by Donald Wells
I overheard a detective talking as I was being processed, and learned that someone in the press had leaked the information about the Task Force’s use of F.D.R.T to identify victims. Now it was believed that the killer or killers would discard their current weapon and use a variety of knives to confuse the police.
As I waited for Bill to join me, I watched as people scurried in and out of the center, each one looking stressed, yet somehow bored at the same time.
Through the window, I could see a chart of the victims of PLATINUM, complete with photos. Thankfully, they were photos of them alive and not pictures of them after the butcher had gotten ahold of them.
New York - 40 Victims over five years, eight months, all missing, Rape? Murder? - Unknown.
Pennsylvania (Castle County) -11 Victims over three years, two months, all raped and murdered, all bodies recovered.
Pennsylvania (Philadelphia) - 1 Victim, no rape, murdered, body recovered. A search is on for a possible witness in this case.
California - 2 Victims over five weeks, none raped, both murdered, both bodies recovered.
Italy - 4 Victims over two months, none raped, all murdered, all bodies recovered.
England - 2 Victims over a month, none raped, both murdered, both bodies recovered.
Japan - 1 Victim, no rape, murdered, body recovered.
Germany - 3 Victims over six weeks, none raped, all murdered, all bodies recovered.
Australia - 7 Victims over nine weeks, none raped, all murdered, all bodies recovered.
France - 2 Victims over five weeks, none raped, both murdered, both bodies recovered.
My mind boggled from the sheer number of victims.
This couldn’t be one man. Two or more monsters working together? Maybe it was the workings of a cult of some kind.
I stood gazing absently at the board, as I thought about David Thorne and his softer side. All at once, the places and dates on the board seemed familiar somehow, as if they were an itinerary that I was acquainted with. I kept staring at them.
What is it?
Then I remembered. It was Janey, Janey Winslow, now Janey Roberts. Janey over the years, feeding me bits of news about Felicia.
“She’s in England right now, but she says it rains a lot.”
“Felicia loved Germany; she said the people were friendly.”
“Australia’s beautiful, but she’s alone, David is never around.”
I shrugged. No. A coincidence, and yet… David did go to school in the Castle Ridge area about the time of the murders back then. He’s been to Japan, Australia, England, Germany, France, Italy, and now lives in New York State. But what about last night and Marta? And what about the woman that escaped the attack? Two witnesses said she was covered in—Jesus Christ!
Not a cross dresser, but a costume, a disguise, that’s how forty women have gone missing while looking suspiciously at every man that came near them, because they trusted “Her”, but “She” was actually a “He”. Thorne was after Tori. He thought he was killing Tori, not Marta.
At the apartment, his words, what were his exact words? Oh my God, I remember now.
‘She’s an exceptional specimen, maybe I’ll take her from you. Yes, I think I’ll take her.’
I was ready to tackle the first person that came near me and tell them my theory when I spotted Bill walking toward me, beside him was a man with a stocky build and graying temples. The man was wearing a black three-piece suit and a red tie that was hanging undone about his neck.
“John, sorry you had to wait, but things are hectic right now with the confirmation of PLATINUM in Philly last night, oh, this is Lieutenant Frank Garner, he’s in charge of the Task Force.”
Garner offered me his hand. “Nice to meet you Mr. Faron,”
I grabbed Garner’s hand and leaned in close.
“Tell me something Lieutenant, does the name David Thorne mean anything to you?”
36
In the midst of my fifteen minutes of fame, I found myself checking my watch.
It was 6:08 P.M. and the evening news was all Faron, the Faron Engine that is.
I knew it would make news, but it was everywhere.
“…said to have only a high school education, he nevertheless has invented what may well end Global Warming and will without doubt alter the landscapes of such industries as Oil, Transportation, Manufacturing and eventually the Marine and Aviation fields. John Faron lives in the town of Castle Ridge, Pennsylvania and is a garage mechanic, or rather was; he’s now being hailed as the next Edison, or Marconi. Now, on the international front, Prime Minister—”
I switched off the TV and turned to Tori.
“Hello Mrs. Edison.”
“Actually, that reporterette on channel seven said you were single, she also told the weatherman she thought you were a hunk and a half.”
“Well, it is the news honey; they’re trained to report accurately.”
We were in a hotel suite on Fifth Avenue. As we were leaving the command center, Bobby called from the garage and told me that all hell was breaking loose back home.
He said that there were sixteen news vans parked outside the shop and that a flood of reporters had descended on the town from all over the world.
I told Bobby that he could take off with pay until further notice and he said I was the best boss he ever had.
Tori arrived at the command center just as Lieutenant Garner was looking into David Thorne.
It turned out that because of his school years in Pennsylvania and his residency in New York State, he was actually already on a list of possible suspects; however, the list was over twenty thousand names long.
After Garner input David’s data from his passport file, he became one of only fourteen suspects that fit the profile, add to that my discovery of his dress up games and Lieutenant Garner now had David on an around the clock watch. He was the closest thing they had ever had to a viable suspect, and they weren’t about to let him go.
Tori turned on the sofa and took my hand.
“Why were you following Felicia?”
I was ready for the question. She had heard my story of spotting David Thorne in drag, and it was only a matter of time before she realized I couldn’t have spotted Thorne following Felicia, unless I had been following her also.
“I wasn’t exactly following her; I mean, I knew where she was headed. It’s just that curiosity got the better of me and I wanted to see how you two would get along.”
“Lucky for you we were seated at a window.” She said, while eyeing me carefully.
“Yes it was, by the way, what was Felicia so happy about when you two started talking.”
“You John, she was happy for you. The first thing she did was to show me an article about your engine and asked me if it were true.”
“She knows I’ve been trying to build it since we were kids.”
“She couldn’t have been happier if you were named Pope.”
“Yeah, but why the lunch? What did she have to say to you?”
“She was concerned that I might break up with you, she wanted to assure me that nothing happened the other night.”
“I told you she didn’t want me back, for whatever reason she’s committed to being Thorne’s wife. Maybe her father, her upbringing, left deeper scars than I knew.”
“I’m worried for her. If what you suspect about Thorne is true, then that man is truly a monster.”
I stared at her. “You like Felicia, don’t you?”
“I tried not to, but yes, I do.”
“Did you show her your ring?”
“I didn’t have to. She spotted it and congratulated me, and she damn near pulled off sounding sincere too.”
“She probably was sincere; she told me the other night that she didn’t want me to lose you.”
“Was this before or after she offered to sleep with you?”
“Point taken, but I don’t believe she’ll try and break us up.”
“Neither do
I, not anymore, and I guess that was the purpose of the lunch, to reassure me.”
“And are you, reassured?”
“Yes, there’s just one thing that bothers me though. If David Thorne is a serial killer, then the police will put him away soon and Felicia will be single again.”
“That means nothing to me, I’m getting married, in fact, why don’t we set a date.”
“Would you mind a small wedding? Neither one of us has scads of friends, and most of my family wouldn’t come anyway.”
I leaned over and kissed her. “Whatever you want, I just want to marry you; I wish I’d done it years ago.”
My cell phone rang. It was Bill. “John, where are you?”
“We’re in our room, and I was just about to call you, Tori and I are going out to dinner, how about joining us?”
“You might want to order room service.”
“Why?”
“Look out the window.”
I walked over to the window and looked down on Fifth Avenue. The street was awash with news vans. I looked back at Tori.
“Maybe it wasn’t one of my brighter ideas to try avoiding the press, by hiding out in the media capital of the world.”
37
Universal Motors arranged for a press conference to be held in a meeting room, at our hotel, at eleven a.m. the next day. Tori and I spent that morning shopping and getting ready.
We were now standing behind a curtain and could hear the large room fill with reporters.
I was wearing a new blue suit that fit me better than anything I’d ever worn before and also cost about as much as all I’d worn before. I could afford it. Tori checked the bank accounts she had set up for the deposits from the Universal deal and I was now one very rich young man.
Universal also arranged for me to have an assistant.
Her name was Ms. Lee. She was in her mid-thirties and Tori said she was the hottest thing to come out of the Orient since the iPhone.
“Why couldn’t Universal have sent you a man?”
I squinted across the room to where Ms. Lee stood.
“You mean she’s not a man? Hmm, I hadn’t noticed.”
Tori grinned. “Good answer big boy,”
Ms. Lee was definitely not a man. She was five feet, one hundred pounds of deliciously proportioned woman, with a face that was made to be kissed. She joined us now, and it was a genuine pleasure to watch her walk across a room.
“Mr. Faron, we’re just about ready to begin. Tell me, have you ever spoken in front of a large audience before?”
“I sure have; I played George Washington in the third grade.”
Ms. Lee gave me a smile. Definitely a face worth kissing,
“Anything more recent perhaps?”
“No, but if I get tongue-tied I’ll call you for help, okay?”
“Yes Sir.”
“Call me John.”
“Yes John. Now, whenever you’re ready you can step out to the podium. I’ll be standing behind you on your right if you need help.”
I took a deep breath and pushed through the curtain.
There were bright lights and cameras and recorders of all kinds, along with about a hundred reporters. Tori stood behind me on my left, Ms. Lee on my right. I took the podium and the room nearly became silent.
Now, I had never been nervous before a crowd in my life, and yet, as I looked out on that panorama of faces something took hold of me. It was fear. My palms suddenly felt clammy and my heart was beating in double time. The room was filled with reporters from around the world and they all had cameras, which meant that not only the throng in the room was now staring at me, but the world was watching me as well.
I told myself, Don’t just stand here like a dummy John, say something!
And as the seconds ticked on, I still said nothing.
A piece of advice fluttered across my mind then, something I had read once about speaking to crowds. Something about ignoring the crowd and focusing on talking to just one or two people within the crowd, supposedly it was a way to humanize the mass of faces and calm the speaker. I looked down at two people standing together in the front row, a man and a woman.
The man was fat, about sixty and wore a gray three-piece suit. The woman was in her twenties and wore a bright yellow dress that stopped several inches above her knees, and also displayed a fair bit of cleavage.
At that moment, I recalled a second piece of advice about talking to crowds. Imagine them in their underwear. I did so, giving the man a plain white T-shirt and boxers. With the woman, I went all out, push-up bra, thong underwear and black garter belts with silk nylons.
It wasn’t working.
I had probably stepped to the podium no more than five seconds ago, but it was beginning to feel like hours. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Ms. Lee take a step in my direction, as my brain did something to save me.
As I stood imagining the man and woman in their underwear, my mind had them switch places. Now, the man was wearing the garter belts and push-up bra and the woman had on his boxers and T-shirt. The image was so real to me that it made me smile, and an instant later, I spoke.
“Good morning.” I said, while still feeling nervous.
In my peripheral vision, I saw Ms. Lee return to her place near the curtain.
Immediately, sixty different people asked sixty different questions, I picked one of them and away we went.
“Mr. Faron, is it true you only have a high school education?”
“Only a high school education? Those were the four toughest years of my life.”
“How long did it take you to create the engine?”
“The one that worked took two years, but there were numerous failed attempts before it.”
“What inspired you to build it?”
“Have you seen gas prices lately?”
A chuckle went through the crowd and I relaxed a bit.
“John, it’s rumored that your deal with Universal will make you a billionaire, is it true?”
“Short answer… yes, long answer… yes.”
More laughter, Ah the ol’ Faron charm,
“It’s also been rumored that if Universal balked at your terms you were going to end negotiations and approach the Japanese, any truth to that?”
I gestured behind me. “Perhaps Ms. Lee should answer that.”
They laughed some more, I turned and looked at Ms. Lee and saw that she was a good sport about being used as a prop.
I then pointed to a woman near the front, a tall redhead that I recognized from TV, recognized and always had a thing for.
“Hello Johnny, Caroline Deeds, from The Business Channel. Are you single? And if so, what is the reason for the epidemic of blindness among the women in your town?”
That received a laugh and a few raised eyebrows from her colleagues; it also made Tori move up beside me.
“Mr. Faron is engaged.” Tori said.
“I see, thank you,” Said Caroline Deeds.
“Johnny, what’s next?”
“The Faron Two,” I said.
“The Faron Two? Is it another engine?”
I took Tori’s hand. “No, it’s a baby; we’re hoping to start a family soon.”
“How were you able to do what the best automotive minds couldn’t? What’s your secret?”
I leaned on the podium and looked around the room.
“There’s no secret, and what I did isn’t all that special really, I mean, all across this country, hell, around the world, there are people like me who tinker in their garages, their basements, workshops, and every once in a while we get lucky, fortune smiles and the world changes. Henry Ford did it, William Hewlett and David Packard and countless others did it, and in the coming years, there will be more. We’re humans, we tinker.”
They asked a few more questions and then Ms. Lee stepped forward and ended it. She told me I had been exceptional for a beginner and said she would stay behind with the reporters and schedule a few one on one interviews for late
r dates.
“Thanks for your help Ms. Lee.”
“You’re welcome, and I’ll see you in Castle Ridge when you get back.”
“You’ll be in Castle Ridge, why?”
“As per your agreement with Universal, they’re opening a parts plant in your town and I’ve been assigned to help you in any way I can.”
“So they just gave you to me?”
“Yes, essentially, I suppose you could say I’m Faron Engines’ first employee; you’re now paying my salary.”
I looked at Tori. “This is going to take some getting used to.”
“Mr. Faron, if you’d rather have someone else, it can be arranged,”
“No, but what about you? Castle Ridge isn’t exactly Detroit.”
She smiled. “I’ll adapt Sir; it’s part of my job.”
“Please, call me John, and I guess we’ll see you in Castle Ridge.”
Ms. Lee nodded and walked away, her walk away was almost as good as her walking toward.
Tori watched her also. “Your Personal Assistant is a little too hot for my taste, but she does seem efficient.”
I nodded. “Hot and efficient,’ maybe I’ll make that the Faron Engines slogan.”
38
Tori and I spent the rest of that day seeing the sights.
When we were on our way home that evening, I received a call from Bill,
“You have a guest waiting for you at the hotel, David Thorne. Garner says they followed him there an hour ago, apparently he’s waiting for you, and oh, Felicia is with him.”
“Thanks Bill.”
“Be careful. If he’s who we think he might be, then he’s dangerous.”
“I’ll be careful, bye.”
At the desk, we were told about our visitors and we met them in the bar.
Thumpity, thumpity, thump went my heart at first sight of Felicia. I hoped that Tori detected no outer sign of my inner elation.
