"And what about your birth parents?"
She shrugged and said, "I guess they didn't want me."
"But you don't know for sure?"
"I don't care," she said. "I had parents. They raised me and I love them. There's no need for me to go looking for the people who gave birth to me. That doesn't make them my parents."
"Well… maybe Brady won't be as well adjusted as you obviously are."
They sat in silence for a while and then she said, "It's… nice of you."
"What is?"
"Wanting him to know," she said. "It's… decent."
"Thanks."
"So this case is keeping you from working on that?"
He explained that the Sanders case had been taken away and given to Jackson.
"The detective who was killed?"
"That's right."
"But I thought he was part of your task force."
"He was."
"Then…"
"Nobody was working on the other case," Keough said.
"I guess you want to get back to it, then."
"I will," he said, "right after we catch this Mall Rat." She went back to the book, which she was almost finished re-reading, and he went back to watching Klemm Street.
***
On the fifth day, he got an idea.
"A decoy."
"What?" Connors asked.
"We looked into using a decoy, but we don't have anyone who fits the description."
"Not even with a wig?"
"No."
"Well, what would you do with a decoy, anyway?" she asked. "I mean, which mall would you place her in?"
"Whichever one he happens to be going to."
"Explain."
"If we had a decoy we could keep her on alert, ready to go at a moment's notice to whatever mall he's heading for at the time."
"And how would you know where he's headed?"
"We could figure that out easily enough," he said. "The important thing would be to keep her ready to go in an instant."
She read the last page of O'Donnell's book then put it in the back seat.
"That could work," she said.
"Sure, it could-if you have someone who matches our victim profile."
"I'm sure we could come up with someone who fits the description," she said, grabbing the radio. "What is it, exactly?"
"Blond, Caucasian, late twenties to early thirties, and in incredible physical condition."
"These are mothers we're talking about?"
"Yes, but mothers who keep in shape. They run, they work out. They dress to show their bodies off."
"This leaves me out," she said, wryly, "but I can get somebody."
"How soon?"
"She'll be here tomorrow."
For the first time on stakeout Keough was hoping that Pautz wouldn't move today.
60
True to her word Agent Harriett Connors had a decoy in the Major Case office the next morning.
"This is Agent Angela Tompkins," she said, making the introductions to Keough and Captain McGwire. "What do you think?"
"She's perfect," Keough said, and she was-in more ways than one.
Angela Tompkins was tall, blond, in her late twenties, and about as physically fit a female as Keough had ever seen.
"Has everything been explained to you, Agent Tompkins?" he asked.
"Call me Angela, please," she said in a throaty, sultry voice that completed her picture of perfection. "And yes, Harriett explained my job. I've brought along the right kind of clothes."
"We'll have to get her a stroller," Keough said.
"And a baby?" McGwire said.
"A doll would probably do," Keough said. "Just bundle it up." Keough turned to Angela. "Can you manage to look like a young mother?"
"I think so. I have a three-year-old of my own."
"Good." McGwire turned to Keough and Connors. "You two better relieve your partners. I'll take care of Miss-uh, Agent Tompkins."
"Her partner should be here any minute," Connors said. "And we have a car for them. Just give them a radio and we should be all set."
"I hope this works," McGwire said. "I'm getting tired of the waiting."
On the way out to their car Connors said to Keough, "He's getting tired?"
***
Steinbach and Hannibal had not been getting along as well as Keough and Connors. In fact, after the second day they were barely speaking to each other.
"What about you and Connors?" Steinbach had asked.
"We're engaged," Keough said.
"Yeah, well," Steinbach had replied, "don't invite me and Hannibal to the wedding."
Now when they relieved the two mismatched partners, they explained to them about the decoy.
"Tompkins?" Hannibal said. "Do I know her?"
"No," Connors said, "the computer came up with her from the Denver office."
"How is she?" Steinbach asked Keough."
"She's perfect," he said. "You'll see when you get back to the office."
"Let's break this up before we attract too much attention," Connors suggested.
She and Keough walked back to their car as Steinbach and Hannibal pulled away in theirs.
"Maybe we should switch places with them," Keough said, as they settled in. "They're not getting along."
"It wouldn't help," she said. "You wouldn't get along with Hannibal, either."
"What's his problem?"
"What else?" she asked. "He's young."
"We should all have that problem."
"We have," Connors said, "and we managed to live through it."
"Think he will?"
"Only if I don't kill him first," she said.
***
After a full week Keough and Connors started their eighth day on stakeout with a bag of donuts to celebrate what Keough called their first anniversary.
"How sweet," she said, digging into the bag. "What's your record?"
"For what?"
"For a stakeout," she said. "What's your record?"
"Twenty-two days, when I was working vice."
"I was on stakeout for three months, once," she said. "Ninety-six days, to be exact."
"Never had that much time to devote to one case in New York," Keough said. "I'm sort of glad of that."
"I was a lot younger," Connors said. "I had better kidneys."
They drank their coffee and ate their anniversary donuts and then Connors said, "Eight days, Joe. What's this guy thinking?"
"I don't know."
"Maybe he's going to stop," she said, looking at Keough. "It's happened before, you know, like Zodiac."
"I hope that's not it, Harriett," Keough said.
"You really want this guy, huh?"
"He's killed women," Keough said, "beautiful, vibrant women, a baby, and a cop. Yeah, you could say I want him."
"Then maybe he knows we're onto him," she said. "Maybe he knows we're here."
"I'd prefer that."
"Why?"
"Because then he'd still make a move, eventually," Keough said, "and I think we've got hin covered."
"I think so, too."
"But I don't think that's it."
"Why not?"
"He's not smart enough to know that we're onto him."
"Oh, that's right," Connors said, "I forgot. You think we've got a killer on our hands who's been operating on pure, blind, dumb luck."
"That's right."
"I still disagree," she said. "I don't think a serial killer can be dumb."
"Your profile, again?"
"That's right."
"Well," Keough said, "what about the organized and disorganized killers?"
"You have read all the material, haven't you?"
"How else would I know that I don't buy all of it?"
"But you do buy the organized/disorganized theory?"
"One of the killers in New York was disorganized, this one more so."
"I think you're confusing disorganized with unintelligent," Connor
s said. "Maybe you should do some more reading."
"Maybe we'll just find out when we catch him, huh?"
"That's what we're hoping."
61
He couldn't wait any longer.
Killing the cop had scared him. He'd been scared when he heard the man break in, scared when he realized he was killing him, and scared after he dumped him, scared that he'd be caught. But he hadn't been.
Nobody had come looking for him but a UPS man, and even that had scared him.
But he wasn't scared, anymore.
It had been long enough. He was no rocket scientist, he knew that, but he was smart enough to know that if the police knew he'd killed a cop they would have come for him by now. He'd watched enough NYPD Blue and New York Undercover to know that.
He looked at the pile of catalogues the UPS man had brought him a week ago. He'd never gotten anything from UPS before, and he enjoyed leafing through the catalogues. A couple of them sold porno movies, but he didn't see any tides he liked. Still, even the pictures in the catalogues had been enough to remind him he had a need that had to be taken care of.
Eight days was too long.
The last time he'd gone out looking, though, he'd almost gotten caught. And then the thing with the cop happened. He decided just to go to his favorite mall, take his time, pick himself out a good one, and go slow.
It was time.
62
"He's on the move," Connors said, and then, "He's on the move."
The first had been to alert Keough, who had his eyes closed, and the second was into the radio to alert the other cars.
"Let's stay with him," Keough said.
She started the car, drove to Klemm and turned left. It was seven blocks to Shaw Boulevard and then he turned left.
"It's going to be up to you to guess which mall he's heading for," Connors reminded Keough. "Let's see if this plan of yours is going to work."
Pautz, driving a four-door Dodge Dart that seemed to be held together by dirt and rust, passed Vandeventer Avenue and continued to Kingshighway. He took Kingshighway to Highway 40 and headed west.
"Galleria," Keough said.
"How can you be sure?"
"He could get off sooner and go to Crestwood, or he could pass it by and head for West County," Keough said-this case had made him nearly an authority on St. Louis malls. "But I think he's heading back to the Galleria."
"Back?"
Keough nodded and said, "Back to where it all started, Harriett."
"Okay," she said, picking up the radio, "it's your call. Let's get our decoy over to the Galleria."
***
As they approached the Brentwood Boulevard exit of Highway 40, Keough held his breath. If Pautz went by it would mean he might be going to West County- Keough's bird mall-and Keough didn't know if they'd be able to get their decoy over there fast enough. To his relief Pautz pulled his Dodge Dart Dirt Machine off Highway 40 and onto Brentwood Boulevard.
They followed him into the parking lot. It was early, and there were spots. They parked one aisle over from him and followed him in on foot, Connors on her hand unit the whole time. Keough told her to have the decoy meet them near the St. Louis Bread Company.
Keough and Connors followed Pautz into the mall through the door that was below FAO Schwarz. The secondary car pulled into the parking lot after them and the agents were just a few seconds behind them. Keough grabbed one of the men as he came through the automatic doors.
"Stay with him, and stay on the radio."
"Right."
The man was FBI so Keough said, "Mall security is on the same frequency. They'll be working with us."
"I understand."
Keough turned to Connors.
"Let's go meet the decoy."
"Right."
She had been on the radio with the decoy all the way to the mall.
"She's just a few minutes away," she said. "We just have to hope he doesn't pick a victim before we're ready to go."
"If he picks a victim," Keough said, "we'll have to be ready."
Keough checked in with the FBI man who was following Pautz, wishing that the man knew the mall.
"Where are you?" he asked.
"We're walking past a bookstore."
"Which one?"
"Waldenbooks," the man said, "on the first level."
"Stay with him."
"Right."
"And let me know if you see a woman who matches his type. Got it?"
"I understand."
Keough called in to mall security then and asked for the captain to meet him at the St. Louis Bread Company with some men. He also asked for the Richmond Heights man who was on duty to meet with them.
By the time the decoy came in with her stroller through the doors near the St. Louis Bread Company, Keough and Connors had been joined by Captain Battle of mall security, two of his men, and Officer Hartley from Richmond Heights. Add to that the FBI man who had driven the decoy, and they had a nice crowd.
"If he sees us he's going to get spooked," Connors said. "There's too many of us."
"You're right," Keough said. He spoke into the radio to the man tailing Pautz, the Mall Rat. "Where are you?"
"Second level," the man said, "passing a bookstore for kids."
"He's walking in this direction," Keough said to Connors, "but two sections away and upstairs. We've got a few minutes."
Keough used those few minutes to explain things to Hartley and to the mall security captain.
"What do you want my men to do?" the captain asked.
"Just be ready," Keough said. "Walk the mall like normal, but don't pay any undue attention to our man until you hear from me."
"Do you want the exits covered?"
"Have you got enough men?"
"To cover the main exits, yes," the captain said, "but not to cover the exits to the covered parking."
"Our man won't go there," Keough said. "Just cover the exits."
"And grab him if he tries to leave?"
"No," Keough said, "not unless I say so. There are two reasons he would leave the mall. First, if he's got a victim and he's following her to her car, and second, if he gives up."
"He shouldn't give up," Tompkins, the decoy said, "because we're giving him a victim."
She had gone all out, wearing a spandex running suit that showed off the flesh of her legs, abdomen, shoulders and arms-all well toned-as well as her taut butt. It was a little cool for such an outfit, but Keough hoped the killer wouldn't mind.
"If he doesn't go for you," Keough said, "he's crazier than I think."
She smiled at the compliment.
The stroller she had was an umbrella type, very common these days, and in it was a doll, bundled up to- hopefully-resemble a baby.
"Where should I set up?"
"Come with me," Keough said, grabbing her arm. Connors followed.
Keough pulled her to the center of the mall, where the fountains were, speaking into the radio.
"Where are you?"
"He's looking in FAO Schwarz," the FBI responded.
"We've got time," Keough said. "If he stays on the second floor we can catch him at the coffee stand."
"Where?" Tompkins said. "We just left the coffee-"
"There's one on the second level. Come on, we'll take the escalator." He turned to Connors. "You're going to have to coordinate everyone. I'll stay with Tompkins."
"Okay."
"Let's go," he said to the decoy.
"Can I have a latte?" she asked.
"I'll buy you anything you want," Keough said, "if it'll catch the bastard."
63
He was taking his time, actually browsing as he walked through the mall. He had decided, upon entering, to turn right, walk to the end of the mall, then take the escalator to the second level and walk back again, all the way to the other end, where Famous Barr was. From there he'd come back down and walk the downstairs before finally checking the food court, which was at the center of the mall, downst
airs from where he first entered.
He stopped for a moment at FAO Schwarz to see if there were any mothers shopping in there. There were, and one was his type, but she had a toddler with her, holding it by the hand. There was no stroller in sight, so he moved on.
He walked past Barnes & Nobles and kept walking until he could stop and look down at the fountain. Sometimes young mothers with their babies in strollers would stop and look at the water. He stood that way for several minutes, but did not see anyone, and moved on.
When he got to the coffee place on the second level he almost stopped short, she was that perfect.
She was wearing her long blond hair in a ponytail and was clad in a tight-fitting running suit. The firm flesh of her legs, arms, and tummy was bare, and he felt the heat in his groin. He continued to walk past her, slowing to look her over as she sat with her coffee, leaning over every so often to check the baby in the stroller.
Perfect.
***
Keough watched with satisfaction as Pautz slowed when walking past Agent Tompkins. He had taken up position in the Museum Store, which was diagonally across from the coffee place, in a branch of the mall that led to covered parking. The killer slowed, but didn't stop, and eventually walked past the Museum Store. Keough could see clearly the hungry look on the face of the Mall Rat.
They had dangled the bait, and he had obviously seen it. Now they needed to wait for him to make a move.
"Connors," he said into the radio, "he's seen her."
"What's he doing?"
"Nothing yet. Stand by."
Instead of continuing on, the Mall Rat began to walk in a circle, bypassing the escalators. Eventually he was right across from Agent Topmkins, he on one side of the downstairs fountain, and she on the other, in a position where he could still watch her, but far enough away not to be seen-he thought.
"Come on, come on," Keough said to himself.
"Can I help you, sir?" a middle-aged female clerk asked him.
"Huh? Oh, no, just looking."
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