Hollywood Intrigue: A Hollywood Alphabet Series Thriller

by M. Z. Kelly

  I found Dawson’s pale blue eyes. “My soul is…” I searched for the words to describe how I felt. “I’m feeling better about things in my life.”

  He studied me for a moment. “I’m happy for you, Kate.” He went back to the puzzle.

  I realized that it was the first time since we’d worked together again that he’d called me Kate. “And what about you, Joe? How is your soul?”

  He laughed, fixing his eyes on me. “I’ve got an old soul, solid as a rock.”

  I didn’t respond and he went back to his crossword puzzle. While Joe Dawson might have an old soul, I also had a feeling there were a lot of demons haunting that soul that I still didn’t know about. I wondered about his relationship with his daughter and also what had really happened between him and Lucas Caufield. They were questions I was determined to get answers to as we worked our case.

  TWENTY SEVEN

  We arrived in Quantico and had an early dinner before going to Unit-3 of the Behavioral Analysis Unit. I learned that the unit was part of the National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime, which included VICAP, the Violent Criminal Apprehension Program. We met in a small room that was adjacent to a classroom. I was surprised that the working group assigned to our crimes consisted of Janice Taylor and only two other profilers.

  The head of the Unit-3 group, Special Agent Adam Kent, discussed his background and went over his assignments during the ten years he’d been with the FBI. He then gave us a brief overview of their process, probably for my benefit.

  “We look at the specific behavioral aspects of a crime,” Kent said in a deep baritone. He was typical of the agents I’d worked with in the past; solid, forty-sometime, buttoned down, and serious. “The why question is what we’re all about here. We’re interested in the motivations behind a crime before we begin to focus in on the who question.”

  Kent took a sip of bottled water, then looked over at Taylor and her profiler partner, Vic Molina. “I’ll turn things over to my team to begin the overview of what we know as it ties to the first crime and then we’ll meet with a forensic chemist to take a closer look at a couple of issues.”

  Janice Taylor swept her long brown hair out of her eyes and began the presentation. The youthful agent was all business. I wondered how she felt about Joe Dawson working a crossword puzzle while she summarized what they knew about The Prophet by telling us the story of his first victim.

  “In September of 2010, a fourteen-year-old girl, Britany Calderon, left her parent’s mobile home in Decatur Georgia at approximately seven-thirty in the morning. She was last seen by a neighbor walking to a school bus stop about ten minutes later but she never got on the bus.

  “Forty-three hours later, a hiker found Britany about three miles from her home. Her body was in the back of a small limestone cavern, on a raised wooden platform, posed on a white sheet. Unlike the body at the Clearwater, Florida crime scene, there was no ring found on the victim’s finger.

  “During the examination of the crime scene, investigators heard a buzzing noise near the victim’s head. While processing the scene, a local doctor, who served as the area’s part-time coroner, opened the victim’s mouth.”

  Lane turned to Agent Molina who picked up the story, reading the local coroner’s firsthand account of his examination of the body. “During the medical examination at the crime scene there was a non-specific sound in the area of the victim’s head. The oral cavity was subsequently examined, at which time I realized there was some unknown species of insect inside. Before I could react, the insect, which I believed to be a wasp, exited the victim’s mouth and flew away.

  “During the subsequent autopsy, several welts were found inside the anterior portion of the neck at the back of the mouth, in proximity to the pharynx and larynx, and the upper portion of the esophagus. Further analysis and efforts to determine the type of insect involved were inconclusive.”

  Molina, who was probably a few years older than Taylor, looked up from the report. The agent had pale green eyes and brown hair. He was slender and maybe a little more studious than your typical FBI agent. “The autopsy determined that the victim had been sexually assaulted but there was no DNA evidence. Her body, as well as the area directly surrounding it, had been sprayed with an insecticide, just like in the Florida case and with Jenna Collins in California.”

  “Everything else from the Georgia crime fits with the Florida case that occurred a few months later and the first crime that occurred in California,” Taylor said.

  “But the Georgia crime scene was botched by the coroner,” Joe Dawson said, looking up from his puzzle. “No proxy killer was ever identified and the victim didn’t have a ring on her finger. We’ll never know for sure if it’s an exact fit with our crimes.”

  “I’m afraid you’re wrong about that,” Adam Kent said. He stood up. “Let’s take a walk over to the lab so we can meet with our chemist, Trevor Bell.”

  As we left the room and walked down a corridor Dawson whispered to me, “Maybe they’ve got an alien in their lab who looks like a giant wasp.”

  “You’ve been watching too many movies,” I said, at the same time remembering that I’d spent last night smashing in a zombie’s skull.

  We found Trevor Bell, who looked remarkably like a high school kid, in a chemistry lab with lots of trays and beakers. After introductions, the blonde-haired youthful chemist explained the physical processes involved in a wasp sting.

  “The pain from wasp venom is intense,” Bell said. “The sting is considered an evolutionary development to convince larger, predatory animals that the insect is capable of doing a significant amount of damage, despite its relatively small size. The peptides and enzymes in the venom break down the cell membranes. When the involved cells are neurons, that breach causes the injured cell to send a signal to the brain in the form of intense pain.”

  “So it hurts like hell,” Dawson said. “What does that prove?”

  Bell went on, unfazed, “There are chemical markers that have been identified in melittin, which is a powerful toxin that’s specific to each species of wasp. We’ve re-examined the cells in the throat of Britany Calderon and determined that they’re consistent with the markers in the spider-wasp family, and, more specifically, to the marimbondo species found in the Florida Case and with your recent victim.”

  Adam Kent thanked the chemist and then turned to us, levelling his eyes on Joe Dawson. “This means that, despite the differences in the two crimes that you previously mentioned, both cases are definitely linked, just like your brother thought.”

  My forehead tightened and my brows came together as I looked at Kent and then Joe Dawson. “What’s he talking about?”

  Dawson brushed the back of his hand across his forehead, exhaled, and said, “Lucas Caufield is my half-brother.”

  TWENTY EIGHT

  A few minutes later, we all reassembled in the Unit-3 conference room where John Greer asked Dawson to explain things to me.

  “My brother and I worked together for the agency at one time,” Dawson said in a dismissive tone, not looking at me. “Our paths crossed on this case. He had a theory about the Georgia murder that I disagreed with. Now, it looks like he was right, after all. The cases are linked.” He found my eyes. “It’s nothing more than that.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me this before?”

  He shrugged. “Greer and I thought it might change how you dealt with my brother.”

  Dawson’s boss tried to take the edge off what he’d said by adding, “We were also concerned that if Lucas Caufield knew you were working with his brother, he wouldn’t have cooperated. He’s the closest thing we’ve got to knowing how The Prophet thinks.”

  “It sounds like there are a lot of skeletons in the family closet,” I said, looking back at Dawson.

  “What family doesn’t have skeletons?” he growled, his eyes narrowing on me. What he’d said was probably a reference to my own family issues. “It’s all ancient history, anyway. It’s got nothin
g to do with anything, so let’s move on.”

  “Before we do that,” Kent said, “I think it’s important that we talk about what your brother told Detective Sexton.” Kent picked up some paperwork and referenced it as he spoke, from time to time glancing up at me. “Caufield specifically said something about there being a change in the world.”

  “That’s correct,” I said. “I got the impression that he meant The Prophet was going to engage in a series of killings again. He also said something about him nesting and finding apprentices.”

  “As in William Monroe,” Agent Molina said.

  I nodded. “And I got the impression there could be others.”

  Agent Kent went on, “Lucas Caufield also said that you had been chosen as The Prophet’s adversary. I think we all need to assume that The Prophet wants you directly involved in the investigation of these killings. Maybe he sees this as a game and you are his opponent.”

  I sighed as I let the reality of what he’d said sink in. I hadn’t wanted to think of myself as being tied to The Prophet but the facts said otherwise. I knew that I would have to somehow find the strength to be up to the challenge.

  I said, “I’ll do my best, but…”

  John Greer probably sensed the despair I was feeling. He ended the discussion by saying, “I’m sure Detective Sexton is ready for whatever lies ahead.” He looked back at Adam Kent and exhaled. “Let’s hear what else you’ve got in the way behavioral analysis.”

  “I’ll let Agents Taylor and Molina take over again,” Kent said, looking at his team members. The chemist, Trevor Bell, had come with us back into the conference room, but seemed preoccupied, studying something on his laptop computer.

  Taylor took a moment, shuffling some paperwork in front of her before saying, “As we all know, if The Prophet was working with a proxy killer during the commission of the first crime, that subject has never been found. The question then becomes, why did The Prophet kill again in Florida, using a proxy, and then disappear until surfacing again in California, following the same protocol?”

  “Maybe Oliver Gorm, the proxy he used in Georgia, also worked the Florida crime,” Greer speculated.

  “It’s possible,” Taylor agreed. “But we backtracked Gorm’s activities during the time the Georgia murder took place. There are a couple of people who swore he was in Clearwater during the time period in question.”

  “There are a few other possibilities,” Agent Molina said, taking over. “It could be that our subject’s urge to kill abated for several years before resurfacing. Another possibility is that he was unavailable, possibly incarcerated for other crimes.”

  “We’ve taken a look at the databases on felons incarcerated for violence and/or sex crimes, and specifically foreign object offenses, during the four years the crimes abated,” Taylor said. “We concentrated on subjects serving time in the states nearest to Georgia and Florida, as well as in California. We developed a list of individuals who match our criteria and were paroled in the past few months.”

  Molina pushed a stack of paperwork across the table to us.

  “There are a couple dozen subjects worth taking a closer look at,” Taylor said, referencing the list that John Greer had picked up.

  “I’ll have the local taskforce go through this,” Greer said, thumbing through the paperwork.

  Adam Kent took over again. “Let’s go back to the issue of chemistry and entomology for a moment, and then we’ll look at one more possibility.” He cut his eyes to Trevor Bell.

  After dimming the lights in the room, the youthful chemist made some keystrokes and several images appeared on an overhead screen. “The reports on these crimes place a lot of emphasis on the wasps used on the victims, but little attention has been given to the spider. That’s what I now want to talk about.”

  We saw a group of spiders on the screen, all of them white in color, similar to the one taken from our Stone Canyon victim. Bell went on, “As you probably know, the spider-wasp engages in lifecycle behavior wherein a spider is paralyzed, taken into a burrow where it serves both as a host for the wasp’s eggs, and eventually as food for the developing larvae.” He clicked his cursor and we saw several images of insects being hatched on the screen. “The spider continues to live until it’s eventually completely consumed as food. The arachnoid used in both the California and Florida cases is in the genus Thomisus. It’s commonly called a crab spider.”

  What he’d said about the spider being a food source was generally consistent with what Ted and I had learned early on in the investigation by talking with the UCLA entomologist. There was something in the behavior that I again found abhorrent.

  Janice Taylor then took over again. “From a behavioral standpoint, as Agent Kent said, we look at the why question, as in what motivates a killer. Assuming that The Prophet set up the spider-wasp to use a human host, the why question becomes, why did he choose a white spider in the scenario.”

  “It’s our belief,” Agent Molina said, “that our subject is trying to tell us a story, one that’s specific to the way he views the world. From a behavioral point of view, despite how a spider is sometimes portrayed in literature and in people’s emotions, in this instance we believe that the spider represents innocence or purity.”

  Dawson looked at me, rolled his eyes, and exhaled as Molina went on, “The wasp consumes another living creature to bring it’s offspring into the world,” the agent said. “In our scenario, the wasp uses a white spider in that process. We believe that The Prophet is using it as symbolism to represent the use of innocence to bring evil into the world. In The Prophet’s worldview, he’s the wasp, the girl is the spider, and the resulting offspring is the evil that is born into the world by his actions. The poetry he’s left behind appears to hint at this same scenario.”

  Greer gave voice to what Dawson and I were both probably thinking. “It seems like a pretty strange way for The Prophet to get his point across. If what you think is true, it also indicates that our killer is completely insane.”

  Molina’s eyes fixed on Greer. “I don’t have to tell you that there’s an extensive history of serial killers having strange and sometimes bizarre motivations for their actions. Charles Manson believed in an upcoming race war, something referred to as Helter Skelter, to motivate his followers. Edward Gein, possibly the model for the killer Buffalo Bill in The Silence of the Lambs, killed women and used their skin to make a human suit. There’s also a documented history of dozens of killers who believed God was directing their actions. I could go on and on, but we believe that what we’ve described forms the basis of both the killer’s motivation and his unique signature.”

  The room was quiet for a moment before Dawson finally spoke up. “What you’re saying about our case might have some validity. Maybe it’s the why part of the question, but it still doesn’t bring us any closer to who dunnit.”

  Janice Taylor took over again. “As Agent Kent mentioned before, there is one other possibility that we can’t rule out.” She glanced at her working group before meeting Dawson’s pale blue eyes again. “It could very well be that The Prophet is your brother, Lucas Caufield.”

  TWENTY NINE

  We left Quantico late in the day. I’d tried talking to Dawson about his relationship with his brother. He refused to discuss it, instead working on a crossword puzzle and ignoring me. John Greer wasn’t much help either, only telling me that I’d probably get more of the story when Dawson was ready to talk.

  I was frustrated, telling Greer that what happened might have a bearing on our case. He said he doubted that Lucas Caufield was The Prophet because he was too ill to be involved in the recent killings. Greer also told me that he was beginning to think that Caufield’s statements were merely the confused ramblings of someone in declining health.

  Janice Taylor took the flight back to Los Angeles with us. I made a point of seeking out the profiler after giving up on Dawson and Greer. After some small talk I asked her about Lucas Caufield. “Do you really thin
k he could be The Prophet?”

  Taylor’s lips parted into a half-smile. She took her long brown hair in one hand and tucked it behind her shoulder. “Caufield definitely has some inside knowledge. He’s either very intuitive or there’s more to the story. It’s impossible to say, right now.”

  “What do you know about Dawson and his brother’s falling out?”

  “Nothing really. Agent Kent said it had something to do with them both having big egos and some sort of disagreement.”

  I clenched my hands in frustration. I felt like there was a hidden agenda in our case, and no one, except maybe Dawson and his brother, knew what it was about.

  After a few moments I said to Taylor, “Where do you think we go from here?”

  She met my eyes. “We work the case, just like we work any other case. We bust our humps, follow every lead, until we find the bastard and stop the killings.”

  ***

  I got home after ten, walked Bernie for a few minutes, and then spent a restless night, thinking about what the FBI profilers had said. As strange as their belief that The Prophet was using what happened in nature as a corollary to the evil that he was bringing into the world, something about it resonated with me.

  I’d seen almost every depraved, strange behavior imaginable, and what they’d proposed seemed to fit with the way the victims had been posed and used as hosts. I concluded that the behavioral analysis was consistent with what we knew about The Prophet, at least from what little we understood based upon Lucas Caufield’s statements and the killer’s poetry.