A Clamour of Rooks (The Birdwatcher Series Book 4)

by European P. Douglas

  “Yes, come on back here,” Grains said ushering him behind the counter and through a small alcove into a narrow back room. It seemed like a storage area, reams of paper and toner all over but at the end there was an old looking computer monitor on a shelf with a stool in front of it. By the look of the screen Freeman wasn’t holding out much hope for a clear shot of the man.

  “Was there anything notable about his voice?”

  “It was deep, as you’d expect maybe for a guy his size.”

  “What size is that?” Freeman asked, sucked in.

  “Must have been at least six-five, maybe more. He was crouching down coming in the door.

  “That tall?” Freeman said, there was no way someone of that size from outside the neighborhood was going to go unnoticed in the area. Grains tapped a few buttons on his keyboard and some camera stills came up on the screen, showing three different angles within the store. “You must have every inch of the store covered,” Freeman said looking behind to see the camera that was filming him right now.

  “No point in security cameras if they can’t see everything,” Grains smiled proudly. He flicked through some footage and then said, “This is it now.” Freeman leaned in and saw the huge man enter the store and walk purposefully to the counter. There was no sound on the video, but the man was talking with Grains.

  “Freeze it there!” Freeman said and Grains fumbled a moment before freezing the screen. Freeman studied the screen a moment, trying to talk himself out of what he thought he was seeing, but the image was clear. The man had looked straight at the camera, a goofy smile on his face and winked. It was the exact same as a mugshot Freeman had seen before, one that was taken many years ago. Yes he looked older, but Freeman had no doubt in his mind that staring back at him from the monitor was none other than Dwight Spalding himself!

  Chapter 15

  It was so dark up here. The lights of Baltimore city twinkled off down in the distance. He was disturbing the birds; he could hear them flitter from limb to limb in the trees behind him. There was a nice view here, Tyler thought. It wasn’t so bad a place to rest. He stood up and wiped sweat from his brow and looked back at the trees. The birds fell silent as though they were hiding. He couldn’t see any of them, but he knew they were there. He went back to his digging.

  A half hour later the hole was as he wanted it. Not very deep but deep enough for his purposes. He looked out over the city again. He never thought he would be doing this so close to home, but the urge could not be denied any longer and there was no good excuse for him to leave town right now on a story. It had to be this way.

  Tyler drove to Ellicott City on his motorbike, taking a long circuitous route to come into the city from the north instead of south which would have been the much quicker route. He put the bike in a storage unit and then walked ten blocks to his parked car and drove that the rest of the way home.

  At home he showered and then ate and spent some time looking over the competitors stories about the Mansion Murders. No one had any real information yet; it was all just sensationalism and bullshit so far. He thought about calling Sarah to see if he could find anything out but decided against it. He shouldn't talk to anyone in the FBI or police until he had done what he needed to do tonight and cleared his head completely afterwards.

  Darkness came after what felt like an age. But still he had to wait. Close to midnight he left his home, leaving his cell phone at home and dressed all in black and drove along the backroads to Baltimore. He parked his car in the yard of an abandoned, derelict house on the outskirts of the city where earlier he had put a bicycle. He rode the bike towards the city, passing by the gas station where his victim worked. As expected Alan was staring gormlessly out the window, most likely high and clockwatching for the end of his shift an hour from now.

  Fifteen minutes' ride past the station, Tyler pulled into another unused lot and was glad to see the car he’d bought from an illegal fencing operation was still there. He looked over the rusted car and wondered why on earth someone would have stolen this car for resale in the first place. Tyler had paid two hundred dollars for it and filled it with gas from a jerry can before leaving it here. He thought it very unlikely anyone would have tried to steal it while he was away, and he’d been right. He checked the trunk for his tools, and all was well. This was the final part of his plan. Tonight could now go ahead. He put the bike in the trunk and checking his clothes and gloves, pulled on his head mask, and sat in the car. Alan would be along soon.

  At 2am, Tyler pulled the car out onto the road and killed the engine. He watched in the rear-view mirror for movement in the street.. He’d been here a few times recently and all had been quiet each time. Tonight was no different. It felt odd putting all this planning into a kill but being so close to home he felt he had no choice. Usually he chose his victim online and made the visit, kill and burial all in one go. The first time he saw the person was normally the time he killed them. Up to now Tyler had seen Alan about five times.

  A flicker of movement in the mirror, something momentarily blocking out a far away streetlight on the rise of the road.

  He was coming.

  Tyler opened the car door so Alan wouldn't hear it when he passed by. The orange glow of the joint he was smoking came into view in the side mirror as he got closer and closer to the car. Tyler wondered if there was any part of the day when this guy was not high.

  Tyler sat still as Alan walked past, completely oblivious to the fact there was anyone in the car. He let him get ten feet ahead and then silently exited the car, leaving the door wide open so it wouldn't swing back shut. With one last look around, Tyler ran on the balls of his feet, almost silently, something he’ d perfected over the years and came up behind Alan.

  “Alan?” he said at the last moment.

  Alan turned in surprise and didn’t have a chance to react as Tyler stepped to one side and slashed a serrated knife across his throat. Blood sprayed and Alan dropped his joint and both hands clutched at his neck. He looked sideways at Tyler as though he still expected to see someone he recognised. Perhaps being so stoned would mean this wasn’t so bad an experience for him after all, Tyler thought. Alan’s hands reached out to him for support, but Tyler stepped away, and kept looking into Alan’s eyes as he grew pale and then stumbled down on his knees. Tyler looked up and down the street again, still no one around.

  “It's going to be over soon and then all you will see is a beautiful view for the rest of eternity,” Tyler said in a soothing voice. Alan nodded as though agreeing. Tyler took him by the shoulder and helped him lie down, blood was oozing out everywhere now forming a soon to be sticky mess on the pavement.

  “Just about over,” Tyler said. Alan’s eyes looked to the sky now and Tyler wondered what he was seeing up there. What last thing was on his mind as he parted the world? Tyler’s own body was rushing through its own ecstasy. He put his hand on Alan’s chest and closed his eyes as the breathing became shallow and then stopped. Then the beat from within silenced too and he was dead. Power rushed though Tyler's body and his knees went weak for a moment and he stumbled, putting his gloved hands on the ground to steady himself. He stood then over the body and looked up in the air, his arms out to the side and felt the rush of euphoria wash over him.

  He could have stood there like that all night and feeling that same way, but he knew he had to go. Though it was practically deserted here, it still was a public place, and anyone could happen along at any time. Tyler went to the car and drove it around the body so one of the back doors was just beside him. He got out and heaved Alan into the back seat and he couldn’t help but be reminded of the murder Karl Stanver and Des Roche had carried out, the inexperience and body of evidence they had left behind them. Blood smeared all over the car as Alan's body flopped into the back seat and slumped over. That didn't matter though, Tyler was done with the car and no one was ever going to trace it back to him, not in any way that could possibly stick without DNA evidence to back it up, and he was alwa
ys sure not to leave any of that laying around.

  The drive to the burial site he’d dug earlier that day didn’t take too long. Tyler placed Alan in the grave and then took out a small scalpel to finish off the job. Leaning over, Tyler carefully removed both eyelids from Alan and put them gently into a cushioned ring box which he then secured shut with a short length of twine He buried the body, the birds in the trees silent as he did. They were watching though; of that he was sure.

  Chapter 16

  Megan felt ill with the file in her hand. It had been a long time since she was questioned about her captivity by the FBI. At least in her home there had been some familiarity and comfort about her surroundings, but this safe house she was in now felt cold and empty by comparison, even though her mother was here with her.

  “Don’t worry, Megan,” Sarah said to her. “There’s nothing gruesome in there. It’s only camper van photos and road landmarks in Virginia and surrounding states, I’m hoping something will jog your memory.”

  “I’m sorry, it just freaks me out so much,” Megan said.

  “Of course it does, as it would anyone who went through what you did. But it's people like you, who get away from these evil people who are the ones who help us catch them,” Sarah encouraged her. Megan drew in a deep breath and then opened the file.

  First up was the photographs of different models of camper vans. She’d seen all of these before when he was first interviewed by the FBI. She had been able to point out three models she had possibly been in. She went through each photograph slowly and when she saw the familiar ones she started to feel ill.

  “These two,” she said, turning them over on the table so as not to see them anymore. Sarah nodded and Megan went on. After that she started to think she’d been in all of the ones that followed but she knew that couldn’t be the case. She didn’t say so to Sarah and went on hoping to see something she was sure of. When she came to the end she looked up to Sarah sadly,

  “I don’t remember any of the rest.”

  “That’s fine, Megan,” Sarah said, “Thank you, I know this is not easy. This next file might be better.” Megan took the offered file.

  “What’s in this one?” Megan said, trepidation clear in her voice.

  “This is local landmarks on rural roads and lesser roads around the states. This is a long shot, but you never know. You said yourself there was the odd time you were able to see something through holes in the trunks or in reflections in the camper van mirrors.”

  Though she didn’t say it, Megan thought this was a completely pointless exercise. There must be thousands of roads in the areas affected and she’d only been on a few of them and for the most part couldn't see anything as she travelled. What chance was there they would have picked the right photograph to show her to spark a memory? She leafed through the images. Gas stations, strange tree formations, old, abandoned houses, but nothing was looking even remotely familiar. She tried to recall any of the times she’d been able to see through a hole in a car, but no one time would come. There was a jumble of things, white paint on the road flashing by, gravel and mud to the sides of the road, the same there would be on any road, and then, wait... Something in the back of her mind, something. Was it red?

  It wouldn’t come, but Megan felt there was something there. She started going through the images before her much faster, spreading them out on the table looking for something red, or was it rust she was thinking of? She could sense Sarah sitting forward in her seat, wanting to ask what she was doing but leaving her to it for the moment.

  “I remember something red I think,” Megan said after a few moments. “I don’t know what, it's just a feeling but I think if I saw it I’d...;”

  Megan picked up a photograph of a silty edge of the road, the muddy water had an orangey rusty hue to it. She stared at it in disbelief, but she knew this was it.

  “I’ve seen this before,” she said. Sarah looked at the image.

  “Do you remember anything else?” she asked hopefully.

  “Yes,” Megan said as tears filled her eyes. “I saw this because he pulled in off the road here. He stopped the car and got out for a minute, left the engine running. He was moving something, but it didn’t sound like a gate, more like tree limbs scrapping on the ground or bushes or something like that. One of the places he kept me was just beyond there!”

  Sarah took the photograph from her hands and looked at it.

  “It’s runoff from an old disused copper mine,” Sarah said. “What kind of place is there Megan, a house, a shack, can you remember?”

  “Not clearly,” Megan said, her mind racing as she saw the insides of so many places she was kept hostage. “Something underground, I think,” she said. It was a damp smell, earthy that came to mind, “But I’m not sure.” She looked at Sarah pleadingly.

  “Don’t worry Megan, this is great news, I'm going to have someone go check out this location right away!” she said.

  “Be careful," Megan said. “It might be boobytrapped!” The faces of those she left behind at the farmhouse rose up in her mind, each one of them dead that same day.

  “We will be Megan, this could be very helpful to our investigation, thank you,” Sarah replied. She took out her cell phone and walked out of the room to start making her calls.

  As soon as she was left alone in the room, Megan felt very suddenly afraid. She went to the door and called out for her mother. Melissa had been in the next room and was at the door with Megan in only three seconds.

  “What is it, Meg,” she saw the tears in her daughter’s eyes. “Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine,” Megan said, drawing her mother into the room by the arm. “I just don't want to be alone right now.”

  “You don’t ever have to be alone at any time,” Melissa said wrapping her into an embrace and squeezing hard.

  “I think I might have just found a place where Spalding keeps people,” Megan said nodding towards the images on the table. Melissa looked down and then back to her daughter smiling,

  “That's great news,” she said. “Well done!”

  “I’m scared more people are going to die there,” she said, fighting to hold back the tears. Her mother nodded in understanding.

  “That may happen,” she agreed, “But that will be his doing and could never be construed as anyone’s fault other than his own.” Megan didn’t say anything to this. It didn’t feel that way to her and in a way she was sorry she’d found anything at all. Still, there was a chance she was wrong, or that there was no one at this place anymore. It had been a long time since she’d been there, perhaps he’d stopped using this place as a holding area since then. She hugged her mother and closed her eyes hoping fiercely that no one else was going to die this time.

  Chapter 17

  Sarah knew by the reference number on the image Megan had identified that the road was somewhere in rural Virginia and she would be able to get to the site herself to lead the team in. She coordinated the details with the investigation team and the local FBI office and then called Delgado to get him up to speed. He wasn’t as happy as she expected and his tone took her by surprise,

  “Sarah, we don’t have the time to rendezvous and get out there. People’s lives could be at stake this minute. The tactical team can be out there in less than half an hour. We need to run this remotely on our way there.” She knew he was right but still it irked her. She so wanted to be on the scene when they finally got to see one of Spalding’s hideouts.

  “Fine,” she agreed, “Are you on your way?”

  “I can be there within the hour I think,” he replied.

  “Get a comms link up so you can hear what’s happening on the way,” she said and then hung up. Something must be up with him, she thought, but she didn’t have the time to worry about that right now. She went back inside to Megan.

  “Megan, you did a great job here today. Can you keep looking over the photographs in case you see something else. I'm going to the scene you identified now with a team
and if anyone is there we’re going to get them out safely.”

  “Good luck,” Megan said, her voice hoarse from crying.

  “Thanks.”

  Sarah drove to a liaison point twenty minutes away and then got into a waiting tactical support truck that would take her the rest of the way to the scene. Both sides of the enclosed truck were covered with monitors and readout screens.

  “ETA?” she asked the woman running the tech.

  “Team should be in place in eight minutes, drone surveillance in one minute.”

  “Show me the drone,” Sarah said. The tech pointed to the screen and Sarah watched the bird's eye view as the drone followed the road to where the photograph had been taken. “Can it go higher? We won’t see much this low down.”

  “The drone will be put in a pattern over the area once we mark off what we want as boundaries. If there’s something there we’ll see it.” Sarah looked at the other screens and saw the team who were going to perform the search checking equipment and cameras. Everything seemed to be fine. Sarah was nervous, feeling this could go the same way as the raid on Ellie’s house and there would be nothing but a note for them here and more questions to be answered.

  “We’re marking off the drone territory now,” the woman said to Sarah who looked back to the screen in question. The drone had gone higher and the tech was marking off suggested search areas. “Is this wide enough for a first pass?” she asked. Sarah looked at the terrain and nodded,

  “Yes, send it in.”

  “Switching to heat sensor camera.” The screen blanked for a second and came back on a dark purple colour to Sarah’s eyes. Almost as soon as it started to descend, however, faint orange light areas began to show on the map.

  “What’s that?” Sarah asked.