Shadow Stalker

by D W Cooperstein

  Colonel Richards turned away from me and stared out the window, nodded his head, then looked me in the eye. “Okay, Jim, I’ll help you in whatever way I can to find and capture this killer. You’ll have the full resources of the Bureau at your disposal. I’ll make sure that you have complete cooperation from the police department and all branches of law enforcement. You’ll also have complete access to the lab here. However, we’ll still control the operation from our end. Is that understood?”

  “Yes.”

  “I’ll make sure that Caroline Prichard is released from jail, but that might take several days. Just sit tight and wait. Jim, you’re our best hope at preventing further tragedy and death for the people of this great city. I want you to find this sick bastard and put him behind bars. The city is in terrible shape, and I’m counting on you to bring this terrorist to justice. Make all of us here at the Bureau proud.”

  “I’ll do my best.” I thanked him for his cooperation and friendship. Soon I gathered my things and left the Colonel’s office.

  I returned to Highgate with a heavy burden of responsibility. Finding the Shadow Stalker wasn’t going to be easy. This would be the hardest challenge of my life. I thought about all of the time and effort already spent on this case with nothing to show for it. I began to doubt my ability to find this person. And then I thought about all of the innocent people walking the streets. I made some coffee, then went into my study to plan my strategy to capture the most brilliant killer this city has ever seen.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  The Bureau and all of my friends in law enforcement cooperated fully with my working as an independent in the Shadow Stalker case. I got everything I asked for from Colonel Richards. I continued my investigation using the resources allocated to me in the Bureau. I had to be careful in preparing to catch this killer. I knew he was clever, and although I thought it unlikely, I was afraid the Shadow Stalker might flee the city. Wherever he was hiding, I was sure he felt safe.

  Shortly after the T5 rail station was bombed, and when Caroline was still waiting to be released from jail, I revisited the T5 bomb site. Having gone over surveillance tapes for weeks on end, I was familiar with the personal mark of the killer. The blast wreckage in these bombings was similar, and this recent bombing was no exception. Since these killings were still part of an ongoing police investigation, I let the investigators do their work. In no way were the police interfering with what I was attempting to do.

  I gathered five capable technicians from the lab at the Bureau, then we searched through the blast wreckage at T5. We were looking for clues in how these explosive materials were getting into the underground rail stations. The police found tiny remnants of bomb-making material. These materials were analyzed in the police lab and determined to be the same explosives used in all the other bombings. After several hours of concentrated observation, I left the bomb site and returned home. I grabbed a cold beer and relaxed. I tried to think some more about the case, but my mind returned to Sherbourne by the Sea. Memories of romantic weekends there with Caroline made me smile. I couldn’t wait for her to get out of jail so we could go back there. After a while I drifted off to sleep, listening to the music playing softly in the background.

  The next day I returned to T5 with my team from the lab and continued my work. As I searched through the rubble, I had the uneasy feeling that I was being watched. I was always receptive to the experience of intuition and open to these “feelings.” These feelings got stronger, and I felt I was being watched by The Shadow. At first, this thought was unnerving, but I just relaxed and accepted it. I knew if this killer wanted me dead, he would’ve already killed me.

  I needed a secure area in the lab to analyze the data collected by my team. Fortunately, an area had already been approved by Colonel Richards. I didn’t want any leaks coming from within the lab, the Bureau or elsewhere. Besides my handpicked team of lab techs, I consulted with Bob Smythe and James Madison. There were also a few other minor players I felt I could trust and confide in. By this time, I still had no idea who the Shadow Stalker was, but I had to follow my “intuitive nose” to wherever it would lead. I continued gathering evidence at the T5 bomb site. The feeling that I was being watched by the killer kept getting stronger.

  I returned to the lab the next day. I wanted to discuss some important details concerning plastic explosives found at the T5 bomb site.

  “Where’s Jim Madison?” I asked.

  “Oh, he left,” one of the lab techs told me.

  “Well,” I said, “Maddy probably went to the coffee shop around the block. He likes that place and usually goes there around this time for coffee.”

  “No, Mr. Watson, James Madison left the Bureau. He no longer works here.”

  “What?” I shouted. “What happened to him?”

  “Don’t really know, he just left. Didn’t give any reason. He cleaned out his office drawer one day and said goodbye. That’s all I know.”

  “Did he leave any forwarding address?”

  “No, sir,” the tech replied.

  I really liked the guy and would surely miss his sarcastic humor. He and I kept our colleagues at work in stitches when comic relief was at a premium. I wish I’d gotten the opportunity to say goodbye.

  I looked around the lab at all of the techs analyzing data and engaging in that miraculous process of discovery.

  “Where’s Agent Smythe?” I asked.

  John Quill, one of my friends in the lab and a surveillance expert, looked in my direction. “I think he’s checking out an important lead.”

  Bob Smythe was a critical thinker. As leader of the team investigating the Shadow Stalker killings, Bob insisted on checking out every lead. He was a real control freak. He took great pride in checking out every detail of the investigative unit that he was in charge of, and the men that he supervised. Being a stickler for detail, he became indispensable in investigating these subway bombings. Soon I left the lab and returned to Highgate. I grabbed a beer out of the fridge, opened it and turned on the television.

  My small team of lab techs worked hard into the night analyzing data we found at the T5 bomb site. These men were extremely thorough, and I trusted them with the work that needed to get finished. It had already been more than five months since my friends Rose Burtchell and Jim Stockwell had been murdered. I really missed talking to them on the train. It’s funny how casual friendships can develop and have a big impact on your life. As I drank my beer, I was hoping there’d be a breakthrough in the investigation.

  It was 11:05 p.m. when I received a call from Alex Rodriguez in the lab. He was the lead tech on my team, and another control freak. I’d known him for many years. He transferred to the Bureau around the same time I did. He was brilliant in analyzing data and surveillance video and had a working knowledge of most explosive materials. He called to report that the information I requested was ready to be picked up. He also told me that the photos I’d taken at T5 were ready as well. I couldn’t believe he’d processed that information so quickly. I was ecstatic. I told him I’d retrieve those materials at the drop point at 2:00 a.m.

  The drop point was near my apartment. I had to change that location when I felt I was being watched by the Shadow Stalker. After Caroline was jailed for the killings, I was extolled in the press as being the super sleuth who broke the case. I was the only one to bring in a credible suspect for these killings in almost three years. I was sure the killer took note of this, and I believed it piqued his curiosity and interest. Maybe this Watson guy wasn’t just another incompetent bumbling fool in the Bureau, running around chasing his tail. Maybe James Watson was someone to be reckoned with. I felt the terrorist, despite his brazen bombings throughout the city, was probably scared of getting caught. So, it seemed reasonable, and indeed logical, that he’d be watching out for anyone he thought might pose a direct threat.

  I stayed up late that night analyzing the data and pictures Alex dropped off. I was particularly interested in the photos. I examine
d the photos of the surrounding area outside the T5 rail station with powerful magnification. I was looking for anything of interest in the crowds outside the rail station. I was physically tired and wanted to go to bed, but I persevered. I kept drinking coffee. Eventually, I found what I was looking for. In analyzing the crowd of people outside the rail station, I spotted a person of interest. I recognized him. At first, I was surprised. What was he was doing there holding a pair of binoculars? He was quite a distance away from the rail station, but I still got a good look at his face. I kept studying the photo of this person. Soon I went to bed.

  Early the next day I made breakfast. In thinking about the case, I felt the Shadow Stalker was quite brazen in his attempt to defy the law. His arrogance was unbelievably reckless in his defiance of being caught. The problem was this man had no humility. His ostensible weakness in committing these crimes was an overt desire to challenge the Bureau every step of the way. One might think that after eight successful rail station bombings, especially with a good suspect in jail, any smart terrorist would see the virtue in stopping the bombings for a while to see how things would play out. Instead, he decided to strike again, even with Caroline behind bars and charged with those crimes. This suggested that he fit the initial profile I came up with early in the investigation. This killer’s arrogance represented a challenge to authority, and he had a serious weakness that I was more than willing to exploit. I knew the window of opportunity to catch him was closing fast, but in the end, I was confident that he would be captured.

  I felt that now I was being stalked by the killer on a daily basis. It was nothing in particular that made me feel this way. I kept thinking about the person in the photo that I had observed outside the T5 subway stop. For some strange reason, that same person kept popping up as I went about my business searching bomb sites. He was always seen in the photos that I’d taken as I went about my work at the various bomb sites around the city. It was like he was following me around, watching me intently.

  Before Caroline was released from jail, I thought about the problem of the surveillance videotapes. Over the course of the investigation, I spent hours, hundreds in all, reviewing those tapes, hoping to find clues as to who this terrorist was. I also wanted to know how the explosives were being brought inside the underground train stations. Given all the electronic monitoring devices deployed throughout the city, it occurred to me that something seemed out of place, something felt wrong with what I was observing on videotape. In the beginning, I was fooled into thinking that Caroline was the Shadow Stalker. Her flower bomb creations did pique my curiosity and interest. However, after that idea was eliminated in her jail room confession, it dawned on me that I was either dealing with an extremely brilliant criminal, or something was indeed wrong with the surveillance video I was watching. In sober contemplation, I wondered what that something was.

  The surveillance videotapes presented to the viewer an impossible paradox. On one hand, the explosives were real and quite effective. There was no doubt about that. But it remained a mystery as to how the explosive devices were getting inside the rail stations. I now believed they were carried in, put in some inconspicuous place, then detonated, ostensibly by the killer.

  If we blotted out the surveillance video cameras for a moment to concentrate on the explosives, it became clearer. The most obvious way to create the damage caused in the underground rail station bombings would be for an individual, or individuals, to carry the bombs into the rail stations. The bomber would leave the explosive device somewhere where it would attract little or no attention. The killer could then detonate the bomb from a safe location outside the rail station. Perhaps these bombs were equipped with preset timers to go off minutes after the train left the station. The evidence that these subway bombings were caused by devices containing plastic explosives was obvious.

  Now consider the surveillance videotapes. According to those tapes, there were never any suspicious people, packages, or any other evidence linking a carrier of the explosives into the rail station before the explosion occurred. The bomb was in the train station and blown up, either by remote or timed detonation, but how the bomb got into the station was inexplicable. That these tapes were recording what was going on inside the train stations at the time of the subway bombings now seemed questionable. What if someone had purposely carried the explosive devices into the train station and placed them somewhere, without it ever being recorded by surveillance videotape? In other words, what if the surveillance tapes had been tampered with by the killer himself? This was certainly a possibility, and one that I looked into in great detail. If those tapes were doctored by the killer, that would explain how the terrorist got away with the bombings, and how he could sustain his anonymity. Here was the paradox, or missing link, of how the bombs got into the train stations. I pondered this thinking in my study. In a few days Caroline would be released from jail, and I was looking forward to having her back in my arms.

  In my apartment, the swirls of pipe smoke slowly drifted to the ceiling of my study while I was lost in deep thought. To continue with my latest thinking, however, I needed to consult with some of my trusted friends in the police department. I needed additional information to help unravel this mystery. I spoke to Brandon about how the surveillance tapes could be doctored up in such a way as to remove all traces of the killer’s identity. I also wanted to know how the killer could selectively remove incriminating evidence. After conferring with the men in the police lab for several hours, I returned to Highgate. I needed to mull over this new information.

  After a cold beer, I walked into my workshop and started looking at all the evidence I recently collected at the T5 bomb site. As I was combing through the rubble, I noticed something, picked it up and studied it. I was overjoyed and surprised. The Shadow Stalker had finally made a mistake. He dropped something incriminating on the ground at the bomb site. And just a day before Caroline was scheduled to be released from jail it came to me. Eureka! I had confirmed the identity of the monster who had been terrorizing my city.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  Thanks to the men in the lab, my plan to catch this crazed killer was well underway. I kept the most important details of the investigation, along with the killer’s identity, to myself. I didn’t want any critical information to leak out. Now, I could feel the Shadow Stalker breathing down my neck. I didn’t know how he’d come after me, so I had to protect myself from leaks, especially within the Bureau. I remained vigilant in protecting myself from danger, not allowing the killer to gain any advantage. I had to be extremely careful with everyone I spoke to, especially those in law enforcement. I couldn’t let anybody know what I was thinking about this individual. My greatest fear was that the Shadow Stalker would panic and try to flee the city if I tipped my hand. I had him within my grasp, and I wouldn't let him escape.

  On the day before Caroline was released from jail, I approached my boss and told him that I wanted to leave the Bureau temporarily to pursue the terrorist. At first, he was reluctant: this wasn’t part of our original agreement. After some careful thought, however, he agreed to my request. The Colonel reassured me that the entire resources of the Bureau, police and law enforcement, including the lab, would still be available. I’d work mostly alone with help from only a few trusted colleagues at the Bureau.

  Unfortunately, the news that the Shadow Stalker was still out there was leaked to the media. The population of the city was terrified again. People called in sick at work. Everywhere I went I saw terror in the faces of frightened commuters. The fear of the Shadow Stalker returned stronger than ever. I tried to reassure people on the street not to be afraid, but everyone had lost faith in the criminal justice system. We had failed miserably in our responsibility to protect the people. But that was going to change. I’d find this terrorist and drag him to jail if it was the last thing I ever did.

  Caroline was released several days after the recent explosion at T5. The media frenzy at the jail became impossible. I wanted to
get her away from the hordes of reporters. There was a healthy throng of well-wishers that surrounded her as she left the jail. I hired a car to drive Caroline to her apartment. I told her driver to take as many circuitous routes as necessary to lose the trailing media. As promised, Caroline was fully exonerated from any crimes connected to the Shadow Stalker killings. The T5 subway bombing convinced most people that she wasn’t the terrorist after all. Friends and sympathizers flocked to her side, touting strongly held beliefs of police brutality in loyal support of her. At this time of delicate public opinion concerning law enforcement, I got the Bureau to drop the dynamite charge against her, so now she was free to go home. This was great news.

  Fortunately, I was feeling pretty good these days. I no longer needed to see my psychiatrist, Dr. Aldridge. She had been wonderfully helpful to me. Dr. Aldridge wished me well and said she enjoyed working with me. I felt a little sad saying goodbye. I was most appreciative of how she helped me understand and heal the disconnect between my head and heart. We hugged as I left her office for the last time.

  On the day Caroline was released from jail, I went to visit her at her apartment. I had previously scheduled a doctor’s appointment in the morning at the hospital, but after that I went to see her in the early afternoon. This was the first time we’d been together in freedom in more than two months. The next day, I surprised her by renting a cabin at our old and familiar haunt by the sea. She loved it. The weather was bright and sunny, but cold. With the love that burned between us, we kept each other warm and happy. I hadn’t been with her in the longest time, and you might say that I was overdue. The love we made in the cabin that weekend was as hot and passionate as any in our long and loving relationship.