[Jake Boulder 01.0] Watching the Bodies

by Graham Smith

  He doesn’t dare have me running around town where the Watcher can attack me. Therefore, he is using me to double check and reassess all the details in the safe environment of the police station. Cuthbert is sure to be the pedantic type who’ll never be more than six feet away.

  There is no way the Watcher will try anything when I am so well protected. He’ll either wait until the levels of security are lessened, or abandon his selection process and find another victim.

  I’ll need to find a way to persuade Cuthbert to give the Watcher enough space to feel confident he can attack me but not so much my life is at risk.

  After leaving the chief’s office, I ignore Ms Rosenberg again and speak to Darla. She promises to bring me the reports I’ve asked for.

  I choose to use the office Alfonse used yesterday. It’s hot and stuffy with the aroma of stale sweat and junk food, so I open the windows and take a seat where the breeze cools me while also taking the worst of the nasty smells away.

  ‘Here you are, sweetie.’ Darla dumps a stack of files onto the desk nearest me. ‘Good luck with that lot.’

  I know what she means. I’ve read most of these files already and I haven’t seen anything of note. Perhaps getting all their information into my brain in one pass will make the details more pertinent in relation to each other.

  When Cuthbert arrives back, I’m so engrossed with a report I don’t notice him until he’s at my side.

  ‘Are you serious? Are you trying to get yourself killed?’ His blank face is showing its first impression and it’s one of complete disgust and amazement. ‘You’re the target of a serial killer and you’re sitting by an open window. Not only that but you’re so wrapped up in what you’re doing, you’re not paying any attention to what’s going on around you.’

  As he’s berating me, he goes round the room closing windows and dropping blinds. I can understand his frustration and anger. In his position I’d be the same.

  Not only is he tasked with a dangerous duty, the person he’s protecting seems to have no idea about basic common sense precautions. For him, this is the type of assignment on which careers are made or broken. Anything bad happening to me will, for him, be the equivalent of writing a letter of resignation.

  Seeing the scale of his reaction, I realise there’s no way I’ll be able to persuade him to let me draw the killer out.

  I try to placate him by apologising then asking his opinion about the facts I’ve gleaned so far.

  The distraction works. There’s every chance it’s the first time he’s been asked to contribute on anything other than guard duty since arriving in Casperton.

  We settle into an uneasy truce and each pick up a file. The room becomes stuffy again, but Cuthbert ignores it and I think better of asking for an opened window.

  We’re reading the files in chronological order. From time to time, he’ll ask me a question. It’s usually something to do with local knowledge, but one or two of his points are good ones.

  After six hours with nothing more than coffee I call a halt and stand up. ‘C’mon. We need to eat and I want to speak to someone who’s doing research for me.’

  Cuthbert reaches for a phone. ‘We’ll order in.’

  ‘No we won’t. It’s the middle of the day and we’ll be eating in a crowded public place.’ He doesn’t put down the phone so I push harder. ‘Trust me, it’ll be fine. My treat.’

  He wavers so I walk towards the door forcing him to make a decision one way or the other. He puts down the phone and picks up his jacket.

  Chapter 74

  Instead of my usual seat at the counter, he directs me to a booth at the back. I can see why he’s chosen the booth. From our seats we have a full view of the diner and can see both entrances and the doors to the bathrooms. Nobody can approach us unseen by his watchful eyes.

  He surprises me by foregoing the chilli burger I recommend and selects a vegetable and pasta bake. I’d pretty much assumed all FBI agents would be macho dudes who’d eat plenty of red meat and drink bourbon by the bucket.

  He doesn’t offer an explanation and I don’t ask for one. His diet is his own business.

  I ask about his family and where he’s from, but other than the barest details he doesn’t tell me anything.

  Giving up on the small talk, I concentrate on my burger, savouring the burn from the jalapenos and the spicy wedges accompanying it.

  As I’m eating, my mind is still leafing through the files. Checking and cross-checking details. After everything I’ve read this morning, I’m still no closer to making a decent connection.

  My only hope is Alfonse has something for me. The lack of contact from him suggests otherwise though.

  I pay the check as promised and leave Sherri’s with Cuthbert’s understated praise for the diner making me smile.

  The gun nestling in the small of my back is uncomfortable, but there’s no way I’m going to remove it.

  When we arrive at Alfonse’s, I reassure Cuthbert he can talk freely in front of my friend. The last thing we need is FBI reticence impounding on our conversation.

  His mouth and eyes give me two different replies.

  Alfonse is at his desk with his laptop open. He looks pissed and not just with his results.

  Cuthbert positions himself by the door and leaves us to talk.

  ‘What you got?’

  He pulls a face. ‘Little more than nothing. Ingerson was no saint, but his record is clean enough and the friends of his I spoke to said he was never one to start a fight.’

  ‘His wife intimated he finished a few.’

  ‘Sound like anyone we know?’ If his tone drips any more scorn he’ll have to wipe his chin. His eyes bore into mine. ‘By all accounts he’d do enough to stop them and leave it at that.’

  I give a half shrug. Big deal, Ingerson’s philosophy matches my own.

  Once you’ve knocked the fight out of someone, there’s little point in continuing to hit them. All you do is create room for grudges to develop. Hospitalising people comes with its own risks, namely incarceration and a heightened desire for violent revenge.

  ‘Did you speak to any of the guys he fought?’

  ‘Most of them. They all said they’d picked the fight for one reason or another and had their ass handed to them.’

  ‘What were the reasons they gave?’

  He spears me with another glower. ‘Flirting with their girlfriends mostly. The friends I spoke to said he was like that. He’d chat to women and flirt with them but would never follow it up.’

  Again it sounds familiar, but at least I try not to flirt with anyone who’s already dating.

  ‘Any other reasons?’

  ‘There was an accusation of him being a card sharp during a game of poker which turned into a fight.’

  I feel my pulse quicken; money is one of the main reasons for crime. ‘What happened?’

  ‘After a couple of punches were traded Ingerson showed the guy his cards.’ Alfonse grimaces. ‘A two, six, seven, jack and king spread across all four suits.’

  I wince. Even with what little I know about poker, I recognise it’s a poor hand.

  ‘Did any of the people you spoke to know of anyone with a grudge against him?’

  ‘None they’d admit to. Even the guys who’d lost to him said he could have pounded on them more but stopped as soon as they went down.’

  I get the picture. It’s an unwritten dude rule. When someone hands you your ass, but stops as soon as the fight is out of you, you accept the better fighter won and leave it there.

  It’s something I’ve seen many times at the Tree. Two guys will knock seven bells out of each other one night, then get drunk together and reminisce over the fight the next.

  ‘Is there anybody worth taking a closer look at?’ I’m thinking a couple of hours being grilled by the FBI will shake loose any details someone’s holding back on.

  ‘Nobody I’ve found yet.’ For the first time since I arrived, he looks at me without anger or fear. ‘I’
m gonna keep digging in case I’ve missed something.’

  Cuthbert’s pronounced tones enter the conversation for the first time. ‘You sure Ingerson was the first of the Watcher’s victims?’

  ‘He’s the first as far as the chain is concerned. There may be others who don’t match the Watcher’s methods, but he’s definitely where the chain begins.’

  I have a thought. ‘Try looking at his family as well. Perhaps one of them has wronged the killer and he’s exacted a twisted kind of revenge.’

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘He’s targeting family members of those who find the bodies he’s left. Perhaps one of Ingerson’s family found out something about him.’

  Alfonse’s face lights up at my suggestion and Cuthbert nods his head. ‘Good idea. I like your train of thought.’

  From the taciturn agent, the two sentences are equivalent to a ticker tape parade.

  Chapter 75

  Norm watches as the Mustang turns off Main Street and pulls into the police car park. The man with Boulder is a new face in town, but he pegs him as an FBI agent who’s been given bodyguard duty.

  The man has the institutionalised air of conformity about him. From the buzz cut to the square stance and expressionless face, he may as well be wearing a windbreaker with ‘FBI’ stencilled on the back in yellow letters. The clothes he wears still carry the creases from where they’ve been folded into their sales packaging.

  The man has a bulge in his jacket where a left-handed person would carry a gun. There’s no sign of a shoulder holster but he knows it’ll be there. The lump in the jacket is as obvious to his trained eye as a signal flare.

  What he’s waiting for is that fraction of a second when their guard is down and he can make his move.

  One positive thing he’s learned from tailing them is Boulder’s unfamiliarity with the gun stuffed into the back of his waistband. Every minute or two he slips a hand round his back, either to check it’s there or to move it into a more comfortable position.

  The way his shirt hangs over it is no problem to a trained professional, but a panicking amateur is more likely to get his gun or hand tangled. He might free it in a second or two, but two seconds in a takedown situation is a long time.

  Add the element of fear and he’ll only have to worry about the feebie in the first five seconds. Fingering the Tasers in his pocket, he’s content with the time frame; all he needs to do is wait for the right opportunity.

  The draw he made earlier has thrown up the one method he’d been hoping not to get. He’d wanted something gorier and more painful for the man whose investigative prowess has caused so many problems. While enjoying the challenge, he’d hoped there would be more time wasted by the town’s detectives before the pattern was recognised.

  Boulder’s interference wasn’t something he’d expected, but the fact the FBI would become involved was anticipated.

  Whatever happens now, his place in history is cemented. All he has to do is keep going as long as possible. The higher the tally, the greater his legend.

  Chapter 76

  I toss the last report onto the pile for Cuthbert and stand up. Arching my back, I go through a few stretches to try and remove the stiffness.

  The smell in the office is now of stale bodies and despair. The chief and Doenig have joined us at regular intervals but we’ve had nothing worthwhile to tell them.

  Everything we’ve looked at has checked out the same way, and the crime scenes are too public to yield specific samples.

  Cross matching the samples for DNA is something Doenig has pushed through the FBI lab, but as with every government department, they’ve suffered cutbacks in both personnel and budget. The soonest they can get us the answers we need is two days away.

  My cell beeps, but when I pull it out expecting yet another snarky message from Mother, I see it switching itself off. The battery has given up – I’ve never thought to charge it.

  The chief walks into the room, his face all grey stubble and greyer skin. If we don’t catch the Watcher soon, he may well die of exhaustion. He needs twelve hours’ sleep, a hearty meal and then another half day in bed.

  Cuthbert takes the opportunity to head for the bathroom. Since being detailed as my bodyguard he’s never been more than six feet away from me.

  ‘Got anything yet?’

  ‘Not a thing. What about your end?’

  ‘Zilch. We’ve traced as many of the people at the nature reserve as we can, but none of them saw anything.’

  ‘What about the last victim? She was supposed to be meeting her date at seven, wasn’t she?’

  ‘We’ve spoken to him. He was at work all day and then his roommate vouches for him from the time he left work until he went to meet her.’ He kneads his temples. ‘After being stood up he sank a couple of beers and went home. Her cell had four missed calls and a succinct message from him, but his whereabouts are vouched for from leaving work until he went to bed.’

  I know it isn’t the date, but he still has to be checked out. There’s something nagging me about the last kill, but I can’t figure out what.

  The timeline between Norm Sortwell finding Ian Yarwood’s body and his cousin dying is so short it means the Watcher is escalating his kills with increasing rapidity.

  There were less than eight hours between the two events and it doesn’t seem credible someone could have learned who Norm was, traced his family, executed a kill then dumped a body in such a short time frame.

  If I didn’t know it was impossible, I’d start to think Norm was supposed to find Yarwood’s body.

  Alfonse bursts into the office as Cuthbert is closing the door behind him. Cuthbert’s hand flies into his jacket and emerges with a gun. He’s halfway towards aiming it when he recognises Alfonse.

  ‘I think I may have found him.’

  ‘Who?’ Three voices speak as one.

  ‘When I started looking into the first…’

  The chief beats me to the interruption. ‘Tell us the who first. Then you can explain how you’ve found him.’

  ‘It’s Norm Sortwell.’

  There’s a stunned silence until I wave a hand at Alfonse. ‘Why do you think it’s him?’ It’s tough to believe when his cousin is the latest victim.

  ‘As I was saying. When I started to look into Ingerson’s family, I found out his wife used to be a nurse. A few weeks after he was killed she was fired.’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘The clinic she worked at was sued for infecting a patient with HIV from a dirty needle. She was the nurse who had used the needle. The case was settled out of court by the insurers.’ Alfonse gives a grim smile of self-congratulation. ‘The patient who was infected had already died by the time this all happened. Her name was Melanie and she was married to Norm Sortwell. The same Norm Sortwell who found Ian Yarwood’s body.’

  The chief shakes his head. ‘Coincidence. His cousin was killed.’

  ‘Here, I’ve printed out everything I found so you can check it for yourselves.’ Alfonse pulls a sheaf of papers from his briefcase.

  He sits down at a desk and starts to boot up his laptop while we absorb what he’s told us.

  I let the chief and Cuthbert read the printouts Alfonse has supplied. I trust his judgement, but I need to work it through my own mind before fully accepting his accusation.

  Starting at the beginning I put together a mental chain of events. Faith Ingerson’s stupidity or laziness caused Norm’s wife to catch a deadly virus. He’d sued the clinic after Melanie’s death. The settlement he’d received wasn’t enough for him though, he had wanted to see her punished.

  After losing his own spouse, he must have decided it was fitting for her to lose hers. Where his selection process had come from or why he’d carried on killing is still unknown but there is always the possibility he’d got a taste for it or had suffered a mental breakdown of some kind after his wife’s death.

  ‘Did you have chance to look into him?’

  ‘Yeah. It’s not
pretty. He was in the Marines for years. Done all the usual tours, Helmand, Baghdad and so on. I also looked at his medical records. He’s now got full blown AIDS.’

  I think of Norm’s appearance. The gaunt face, depleted body tissue and the belt showing used holes where he’d lost weight.

  He is dying and knows it. Perhaps he wants to go out with a bang or just get even with the world for the hand he’s been dealt. Maybe the twin blows of losing his wife and contracting a death sentence saw his mind disintegrate.

  The chief’s voice is laced with doubt as he turns on Alfonse. ‘Hang on a minute. Sortwell was under police guard from the moment he found the body until his cousin was discovered. There’s no way he could have killed her.’

  Alfonse’s face is filled with dismay at having his logic unpicked.

  ‘I think you’re wrong, Chief.’ I ignore his sneer and press on. ‘I reckon the cousin was killed and dumped before he called in the body he supposedly found. He’s using us to provide the alibi you’ve just stated. Have you had a time of death for her yet?’

  He doesn’t speak. Instead he reaches for the nearest telephone.

  Cuthbert has a cell to his ear and I can hear him requesting someone joins us. I guess it’s Doenig.

  Since Alfonse arrived, a new energy has filled the room. It’s banished the odours of defeat and helplessness and is energising tired limbs with a sense of purpose.

  The more I think about it, the more I believe Norm Sortwell is the Watcher. As a former Marine he’ll have the necessary skills to have made the kills. Plus, he’d be able to get close to his cousin to kill her. While we still don’t have a cause of death, there are too many inconsistencies about her death fitting into the narrative of someone else killing her so soon after Yarwood’s body was discovered.

  First there was the missed date. She’d posted about it on Facebook and there were clothes laid out ready on her bed. Judging by the length of the skirt and the fancy underwear, it wasn’t a date she planned to miss.