by David Archer
“You guys were always fighting when I was a kid,” Eric said. “I remember that. I know you usually thought I was asleep by the time you started yelling at each other, but I heard you a lot of times.”
Louise gave him a sad smile. “Well, these fights were worse than those,” she said. “And a few times, after we had been fighting for a while, he would go storming out the door and head for the bar. Some of those times, he would stay out all night, and a couple of times, I followed him. He was a good-looking man, almost as good-looking as you, and there were always plenty of women around who were ready to try to make him feel better. I caught him cheating on me a few times, and that—well, it made me angry.” She bit her lip again. “Eric, I got so angry that I went and found a boyfriend of my own. I had an affair, and it lasted about six months.” She looked up at him again. “It ended when I found out I was pregnant. With you.”
Eric just looked at her for a moment, then slowly nodded his head. “And this guy was pretty smart?” he asked.
Louise chuckled, but there wasn’t a lot of mirth in it. “Oh, you could say that,” she said. “He was one of the top mathematics professors at the university. He was handsome and smart, but he was married to a woman who spent most of her time drinking, and not paying any attention to him. He was lonely and would sometimes come into the bar where I was working, and—well, he thought I was pretty. One thing led to another, I guess, and I felt like I was justified because…”
“Because Dad was already cheating on you. I get it, Mom.” He dipped his head so he could look her in the eye and grinned at her. “So, this professor—you’re telling me he was my real father?”
Louise shrugged. “Well, I never really knew for sure, back then,” she said, “but you definitely have his eyes. And there’s no doubt you got his brains, you know? I figured out about the time you turned three, and I think your dad had already started to suspect by then.” She took a deep breath. “We got into a fight right after that trip to Disney World, and I finally told him about the affair. That was why he left, Eric. He left because he figured out that you probably are not his real son.”
“I figured out that he wasn’t my real father back when I was eight or nine,” Eric said. “I remember reading a book on genetics and realizing that it was genetically impossible. Everyone in his family had brown eyes, but mine are blue, like yours. That meant that my biological father had to have given me the gene for blue eyes, along with yours. The gene for brown eyes is always dominant over the gene for blue eyes, so if Dad had really been my father, I would’ve had brown eyes.”
Louise just looked at him. “But you never said anything? You never asked me?”
Eric shrugged. “What did it matter? It wouldn’t have changed anything if I had asked, so I just didn’t worry about it.”
The talk went on for another fifteen minutes, but NFH had insisted that the visit be limited to only thirty minutes. That meant the time was up, so Sam reluctantly rose from his chair and went down the hall. The security guards opened the door and Sam stepped inside.
Eric looked up at him. “Time’s up already?” he asked.
Sam nodded. “I’m afraid so, Eric,” he said. “I’m sorry about this, but your supervisors insisted on a limit of thirty minutes.”
Eric nodded sadly and rose to his feet, and Louise stood also. They embraced for a full minute, and Sam could hear them whispering softly to each other, but he deliberately kept silent. The boy had just given them what would undoubtedly prove to be a major lead, and while Sam had to follow the letter of his agreement, he felt that the spirit of it wasn’t violated by giving them this moment of privacy.
Eric turned away from his mother and followed Sam out of the room.
“Thanks for letting me see my mom,” Eric said.
Sam grinned back. “It was a reasonable request,” he said. “I take it that it’s been over five years since you saw her, right?”
Eric nodded. “Five years, seven months, eighteen days, sixteen hours and twenty-two minutes from the time I last saw her to the time you opened the door and I saw her sitting there.” The kid sniffled. “I really do appreciate you agreeing to it.”
“And I appreciate the help you’ve given us,” Sam said. “I may need you to look at some more information, once we get a little research done.”
“I’ll be glad to,” Eric said. “And if you ever need me again in the future…”
“I think there’s a good possibility we might,” Sam said with another grin.
They arrived at Sam’s office a moment later, but Jenna told Sam that the rest of the team was waiting for them in the conference room, where they found everyone but Darren, Jade and Walter gathered around the table there. They had found a few potential suspects and were going over them when Sam and Eric entered the room.
"Hey, Eric." Summer smiled at him. “You feeling a little better now?”
Eric only glanced at her. "Yes, thank you." He mumbled something further under his breath, but clearly didn't intend for it to be heard. "What do you want me to do, Mr. Prichard?"
Sam glanced at him, and then he looked at the work spread out in front of them.
"You can go lie down, if you want,” he said. “You look tired."
Eric blinked, confused. "I… I am. I didn’t really sleep last night, because I was excited over seeing my mother today. That's very observant of you."
Sam offered a very slight smile, not wanting to come across as cold.
"I… I'll just take a nap, then." Eric rubbed the back of his head, then walked over to the corner of the room and started to lie down on the floor. "Thanks…"
Sam frowned a bit, but Denny spoke up before Sam had a chance.
"Eric, there's a sofa in Sam's office."
Eric opened his eyes, but made no move to get up. "But Mr. Prichard is in here."
Sam nodded, but he remembered what the file said about Eric’s reactions to being contradicted. "Yes, but you can go in my office and sleep on the sofa. I don't mind."
Eric shook his head. "I’m not supposed to be alone."
Summer folded her arms and set them on the tabletop. "Is it the dark? Or the quiet? Because I have—"
"No, I mean I'm not allowed to be alone. I can't be by myself when I’m out of the hospital. That’s in the rules." Eric curled up a little tighter, almost irritated by the questions. "You could handcuff me to the sofa, if it’s got a way to do it, but that's a hassle. I can just take a nap right here."
There were a few seconds of silence, and then Summer got to her feet. She left the room while Sam and the others quietly compared notes while she was gone. When she came back, she had a blanket and pillow in her arms.
"You’re welcome to sleep on the floor if you want, but this should make things a little more comfortable."
Eric looked at her strangely, almost as if he were afraid of the gesture, and then he cautiously reached out to take the items. "Oh… thank you, that's very…" He seemed to be looking for the right words. "It's very nice of you." He offered a ghost of a smile and then put the pillow on the floor, curling up like a cat and wrapping himself in the blanket.
"You’re welcome, Eric."
"Goodnight, Ms. Raines."
Eric appeared to nod off immediately afterward, his body obviously needing the rest more than his behavior had indicated. Summer turned away and rejoined the rest of them at the table, looking at them with sadness in her eyes. Sam returned the expression, looked briefly at the rest of them, and then looked down to the files.
"Let's see if we can narrow down the list,” Sam said. “Once Jade comes back in, she can start working on case geography. Denny, what have we got?"
Denny nodded and grabbed a marker from the table, walking over to the whiteboard and getting to work.
“We found five retired former SWAT members in the area,” he said. “And incidentally, Indie called and said she found the same ones we did.” He cast a glance at Sam as he said this, and Sam felt himself blush a bit as he shru
gged.
“Hey, it was worth a shot,” he said.
“Too right,” Denny said. “On a case like this, we take all the help we can get, mate. Anyway,” he continued, turning back to the board, “the five possible suspects are Charles Kessler, Leon Davis, Raymond Layton, Alex Poindexter and Robert Bosco. All of them except for Davis and Bosco served as SWAT officers for Denver PD or the Colorado state police. Davis was with LAPD, and moved here after he retired eleven years ago. Bosco is from Chicago, and he moved here after being forced into retirement by an injury, but that was almost thirteen years ago. Each and every one of them is divorced, and has been for at least twelve years. And before you ask, Sam, yes, all of them pay alimony, but there’s also child support in two cases. Those would be Davis and Bosco.” He slapped up pictures they had printed out of each of them as he wrote the names on the board.
“In which case,” Sam said, “we can probably rule them out. Eric seemed pretty certain that children were not a factor in this killer’s MO.”
“Considering that only a very few of the victims ever had children,” Darren said, “I suspect he’s probably right. That still leaves us with Kessler, Layton and Poindexter.”
“All of them retired?” Sam asked.
“Actually, no,” Summer said. “Alex Poindexter is still active with Denver PD, but the rest of them are at least semi retired. Kessler is considered to be on reserve status, and is willing to come in when needed. He keeps his proficiency ratings up to date, even though he isn’t on full-time payroll anymore. Same with Layton, but he hasn’t been used at all in the last five years.”
“But any of them could have been free when all the abductions took place?” Sam asked.
“Yes, but,” Denny said, “I think we can rule out Mr. Layton. He was actually sent to California to testify in a case out there during the time the eighth set of bodies was being dumped.”
“Unless he had an accomplice,” Sam said. “Even with all the new information, we can’t rule out the possibility that our killer has someone helping him. What about Poindexter? If he’s still on active duty, it might be hard for him to be able to move about as freely.”
“I checked his schedule,” Steve said. “I was able to go back eight years, and he was off each and every time abductions took place or bodies were dumped. He could still be our guy.”
Sam leaned back in his chair and looked at the board. “These are all the ones you found?”
Summer nodded. “These are the only SWAT officers within a hundred miles who fit the divorce profile,” she said. “If Eric is right, then one of these men is our killer.”
“Okay,” Sam said. “Let’s take a look at the ex-wives. Do any of them seem to match up with the victims, and particularly the victims with the signature broken ribs?”
“Three of them could almost be triplets,” Steve said. “Amanda Layton, Shirley Kessler and Regina Bosco all fit the same physical profile, and all three hold degrees in various fields. Amanda Layton is a psychologist, Shirley Kessler is a chiropractor and Regina Bosco is an attorney, but none of them are working professionally. Linda Davis and Annette Poindexter are both blondes who didn’t finish college.”
Sam chewed on his bottom lip for a moment. “All right, here’s the game plan,” he said. “We’ve eliminated Davis and Bosco, and Poindexter’s wife doesn’t fit, so that leaves us with only two potential suspects and not much time to waste. Let’s get surveillance on both of those men as quickly as we can. Remember that these guys are cops and understand how surveillance works, so it’s going to be tricky. Let’s do everything we can to get the guilty party to lead us to any surviving victims.”
“Smart move,” Darren said. “Let’s get some of the security people to handle that. If we put two or three people on each of them, they can trade off watching and make it harder for the suspects to spot the surveillance.”
Sam nodded. “Good idea. Is Rob in the building?”
“Yeah,” Jade said. “I just saw him a few minutes ago. Want me to fetch him?”
“Yeah, please do.”
Rob Feinstein, who was the head of their paramilitary security force, came into the room a moment later. “What can I do you for, Sam?” he asked with a grin.
Sam and Steve quickly outlined the situation, and Rob nodded curtly. He turned and left the room, and half a dozen security officers were changed into street clothes and on the way out to locate their surveillance targets less than fifteen minutes later. Sam assigned Jade and Steve to monitor their radio traffic.
Everything they could do was being done, Sam figured. He let out a sigh and looked at the sleeping kid in the corner.
It had paid off. Eric found factors they hadn’t considered, and while he didn't have their investigative experience, he was able to give them the information they needed to track the killer down.
Maybe this shouldn't be temporary. Eric might have problems, but so did Walter, and he’s a valuable member of the team. What if Eric had a chance to truly contribute to society? It might make all the difference in the world for the boy.
* * *
“Base, this is Alpha one,” Jade heard over the radio. Alpha was the surveillance team assigned to Charles Kessler.
“Go ahead, Alpha one,” she said.
“Base, subject is pulling into a self storage facility,” the security officer said. “It’s behind a coded gate, and I’m not going to be able to follow. I’ve got an aerial camera drone, should I use it to keep an eye on him?”
“That’s affirmative, Alpha one,” Jade said. “Might be nothing, but we need to be sure.”
“Roger that.” The radio went silent again.
The other teams had been pretty quiet, their own subjects not very active at all. Only Kessler had been moving around town, and Jade looked over at Steve. “My gut says this is our guy,” she said. “With the schedule the killer uses, he’s got to be getting ready for his big finale by now.”
Steve nodded his head. “I tend to agree with you,” he said. “Unfortunately, we can’t just go on our guts. If we’re going to arrest this guy, we have to be certain.”
Jade nodded. “Yeah,” she said. “Let’s hope Alpha one gets something with his drone.”
Eight minutes later, the radio came to life again. “Base, Alpha one,” said the officer. “Subject is inside a storage unit, one of the old ones at the back of the facility. My drone just caught up with him, and I dipped it down for a look inside. I’m sending you an image from the footage, because it sure looks like I see some bodies laying there all wrapped up in something.”
Jade and Steve looked at each other, and Steve nodded. He got up and took off out of the room while Jade leaned toward the microphone. “Alpha one, stay on station. We’ve got people on the way to you now, just make sure you keep track of the subject.”
“Roger. He’s not going anywhere.”
Sam and the others were still sitting in the conference room, and then looked up when Steve hurried through the door. “Sam, surveillance on Kessler has him in a storage unit out on Jefferson Road. Our guy can’t get close enough to see inside, but he used an aerial drone and says it looks like he has bodies wrapped up for disposal.”
They were all up on their feet a moment later and headed for the door, but Sam told Summer to stay with Eric. They climbed into a Windlass van and Sam took the wheel, heading for the storage company. It was almost a twenty minute drive, but the officer on site reported that Kessler was still inside the unit when they finally arrived.
Steve walked into the office and showed his ID, and the clerk on duty was more than happy to open the gate for them. Sam, Steve, Darren and Denny hurried inside, followed by all three members of Team Alpha. Alpha one, the security officer whose name was Jimmy Rakes, led the way through the maze of miniature warehouses to the one where Kessler was still bustling about inside.
They moved stealthily down the lane toward that warehouse and gathered just out of sight. Sam used hand signals to tell Darren and Denny to
go first, and then they all rushed inside the open door.
“Charles Kessler,” Denny said as he stepped inside. “Windlass Security. Please stop what you’re doing and turn around.”
Kessler, who had been bent over some sort of table at the back of the room, slowly straightened and turned around. He stared at Denny and Darren for a moment, then saw Sam standing just behind them.
“I might have known it would be you,” he said. “When I heard they brought you guys in on this, I knew it was only a matter of time. At least, that’s what I was hoping.”
“Hoping?” Sam asked.
Kessler nodded, his hands hanging loosely at his sides. “Yeah, I was hoping.” He shrugged. “Maybe that sounds crazy, but I wanted somebody to stop me. Something like this, it gets inside you and you just can’t stop on your own.”
Sam looked past Kessler to the table, and saw a woman’s body laying there. He motioned to Denny, who hurried past Kessler and checked for a pulse, but then turned to Sam with a sad shake of his head. He checked the two other bodies that were laying on the floor, but all three of the women were dead.
“Charles Kessler,” Sam said, “you are under arrest…”
It was late when they called it a day, and Sam was quick to send everyone home. Nobody argued as they went to their cubicles and grabbed what they needed.
"Do we know what we're doing with the whiz kid tonight?"
Sam froze at Darren's question, eyes widening as he realized he had completely forgotten about Eric, who was still sleeping in the conference room. "I didn't think about it. I guess I can take him home with me for the night…" They walked into the conference room and found Summer and Eric sitting at the table with a bag of potato chips and soft drinks.