“From one of the other rooms adjoining the kitchen, I think it was the dining room,” Tammy said.
“Tell us what happened next?” Freeman urged. He looked over his notes again, finding his place with his pen and holding it there.
“We were both so scared, we thought it was the killer coming for us?” Tammy said, her voice jagged from crying.
“The game killer or the real killer?” Sarah asked. This time Freeman couldn’t help but look directly at the FBI agent. What in the hell was she asking here? It didn’t make any sense to him at all.
“What?” Tammy said, her eyes scrunching up in perplexity.
“Did you think it was the killer from the game or the person who killed Tom?” Sarah said. Freeman saw her write a quick note and seem satisfied with something.
“I thought we were in danger,” Tammy said, her face showing anger now.
“Yes,” Freeman said to take her attention, “Go on Tammy.”
“I grabbed the first thing that came to hand...;”
“Which was what?” Sarah interjected.
“A kitchen knife, it was on the counter closest to us, and when he came around the corner, I shoved it towards him. He ran right into it!” Tammy wailed and broke down in tears again. Once more to Freeman’s surprise the lawyer did next to nothing just put his hand on her shoulder again. This was very odd behaviour for a lawyer.
“Who was it?” Delgado asked.
“Karl Hanover,” she replied.
“What did you do after you stabbed him?” Sarah asked, she was obviously exploiting the ineffectiveness of the lawyer.
“He cried out, begged us not to kill him,” Tammy whimpered.
“Did he lose consciousness?” Freeman asked.
“No, but he looked like he might. He went very pale. We ran water on a cloth and put it on his head while we cleaned his cut.”
“Was it bleeding much?” Sarah asked.
“It looked like it at the start, but we were able to stop it very quickly, the cut didn’t look so bad once we did that.”
“Did he think it wasn’t so bad?” Sarah asked. Tammy flushed and looked down at the table.
“No,” she said, “He told us there was a body in the dining room and that’s what he was running away from.”
“Did he tell you if he touched that body or not?” Freeman asked.
“I don’t think so,” Tammy looked confused.
“Where was Karl hiding while the lights were out?” Sarah asked.
“There was a front parlour, I think that’s where he was.”
“That connected to the dining room?”
“I think so,” Tammy nodded.
“And also then the kitchen,” Sarah said, completing her loop. Tammy nodded yes. Sarah looked to Freeman and he felt she wanted to wrap things up for now.
“I just want to ask a couple more things and then you can go, Tammy,” Freeman said with a sympathetic lilt to his voice. The lawyer checked his watch briefly. Did he have somewhere more important to be?” Freeman wondered with disdain.
“Do you think it possible that Casey could have left the room next to yours while the lights were off and returned without you hearing him?” Tammy thought about this, hesitating a few times before finally speaking,
“I don’t think so, but I guess it would have been possible,” she said.
“But you don’t think so?”
“No.”
“What about Karl? Could he have left his room without you knowing? Sarah asked.”
“Anyone else could have, I suppose, Casey was the only one in a room next to my own.”
“Why did you trust Karl so quickly after you stabbed him? Sarah asked, “And why did he trust you two so soon after doing that to him?” The lawyer moved as though he were going to challenge this but then fell silent right away and sat back in his chair. It was like he’d been told not to say anything at all.
“We could all see how frightened each of us was. We cleaned him up and apologized right after I did it.”
“One last question if you don’t mind?” Delgado said as things looked like they were wrapping up. “How did Tom find out about the event?”
“I don’t know,” Tammy said. “He bought the tickets and then told me we were going.” Freeman looked to Sarah and Delgado and they shook their heads.
“Okay, Tammy, I think we’ll call it there for today. We will want to talk to you again but in the meantime if you think of anything at all that you haven’t told us yet, or if you remember anything else let us know right away,” Freeman said standing up to leave. "Interview concluded.”
Freeman showed Tammy and her lawyer out, making sure to give Swift a mean eye on the way out to which he simply looked away.
“What did you make of all that?” Freeman asked after he closed the door, and it was only himself and the two FBI agents left.
“Did she have a lawyer present at her first interview?” Sarah asked.
“Yeah, the same guy, and he sat there like a ventriloquist’s dummy that time too.” Freeman saw Sarah and Delgado exchange a glance at one another at this information. “You’re making comparisons with the Gingerbread Man case, where none of the suspects wanted a lawyer?” Freeman said.
“Were Casey and Karl the same way?” Sarah asked, ignoring his question. He nodded.
“What's your gut on this?” Freeman asked nodding to the vacated seat where Tammy had been.
“Seems to me like she's telling the truth,” Delgado shrugged.
“I’m not so sure,” Sarah said, “But there's nothing I can put my finger on as to why,” she admitted.
“Her story is consistent,” Freeman said, “But I know what you mean, Sarah. Maybe talking to the other two will shed some more light.”
Chapter 11
Later that night, Sarah sat at her desk and looked over the three interviews from that day. Neither Karl nor Casey’s lawyers said a word during the interviews and Sarah wanted to follow up on that point with each of the suspects at a later date. For now, she had to assume it was the work of Spalding just as it had been in the ‘Gingerbread Man’ case.
All three stories had stayed consistent with both the original versions and the story as a whole. Some very minor details about body placements in rooms and hiding places came out but nothing that affected any narrative or shed light on any other avenues of questioning. Despite all this, however, the idea that at least one of them was in on the murders, or was the murderer, would not leave her.
She got up and went to the coffee machine. The stuff that came out of it was vile but there was no doubting it was hot and had a lot of caffeine in it. As she walked back to her desk, she noticed something white beneath her desk and she bent over to look, being careful not to spill the coffee.
At this new vantage, Sarah could see it was an envelope that must have slipped down in the thin gap between her desk and the divider that separated hers from Delgado's. She put the coffee on the table and got down on one knee to retrieve it. Sitting back in her chair she saw it was addressed to her and it hadn’t been opened yet. It had an office postmark of this afternoon, so it was very new. Her name and address here at Quantico were handwritten in a very neat, small leaning script and the actual post mark was from Maryland. She didn’t recognise the writing, but a shudder ran down her spine all the same.
Sarah put on some gloves and opened the envelope carefully. In her heart she knew it was going to be evidence very soon. There was one sheet of paper inside which she removed very slowly with a metal tweezer from a kit she always kept on her person when working. The paper fell open as she held it up and she saw the same handwriting.
Dear Sarah,
This is just a little note to let you know that Ellie is still very much alive and well. She has been taken back as a punishment for Megan’s breaking of the rules. I had asked her not to tell anyone else about the coordinates I gave her.
So now, along with Tyler and yourself, Megan will now be part of this game. Your
new partner could get himself involved too if you don’t keep him at a safe distance.
By the way, I feel it only fair to give you a friendly warning too. The Birdwatcher is keeping a very close eye on you
Until we meet,
There was no signature, but she wouldn't expect one. Spalding knew how to push buttons and that was certainly one way of doing it. Sarah bagged both the letter and envelope at once. She knew they wouldn’t find anything on it, but it still had to be checked out by the lab. She took a photograph of the letter on her phone and then made her way to the lab personally. She didn’t know if there would be anyone there right now, but she hoped there was.
On the way she called the team keeping watch over Megan and her mother and made sure all there was okay. She would have to call Megan later and let her know what Spalding had said about her. Tyler and Delgado would have to be told too, but she was sure they both knew they were involved anyway. What worried her most in the letter was the mention of the ‘Birdwatcher.’ The FBI were looking into that case but there wasn’t much to go on yet.
Sarah’s biggest fear was that it was someone in the police or the FBI again. It terrified her how deep inside these investigations Spalding had been able to get. The level of planning that went into his decades-long project was astounding. What he could have been if only his mind worked a little differently and killing wasn’t what drove and satisfied him. Was Spalding the ‘Birdwatcher’ himself? That didn’t’ feel right to her. Somehow, she felt he wouldn’t pretend to be one of the others and it made her think that perhaps instead of controlling the ‘Birdwatcher’ as he had the ‘Agrarian’ and ‘The Gingerbread Man,’ he was simply following his work as he’d done with ‘John the Baptist’.
There was a techie in the lab, a younger guy whom Sarah recalled was called Darren. He was leaning over a projection on a tabletop sheet with what looked like a jeweller’s appraisal glass to on eye. He looked up when she came in, clearly surprised to be disturbed.
“Agent,” he said.
“I need you to analyse this paper and envelope right away,” Sarah said. “I don’t expect you’ll find anything though.”
“Then why does it have to be done right away?” he asked. Clearly he wanted to keep working on whatever he was doing now.
“To be sure,” Sarah said. Darren sighed and took the two plastic evidence bags form her and brought them over to a bench to sign them in. Sarah watched him a moment and then said,
“I’m going to make some calls, I’ll come back in a while for your preliminary report.” He waved a hand in the air that he had heard her but didn’t turn back around. Sarah shook her head; these techies were getting very up themselves these days.
She called Delgado first, told him but said he didn’t need to come, and they would talk tomorrow. Then she stood in the hallway with her phone in her hand. The letter didn’t look good for her, it implied a deeper relationship with Tyler than she’d disclosed to her bosses, or anyone else for that matter. She had no choice though; she had to call Tyler and probably meet him. They would all have to meet to get themselves in front of what might be coming down the road for them. She dialed Tyler’s number.
He answered just as she was about to hang up.
“Sarah,” he said, and she looked at her watch. It was coming up for 9pm. Did he think she was calling so she could come out to his house again? The thought once in the head was instantly appealing. It had been a while since they'd been together and though there was no relationship to speak of between them she enjoyed every time.
“I got a letter from Spalding,” she said.
“Really?” he asked, “What does it say?”
“This is not for the ‘Echo’” Sarah made clear.
“Don’t worry about that, I’ve quit,” he said, sounding happy with himself.
“You’ve quit?” Sarah was taken aback by this; it was very unexpected. Tyler had been with that paper for years, “Did you get another job?”
“Not yet,” he said, “But we’re getting off track here, what did the letter say?” He was right, what did it matter where he was working.
“Basically, it say’s Ellie is still alive, and she was taken as a punishment for Megan telling the police about the coordinates he gave her.”
“Does he say what he will do with Ellie? Or make any demands?”
“No, but he mentions both of us as well as my partner and Megan as all being part of the game now.” She thought about telling him about the ‘Birdwatcher’ keeping an eye on her but held it back. She didn’t want him to feel like she was looking for protection or anything else from him. To be more accurate, she didn’t want him to feel like he had to offer it to her. Tyler was muscular and strong, but he didn’t have a gun or her years of police and FBI training. She would be fine on her own.
“Well, I think all of us have felt part of this game for a long time, including Megan and Delgado,” Tyler replied.
“I guess he was just making it formal,” Sarah said.
“He sent it to you at work?” Tyler interpreted.
“It’s being analyzed as we speak.” For a moment there was silence. Sarah wondered if he was thinking about the implications of his involvement becoming public, or more accurately FBI, knowledge.
“What do you think of Ellie’s chances this time?” he asked after the pause in the conversation.
“Depends on the game he wants to play with her. His saying she is still alive doesn’t make it so,” Sarah said.
“I suppose not,” Tyler said, “But I expect he’ll want to show he’s telling the truth. There will be a video or voice message with her in it.” She’d thought of this too and she didn’t know if she wanted it to happen or not. In one way it would be good to have proof she was alive, but in another it was just more taunting from Spalding, and she knew they would pore over the video or photo looking for evidence and find nothing at all.
“We should meet up,” Sarah said, not answering what he’d said. “All of us mentioned in the letter.”
Chapter 12
Tyler was glad to feel like he was back on the inside of the investigation. He’d kept abreast of as much as he could through his contacts about the recent murder mansion case, but somehow the FBI were doing a really good job of keeping the Dwight Spalding case under wraps. None of his contacts had ever heard of the case and there was little he could find out about the ‘Birdwatcher’ case either, which for obvious reasons he was most curious about.
Three of his victims had been found and since the end of the ‘Gingerbread Man’ case. Tyler was sure Sarah would have linked all the photographs they’d seen in the woods to the ‘Birdwatcher’ as well. As far as Tyler knew, Sarah was assigned to that case too, but there hadn’t been much to go on and it had taken a back seat to more pressing things. Now that Spalding had said the killer was keeping an eye on Sarah he would be right back at the forefront of events. That made Tyler a little uncomfortable.
He’d agreed with Sarah that they would all have to meet and talk about the case, but he worried Delgado wouldn't be able to do this off the record and it would turn up trouble for them all. If Spalding wasn’t getting the game he wanted there was a good chance he would tell the FBI who Tyler really was, even if only for his own amusement.
They met in the same bar Sarah and he often used for meetings. He often wondered if Spalding knew of this place. He never made any indication that he did, but he could always be holding this information back until it somehow became of use to him.
Tyler was in the ‘who gets there first’ game to win this time and he went to the bar in the early afternoon and had his lunch there while working on another story- one of the last he would be doing for the ‘Baltimore Echo'. He’d put feelers out to some of the other local papers and was sure offers of interviews would follow shortly.
Sarah arrived about half an hour before their appointed time and she had Megan with her. Delgado arrived right on time and he approached the table looking them all over seriously.
“Delgado,” Tyler said. “Good to see you again.” Delgado took his offered hand and shook but his eyes were dark, and his returned hello clipped.
“This is Megan Stanver,” Sarah said introducing her.
“Nice to meet you Agent Delgado,” Megan said. He nodded back and smiled at her,
“You too,” he said and then pulled a chair and sat down with them. “What’s this all about?” he said looking at Sarah now.
“I wanted you to see the people involved before you made any decisions of your own,” Sarah said.
“About?” he asked.
Sarah looked from him to Tyler and then Megan before looking back to Delgado.
“You know I have a personal involvement with the Spalding case?”
“Everyone in the FBI knows that,” he answered.
“Well, these two people also have personal involvement,” she said. “Megan as a victim and Tyler as an unwilling participant in recent cases.” Tyler looked at her, he hadn’t expected to be described as such and he smiled at it.
“Just tell me what you want from me?” Delgado said.
“I want you to work with us,” Sarah said. “Not just through the channels at work, but through our own channels too.”
“Meaning what?” he asked, looking uncomfortable.
“Meaning we work the case as best we can from both sides,” Sarah said. Tyler felt this a small capitulation on her part. She knew him better then Tyler did, and she must have sensed he wasn’t ready to work outside the law like she wanted him to. They were going to have to have a second meeting, one without Delgado, Tyler felt. Delgado was looking at Sarah like he wanted her to expand on what she was saying. She sat back in her chair and looked around at them all again.
“We’ve all been mentioned in the letter,” Sarah said. “Spalding considers us to be the other team in the game.”
“I’m so scared,” Megan said, tears rolling down her cheeks. “This is all my fault.”
“This is not your fault,” Sarah said, taking hold of the younger woman's arm. “You did what you felt was right at the time and that’s what you should always do. You have to protect yourself first and foremost at all times.”
A Clamour of Rooks (The Birdwatcher Series Book 4) Page 5