Night Fall

by Nancy Mehl

  “But that drug is preventative,” Stephen said. “What happens if someone is exposed to Ebola?”

  Grace paused a moment, then said, “We don’t have a magic drug that kills it. One on the horizon shows great promise, but it hasn’t been approved for use in the United States. And before anyone asks, no, the drugs that worked for COVID-19 won’t treat Ebola. For now, all we can do is hydrate victims, balance their fluids and electrolytes, maintain their oxygen status and blood pressure, and treat them with antibiotics to address any secondary infections.” She shook her head. “But again, if the virus has been altered, we may not be able to do anything to help.”

  “What’s the mortality rate for those infected with Ebola?” Mike asked.

  “Around ninety percent. All of you who will be in the field will be vaccinated with Ervebo. I hope it keeps you safe, but as I said, we don’t know what we’re dealing with. Will this vaccine work for a mutated strain? I can’t answer that. All we can do is go by what we know now. If you pray, this is the time to do it.”

  Although Alex felt a call to prayer wouldn’t help, it was clear Grace was extremely concerned. All Alex had wanted since that day at school was to be a behavioral analyst for the FBI. For the first time, she wished she was back in the field. She wanted to go out there and find this guy. But that wasn’t her job. She and Logan had to narrow the possibilities so the field agents could capture the Train Man before he unleashed the virus. And she intended to do just that.

  23

  Alex stood, and with their notes in front of her, she began to go through the assessment she and Logan had put together.

  “I know Monty’s been working with you, giving you some preliminary ideas about our subject. But things have changed because we now have a solid suspect. What we’re giving you today isn’t a profile, since that’s a procedure we go through when we don’t know who our subject is. But I’m going to present this assessment as if we didn’t believe Adam Walker is our suspect. With that approach, I think you’ll learn some things that may help you find him.”

  She reached down and, lifting her cup, took a sip of water. As she put it back she said, “We were certain from the beginning that our subject was probably a white male between twenty-five and thirty-five—”

  An agent she didn’t know raised his hand. “I can remember only one time when the BAU presented a profile where they believed the UNSUB was over forty. Why is that?”

  “I guess it’s because almost all serial killers are white males between twenty-five and thirty-five. All we’re really doing is following statistics. Of course, there have been some exceptions. Even female serial killers. Aileen Wuornos comes to mind. And Black serial killers—Wayne Williams, Samuel Little. Little claims to have killed ninety-three women.”

  Alex looked around the table. “I also want to point out that there’s a big difference between our subject and the other serial killers I mentioned. Wuornos killed men she believed had raped her or were planning to rape her. Whether or not that was true, she had a particular target for her inner rage. Samuel Little killed only women, most of them marginalized, women addicted to drugs or involved in prostitution. When asked why, his answer was ‘Well, God put me here to do this.’ I believe his inner anger was directed toward his mother, who was a prostitute. In his mind, he was killing his mother.

  “But our current subject is different from Wuornos and Little. His killings are based on the availability of his victims. He’s not looking for a specific kind of person to murder. His victims have been two white males, a Black male, and a Hispanic woman. His signature is his complete commitment to The Book. One thing that does connect our subject to Little is that he also believes his actions are directed by some kind of divine being. Usually we would call a killer who chooses victims at random an unorganized killer, but this guy has a specific plan. The victims aren’t important, but the MO is. He’s presenting a sacrifice. And he always chooses trains to display his bodies. That’s why I say he’s an organized psychopath.”

  “He leaves the victims lying on their backs,” Stephen said, “with their hands folded. Usually that’s a sign of remorse, right?”

  “In most cases that’s true,” Alex said. “But remember, he stabs his victims. It’s personal. Usually that’s a sign of anger. Most people who commit murder don’t enjoy it. They have a goal. A reason they consider valid. They may be angry, but they don’t want to get their hands dirty, so they either poison or shoot their victims from a distance. Much more tasteful.”

  A twitter of laughter erupted around the circle, but she ignored it and looked at Stephen. “You asked about the subject showing remorse. That’s not what he’s doing. He’s showing respect toward the being he calls the Master. This is a divine sacrifice. In his mind, it should be treated as such.”

  “So we can’t predict his next move,” Karen said. “His victims are random. This makes it much harder.”

  “That would be true, except we do know what he plans to do next.” Alex took a sheet of paper out of her notebook.

  “‘When the Virgin who shall be washed in blood, the final sacrifice, is offered to the Master, the demons will be unleashed, and the angels will make war with the evil ones. This sacrifice will be holy, and the one who offers it will be elevated in the Master’s kingdom. He is the Destroyer. The one called to fulfill the will of the Master. Long live the Master!’”

  “That’s from The Book, isn’t it?” Stephen asked.

  “Yes. Walker believes he’s called to be the Destroyer. He won’t change his mind. Reasoning with him won’t work. Nothing will stop him because he believes his orders are from above.” Alex stopped and took another drink of water. When she put down her cup, her gaze traveled around the table again. “Every sacrifice we’ve found so far has been several days old. From his letter to the newspaper, I think the fifth sacrifice has already occurred, and we’ll find it today.”

  “As you know,” Harrison said, “detectives are on their way to Union Station. We have reason to believe that’s where the fifth body will be discovered.”

  “We’ve notified the Kansas City Southern Railroad,” Stephen said. “They’ve sent our message to all personnel, and they’re keeping a strict watch on all their trains. But so far they haven’t found anything.”

  “This sacrifice may be a little different, but it will be train related,” Alex said. “Our subject has to stick to his MO.”

  “But the sixth sacrifice has to be a virgin?” Stephen asked. “What does that mean and why?”

  One of the detectives made a joke about Stephen not knowing any virgins. Most of the men around the table laughed, but she noticed Logan didn’t.

  It was hard for her to get out the next words. “He will want to be certain the sacrifice is a virgin. Our worst fear is . . .”

  “You’re saying he might kill a child, aren’t you?” Karen said.

  Alex nodded. No laughter this time.

  “A child?” Stephen said. “We can’t let that happen. Tell us how to stop him.”

  “We’ll get to that in a moment,” Alex said. “Let me finish telling you more about our subject. He was brought up in unusual circumstances. It twisted him. He doesn’t think like you or me. I’m convinced that his parents worshiped The Book and read it to him. He was also acquainted with a very dark nursery rhyme.” Alex read the Train Man poem.

  “Yeah, we’ve seen that thing,” one of the detectives said. “Who in their right mind would read it to a kid?”

  “Exactly my point. Walker’s upbringing was unusual, but he believes he’s finally found his destiny. His purpose for living. He believes he’s a demon, and the only thing in The Book for a demon to do is bring about this war. The Train Man is doling out judgment.”

  “Is he doing this at the bidding of the Circle?” Karen asked.

  “We don’t know. Maybe. Members are supposed to be angels, not demons, but it’s possible someone wants the prophecy to come to pass sooner than later and is using Walker to do it. M
eanwhile, we’re trying to untwist the truth according to The Book from the opinions expressed by my aunt. For example, a lot of people think the quote “cleanliness is next to godliness” is in the Bible. It’s not. It was first used in this context by Sir Francis Bacon. Some of what we think is truth expressed through The Book might only be Willow LeGrand’s personal beliefs. I know you’re going through it carefully, but it’s massive, and much of the language is archaic.”

  “Has this guy ever hurt children that we know of?” a detective asked.

  “No. And this is where our normal profile goes against what we know about Adam Walker. We’re certain he’s obtained the virus. He’s admitted he has it, and he’s quoted The Book. I believe he’s the person we’re looking for, but I can’t explain some things. For example, according to his coworkers, he’s married and has two kids. Seems to adore his family. Left work early or begged off company parties more than once so he could be with them—or because a child was sick. He said his wife’s name is Sally and his children are Gabby and Trey. But no one has been able to find a marriage license or locate the children in any school in the area around the killings. I doubt he’s traveling far distances to make his sacrifices. Missouri is important to him. I believe he was raised in this part of the country.”

  “Is it impossible for him to be from someplace else?” Grace asked, looking at Alex but then glancing at Logan.

  Logan answered. “No, not impossible, but unlikely. All we can do is draw conjecture based on this guy’s actions and what we’ve learned from other serial killers. Hopefully, we’re right, and it will help you narrow the search.” He glanced up at Alex. “I agree completely with SSA Donovan. I must admit that the family thing is unusual and gives me pause, but everything else we know lines up.”

  “Are his parents living?” a detective asked.

  “His father, Charles Walker, died quite a few years ago,” Alex said. “We haven’t been able to locate the mother. Is that information correct, Stephen?”

  Stephen nodded. “We found both their birth certificates and their wedding license, Adam’s birth certificate, and the father’s death certificate, but no death certificate for the mother, Agnes. We talked to neighbors in Independence, where Adam spent his teen years, and they said he and his father lived alone. One of them said Charles told them his wife left when Adam was two, but we know that’s not true. Adam was around seven when they moved away from their house in Kansas City, and the neighbors there said his mother was with them when they left.”

  He took a deep breath. “We don’t know where the three moved to when they left Kansas City, but he was probably close to twelve when he and his father landed in Independence without the mother. That makes their whereabouts when he was between the ages of seven and twelve unknown. We’re not sure where they were living those five years, and we have no information as to what happened to the mother during that time. We’ve searched for her but found nothing.”

  He went on. “The neighbors in Independence confirmed that Adam’s upbringing was strange. The father wanted nothing to do with anyone else. Never accepted invitations from the neighbors, and Adam never spent time with the other teens in the neighborhood. Father and son spent all their time together. It seemed the father homeschooled Adam. We talked to the college Adam attended.” Stephen sighed. “They had his records, but no one actually remembered him. Well, one professor recalled him, saying he was brilliant because of the work he did, but he couldn’t describe Adam. It’s like he was a ghost.”

  “No other relatives?” an agent asked.

  “One cousin. Adam’s family visited Agnes’s sister only once, when the boys were both around eleven. That’s another reason we know Charles was lying about Agnes leaving when Adam was two. We’re not sure why. Maybe he just didn’t want to deal with questions. The cousin, a Randall Burkhart who now lives in Michigan, remembers the visit. He said Adam was so odd it gave him the willies, so he was just as glad they never came back. Randall’s mother passed away two years ago, but he says she had no idea where Adam is. They never heard from her sister or him again.”

  “So did the father stay in Independence after Adam went to college and got the lab job in Kansas City?” Harrison asked.

  Stephen shrugged. “Maybe he would have, but he died. Lung cancer. We’re stuck when it comes to other relatives. Charles was an only child, and Agnes had just that one sister. The cousin is no help at all. All the grandparents are deceased.”

  “This doesn’t make sense,” a detective from Wichita interjected. “Didn’t the father or mother work? Didn’t they have jobs?”

  “When he and Adam lived in Independence, the father had a job with a local trucking company. But before that we can’t find any employment records for either parent. And they didn’t seem to pay taxes. That might mean they worked for people who paid cash. No way to track that. There wasn’t a checking account or a credit card. All the family’s bills in Kansas City and Independence must have been paid with money orders. Same for wherever they were in between.”

  “How could Adam afford college?” Logan asked.

  “He got a full ride. The guy is really smart. Aced all his classes. Went to work for the lab in Kansas City as soon as he graduated.”

  “What do you think happened to the mother?” Harrison asked.

  Stephen shrugged again. “When we couldn’t find a trace of her after they left Kansas City, we asked the Independence PD to check out any house where we know Adam and his father lived. They were searched from top to bottom, even checking the yards and pulling up the floors in the basements, just in case. Nothing. The people living there now weren’t too happy about it, but we needed to know that they hadn’t killed the mother and buried her somewhere on the property.”

  “Nice thought,” Mike said.

  “Well, she went somewhere. Frankly, I think maybe she just got tired of living off the grid and wanted a new life. Changed her name and is living a life of ease somewhere. We just don’t know.”

  Alex waited to be sure Stephen was finished before saying, “Thanks. I think you can see why we believe Adam Walker is our UNSUB. I believe his adolescence was abnormal, so he was looking for an identity. We know he was aware of the Train Man nursery rhyme, and we believe he has the virus. We’re also certain that he planned this thing with Martin Kirabo.”

  “So how do we stop him?” Karen asked.

  “By understanding him,” Logan said. “Remember, he believes he’s fulfilling a calling. He isn’t doing this because he’s angry or wants attention. He’s committed to becoming this Destroyer that The Book talks about. Dump any investigative techniques you’ve used tracking other criminals. He’s different. Try to understand him. Try to understand The Book. It’s our best bet to get in front of him.” Logan looked at Harrison. “And talk to Jimmy Gedrose. Besides The Book, he’s the best tool you’ve got.”

  When Logan finished, Harrison stood and gazed around the table. “Okay, we have our suspect. I want you to go over every word of that book. We’ll get Gedrose here as soon as possible.” He stopped for a moment and looked down. When he raised his head he said, “Anyone else have ideas of how to stop Walker before he releases that virus?”

  The silence from those looking back at him spoke volumes. Would they be able to find Walker in time? Alex wasn’t so sure.

  24

  Fred Voorhees had been working at Union Station for forty years. He was in charge of maintenance and had a large crew to supervise. In all that time, he’d never been involved in anything as weird as what was happening now. The police had shut down the station. They were looking for a body, and they were convinced it was here somewhere. Fred had offered to help them look, but they’d turned him down. Yet so far they hadn’t found anything. He doubted they would. If a dead body was anywhere in the station, he and his crew would have found it.

  He was about to tell one of them they were wasting their time when he remembered something. He’d heard them say something about a bench, and a wh
ile back he’d put a broken bench in the storage room where they kept damaged equipment. He shuffled to the door that led to the room, but before he opened it, he stopped long enough to spit the tobacco he’d been chewing into a trash can and shove a fresh wad into his mouth. It was a bad habit, but his wife wasn’t here to lecture him about mouth and throat cancer. He didn’t chew around her. And when he retired, he’d stop. But for now, this was one pleasure he wasn’t willing to give up.

  As he rounded a corner in the storage room, he saw the bench. It had something on it. At first he wasn’t sure what it was, but as he got closer, he picked up a strange odor. He’d fought in Vietnam. He knew that smell. He walked slowly toward the bench. As he pulled back the tarp that covered it, he already knew what he was going to find. When he saw it, he backed up, spit out his tobacco, and then threw up. When he was certain he was finished, he pulled out his phone.

  As he punched in his boss’s number, he wondered if waiting two years to retire was about two years too long.

  Most of the team believed they knew the identity of their target and that the fifth victim would be found at Union Station, but they still had to find Walker. As they all returned to their stations, Harrison ordered Logan, Monty, and Alex to stay at the CP in case they could help the team further.

  Monty had left the room, and Logan was frustrated with their lack of progress as he and Alex sat at the large table, going over their assessment. They’d been running behind on finding the bodies from the beginning. So many trains, so many cars, and so much time when no one was around to see what was happening to trains waiting for their next run. So far, the Train Man had had plenty of time to prepare his sacrifices without being interrupted.

  They needed to concentrate on what he would do next. If there was any way to find him before he killed his sixth victim, their time in Kansas City would be well spent. But there just wasn’t anything new as they pored over all the records dug up by the team. Mike had given them descriptions of people he remembered visiting Willow’s house, especially those he thought could have been there for Circle meetings. But except for Jimmy Gedrose and Marcus Pannell, they hadn’t been able to match his information to anyone specific.