by Paris Morgan
“Yes. If you can give me a few minutes, I’ll have possible locations from any driver’s licenses that are in the name of Dana Arella. I’ll be in the cafeteria if you need me.”
I frowned. “What should we do while he works his magic?”
“You’re the one in charge so you call the shots.”
“Coffee?” Karen suggested.
“I guess that would work.”
We’d barely made it to the cafeteria behind Kevin when he waved us over.
“What’s up?”
“I’ve got a location with an address for you. It’s in Duluth. We’ll need to let Agent Watson know if we’re going to check it out.”
“Done. He’s received the email I sent and responded. You should have an email from him.”
“Amazing. That response time was really fast.” I shook my head as I pulled out my phone and read the email.
“Okay, he’s sending us to the address to see if Dana is still there. We don’t have a warrant, but if she runs, then we have enough reason to arrest her.”
“He’s sending you without backup?” Leslie frowned at the email’s content.
“Nope. He’s assigned you and Karen if needed to back me up. The likelihood that she’s still there is slim with what we know about these killers.” I started walking back out to the car. “Kevin, you too.”
The GPS directed us back into Duluth, and to the poorer section of town.
“That’s the one.” Kevin pointed to a small white house on the right side of the street as we approached slowly.
“Did you find out if anyone else lived there with her?” Leslie asked from the back seat.
“It says that Becky Rust is the owner of the property.”
“All right. Why don’t you ladies approach by the front door, and I’ll swing through the back street to cut off anyone trying to run. You up for that, Kevin?” I playfully punched his arm. “Ready to get out in the field?”
“Nope, I’m not. But do I have a choice?” Kevin’s voice went up an octave.
I let the ladies out and went to circle the block.
We couldn’t hear anything that was happening because we didn’t have the support equipment of earbuds.
“Leslie just sent a text. Dana hasn’t been there in three days, and her landlord is going to let us inside to look around.” Kevin read the text out loud.
I circled back around and got out, expecting Kevin to follow. Halfway up, I stopped when I realized he wasn’t behind me.
“You coming?” I called back at him.
He opened the door and shook his head. “I’m good here with the car.”
I shrugged and tossed the keys to him. “Crack a window,” I joked.
Becky Rust answered the door. “They’re around the back at the add-on in the back yard.”
“Thank you, ma’am.” I headed toward the back yard.
The add-on room seemed more like an afterthought—a tacked on shed that would fall over if a harsh wind blew against it.
“Find anything useful?” I stood in the doorway, as the other two took up most of the space.
There was a bed. A small sink and toilet were over in the corner. It was really sad that someone could live in such a horrible place. I didn’t blame Becky Rust for trying to make a little money without asking any questions.
“It looks like she left here in a hurry, and hasn’t been here in days. Probably not since the first ‘accident’, and there’s not a personal item here.” Karen wore gloves as she moved the mattress and poked around the small space.
Leslie seemed to be considering where Dana could have hidden anything of value. Her head was tilted as she scanned the area.
“Karen, put the bed back down and stand up on that end of it. The board in the corner looks like it’s been moved a few times more than the rest of the wood.” She pointed to the right corner where a board appeared to be loose.
A pull from Karen had us all jumping back as the building itself groaned. “I’ve got something.” She held up a book triumphantly.
“What is it?” I asked.
She flipped through it carefully. “I think it’s her plans, but it’s all in code. Someone will have to translate this into a language I’m familiar with.”
“Anything else?” I didn’t see how that was possible with the tiny space that had been someone’s home.
“No. I don’t see anything else of value. I got a few prints that we can run and see if they match, but I think we’ve got all we can right now.”
Kevin had the car running while Leslie went back around to the front door, and I followed, staying behind just a little.
“Thank you so much for letting us take a look. If she comes back, or you think of anything that could help us find her, please give us a call.” Leslie held out a card with her good arm.
“Is she dangerous?” Becky asked with a kid sitting on her hip and another peeking out from between her legs.
“Not exactly, but she’s a person of interest. We don’t know how she’ll react if you told her we’ve been here, so for your safety, just give us or the local police a call and we’ll come by to check on you.” Leslie gave her a reassuring smile.
“She always paid in cash, and I couldn’t afford not to take it. I mean, who pays a $1000 a month for a shack? I knew something was off, but she was a woman. Plus, she was always nice to my kids so I didn’t think too much on it.”
“That’s completely understandable. Just call us if you think of anything, even if you don’t think it’s useful.”
We joined the others in the car.
I dialed Agent Watson to give him the information and see what the next step was.
“Fox, talk to me,” he commanded.
“We found her residence, or previous residence, as it appears that she hasn’t been here in a few weeks. The landlady said she’s paid up for the month. She hadn’t said anything about moving out. We found a book that appears to be in code. Kevin is willing to take a look at it, but needs a place that he can spread out to work,” I updated him over the speaker phone.
“The search teams have found all six of the victims. They’re working at recovering them, but we’ve located all of them now. There isn’t much you can do here, so go ahead and go to the hotel and we’ll catch up to you in a few more hours. That’ll give Kevin a chance to see what he can find regarding this Dana Arella.”
“Yes, sir. Will do.”
“The luggage has already been delivered, and a few agents from the local office have setup a few computers in the conference room with secure access to our sources.”
“Thank you, sir.”
“Let’s find this woman before she does this again.” Agent Watson hung up on me again. It was something I was getting used to, and I tried not to take it personally.
On the other hand, this killer was beginning to give us a challenge.
Chapter 5
Leslie
I didn’t want to admit to anyone how thrilled I was that we were going to the hotel. Even with the slight nap on the plane, I was starting to drag. This whole healing this was going to take some effort in getting back to normal.
Ryan and Kevin went straight to the conference room, while Karen followed me to the desk for our room keys.
After we’d shown our IDs and collected our suitcases, I made it into the room before collapsing. The bed wasn’t super comfortable, but at that point, I didn’t care.
“I feel like I’ve been on-call for the past three days when I haven’t really worked in days,” I groaned, pushing my shoes off.
“Recovery is going to take some time. We warned you.” Karen smirked. “You can get a nap in and be ready for dinner without missing much.”
“I need to text Jerome and let him know what’s going on.”
“Isn’t it a little early in the relationship for constant updates?”
“When you take into account the kind of job I have, and that I’ve already been hurt once, I feel it’s the least I can do to make it where he’s n
ot worried about me.”
“That does make sense. We have a harder time with relationships because of our jobs, and if you giving updates keeps you connected, then I think you should do what works for you.” Karen made herself comfortable on the other bed with the remote in her hand.
“I think the reason most spouses of law enforcement have issues is that they have no idea what’s going on unless the news is following a big case, or they get the knock on the door they’ve been dreading. If I was home, working on regular cases, then I wouldn’t be as concerned. When I’m out of state, he doesn’t have a way to check on me, and it’s not like we’re living together so he’d know when I left each day. A simple text isn’t hard for me, and lets him rest easy for a bit.”
“It’s something to discuss with Luke when he gets back. It might be a way to alleviate his worries about my job. I think it’s probably one of the things holding him back,” Karen agreed.
“Turn that up.” I motioned as the rafting accidents flashed across the screen.
“In two separate accidents over the past week, there have been serious casualties when boats that were considered safe were just the opposite.” The reporter was standing just outside the crime scene tape at the site of this morning’s incident.
“The police have called in the FBI since it’s the second incident, and it would appear that someone is targeting those taking relaxing breaks from their everyday lives. We don’t have the names of those involved in this incident yet, but will keep you updated as things develop. If you were planning to take a trip down the rapids, it might be a good idea to hold off until it’s determined if this was human error or the anger of the rapids themselves.”
“Great, now the tourist attractions will be clamoring to have this solved quickly. More pressure from the state to not have their businesses decline because of these crimes,” Karen complained.
“Dana isn’t going to kill anyone that doesn’t have a Taurus birthday. I also don’t see her committing another crime in the state because of the focus aimed in her direction.” I closed my eyes, trying to block out the flurry of ideas running through my head.
When I woke up, I felt so much better and ready to start working on Dana and her whereabouts. If they wouldn’t let me out in the field, then I would borrow a computer and help Kevin get a start on this.
“Oh, good, you’re awake. Ryan just messaged that they were going to take a break for dinner and have a briefing afterward,” Karen informed me.
“Perfect. I think sleeping cleared my head. I want to try out a few searches and see what I can come up with, if Kevin hasn’t beaten me to it.” I grinned over at her.
“You’re color looks a little better. I think resting was the best thing to get you back in the field.”
“Yeah. Let me freshen up and then we can join them.”
***
The dining room was filling up with men and women wearing polo shirts and khakis. It was either a business convention for the business casual attire, or there were a lot more agents working on things than I’d thought.
Ryan and Kevin had a few seats open at their table, so we joined them.
“You feel better?” Ryan asked solicitously.
“Not 100% yet, but I’m getting there.” I got a whiff of something delicious and hoped the waiter hurried. I was starved.
“Karen texted while you were waking up, and I ordered for you so we don’t have to wait as long.” Ryan informed me. “I know you like to do your own stuff, but consider this. It’s payback for having to take all of your ‘orders’ over the next few days.”
“It makes sense, and whatever brings out the food faster is what I want.” I knew that would surprise them both.
Agent Watson and another agent—whom I assumed was the local department head—came in, talking rapidly, but disappeared through a side door into the conference room.
I really wanted to know what they were saying, but maybe they would share when they briefed us later.
A plate with steak was placed in front of me, and all thoughts of anything else disappeared.
As the agents finished their meals, they headed in the direction Agent Watson had been going. Since I hadn’t been to the conference room, I followed Ryan and Kevin, ready to get started on my ideas for finding this woman before she hurt someone else.
“May I have your attention please?” The unknown agent spoke loudly over the noise in the room.
“Our suspect’s name is Dana Arella. She’s thirty-three, and until a few months ago, worked for a business with mostly men at the top. Our profiler is certain that she’s upset at men in suits, and is taking it out on those with the corresponding birthdates that are on vacation.”
Agent Watson took over. “We are unsure how she finds her victims, but we’ll be checking with her past employers to see what they think were the reasons she left. Her current address is a dead end, so we have no idea where she is. We’ve sent out her driver’s license photo, but it’s not a very good image. We don’t have any other photos of her, and will be working to find her family or someone that has that kind of information.”
I was confused because she wasn’t going to hang around now that everyone would be looking for her. The Zodiac Master didn’t get involved with most of his recruits during their time, but so far they’d had better than average training to evade most police officers. Unsure if I should mention it, I continued to listen, waiting to see if they came to that conclusion on their own.
“This could be another alias and not her real name, but we’ve pulled her income tax records and are working on matching them to a business where we can ask questions.”
Kevin waved his hand in the air until the other agent acknowledged him.
“When I ran her first name that was used, Anad Allera, nothing came up. No social, no actual records for that name. Now, Dana Arella has some income tax records, and has one company attached to them, but the bad news is that the company was merged with another company. We still might be able to find someone who remembers her.”
“From what I’ve found so far, she’s been using the same date of birth and a version of her name. I’ve only had a couple of hours to work with this name, but I may be able to find more by morning.”
“Thank you, Agent Johnson. Agent Spade has the certification that she used to get work at the first incident for you to trace. We’ve worked with the local police department and found the group who took the trip with our fake guide. The names have been posted on the wall, along with the details from our first victims who were in real estate. The second company was a group of restaurant owners. The count is up to ten so far, and we’re reaching out to both companies. We’re hoping to find out how these employees were selected and how early the arrangements were made,” Agent Watson updated.
“We’ll be staying here for the next twenty-four hours unless she’s spotted or another incident happens. Now, go work on your assignments as long as you can, and then head up to your rooms. There’s a pool that you can take advantage of, and for those who are local, make sure that you’re back here at 7 a.m. sharp.”
Everyone broke up and began to spread out in different directions.
“Kevin, is there a computer that I can use?” I was ready to get started.
“Sure. I brought mine, but they had one here for me to use, so let me log in for you.” He sat at one of the desktops and keyed in his codes. “Is there something specific that you were going to look up?”
“I want to run a search of the newspaper ads over the past few months. My gut says that beyond the dark web, it would be the easiest way to contact or find recruits. I also want to look into other areas that attract a lot of tourists to rafting and tubing in other states.”
“Like a serial killer for hire ad?” Kevin nodded, approving of the idea.
“What do we need to do while you two work your magic?” Ryan stood to the side of the two computers.
“See what you can dig up on Dana’s history. If someone named Dan
a went to school here that’s around the same age. I know that schools are closed right now, but a lot of information is online.” Kevin stood and clapped Ryan on the back. “I know computers aren’t your thing, but you can do this. If you need help, I’ll be right here.”
“All right. But what is Karen going to do?”
“Absolutely nothing. I’m going to take advantage of the indoor pool. I’ll see if Leslie needs an escort back to her room when I get done.” She checked her watch. “In two hours.”
I ignored her as I set my fingers to typing.
Search keywords: advertisements employing women willing to do whatever it takes.
Then I added another search for the history of societies of killers, with an alternative search for cults of killers.
While those were working, I started looking for the perfect spot to go whitewater rafting. Each of the rafting incidents were at a class 3 trip or higher. The groups had booked trips on lower rapids for new beginners, but I was willing to bet they were switched when they were booked.
Major sites of whitewater rafting were in Colorado, California, Montana, New Mexico, and almost every state on the map. I didn’t see the Zodiac Master revisiting the same city, or even the same state, but I couldn’t rule that out. My feeling was that it was going to be in a much smaller or off-the-beaten-path type of place versus something with lots of people that could help in the identification of Dana by witnesses.
The East Coast was calling my name, so I started with states that were further down on the list of tourist spots.
Maine, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, South Carolina, New York, and Maryland were the ones I landed on. I put the information into a travel site, and a list of rafting with group trips popped up. I sent the list to my email so that we could look at them later.
I went back to the first searches I had started to find a huge list of possible matches.
Wanted: Women who aren’t afraid to get dirty.
Need a female that is willing to get up close and personal with a male to procreate naturally.
Looking for a woman that understands life isn’t fair. Job requirements may vary based on skill set.