“I’d better call West Hollywood Sheriff’s Station as soon as we get home,” Elgie told Vanessa.
Once at home, Elgie called the Sheriff’s station and asked to speak to the vice squad. He spoke to Senior Deputy Deidra Seals and explained the plan.
“That’s an ambitious plan for the last minute,” Senior Deputy Seals said. “Can you get the girls in question to go along with it?”
“If not, we have their personal and vehicle descriptions from the Bad Trick List,” Elgie said. “We can interview them based solely on that and just tell them they were positively identified.”
“Sounds like a winner. I’ll just run this by my supervisor and if he says yes, we go—all busts are mine. You get the interviews. Fair enough?”
“That’ll work.”
After the phone call to West Hollywood station, Elgie and Vanessa relaxed for a while. Then at approximately three-ten Elgie received an unexpected phone call.
“Hello.”
“May I speak with Lieutenant Reynolds?”
“This is Reynolds.”
“Lieutenant, this is Chet Atkins, News Anchor for the Channel Three News. I’m calling you because we just received a letter from someone claiming to be the Butcher. The letter demands that we read it on the air tonight or he’ll kill someone else, and it won’t be a prostitute. He also wants Geraldo Lopez to read it, and he mentions you by name in the letter. What should we do.?”
“What does the letter say?” Elgie asked.
“I’ll read it to you:
Here is a letter from me. They call me the Butcher. I want you to read this letter on tonight’s news. I also want it posted on your website and printed in the newspaper. All of it, otherwise, I will kill someone else tonight. I will be coming after you, and you can’t hide. Here is the letter:
You can watch out for me, but you’ll never find me. Because I am the Butcher. I am unstoppable. Watch out because I’m coming after you—all of you.
If you’re a trick, who runs out on his family to lay with prostitutes. Don’t think you’re safe. If you’re a filthy whore enticing men away from their families. Don’t think you’re safe. If you’re a whore, who cheats on her husband and on her family. Don’t think you’re safe. If you’re a man who lets his wife go out to all hours of the night and you’re too cowardly to do anything about it. Don’t think you’re safe. I will be coming after you all.
And to the police: You think you can profile me and make me out to be some sort of madman, maybe I am. But I’m a madman you’ll never catch. I am the Butcher. Isn’t that the name you gave me, Lieutenant Elgie Reynolds? I’ll be coming to see you too. Then again, maybe you’ve already seen me and didn’t know it. If you haven’t seen me yet, you will. You just won’t know it. And I haven’t forgotten about the whore that got away. I’ll be coming to see her too when you least expect it.
One thing before I go, I want you to know that I’m not all business, I have a sense of humor too. That’s why I laughed when that West Hollywood whore begged for her life. You’ll see more of my sense of humor as time goes on.
Goodbye everybody and have a wonderful day,
The Butcher
P.S. I want Geraldo Lopez to read the letter on the air because he is the reason I got the name the Butcher by saying I butchered that whore. Thank you for your recognition of my work.
“What do you think? Is this the Butcher or not?” Chet Atkins asked.
“I don’t know, but I would suggest that you read the letter anyway,” Elgie said. “If you don’t and someone is killed the ax will fall on both our necks.”
“I agree. I’ll have Geraldo read it on the four, six, and eleven o’clock broadcasts so the Butcher will be sure to see it. Thank you, Lieutenant.”
“Would you fax me a copy of the letter? Oh, and put the letter and the envelope it came in into an evidence bag or a utility bag of some sort. Then have it delivered to Captain Greer at LAPD Headquarters so she can have the crime lab check it for trace evidence.”
“Sure, I’ll fax you the letter and have one of our interns deliver the letter to your headquarters. What is your fax number?”
“Just fax it to my office, I’m sure you have that number.”
“No, but one of our producers will have it.”
“I see, well go ahead and fax me a copy.”
“Will do.”
“On second thought put the letter in a transparent bag first, copy it, and fax the copy. I don’t want to lose evidence because the letter was run through a fax machine.”
“Okay, I’ll have one of our producers take care of it immediately.”
“Thank you, and thanks for calling me.”
“No problem, Lieutenant.” Elgie hung up.
“Who was that, Elgie?” Vanessa asked.
“That was Chet Atkins.”
“The news anchor?”
“Yeah, that’s him. He called about a letter the station received from the Butcher. The letter is a rant about how he plans to choose his victims. He demanded that the letter be read on the air or he’ll kill someone else tonight.”
“What’s with this Butcher guy? Do you think people are just born that way or what?”
“I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. It’s an anonymous quote, but I’ll tell it anyway. ‘the battle between good and evil is fought in the hearts and minds of man.’ Some of us are simply born more likely to succumb to the enticements of evil than others, but we all have a choice. This man chose to allow himself to commit evil acts and he is the only one responsible for them—not his mommy or his daddy, but him.”
Elgie then called Captain Greer to tell her about the letter and what it said and that the original was being delivered to her office. After the call, Elgie drove downtown to LAPD Headquarters to meet with Doctor Connors and Detective Kim.
Elgie arrived at headquarters at three-fifty and found that Doctor Connors and Detective Kim were both present. Elgie went over to Kim and Connors who were seated at their metal desks. The desks faced each other and were about twelve feet from the door to Elgie’s office. The rest of the squad room had four more sets of desks facing each other for other detectives and their partners. The lighting was bright from fluorescent bulbs. Elgie placed some papers on Connors’ desk.
“I’m glad you two are early, that gives me a chance to catch you up on the new developments in the case. First, Michelle Chambers is out of surgery, awake and alert, but has no memory of her past at all, much less memories of the assault. Captain Greer has authorized one officer from each shift to guard Ms. Chambers in case the Butcher comes back to finish the job.
“Second, the Butcher has sent a letter to Channel Three News and demanded that it be read on the air by Geraldo Lopez, posted on the station’s website, and printed in tomorrow’s newspaper. I had them fax me a copy and send the original to Captain Greer. I’ll get the fax now and make copies for both of you. The letter mentions me by name, so we should plan for people to call here asking for me. Either to give us leads regarding our investigation or to blame me for the letter and the threats for naming the Butcher. Whichever it turns out to be, we should be prepared. I’ll request a task force, but we won’t publicize the number until tomorrow. I don’t want to give the Butcher any reason to go out killing tonight.” Then Elgie told them about the West Hollywood sting operation.
“I have a phone number for our victim who was attacked with a knife, but not the one that was beaten. Now that I think about it, there’s a good chance that Senior Seals may have contact information for Angie Harris. I’ll give her a call.”
Elgie called the West Hollywood Sheriff’s Station and asked to speak with Senior Deputy Seals.
“This is Senior Deputy Seals, may I help you?”
“This is Lieutenant Reynolds.”
“I’m glad you called, I was just about to call you. We are on for tonight, so have your victims ready.”
“That’s why I’m calling. I have a phone number for one of the victims,
but I have no contact information for Angie Harris, and I was wondering if you can help me out?”
“Hold on a minute and let me check my records…I have her address and phone number from her police report. I’ll call her and pick her up before the operation. You should probably do the same with your victim.”
“That was the plan.”
“Good, we start at ten. We’ll be using the Golden Oak Motel on Sunset Boulevard—rooms nine and ten. Ten will be our bait room and nine will be observation.”
“What about the prostitutes who are usually on the street?”
“They’ll be asked to leave, except for our victims and any other victim that may come forward. We’ll have them with us in the observation room.”
“Great, see you then, bye.”
“Goodbye, Lieutenant.”
“Boss,” Quinn said, “during the sting op, we’ll be interviewing the suspects from Sunset Boulevard. What about contacting the escort agency to get Norman’s last name and address?”
“Oh, you mean the guy that was stalking Ms. Chambers before she was attacked?” Elgie asked. “Of course we’re going to follow up on that. That’s why we’re here just before four, so we can see Gregor at the escort agency shortly after to be sure he’s there.”
“Sorry, Boss,” Kim said, I should have realized you were aware of that.”
“No problem, Kim. I’ll get the copies of the letter for you two,” Elgie said. “Look it over and tell me if either of you has any insights into the personality of our perpetrator. While we’re waiting until four, we can take advantage of this time to catch up on paperwork. We have been busy and need to document it. You know what they say, ‘if you don’t document it, it didn’t happen.’”
Elgie went into his office got the fax, made copies, and gave them to Kim and Connors.
“I’m going to Captain Greer’s office to see if she got the original yet.”
Once Elgie was in Captain Greer’s office she told him to sit down.
“I got the original letter and sent it down to trace evidence once I’d copied it. It sounds like the Butcher alright. What do you plan to do about it?”
“First we need a dedicated line to take calls regarding the Butcher. Those phones need to be up and running by the first reading of the letter, which will be on the four o’clock broadcast.”
“That’s fine, but what about a task force? You need more detectives.”
“Ma’am we don’t need additional detectives, all we need now are people to answer phones, take down information, and pass it on to the detectives in charge.”
“Why no additional detectives?”
“I don’t want detectives stepping over each other trying to solve the case first. That’s what happened in the Jackson Bennet case. The only way we solved it was by dropping most of the detectives. The two people that you assigned me are enough to handle the investigation. If we need additional people to follow up on leads, we can use uniformed officers.”
“You certainly have a distrust of other detectives.”
“The distrust has been well earned by my experience with other task forces. Unfortunately, a case like this can make a person famous if they bust the perpetrator. The result is detectives keeping information to themselves that is needed in the investigation. The Astrology Killer in the mid-west was never caught because of the infighting among the detectives. I don’t want the Butcher to get away or continue to kill because we’re too busy trying to outshine one another.”
“That’s true, that type of stuff has happened before. This is too important to risk glory hogs being on the team. After all, in this type of situation we’re not only trying to catch a killer, we’re also trying to protect his future victims, and that letter makes it clear he plans on killing more people.”
“That’s exactly my point. Too many of us see the bust as the goal and a way to be rewarded. Let’s face it, many police officers have gone on to do interviews on talk shows, write books, and become famous based on a bust like this. I understand their desire, but it can’t be all about personal glory. We have a responsibility to the victims and, as you said, the potential victims.”
“I need to tell you something right quick Elgie,” said Captain Greer. “Do you know why you got this case?”
“Yes, it was a prostitute killing.”
“Right, but now that it’s more, the chief of detectives will be involved. I’ll tell him about your request to keep you and your two partners on as the only detectives. When I explain why I think there’s a good chance he’ll go for it. But you should keep in mind that he may not trust you to solve the case and want to put other detectives with you. If that happens, I’ll try to make sure you remain lead investigator.”
“Thank you, Captain I think I have proven so far that I can handle it and we’re doing fine on our own.”
“Yeah, I think you’re on the right track so far. Just stay focused and let me worry about the chief.”
Elgie got down to the business of documenting his day and the plans for the continuation of the investigation. In the meantime, Kim and Connors went over the letter purportedly from the Butcher—Connors asked Kim for her opinion on the letter.
“Quinn, do you have a particular opinion on the veracity to this communication? Is it really from the Butcher?”
“Yeah, I think so.”
“So do I. Although everything in the letter is public knowledge, I think the overall tone of the letter is indicative of a sick, yet organized mind. A mind like that of the Butcher. By threatening the public with new killings, he is trying to create an atmosphere of terror.”
“Yeah, that’s what it’s all about, terrorizing the public,” Kim said. “We need to catch this bastard quick before he can follow through with his threats. Your profile should narrow the field a bit. If your profile is right, the Butcher should be under forty, so that should get rid of some of them. Even the ones from the sting thing.”
Connors and Kim began doing their paperwork and discussed several of the topics they were writing about.
Around four Elgie told his partners that they were heading to Sirena’s Escort Service to find out who Norman was and where to find him. When they arrived at the escort service’s door, Elgie knocked, and a portly man in a light brown suit with a gold tie answered the door. Elgie showed the man his badge.
“I’m Lieutenant Reynolds of the LAPD, homicide division. This is Doctor Connors and Detective Kim, may we come in?
“Of course, the police are always welcome here,” the man said in a Russian accent.
“Are you Gregor?”
“Yes, that is me. What can I do for you? You need a date to the Policeman’s Ball?” Gregor laughed at his own joke. No one else did.
“No, actually I’d like the last name of one of your clients. His first name is Norman, and he was being escorted by Michelle Chambers. We have reason to believe the man was stalking her and we need to get his side of the story.”
“Let me check the records.”
Gregor went to a file cabinet and looked up Norman, pulled out his file and put it on his desk. Gregor wrote down Norman’s first and last name, his address, and his phone number. Ripped the page off his legal pad and handed the paper to Elgie.
“Here is the man’s name and address. The phone number is on there too. Is there anything else to help you with?”
“No, that’s it. Thank you for your help, Gregor.”
“You welcome, come by anytime.”
The team returned to the car with Elgie driving. Elgie told his partners that they would go directly to Norman Bennaderick’s home rather than call and give him a warning.
“Kim, would you use the onboard computer to run Mr. Bennaderick for prior arrests and/or convictions?”
“Sure, Boss.” Kim had a response in a few minutes. “He has no priors.”
“Thank you, Detective.”
“While it’s on my mind, Boss,” Quinn said, “do you think you’ve really seen the Butcher?”
<
br /> “I don’t know, Kim. I think if I have its either been in passing or he thinks he’s going to be one of the suspects we interview. After all, he said I’ll see him if I haven’t already. I don’t think I’ve seen him yet, but eventually, I will. When we catch him.”
Chapter Six
Upon arriving at the East Hollywood apartment building where Mr. Bennaderick lived, Elgie was surprised to find that someone who was spending money on an escort would be living in an obviously low rent apartment. He wondered where he got the money.
“Doctor Connors,” Elgie said, “observe Mr. Bennaderick and see if he fits your profile and if he is being truthful. I’ll conduct the interview, and Detective Kim take notes on what he says. Doctor Connors will take notes on how he says it. Also, we’re not going to sit, we’re going to stand to keep him from feeling relaxed. We want him tense and wondering why we’re there so we won’t identify ourselves as homicide detectives but just as police officers.”
The team went up to the suspect’s apartment on the second floor and rang the doorbell. A man in jeans and a blue t-shirt came to the door.
“Are you Mr. Bennaderick?” Elgie asked.
“Yes, I am.”
Elgie pulled out his badge. “Mr. Bennaderick, I’m Lieutenant Reynolds of the Los Angeles Police Department, and this is Doctor Connors and Detective Kim. May we come in?”
“Sure, I got nothing to hide.” Mr. Bennaderick sat on the arm of his couch. “Would you like to have a seat?”
“No, we’ll stand,” Elgie said.
Kim and Connors got their notebooks out.
“We’re here regarding Michelle Chambers.”
“What about Michelle? Is she hurt or something?”
“Yes, she was hurt, but that’s not why we’re here. I understand that you used to date Ms. Chambers through an escort service. Is that correct?”
“Yeah, that’s right.”
“I also understand that she refused to see you anymore and the agency also told you that you were no longer welcome as a client. Is that correct?”
Tracking the Butcher Page 5