by Dan Kelly
A couple of minutes later he returns and says, “Aldrich was standing just about here until a few minutes before my guys arrived. He took off across that field and disappeared into those woods. Mr. McGregor says he didn’t appear to be spooked by anything, just seemed to be in a hurry to get somewhere.”
There is no sense in us traipsing after the other four agents, so we decide to wait for them to return. Twenty minutes later they did with nothing good to report. I ask, “What’s on the other side of that wooded area?”
“A bicycle path and some bike racks, all empty and nobody in sight.”
Janet thanks Mr. McGregor for his call and then we all head back to the parking lot where we had hastily and haphazardly parked our cars. As I open the rear door of Don’s car for Janet she bends down to get in and at the same moment the car window explodes in my face and a fraction of a second later I hear the sound of a gun being fired. We all hit the deck, but there’s no follow up shot. Gradually, we raise our heads and Don gets on the phone with the D. C. police requesting assistance in locating the shooter whom we’re pretty damn sure is the Crusader. I wasn’t aware that I’d been cut by flying glass until one of the FBI guys hands me some paper towel to place over a deep cut on my neck. If I was a bit shorter, I might have taken some glass in my eyes.
As my heart beat gradually returns to normal, I’m beginning to think that we’re not the only ones that can set a trap. This has all the earmarks of one and I voice my opinion to the others and quickly get agreement. The wind is very gusty, but the Crusader could have helped the wind get ahold of his hat. It was kind of a hit or miss tactic, but with the public being bombarded with his name and picture and the pavilion having lots of people around, the odds were in his favor that someone would recognize him.
“We walked right into it and it was pure luck that Janet wasn’t hit.” I glance over at Janet and am surprised to see rage where I expected to see fear. “From now on I’m walking around armed and if I get the chance that son-of-a-bitch is going to join his son.”
Two hours later the search is called off. Once again, the Crusader has managed to make a clear get away. Don says, “One thing’s for sure, we’ve definitely pushed his hot button with this news blitz.”
If anybody had any doubts about it being the Crusader who took a shot at Janet, they were shattered when Don found a Crusader calling card stuck under the windshield wiper of his car as was the case with the other FBI vehicles and a bunch of civilian cars as well. Aldrich was doing his damndest to make sure his message got through to as large an audience as possible. Besides, he couldn’t know for sure what cars belonged to whom.
Don says, “He must have circled around from the wooded area over by the pavilion before he took up his sniping position behind that copse of trees over there. One of my men found a shell casing for Winchester Magnum ammo behind one of the trees and being a former Army sniper is guessing that the bullet was fired from an M-24 sniper rifle. There’s an old service road behind those trees that runs from the street up a half mile or so to some old grounds keeping equipment sheds that are empty now because they aren’t used anymore. Our guess is he parked his car on that road for a quick getaway after he did the deed. This guy is definitely no amateur with a rifle. It’s got to be at least two hundred yards from there to the parking lot. He must also have a small arsenal at his fingertips. He’s used a .32 caliber hand gun, an M-16 rifle and now an M-24 rifle.”
As the thought flashes across my mind I voice it to Don. “I wonder why he didn’t take a shot at me. I’m a bigger target and easier to hit from a distance like that. He knows Janet and I have been working together to help the FBI identify him and bring him down. He views both of us as his enemies.”
Don responds with, “Who’s to say he wasn’t planning on shooting you next. Remember, you were standing behind the door as you held it open for Janet. Janet was a better initial target. Missing her could have shaken him up a little, causing him to hesitate just long enough for him to lose his chance as we all hit the ground and took cover behind our cars in what must have been some kind of record time. This guy is too smart to get sucked into a shootout. He’d lost his element of surprise and knew the park would be crawling with cops in minutes, so he hightailed it out of here before we could zero in on his location.”
“That makes sense and I agree with you that the media blitz is having the desired effect. He certainly pushed the envelope when he fired that rifle with armed witnesses all over the place. His anger and frustration are pushing him into taking greater risks to settle the score with those he deems are his enemies even though he knows that he should be more cautious because everyone now knows who the Crusader is and what his motivation is. He still has one key advantage though. He’s the only one that knows who his next victim will be.”
Janet says, “Don, let’s get back to your office lickety-split, so I can file my story on this and give the networks something to sink their teeth into before someone else in the media steals my thunder.”
“Hop in and we’re good to go.”
On our way back to Don’s office I start thinking out loud about Mrs. Aldrich. “I wonder how Katherine Aldrich is taking all of the revelations about her husband’s bloodletting escapades. Has she known all along what he’s been up to and gone along with him on his plans for revenge or has she been blown out of the water by the discovery just like her brother in-law and sister in-law have been. If she was unaware of her husband’s vendetta, where is she now? Has she joined forces with her husband, run off somewhere or has her husband restrained her in some way or worse if she refused to participate in his lust for revenge and is worried that she’ll go to the authorities behind his back and tell them where they’re staying now.”
Janet says, “Do you think he’d kill his wife if she refused to have anything to do with what he’s set out to do?”
“It’s definitely a possibility, Janet. This guy has wigged out big time and he’s liable to do anything to remove anything that gets in his way. Don, have you people looked into the whereabouts of Mrs. Aldrich to determine any complicity or lack thereof on her part in all of this?”
“We’ve been focusing on the husband, figuring if we find him we’ll find her. Frankly, I haven’t given any thought to her being in any danger from her husband. Now I’m thinking that might have been a mistake. We really don’t know much about her other than she was a homemaker and didn’t have a job outside her home. Finding out who her relatives and friends are might lead to something helpful. Their neighbors might know something as well. They might at least know something about where the Aldrichs moved to. I’ll get someone on that when we get back to the office.”
“I’ll get my people to take a look at her too.”
Janet asks, “Okay, how do I go about getting a gun?
Don answers by saying, “It’s not something you can do like buying a pair of slacks. In D. C. the process takes ten days and is a pain in the butt. Besides, unless you are in law enforcement or some other profession that has a serious element of danger associated with it, you can’t get a permit to carry it on a concealed or unconcealed basis except for situations explicitly stated in the law like transporting it to a firing range. You can only keep it in your home or place of business and that location must be specified when you register it with the police.”
“So what does someone in my situation do to protect herself? Hire someone who can legally carry a weapon? The cost of doing that makes that an unacceptable alternative. No wonder people break the law and buy guns outside the area and don’t register them. What geniuses dreamed up this jewel of legislation?”
“I don’t know who the initial dreamers were, but people in D. C. have been fighting these laws in the courts for years and have had some victories, but for the most part they haven’t made much headway.”
“So, what you’re telling me is I can only legally use a gun to protect myself in my home or in my place of business. Everywhere else it’s open season on me as far
as the bad guy is concerned and if I were to shoot him to stay alive outside my home or business I would be in as much trouble as the guy who is doing his best to kill me.”
“I'm afraid so.”
“Well, let me tell you something, Don. If your body guards are pulled before this nut is killed or behind bars, there’s no way I’m going to leave myself exposed to harm because of some really insane law. I’ll find some way to get my hands on a gun to protect myself as soon as possible and I’m going to have it with me everywhere I go. If I get him in my sights, he’s a dead man. I won’t give him any more chances to put me in the ground. I’ll take my chances with a jury of my peers.”
“I understand your feelings, Janet, and I hope it doesn’t come to that.”
Janet has nothing more to say nor does Don and I’m staying out of it, so there’s an awkward silence for the rest of the drive back to Don’s office. When we get back, Don heads for Piedmont’s office to give him a blow by blow, Janet rushes to her car to get back to her paper before she’s scooped on what happened at the pavilion and I head back to my office to try to learn something about what Katherine Aldrich has been doing while her husband has been out killing people.
Chapter 21
When I get back to the office I gather my team around my desk and bring them up to date on what has been happening and tell them what I want them to do regarding Katherine Aldrich.
“Make inquiries of her former neighbors to see if the lady said anything to them about where they were moving to and why. Ask about friends and relatives she might have mentioned to them. If she’s talked about them, she might have dropped some names and the places they live that we can follow up on. I know these people have already been questioned with the Crusader the focus of the inquiries. Maybe this approach with the wife the focal point will generate some new information. Tap every resource, leave no stone unturned, to find out where she is.
“Our main objectives are to locate her and find out if she’s alive or dead and to determine what
role she has played in her husband’s desire for revenge, if any. Make this your top priority. If
she’s alive and innocent, maybe she can help us bring an end to her husband’s killing spree without us having to set the Presidential trap and risking the life of the imposter.
“The pressure is getting to this guy as he’s getting bolder in going after people he thinks need killing, going after Janet with armed people all around attests to that. If we can nail this guy before there’s any more killing and without having to use our ace-in-the-hole, the Presidential trap, that would be an ideal finale to this sad and scary saga. I figure we have at most two more days of the media blitz before Aldrich starts thinking he’s running out of time and is sufficiently primed to take just about any kind of risk to kill the President. If there’s anybody left on his hit list, they’ll get a reprieve. In his mind, whether that’s temporary or permanent will be determined by the outcome of his assassination attempt on the president.”
The rest of my day is spent attending to routine matters and helping to answer the phones as people are still calling the office although the TV broadcasts instruct anyone with information concerning the Crusader to call the 800 number the FBI set up. Surprisingly, the billboard and mass transportation signs are being installed ahead of schedule and I’m already dreading the increase in the number of calls they’ll generate.
As we’re getting ready to shut down for the day, Shirley returns from her afternoon trek around the Aldrich’s old neighborhood and latches onto me in the break room with a bit of interesting news.
“I’d been striking out big time all afternoon with my canvassing of the Aldrich’s neighbors until I knocked on Mrs. Garabaldi’s door. Mrs. Garabaldi remembers Katherine Aldrich mentioning a while back a rental property they owned over on 35th Street NW. They purchased it in the name of H & K Property Management for tax purposes and did so because they thought it would be a good investment and liked the idea of having another source of income. They’d been fortunate when it came to having long-term tenants who didn’t trash the place. Evidently, Mrs. Aldrich takes care of the property management end of things and Mr. Aldrich focuses on the real estate investment end of things.
“I went over to the house to see who was living there at the moment. I was going to tell whoever answered the door that I was looking into acquiring some property in the area and was looking for some input about the neighborhood from the people living there. No one came to the door, so I left not learning a thing. The tenant could have been home and didn’t want to answer the door to someone selling something or the Aldrichs could have been there and didn’t answer the door for the obvious reason or whoever is living there wasn’t home. I checked the ownership out and the property is still owned by H & K Property Management. Should I call Don Ericson with this info or do you want to have the pleasure. He’ll probably want to stake out the house ASAP.”
“No, you call him. You’ve earned the pat on the back. Let me know what he says.”
Shirley called, Don listened and thirty minutes later a stakeout was in place on the rental property on 35th Street NW with instructions to take pictures of anyone coming or going into the house and forward them to Ericson, but not to approach anybody until given the order.
I’m thinking we can’t be this lucky. The house is probably vacant or there are tenants who don’t have a clue where their landlords might be. This guy’s too smart to screw up like this. But all the bases still have to be covered as stranger things have happened in investigations.
As I’m wrapping things up to call it a day, my cell rings. It’s Janet. “Are you hungry?”
“I’m always hungry. What have you got in mind?”
“How do you feel about Indian food?”
“American or Asian?”
“Don’t be an ass. Where have you seen an American Indian restaurant in Washington D. C. or anywhere else for that matter, although there may be some on the reservations?”
“I really don’t know much about Indian cuisine. The only time I ate in an Indian restaurant I ordered some kind of curry and it burned my tongue, put my sweat glands into overdrive, my eyes watered and my nose ran for an embarrassingly long time, so I’ve stayed away from Indian eateries.”
“Not all Indian food is spicy. I’ll steer you clear of all the hot stuff.”
“Okay, I’m game. Where to?
“Meet me here at my office and you can follow me in your car to the restaurant. It’s called Anand’s.”
“I’m on my way.”
Chapter 22
Over dinner, which with Janet’s guidance is turning out to be a very pleasant and tasty experience, I tell her about what Shirley has uncovered and Ericson’s stakeout on the rental property. “Chet, this is too easy. I don’t think the Crusader would stay in any one place too long because he knows that would make it easier for him to be zeroed in on, especially since his face has been plastered all over the place, and I don’t think he’d move into any property where there would be the remotest possibility of it being connected to him. He’s just too damn smart, too savvy, to make mistakes like that.”
“You and I are on the same bus. I don’t think he’s staying there either, but it’s something that has to be verified just the same to make sure all bases are covered.”
“I’d like to know if Mrs. Aldrich is involved in what her husband is doing. Even if she was completely in the dark, with his picture everywhere you look she’s got to know now what he’s been doing. If she hasn’t opted to join in, where is she? The fact that she hasn’t contacted the police has me thinking that her husband has either locked her up somewhere, restrained her in some way, to prevent her from calling the police or he’s killed her.”
“I’ve been thinking along those same lines myself. This guy has lost it and is liable to do anything to make the people he thinks are responsible for his son’s death pay. All we can do now is keep the pressure on and do our best to draw him into our
trap.”
“Yeah and stay alive doing it.”
“That would be nice. I don’t think I’ve looked over my shoulder so much since I was a senior in high school sneaking peeks at Joyce Billings who was the prettiest girl in our class. I’ll bet you were the girl the guys were sneaking peeks at when you were in high school.”