by Joe Conlan
Once the morning cobwebs cleared, he got up from his bed and went directly to the bathroom. Originally, he planned to wear a wig on the Joy of the Seas until last night when an alternative idea came to mind. After digitally altering a photo of himself stored in his computer to test several different looks, he decided to shave his head bald. It completely changed his appearance. When the actual deed was done, he was more than satisfied with the results. There wasn’t a chance in hell he would be recognized. In fact, just like the Cherie Tucker look-alike, by the time their vacation was over, he would have the agent and his family eating out of his hands.
After his shower, he donned a United States Immigration Officer’s uniform he had ordered through Uniformswarehouse.com several weeks prior. Not only was he able to purchase an outfit identical to those worn by immigration officers, an official badge was also available. It never ceased to amaze Shem what you could acquire these days through the Internet.
The previous Sunday, the same day he framed Ken O’Brien for drug possession, he went to the Broward County Animal Shelter in search for a full grown German shepherd. There were three pure breed adults available. After careful observation of their demeanor and willingness to obey commands, he chose the youngest and what he thought to be most trainable of the three. For the past week, he had put the dog through an intense training program teaching him to follow simple and complex instructions.
At 5:30am, he placed the provisions bag in the back of the Ford Expedition and ordered the dog into the backseat. The German shepherd happily leaped into the car and obediently laid down behind the front passenger’s seat. Before Shem got into the car, he admired the United States Immigration logo he had stenciled onto both sides of the vehicle.
It would take approximately fifteen minutes at this time of the morning to drive to Port Everglades from his apartment. He planned to wait in the employee parking lot until the Joy of the Seas was safely moored to the dock. As he approached the entrance to the port in his sports utility vehicle, he was excited to have his disguise tested for the first time. Port Authority officials verified the identification of each individual entering the property at their various checkpoints. He held up his badge and falsified immigration officer photo ID to the port agent seated in her booth. She instantly noticed the dog in the backseat and commented, “That’s a beautiful animal you have there, Officer. Anything going on at the port I’m not aware of?”
“Well Ma’am, you might have heard last week an employee of one of the cruise lines was arrested for possession of heroin. We’re concerned the cruise ships are being used for drug trafficking. This here’s my best friend Lucy. She’s gonna do some sniffing around this morning.”
“As a matter of fact, I did hear about that. The DEA has been swarming around the port all week. And it’s a good thing. There’s no place in this world for drugs in my opinion.”
“I agree Ma’am. Things are gettin' way outta hand. I’m trying to do my part.”
“Thank you for that, Officer. You have a great day. You can go on through.”
A handful of passengers, especially those staying in the higher end cabins and suites, sent their baggage to the ship in advance of the cruise date through a company known as Luggageforward. To get a head start on things, King Cruise Line’s baggage handlers ran these bags through the X-ray scanner in the early morning shortly after the ship arrived on the first day of the cruise. Once they passed inspection, they were stacked outside the luggage cargo hold where later all bags were loaded onto the ship. Being quite familiar with these procedures, Shem expected this process would be completed by six thirty or shortly thereafter.
He was patiently waiting in the Port Authority employee garage for the appropriate moment to make his way to the pier. As the King Cruise Line website reported that morning, the Joy of the Seas was right on time. The ship had been docked for the past hour and forty minutes. He figured by the time he walked to the terminal with the dog then to the pier, the Luggageforward bags would already be X-rayed and arranged next to the cargo hold.
When he entered the registration warehouse, he was greeted by a member of the King Purser’s staff. He held up his badge for her then said, “Good morning Ma’am. I’m Officer Steven Adams with the United States Immigration Department. Due to recent problems with drugs we’ve had here at the port, my K9 and I are going to do some looking around. I might have to board the ship.”
“You guys are in charge here. Be my guest. If you do need to board the ship, there are security guards posted at the gangway. I’m sure you know the drill.”
“Yes Ma’am. Thank you. Have a nice day.” Shem had no intention of getting on the ship if everything went according to plan. It would only become necessary if his calculations were off regarding the Luggageforward bags. In that case, things could get complicated. There were times when bags were received more than a week in advance and stored in a special location in the cargo hold. He didn’t want to have to make his way there from the inside.
After the sun rose, a light mist formed along the Intracoastal Waterway. Though visibility was somewhat inhibited, when Shem exited the building onto the dock, he was able to see that several hand carts of luggage were already situated in rows at the entrance to the cargo hold. The pier was essentially deserted, except for a few port employees who were performing some maintenance work on the dock. Shem ordered the dog to heal and headed in the direction of the baggage. The German shepherd obediently complied with every command barked by his new master without hesitation.
Arriving at the open hatch of the cargo hold, he found an area between hand carts where he would be out of sight of any potential onlookers. He checked the tags attached to the luggage on the carts to verify they were, in fact, being loaded for the upcoming cruise. Satisfied that these were the correct Luggageforward bags, he placed his suitcase/briefcase securely between two large bags then pulled a luggage ID tag from his pocket with his cabin information and tied it to the handle. He knew there was absolutely no chance the luggage handlers would open his bag. Not only was it securely locked, but to rummage through the personal property of a paying passenger was a firing offense. He was sure that when he entered his cabin as Isaac Jefferson, his suitcase would be waiting for him, untouched, on the luggage stand.
Certain no one saw him engaged in his clandestine act, he emerged from behind the hand carts and allowed the dog to sniff the immediate area. He didn’t want to linger too long and chance a meeting with a true immigration officer. Normally, it took a maximum of an hour and a half to clear customs and immigration from the time the ship docked. There were times, however, when it took longer or an immigration officer would stay behind to socialize with crew members. It was now just past 7:00am. There was little chance he would run into an officer, but there was no reason to risk it. The maintenance workers had either finished their job or were taking a break, leaving the dock deserted of any pedestrian traffic. Shem saw it as his opportunity to pick up his pace walking quickly up the dock toward the entrance to the building.
After passing through the doors into the terminal, he slowed to a normal speed as he turned toward the exit to the parking lot. Having successfully completed his morning errands, he decided to treat himself to breakfast in Ft. Lauderdale. Eventually, he would return to his apartment to change into more appropriate clothes for cruising and grab his larger suitcase. A smug and sinister smile distorted his face as he pulled into the Denny’s restaurant on Federal Highway just a mile or so from the port. He was excited to begin what he hoped would turn out to be a once in a lifetime vacation.
Chapter 17
The mood in the conference room of the FBI’s Miami field office was almost celebratory. Robert Leland was leading an impromptu meeting he arranged late that morning. Most of the members of the special task force assigned to the unknown serial murderer were attending. The New York agents were participating via teleconferencing. The room was buzzing with the new information Agent Leland was sharing with the group.
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br /> Earlier in the morning, in preparation for the task force conference, Leland called Annie Bryan to schedule a meeting at her office for the purpose of reviewing Damien Drysdale’s personnel file. The files of former employees were kept in a warehouse in western Broward County, in the city of Plantation. When Annie received the call from Leland briefly explaining Daniel’s new theory, she immediately sent a courier to the storage facility to locate the file and take it to her office. Leland wasn’t thrilled about sharing the information with her, but she was the only witness who could potentially identify Damien Drysdale as the suspect in the Hannah Richards surveillance tapes. He warned Annie that if she revealed the information to a soul, he wouldn’t hesitate to arrest her for obstruction of justice. She would have liked to have gone over the file before she met with him, but it had not yet arrived. Normally, she would inspect it thoroughly before turning it over to a law enforcement agency. In this instance, she decided to share the contents of the file with Leland right away. She wasn’t so concerned by his threat. King’s lawyers would protect her from Leland. In any case, she had no intentions of revealing the information to anyone. She wanted him caught just as badly as Leland and his team and time was of the essence. The murderer could strike again at any moment. This was not an opportunity to play corporate games. If there was any information that could help catch the suspect, it needed to be turned over to the authorities immediately. Lives could potentially be at stake. She didn’t want the next death on her conscience nor did she want to expose her company to any future liability.
Thinking back, Annie was able to call up a clear memory of Damien Drysdale. She remembered meeting him on several occasions on the Diamond. Though she thought nothing of it at the time, she had caught him staring at her quite often. She recalled getting the impression there was something odd about him, perhaps even creepy. Ultimately, she just dismissed his reticence and caginess as shyness. It wasn’t an unusual occurrence for men to take notice of her. Examining the photograph of him in the employee file, a shiver ran down her spine. She was reminded of how attractive she found him the first time she saw him.
Leland brought the airport surveillance tapes to the meeting as Daniel suggested. Aware Leland was intending to show them to her, Annie arranged for a television and VCR to be set up in the conference room. This time, she instantly recognized the man dressed as a rabbi to be Damien Drysdale. What confirmed her identification was something that had been trying to break out of the prison of her subconscious since the first examination of the tapes. Armed with the knowledge of Daniel’s new discovery, the second viewing jogged her memory that Drysdale had a habit of repeatedly clenching his right hand into a fist as did the suspect in the tapes. In her rush to a judgment that would benefit her company, she never really seriously considered Damien Drysdale was responsible for Paul Anderson’s disappearance. Perhaps if she had, she could have made the connection much sooner. While everyone else would ultimately be celebrating her identification, Annie felt like crawling into a hole. She was horrified that her carelessness, along with the delay caused by her memory lapse could have already resulted in serious consequences.
Leland, on the other hand, was reveling in the affirmation of his original suspicions. There were some high fives in the room when he relayed the details of his meeting with Annie to the task force. He spouted off a series of commands, warning everyone there was still plenty of work to be done, though he was beaming with self pride. They were currently waiting for the VICAP and photo comparison results. Leland was hoping to get his true identity and address from either a passport or driver’s license match. They also knew the suspect was quite proficient at falsifying identifications and in all probability it would take excellent detective work to locate him. Mancini didn’t hesitate to remind the group they still didn’t even know whether or not he was a citizen of the United States.
In search of clues about Drysdale’s nationality, Leland asked Annie at their earlier meeting if the man spoke with an authentic South African accent. To the best of her recollection, she never got the impression it wasn’t genuine. That certainly would have been something she would remember. If he was truly from South Africa, Leland’s previous exhaustive research of their government’s census records bore no fruit. He was able to find several name matches, though none of them fit the description of the suspect. Now that Annie was no longer willing to hide behind the work product privilege, she was more than happy to turn over his employee file and King’s entire investigative report regarding Paul Anderson’s disappearance.
Two agents on the task force had the exclusive responsibility of organizing and collating paperwork generated by the investigation. Leland handed them the King files and the tedious chore to ferret through them for any other helpful information. He assigned James Mancini to work at getting the South African police involved to make a real, concerted effort to locate Damien Drysdale. A more intense undertaking to determine if this identity was false was now absolutely necessary.
The last update Leland shared with the task force was information Annie provided to him later in the day when she had a chance to review their files and reflect more on the subject. She recalled that three other teenagers were lost overboard during the two years that Drysdale was on the Diamond. She indicated she would be faxing the investigative files for each of those disappearances later that afternoon. Leland was planning to review those reports, himself.
After the meeting dispersed and Leland returned to his office, he realized he forgot to call Daniel to advise him of the results of his meeting with Annie. He picked up his phone and dialed Daniel’s cell phone number. The call went straight to voicemail. Leland left a detailed message figuring his cruise ship must have already set sail. He then forwarded a text message to Daniel with a copy of the picture of Damien Drysdale previously scanned and downloaded onto his computer.
The first full day of the cruise was a sea day. The Falcones and Tylers decided to have breakfast in the main dining room that morning rather than eat at the buffet. The women were already beginning to worry about their waistlines and were hoping to keep the buffet trips to a minimum. It was going to be hard work since it was open eighteen hours a day and food was available around the clock.
The men had plans after breakfast to take advantage of a promotional event at the ship’s Sportsplex. A free, welcome aboard golf driving practice session was being offered by the cruise line and sign up was open for a competition later in the day. Deborah and her Mom had appointments for their complimentary spa treatments which were scheduled to last for a couple of hours. Daniel planned to check out the gym after he was through at the golf range. That would give Jack, who fancied himself as an amateur painter, a chance to check out the art auction that was supposed to take place at ten.
When they were through with breakfast, the girls headed back to their respective cabins to change for their appointment. The men went directly up to Deck 17 to put their names on the golf range waiting list and register for the afternoon event. Arriving at the Sportsplex, Jack and Daniel were surprised to see there were only two people in line ahead of them. Daniel recognized the man directly in front of him. He had been sitting alone, eating breakfast in the main dining room that morning. As they stood waiting their turn, the man introduced himself to Daniel and his father-in-law.
“Hi, I’m Isaac. Where you guys from?”
Daniel answered, “Nice to meet you, Isaac. I’m Daniel. This is my father-in-law, Jack.” They shook hands. Isaac had to exercise some restraint to refrain from wincing in repulsion as he touched their sweaty palms. “We live in the area. How ‘bout you? Where are you from?”
“Nice to meet you guys, too. I’m from Detroit... glad to be away from that mess. There’s about a foot of snow piled up in my driveway as we speak. This is paradise. I wouldn’t be hitting golf balls at home, that’s for damn sure.”
“I saw you in the dining room this morning,” said Daniel. “You were alone. Are you here with anyone?”
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Isaac was hoping to get to tell his story this morning. The agent was definitely observant. Isaac didn’t expect anything less. Since they asked, Isaac figured he might as well take advantage. He responded, “Actually, I’m travelling by myself. Believe it or not, this was supposed to be my honeymoon. It’s a little bit embarrassing. My fiancée left me at the altar.”
Feeling a little uncomfortable and not knowing what to say, Daniel mumbled, “That’s rough. Sorry to hear that.”
“Yeah, it wasn’t fun. I was seriously considering just stayin’ home and feelin’ sorry for myself. Then I thought, what the hell. Why waste a perfectly good cruise and the beautiful weather? So, here I am.”
“That’s the spirit, young man,” said Jack. “The right woman is out there for you somewhere. You never know. Maybe right here on this cruise.”
“I don’t think I’m interested in starting a new relationship any time soon. I suppose this’ll give me a chance to escape for a while, do a lot of thinking...just get my shit together.”
“Good thinking,” Jack replied. “I guess that was a stupid thing for me to say.”
“Don’t worry about it. It doesn’t mean I’m not interested in checking out the women.”
Jack asked, “What do you do for a living?”
“I’m a firefighter. I work for the Detroit Fire Department. You probably wouldn’t know from looking at me. I’m planning to hit the gym while I’m on the ship. Really, I’ve always wanted to work in law enforcement. So, I need to get back in shape.”