Evil Guardian

by Scott Bonn

  Stacey is so excited and filled with happiness today that she is beaming. She is the only ray of sunlight in the chaplain’s otherwise dark and dreary little office.

  Lundquist notices her cheerful demeanor and says, “Stacey, you are beaming with the radiance of God today. It pleases me to see you doing so well. I have been truly blessed to witness a wonderful and dramatic transformation in you since we first met.”

  “Thank you, chaplain. If I am improving, it is all because of you and your belief in me,” she says with a shy smile.

  Lundquist says, “It is the spirit of the Lord that fills you, Stacey.”

  He continues, “I would like to talk to you about your plans for the future. What would you like to do with your life outside of prison when your time here is completed? I see such wonderful potential in you, Stacey.”

  Although it pains her to think of ever leaving her beloved chaplain, Stacey has given some thought to a future life outside of prison.

  She says, “You know, chaplain, I would love to go to beauty school and become a makeup artist. There is so much ugliness in the world, you know, and so many people—so many women—feel badly about themselves and the way they look. I would like to make women feel more beautiful.”

  After a brief hesitation, she asks shyly, “Is that a silly idea, chaplain? Is it too late for me to go to school? Am I foolish to think that I could become a makeup artist?”

  Smiling broadly, Lundquist replies, “Stacey, I think it is wonderful that you have a dream and want to make the world a more beautiful place. God has inspired you to do something very special with your life. To answer your question, no, it is definitely not too late for you to go to beauty school. Your dream is not foolish at all, Stacey. It is beautiful.”

  “You really think so?” asks Stacey brightly.

  “Absolutely. I believe that you can accomplish anything you are inspired to do, as long as you walk hand in hand with the Lord while pursuing it. You can have a blessed and fulfilling life when you leave here provided you walk in God’s grace.”

  Stacey quietly asks, “How do I do that, chaplain?”

  In a solemn tone, Lundquist replies, “Well, that brings me to another topic I want to discuss with you today. You have made such wonderful strides in your spiritual growth lately that I think it is almost time for me to baptize you. Baptism symbolizes purification or regeneration and admission to the Christian Church. I want you to receive the blessings of the Lord and join his flock. You are a beautiful child of God, Stacey, and it would be my honor to baptize you.”

  After a brief hesitation, he asks, “What do you think of that idea?”

  With tears of joy filling her eyes, Stacey says, “Yes, of course, I want to do that, chaplain. Thank you so much.”

  She continues, “Anything you say is fine with me. I trust you completely. You are my guardian angel. Just tell me when you want me to do it.”

  Lundquist smiles and softly says, “It is almost time, Stacey.”

  Suddenly, a female guard knocks loudly on Lundquist’s office door and interrupts their conversation. Lundquist gestures through the glass for her to enter. A stern, unsmiling guard opens the door and informs the chaplain that they must end their session because it is time for Stacey to go back to her cell.

  Lundquist sits alone at his desk after Stacey and the guard leave his office. He is very still for several moments. The chaplain is meditating. He closes his eyes and breathes in deeply through his nose. As he slowly exhales through his mouth, he senses that everything is going according to God’s plan. For the moment, he feels at peace.

  Chapter Forty Two

  While Charles Lundquist sits in quiet meditation at the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility in Westchester County at 9:30am, James Pritchard and Julia Cassidy are fully engaged in work inside the guardian war room located forty-five miles away at One Police Plaza in Manhattan. They have been reviewing the latest reports filed by Pritchard’s detectives in the investigation.

  Pritchard and Cassidy have been sitting together, reading reports, talking, and drinking coffee since 7:30 this morning. This is the first time they have seen each other since Cassidy left Pritchard’s hotel room after they made love two days ago. Pritchard spent the weekend working with his detectives and following up on potential leads in the manhunt. Cassidy spent the weekend with her FBI team reviewing the results of forensic tests on the evidence in the case.

  The conversation between Pritchard and Cassidy this morning has been very productive. It has not been awkward, as Pritchard feared it might after engaging in sex with Cassidy. However, their morning conversation has been strictly professional. They have not talked about their hook-up on Friday night at all.

  Just because they have not talked about it does not mean that either of them regrets having sex with the other. On the contrary, they both enjoyed it very much. They are open to it happening again. However, they are seasoned professionals and, right now, the top priority for them is catching the guardian. There is plenty of time for sex later. Instinctively, and without discussing it, they both feel the same way.

  Pritchard and Cassidy sit at the conference table in the guardian war room with formidable stacks of files lying in front of them. The homicide captain’s team of detectives has followed up on literally thousands of leads in the manhunt to date. His detectives have canvassed the city, inch by inch, and conducted more than one thousand individual interviews. Unfortunately, none of the work completed thus far by Pritchard’s team has yielded anything productive in terms of identifying the unknown killer.

  Pritchard expresses his frustration with the investigation to Cassidy.

  He says, “We have tons of information and none of it is useful. It seems as if my detectives are interviewing everyone in the city and it is getting us nowhere. The killer could be hiding anywhere or he might be walking around in plain sight. It is obvious that he knows Manhattan very well and probably lives here. He could be right under our noses as I speak.”

  Cassidy nods in agreement, but she has no idea just how accurate Pritchard’s statement is. In fact, neither of them have any idea that the man they seek resides in the East Village at the intersection of Mercer Street and Houston Street, which is slightly more than one mile, as the crow flies, from where they sit at One Police Plaza.

  Despite their mutually shared frustration with the status of the investigation that seems to be yielding so little, Pritchard and Cassidy eagerly await the DNA test results for the semen sample found inside of Eve Curry’s body. According to FBI Special Agent Liv Olson, who is overseeing the testing, they will find out today if the semen sample from Curry’s body matches the DNA profile of anyone in the CODIS databases.

  A match would be the game changer that Pritchard and Cassidy are desperately looking for in their investigation, so they await the results of the tests with great enthusiasm and anticipation. They recognize that today is pivotal and potentially monumental in the manhunt for the guardian.

  Just before 10:00am, while Pritchard and Cassidy are still reviewing reports compiled by Pritchard’s detectives, FBI Special Agent Jason Baldwin enters the war room. Pursuant to the order given to him by Cassidy last Friday, Baldwin has been spear-heading an investigation into their theory that the guardian has received formal religious training. Baldwin approaches the conference table excitedly with a piece of paper in his hand.

  He says, “I just got off the telephone with a professor of theology at the Boston College School of Theology and Ministry. He called our guardian hotline this morning after watching your appearance with Anderson Cooper on Friday night, Captain. They transferred the call to me. His name is Dr. Thomas Geiger, and we just had a very interesting conversation.”

  Cassidy asks, “What did the professor tell you, Jason?”

  Baldwin replies, “Well, Jules, Dr. Geiger thinks that he knows who the guardian is. In fact, he seems quite certain of it, and he sounds level headed and credible to me. He is a tenured professor at Boston Colle
ge. I read his full bio online. He is a very accomplished and highly respected theologian.”

  Pritchard asks, “What makes him so sure that he knows the identity of our killer?”

  Baldwin says, “Dr. Geiger told me that when Anderson Cooper read the guardian’s letter other night, the wording of it reminded him of a former doctoral student of his at Boston University School of Theology when he taught there ten years ago. He did not give me the name of his former student over the telephone, but he would like to talk to us in person.”

  Pritchard asks, “Okay, Baldwin. Did he tell you what about the letter makes him think that he knows the killer?”

  Baldwin replies, “Yes, Captain. Dr. Geiger told me that the cocky and boastful tone of the letter got his attention. He also said that the killer’s pseudonym, the guardian, and his claiming to be on a mission to rescue girls struck a chord with him. However, he said the thing that really sent shivers down his spine, and made him pick up the telephone and call our hotline, was the killer’s reference to the Bible verse, Psalm 34:7. Apparently, the Bible passage is somehow connected to this former student he wants to talk to us about.”

  Pritchard’s eyes open widely, and he says, “Excellent! Well, it sounds to me like we need to go to Boston.”

  Cassidy says, “As much as I would love to have your company on the trip, James, why don’t you let Jason and me go up to Boston and meet with Dr. Geiger. We can fly up there now, interview him, and be back by tonight. That way you can stay here to supervise the investigation and receive the DNA test results.”

  Smiling, Pritchard says, “Okay, Julia. That does make sense. We don’t all have to go up there. You and Jason are the criminal profiling experts, anyway. Go meet with the professor in Boston and hurry back.”

  He adds, “Today is a big day for us. It is time that we get a break in this case.”

  Cassidy says, “We have an FBI Gulfstream jet at our disposal at LaGuardia Airport. I will call the pilot and tell him to prepare the plane immediately for the trip to Boston. Jason, please call the professor and tell him that we are on our way to see him now. We should be there by 2:00pm at the latest.”

  Pritchard says “goodbye and good luck” to Cassidy and Baldwin as the two veteran FBI agents depart the guardian war room. After they leave, Pritchard immediately sits back down at the conference table and begins to review more of his detectives’ interview reports.

  Approximately thirty minutes after Cassidy and Baldwin leave NYPD headquarters, Special Agent Liv Olson enters the war room.

  Olson says, “Captain, I just received the DNA analysis and matching report on the semen sample.”

  Pritchard says, “Give me some good news, Liv.”

  Olson says, “Well, the good news is that our sample is in pristine condition considering that it was inside the victim’s body and underwater for two days. We will have no problem matching it to the DNA of our killer. Unfortunately, I have bad news, too. We did not get a CODIS match or hit, which means our killer’s DNA is not on file with any of the participating forensic labs at either the national or the local level. Sorry, Captain.”

  Pritchard says, “I see. Too bad.”

  Olson says, “I am going to check with a few local and regional forensic labs that may not be part of the CODIS system to try for a match but, frankly, it is a long shot. Nevertheless, we need to do it because we might get lucky. You never know.”

  Pritchard says, “Okay, thank you, Liv.”

  After Olson leaves the war room, the homicide captain sits in silence for a moment and looks out through the window at the East River. He is not upset. The news he just heard did not come as a shock. He knew it was unlikely they would get a DNA match, so Liv Olson’s news is only mildly disappointing to him.

  Pritchard says to himself, “No time for tears. I must get back to work. It is going to take a lot more than just luck to catch this bastard.”

  Chapter Forty Three

  When Cassidy and Baldwin arrive at LaGuardia Airport just before noon, the FBI Gulfstream jet and pilot are ready and waiting for them. The pilot greets them on the tarmac and then helps them to board the aircraft. LaGuardia Air Traffic Control has given their flight special priority clearance, so the small jet is airborne just a few minutes after the two special agents arrive.

  It is a sunny fall day in the northeast, and the flight goes without incident. The jet touches down at Logan Airport in Boston at 1:05pm, exactly forty minutes after it departed from LaGuardia. An FBI agent named Bill Sellers from the Boston field office located in Chelsea, Massachusetts, is waiting at the airport to meet them. Cassidy has previously worked with Sellers, and the two FBI agents exchange cordial greetings.

  Sellers is there to drive them to Boston College. The main campus, where Dr. Geiger is located, is in Chestnut Hill, approximately twelve miles west of Logan Airport. The campus is 175 acres and includes over 120 buildings set on a hilltop overlooking the Chestnut Hill Reservoir. Due largely to its location and presence of buildings featuring gothic towers reaching into the sky, the Boston College campus is known generally as "the Heights."

  The drive to the beautiful Boston College campus in heavy midday traffic takes twenty-five minutes. When the FBI agents arrive, Sellers parks his blue Chrysler 300 sedan as close as he can to the School of Theology and Ministry. He will wait in the car while Cassidy and Baldwin interview Dr. Geiger. Sellers has no idea how long the interview will take, so he settles in to check his voice messages and email and return some phone calls.

  An administrative assistant directs Cassidy and Baldwin to the office of Dr. Thomas Geiger. They arrive at his office to find that the theology professor is a fit, middle-aged man of average height with a salt-and-pepper beard. He is wearing a green tweed jacket and khaki pants. He extends his hand in greeting to the two FBI agents. They exchange introductions.

  Dr. Geiger says, “Thank you for coming to see me so quickly.”

  Cassidy replies, “Professor Geiger, from what Special Agent Baldwin told me about your telephone conversation, it sounds like you may have some very important information for us. We are tracking a ruthless killer, as you know, and every second counts. That is why we are here.”

  The professor nods and motions for the agents to sit down in his comfortable but unadorned office. The two agents take separate club chairs facing Geiger’s oak desk.

  Cassidy says, “Professor, please tell us why you called the NYPD guardian hotline this morning.”

  Geiger replies, “I watched Anderson Cooper 360 on Friday night. I saw the interview with the homicide captain, and I heard Anderson Cooper read the letter written by the killer. The letter and everything the two of them said about this serial killer made me think of a former doctoral student of mine at Boston University School of Theology when I was an associate professor there ten years ago.”

  Cassidy asks, “How so?”

  Geiger says, “Among the cohort of theology graduate students at Boston University at that time was a doctoral candidate named Charles Lundquist. He was very bright and passionate about theology and religion. He was also arrogant. He would boast that he was going to make a difference in the world. He was a good student but very dogmatic, opinionated and inflexible. He sometimes butted heads with his peers among the doctoral candidates, particularly the women.”

  After a brief pause, he adds, “Lundquist had some rather old-fashioned and patriarchal notions that some of his peers did not appreciate. I had to intervene once or twice.”

  Cassidy says, “Fascinating. Please go on.”

  Geiger says, “Lundquist wanted to become a minister after he received his doctorate in theology. He used to say, ‘I will become the guardian and protector of my flock.’ I remember him claiming that God had given him a directive to protect young women from themselves and the lure of evil in the world. Many of his peers and faculty in the theology department considered such statements by him to be deeply troubling, arrogant, patronizing and sexist. As you might imagine, Lundquist ali
enated himself from many people at Boston University by making those condescending remarks.”

  Cassidy says, “Yes, I can imagine. Professor, my colleague, Agent Baldwin, told me that the guardian’s use of the Bible verse, Psalm 34:7, in his letter made a big impact on you in connection to Lundquist. Please explain why that Bible passage is so important.”

  Geiger says, “Oh, yes. As you know, Psalm 34:7 reads, ‘The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them.’ Lundquist used to quote that verse frequently, as I recall. It was his favorite Bible verse. He would mention it in class or say it to you in a one-on-one conversation. This may sound strange, but I believe that Lundquist interpreted Psalm 34:7 as a personal message to him from God—that is, a message telling him to become the guardian angel of troubled young females.”

  The hair on the back of Cassidy’s neck is standing up by the time Geiger is finished answering her question. She and Baldwin look at one another and they nod their heads in unison.

  Cassidy asks, “Is Lundquist a large, well-built white guy, over six feet?”

  Geiger replies, “Yes, he is.”

  Cassidy asks, “Is he right handed?”

  Geiger says, “Yes.”

  Cassidy says, “Well, Dr. Geiger, it is sounding more and more like your former student might just be our killer.”

  Geiger says, “Psalm 34:7 is not a frequently quoted Bible verse, so it got my attention immediately when Anderson Cooper read it out loud from the letter on television. In fact, I got chills when I heard it.”

  Baldwin who has been silent until now says, “I understand, Professor. I am having the very same reaction to it now as we speak.”

  Cassidy asks, “So, what happened to Lundquist? Where is he now? Are you in touch with him, Professor?”

  Geiger replies, “Lundquist received his doctor of philosophy degree in theology from Boston University eight years ago. I have not seen him or spoken to him at all since his graduation. I left BU and joined the faculty here at Boston College five years ago.”