poured a cup of coffee from the pot in his office. “You want one, Taylor?”
Taylor shook his head. “No, thanks, I’m coffeed out. Are you sure about putting Wayne on point with this case?”
Blake took his coffee to his desk, sat down, and carefully took a sip. “We’re picking up more and more cases. We can’t afford to hold their hands. You and I’ll run the show from in here as well as we can, but the field now belongs to the members of our team.”
Taylor shrugged his shoulders. “You’re the boss. I hope they don’t fuck up too bad.”
Blake laughed. “We’ve had our share of fuck-ups. That’s how we learned, and I’m still learning.”
Taylor moved closer to Blake. “Speaking of fuck-ups, what are we doing about the June Killer? This Warner lady is going to want to see some return on her investment.”
Blake opened a drawer, removed the file on top, and handed it to Taylor. “It’s your baby now. Peter has been running a computer program to analyze images from bus station cameras. He reasons that our killer travels by bus and we can find him on a security camera. It’s the only new idea I’ve heard since we started.”
Taylor took the file and stood up. “I’ll go check with Peter and see what he has.”
Blake’s cell phone rang, and he looked down and saw Leo Hawkins’ name. “I have to take this, Taylor. We’ll talk later.” Taylor hurried out the door and down to Operations. “Hello, Captain. Did you find our information helpful?”
Blake could hear the surprise in Hawkins’ voice. “I don’t know how you put this together, but you’re right, we’ve got a serial killer working a 3-county area. If there’s any more help you can give us, we’ll sure take it.”
Blake set his coffee cup down, pleased that Captain Hawkins wasn’t one to turn down a helping hand. “If you’ll send us all of the information you have on the killings, we’ll run it through our databases and see if we can get a hit for you.”
“I’ll have my people get that information to you first thing. You should have it all by late afternoon. Thanks for your help, Agent Harris.”
| Copyright © 2019, 2020 by Ed Rogers |
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