A Kettle of Hawks (The Birdwatcher Series Book 3)

by European P. Douglas

  “What things?”

  “Things around the house, out in the yard too.”

  “I don’t understand what you mean?” Megan said.

  “Things are not where I put them!” Ellie practically shouted, “I put down my phone and when I come back to it it’s been moved, only a little, but enough for me to notice it.” She seemed a little calmer now. “At first I didn’t think anything of it, but then it started happening more and more and I took note of where I putting things down.”

  “Someone in your house could be moving them?” Megan suggested.

  “Every time?” Ellie sounded like she thought Megan was being quite naive. Ellie sniffed, she was still weeping a bit.

  “Probably not,” Megan agreed reluctantly.

  “Any time I’ve been out lately, I feel he’s watching me,” Ellie went on. “It might be from a copse of trees or a large bush but it's like he’s there. Did you ever see that movie ‘Halloween’?”

  “Yeah.”

  “It’s like the start of that. He’s everywhere watching me but I never see him.” Megan thought about this a moment and shuddered at the idea.

  “Did you call the police?” she asked Ellie.

  “Yeah, but they don’t really care. They sent a car around but for all the search they carried out he could have been standing at the end of the yard and they wouldn't have found him.”

  “What about Agent Brightwater from the FBI, I gave you her number a while back?”

  “I’ve read about her,” Ellie said, “Spalding killed her mom and the internet says he’s out to get her too, that he’s been involved in all her recent cases.”

  “So why don’t you call her?”

  “That just feels like getting more involved than getting away from Spalding,” Ellie said.

  “She’s good,” Megan replied, “I’ve spoken to her, she’s nice and she would do her best to help you, I know she would.”

  “I don’t know,” Ellie said but Megan only heard a flat no in her tone. The idea wasn't biting at all.

  “What about coming here?” Megan suggested. “You could stay here with me.”

  “That sounds great but I’m not sure,” Ellie said. Megan felt she wanted to come but there was something holding her back.

  “Why not?” she pressed, “It could be fun.”

  “It would be fun,” Ellie agreed, “It would be great but I’m scared he’ll follow me and then he’ll know where you are now too.” Megan smiled and a tear came to her eye at this thoughtful expression.

  “I love you Ellie,” she said fighting back more tears, “I want you here, we can keep each other safe, just like we did before.”

  “I love you too,” Ellie said and she was blubbering again, though this time not in terror.

  “Then you’ll come?” Megan asked, she was thinking she could tell Sarah about this and get her help without Ellie knowing until she was already here.

  “Yes, I’ll come” Ellie gushed, “I’ll call in the morning and if you’re still sure then I’ll make arrangements to come see you.”

  “I will be,” Megan said, “Now try to get some sleep, and no more seventies horror movies!” They both laughed at this and it felt good and normal for a second. ‘Cheers’ was still on the TV though it looked like another episode had come on. Perhaps she and Ellie could watch it when she got here and make fun of how life used to be back in those days too.

  Chapter 21

  When Tyler came into the office of ‘The Baltimore Echo’ Calvin Briggs was standing over Tyler’s desk looking at something on the piles of paper there. He looked up as Tyler approached.

  “Ah, Tyler,” he said, “I was just looking over some of your notes here on the Baltimore Murders.” He didn’t look put out at all that Tyler had caught him snooping and Tyler wondered how often he did this. A quick glance around the room told him there was no one else here, June must have been out to lunch.

  “It’s a difficult story,” Tyler said, putting his jacket on the back of his chair. “The cops don’t seem to have a clue what’s been going on.”

  “And you?” Briggs asked.

  “Me?”

  “Do you have a clue?” The way Briggs asked this question led Tyler to think his editor thought he was holding out on him.

  “Not yet,” Tyler replied, “But I will. I always do.” Briggs nodded in agreement but Tyler knew something was bothering him.

  “Who was your tip off about Graham Ledener’s body?” Briggs asked.

  “I don’t know,” Tyler replied, feeling he knew what was coming. “It was an anonymous call. The police tried to trace the number but they came up with nothing.”

  “You really don’t know?” Briggs smiled at him and Tyler saw the ‘old buddies’ routine in his face. The ‘come on, you can tell me. We’re on the same team’ bullshit.

  “I really don’t, and that pisses me off because whoever it was knows more about this case than anyone else I’ve spoken to and that includes the police.” Briggs face changed and the smile dropped.

  “Come on Tyler, cut the bullshit,” he said, “You know who it was. I’m your editor, this source is a source for the paper, not for you personally!”

  “That’s not how it works and you know it, Calvin,” Tyler shot back, not yet fully angry.

  “At my paper, that is how it works!”

  “What do you think happens?” Tyler asked, “I just go up and ask people in the street if they want to be an informant for the paper and then I give them a list of people they are allowed to talk to?” Before Briggs could answer Tyler went on. “It can take months or even years to get good informants and the only way to keep them is when they trust you, trust that you won’t reveal who they are, to anyone!”

  “And what do you think Tyler, that I’m going to get a list of people from you and then go out and tell them Tyler Ford gave me your name, do you mind if I ask you a few questions about the mafia hit you carried out yesterday?” This was ludacris but Tyler knew beneath it all was the lack of control Briggs had over the paper's street information supply and how much Tyler might be holding back for his work on his own book.

  “No, but if I reveal one name, ever, to anyone, I might as well quit this job because I'll never have another exclusive in my life.”

  “I think you're being a little dramatic,” Briggs said with clear disdain.

  “Well then that tells me you don't understand what I do at all,” Tyler replied.

  “I understand who pays you that healthy pay check you get every month.” Briggs was getting personal now and Tyler was enjoying it.

  “I understand how much work it takes to earn that pay check,” Tyler retorted.

  They were at a stalemate. Tyler felt there was nothing to be gained by riling his boss any further than this, and he assumed Briggs was thinking the same thing. Not knowing where Tyler’s stories came from was one thing, but losing him from the paper would mean losing all those contacts and future stories too. He couldn't afford to fire Tyler, no matter what. The paper would never survive without him.

  Briggs sighed and rubbed his temples with the small finger and thumb of one hand as he scrunched his eyes closed.

  “This is bullshit, Tyler,” he said but there was no anger in it anymore, “I’m only thinking of the paper.” He started to walk away.

  “So am I,” Tyler called after him. “You know I’ve turned down dozens of offers from other papers in the last few years.” Briggs nodded to this but he didn’t stop walking and he didn’t look back to where Tyler was not sitting. He went into his office and shut the door behind him.

  Tyler looked down at his desk trying to see what Briggs might have been looking at. It didn’t really matter and he didn’t leave anything of importance out in plain view, but he didn’t like the idea of being snooped on all the same. Perhaps it was time to move on from the newspaper after all.

  He looked through the files in his cloud account. He’d managed to get some names and partial interview transcripts from
some of his Baltimore PD insiders, and he’d spoken to Sarah when all of the suspects had been interviewed. She had told him everything she could, telling him what could be reported on and what she couldn’t be ‘on the record’ about.

  It looked to Tyler like it was a pretty simple case orchestrated by Spalding. He arranged the murders, arranged for these suspects to be in the vicinity of the murders with no reason to be and then someone had killed all five men on those nights. The missing piece of the puzzle and who Tyler felt (and Sarah agreed) was probably the killer was the man who took over Farley Tusk’s shifts at the construction site.

  Who was he? The description didn’t match anything like Dwight Spalding. It was a tall thin man, South American perhaps, his English was broken but that might have been an act. Tusk hadn’t been able to pick him out of any of the mugshot albums so far either and no one matching the description Tusk gave was noticed on any of the CCTV footage that had so far been monitored.

  Tusk himself was an unsavoury character but Tyler didn’t peg him for anything other than laziness and a lack of morals and decency. Not for the first time in his life, Tyler thought about killing someone like this, someone deeply involved in a case, just to throw the cat amongst the pigeons. He smiled at the idea and the door of the elevator opened. June walked in and smiled at him.

  “Decided to come in today did you?” she winked.

  “Just came in to sit down a while, my dogs are barking from chasing leads all day,” he winked at her.

  “I think some people would like you to be on a lead!” June said and then suddenly looked towards Briggs door in the hope she’d not been heard. She looked relieved and giggled when she saw the door was closed.

  “Sounds like you’re getting a little kinky June,” Tyler said, getting up and swooping his jacket from the back of the chair. “You been drinking at lunch? I’m getting out of here before you pin me to the floor and try take advantage!”

  Chapter 22

  Sarah looked through the files of the five men questioned about the Baltimore murders. Each had been released as none had been charged as of yet. Delgado looked across the table,

  “You look like you’re looking for something specific,” he said. She had been leafing through pages quickly and only stopping when possible mentions of what she was looking for came up.

  “I am,” she said without so much as a glance up.

  “Care to share?” Delgado asked, a little bemused by her answer. Now Sarah did look up at him. For a moment she thought about lying and not telling him what she was really up to but then she thought it could be pertinent to the case and an avenue they should be checking out.

  “I’m looking for any mentions of family,” she said.

  “Of the victims?”

  “Of the suspects,” Sarah replied. “You remember the ‘John the Baptist’ case? How Stanver and Roche were made carry out a murder to keep their own family members safe?”

  “You think this might be the same? The same person involved?” She was sure he was alluding to Spalding but was glad he had the tact not to say it out loud here in the office.

  “That’s exactly what I think,” she said.

  “Well, I could do with stretching my legs,” Delgado said standing up, “Why don’t I go down and have a look at the missing person’s database while I’m at it? Maybe search for specific surnames?” Sarah smiled and nodded at him. It wouldn’t look great for her to be seen trying to link this to Spalding, but if Delgado did it off his own back that was completely different

  When she was alone, Sarah looked back over Tusk’s interview. Whether it was himself or through the ‘immigrant'; he was the crux of it. He was the starting point. Tusk had told them the immigrant first made contact with him outside the closed construction site as he was leaving. On that occasion Tusk had just waved him out of the way, threatening to run him over if he didn't move. The next time was a chance meeting on the street, or so Tusk said. The place and time where he said he met the man was not covered by any CCTV cameras.

  Sarah had no trouble believing Tusk would let someone work his sift for him, or that he planned to cheat the man afterwards, but still it seemed like a far-fetched story. Did this kind of thing go on in the illegal immigrant workforce? That was something she would have to ask one of her colleagues more in step with that function of the FBI. If the man Tusk described existed, he was still out there, free to kill once more. It was a distinct possibility though that the man was a creation of Dwight Spalding’s imagination and what Tusk had been told to tell the police when he got called in. How she wished she could go to them all with a picture of Spalding and ask if they had ever seen him before.

  Less than an hour after he’d left the room, Delgado came back. He had two tall coffees and a couple of pastries in his hands.

  “We got a match,” he said as he set the stuff down on the desk.

  “How many of them?” Sarah asked.

  “Only one,” Delgado replied, “Eddy Hobbs’s brother has been missing for three years.”

  “Well, that little nugget of information didn’t come up in the interviews did it?” Sarah said. Delgado shook his head as he took a bite out of one of the pastries. “Well, I think it’s time we went to talk to Mr Hobbs again.” Sarah took her coffee and grabbed a pastry on her way out.

  “Can’t it wait five minutes while I have my coffee?” Delgado said.

  “You can stay here and drink away if you want,” Sarah called back. Delgado look to the rest of the food on the table and sighed,

  “Goddammit,” he said and went out after her.

  The only word that Sarah would use to describe Eddy Hobbs’ face when he answered his door to them was dismayed. He looked crestfallen and defeated before anyone had even said a single word.

  “Aw, what do you want now?” he wailed.

  “Can we come in Mr Hobbs? We have a couple more questions we’d like to ask you, it won't take long.”

  “Come on in,” Eddy said looking relieved that he wasn’t going back down to the station with them.

  Once inside they stood in the apartment living room in a triangle, Hobbs not offering them a seat or anything to drink. Sarah decided to get straight to the point.

  “You didn’t mention to us that your brother is missing,” she said, watching Hobbs for his reaction. The face he wore now was one of confusion.

  “What does that have to do with these murders?” he asked.

  “We thought you might be able to tell us the answer to that,” Delgado said.

  “What? I don’t understand,” Hobbs said backing a step away from them.

  “Do you know where your brother is?” Sarah asked.

  “No, he’s been missing for three years now. No one has seen him since then!”

  “Do you think he is still alive?” Sarah asked and she felt Delgado shoot a quick look of surprise at her.

  “I think so,” Hobbs said, tears starting to form in his eyes. “I feel he is.” Sarah nodded sympathetically.

  “Has anyone ever come to you to say they know where he is?” she asked.

  “No,” and now Eddy looked at her seriously, “Has someone come to the police who knows where he is?”

  “No,” Delgado said, stepping forward. “Have you ever received any crank calls pretending to be your brother, or calls where no one says anything at the other end of the line when you answer?”

  No,” Eddy replied but then he looked doubtful. “I don’t know, maybe people did call and not say anything but I would have thought that was just a wrong number or bad connection or something.”

  “Did your brother have any enemies at the time he disappeared, or any money troubles or anything like that?” Sarah asked.

  “Has my brother’s case been reopened?” Eddy asked, ignoring the questions completely. He looked very suspicious.

  “No, I don’t think it was ever closed,” Delgado said, “We’re just trying to establish whether or not there might be some possible link.”

  �
��How could there be?” Eddy asked. Sarah sensed hostility rising in him now.

  “Like Agent Delgado said, that’s what we are here to find out,” Sarah said as calmly as she could.

  “I don’t know why you’re dragging up old painful shit like that,” Eddy said, “Have you people no decency at all?”

  “Five people are dead,” Sarah answered him, “We don’t get to be as decent as we’d like.”

  “My brother’s disappearance has nothing to do with this, and for the record, neither do I,” Eddy said this last part staring intently into Sarah’s eyes.

  They left the subject of the disappearance there and asked some general questions about the case. They were out in fifteen minutes.

  “So what do you think?” Delgado asked once they were back in the car.

  “I think I’m going to look more into the case of the missing brother,” Sarah said and Delgado nodded. He was of the same mind.

  Chapter 23

  Megan felt excited for the first time in as long as she could remember. She had spent all morning cleaning the house, arranging flowers and cooking that even her mother, famous for going over the top when guests were coming, was telling her to tone it down and scale back a bit.

  “I just want her to be comfortable,” Megan said.

  “I’m sure she will be,” Melissa smiled in reply. The doorbell chimed and Megan rushed for the door. “Don't forget to look before you open the door!” Melissa called after her in panic. This irked Megan especially as she heard her mother run out after her. She wasn’t going to throw away all of her security concerns just because she was excited about Ellie coming.

  Megan looked at the camera screen on the wall and saw Ellie outside with her bag. She looked like a lost child out there and she was glancing nervously back towards the street. Megan looked to the street camera view and saw an officer standing by his car waiting for her to go inside.