by Robin Mahle
The kind woman who opened the door found a frightened Chloe, drenched in sweat, looking over her shoulder, saying things like “He’s right behind me. Help me.” But when the woman stepped onto her porch to see this boogeyman, he was already gone. She whisked the girl inside, closing the door and bolting it shut. Immediately, she called 911 and now the entire neighborhood was outside, watching the events unfold.
“Ms. Shepherd,” the officer began, “the FBI is here and would like to speak with you.”
Elizabeth Shepherd was a recently divorced mother of two whose children were already grown and out of the house. This home was where she raised them and was married to their father for twenty years. He decided he’d rather live a carefree life with his assistant manager who happened to be much younger than Elizabeth and so this house was now hers alone. The evenings often found her curled up on her sofa, reading the latest Harry Bosch book and drinking a glass of white wine. Which was exactly what she had been doing when Chloe Schaffer pounded on her front door at eleven p.m. on a Thursday night.
She didn’t see the man in question and believed she had little to offer the likes of the FBI, but who was she to say no? “Of course.” She held a cup of tea in her hands and sat on the edge of the sofa, her tired mind fearing she might not recollect every exact detail but would do her duty.
The officer nodded and retreated out of sight, only to return moments later with a handsome man in a button-down dress shirt and a woman, very pretty, though Elizabeth didn’t care for the blonde hair. It didn’t seem to suit the woman’s skin tone.
“Ms. Shephard? I’m Agent Nick Scarborough and this Agent Kate Reid. You mind if we ask you a few questions about what happened tonight?”
“No, please sit down.” She waited until they took their seats. “I’m not sure how much help I can be. I’m afraid I didn’t see much.”
“Ms. Shepard,” Nick began.
“Please, call me Elizabeth.”
“Elizabeth, when you stepped outside to see who was after Chloe, you mentioned you weren’t able to see anyone.”
“That’s right. It was dark and I didn’t have my glasses on, so it was difficult to see under those circumstances, but no, I didn’t see anyone running after her.”
“Chloe said she was only four houses down and I have one of my agents there now. I’m afraid they found a body inside. Were you familiar with that particular neighbor?” Kate asked.
“It’s a rental and people come and go every few months, it seems. I’ve lived here a long time and there are only a couple of us originals left in the community. Most sold during the boom and a lot went vacant when the bust came. That house finally got some tenants about a year or so ago, but like I said, they come and go and I don’t pay much attention.” Elizabeth studied Kate for a moment. “Do you have any children, Agent Reid?”
“No, ma’am, I don’t.”
“Well, I have two. They’re grown now, but if Chloe were my child, I’d find that man who took her and put a bullet in his head.”
“Yes, ma’am. Chloe was very lucky you were home. She’s also a tough kid who managed to escape.” Kate admired the young girl and had already drawn the obvious comparisons to her own past.
“Her parents will be meeting us at the hospital where Chloe’s headed to get checked out now,” Nick added.
“Did he hurt her?”
“We don’t think so, Elizabeth.”
“That is good news, but he’s still out there and I hope you catch him.”
“Thank you for your time. They’ll be clearing out of here soon and you’ll be able to get some sleep. I’m sure you must be exhausted.”
“After tonight, I don’t think I’ll be sleeping much knowing someone like that was living four houses down, Agent Scarborough.”
“He was only using it temporarily and he won’t come back here. Rest assured of that.” Nick stood up. “Thank you again for your time and for helping Chloe. You saved her life.”
“I think she saved her own life, Agent Scarborough.”
A final acknowledgment and the agents walked back outside and into the organized chaos that was a crime scene. A media van had arrived and a reporter stood on the other side of the street where the officers held her and her cameraman at bay.
“What the hell do we do now?” Kate surveyed the scene with her hands at her waist.
“We get Chloe back to her parents, most importantly, then we keep working to track him down,” Nick replied. “I don’t want to let this trail go cold. Let’s go see how Jameson’s doing.”
They approached the front of the sister’s home where Dwight stood outside talking to another officer.
“These guys have been scouring the neighborhood, but no luck.” Dwight tossed a glance over his shoulder, toward the house. “Looks like she OD’d.”
“Do we know who she is?”
“Forensics ran her prints. She’s his sister.”
“So he knew where she was and we didn’t?” Nick appeared disgusted. “This shit ends now. I’m tired of screwing around with this, dealing with three other damn departments. We can’t get shit done and from this point on, we’re the only decision-makers.” Nick rubbed his forehead. “We search the entire God damn area tonight.”
» » »
Options were something that Lyle Stroud found in short supply as he made his way the hell out of the suburbs as quickly as he could, avoiding the freeways, but unable to cross the state border. They would have checkpoints or roadblocks for certain. He knew he couldn’t slip past them this time. After that bitch opened the door, he had no choice but to run back to the old Ford Focus he’d stolen and get it started so he could get the fuck out of there before the cops came. He wondered if she told them what he was driving. Probably not. She was inside so quickly; she wouldn’t have had time to notice. Might be able to give them the color, but that was all.
He didn’t count on her escaping. He checked everything in that room. Drilled those holes to bolt down the bed while his sister was in the other room enjoying the high he’d given her, but regrettably, had ended in her death. Two things he hadn’t planned on happening today. He didn’t think to check her pockets for something as simple as a damn coin. Stroud shook his head. “A fucking coin.” Then those bars giving way so easily. He should’ve known. The place was so run-down; it was no surprise. It was a mistake, going for her so soon after getting rid of the boy. His anger rose, causing his foot to press harder on the pedal.
There were still two on his list, Sophie Curtis and Matthew Grimes. Each lived miles from one another and Stroud didn’t dare head back in the direction of Sophie Curtis. They’d probably already launched an all-out manhunt. His meticulous planning was going up in flames.
The feds and the cops would ramp up their manpower and he’d become the most wanted man in the state; maybe in the country. And his options would diminish even further.
Stroud pulled off the side of the road and into a deserted parking lot of a dollar store. It was almost two a.m. and he needed sleep.
» » »
Nick entered the command center where his team waited along with his field ops team from WFO, State Troopers, and the local police department. He approached Kate and Dwight, who were huddled with the other FBI agents. “They released Chloe Schaffer. I just got off the phone with the hospital.”
“Thank God for that.” Kate turned to Mason. “Did she have any new information?”
“No. I was the one who spoke with her after the doctors checked her out and apart from confirming his identity, she couldn’t provide any further details.”
“We know he’s driving something else, but we don’t know what it is.” WFO field agent, Calvin Bass approached.
“How do we find him?” Dwight began to pace the front of the room, studying the maps of Stroud’s known locations. “He knows he’s running out of time and that he stands little chance of getting out of the state.”
“You think he’ll turn desperate?” Agent Bass asked.
“He’s already desperate. We just need to know how desperate he’ll become. He’d had this all planned out and while we had the advantage in that he didn’t know we’d discovered his targets, we’ve since lost that because he has to assume we know.”
“We still don’t know who the last one is.” Kate held up the photo. “He might go after him.”
“Then we need to get choppers in the air and patrols on the ground and hunt this son of a bitch down.” Agent Bass’ enthusiasm reeked of a greenhorn.
Dwight shifted his eyes toward Nick, who remained in the back, arms folded, appearing to consider the possibilities. “Agent Scarborough, what do you think?”
“We need to establish better perimeter control.” Nick moved toward the monitors. “He was last seen here and fled immediately on Chloe’s escape. I know we’ve got patrols still scouring the area, but frankly, it’s been three hours and daylight’s coming. If they couldn’t find him, then he’s long gone. And we don’t know what the hell he’s driving. I think our only option to put a stop to him is to get a perimeter control over the entire area.” Nick moved to the wall monitors that showed the maps of his previous locations. “I don’t know if he’ll risk going after the boy now. If he was smart, he’d figure a way out of the state.”
“He might try to lay low for a while,” Agent Bass replied.
“We can’t risk that assumption. But we can hope that his arrogance will cause him to make a mistake. We need to continue to search for the boy’s identity and I think getting the county’s air unit as well as State Troopers’ air unit support is critical.”
“Our helicopters are equipped with Forward Looking Infrared to spot heat signatures,” the state trooper said.
“Sometimes all those will find are animals, but it’s worth having.” Nick turned his attention to Mason. “Who do we need to speak with to get your air support on board?”
“Chief will have to authorize. That won’t be a problem.”
» » »
Kate secured her bulletproof vest and other tactical gear, when Dwight approached. “I haven’t had to strap this on in a while.”
“You and me both. But we’ll be overhead most of the time. The officers on the ground will be the ones searching the homes and backyards.”
“I noticed a few news vans out front,” Kate said.
“Yeah, well, so long as they keep their mouths shut so Stroud isn’t alerted, we’ll be all right.”
“Like that’ll happen. This will be on CNN for the next ten hours.”
“I hope to hell this doesn’t last ten hours,” Dwight replied. “I’ll see you back in the comm. room.”
Kate stepped out of the office that had been set up for them and as she made her way through the halls, the scene was much different from before. It seemed everyone on the force had been called in to take part in the search as well as more field teams from her office. She began to feel confident they would find Stroud. And if he survived the day, she’d be surprised.
On her return to the comm. room, the leaders of each team cordoned off their designated search areas. Nick waved her over.
“We’ll be heading up with State Troopers for aerial support. Bass’ team will coordinate with foot patrols led by Mason and her sergeant to secure each area as you see on the maps.”
“I think that might be a waste of time. The idea that he’s staying in the general vicinity goes against all we know about him right now,” Kate said.
“Maybe, but we can’t afford to overlook anything. He could be hiding out somewhere around here and I don’t want to be the one to miss that.”
“What can I do?” Agent Vasquez approached.
“Coordinate from here. Keep an eye on the board and let us know if anyone locates Stroud.”
“You three ready to go?” the trooper asked Nick.
“Let’s do it.”
The chopper was already running as it sat in the parking lot of the station. The BAU team made their way inside, followed by the pilot and two other troopers.
“Strap yourselves in, people. We’re on our way.” The pilot lifted the chopper off the ground and into the bright sky as the sun climbed above the horizon. The day brought with it clear visibility and calm winds and the ride was smooth.
Kate spotted the news vans and reporters vying for position outside the station. This was no longer a local story; this was going to be on the national nightly news and she prayed they’d have Stroud in custody before the broadcast.
“Where’re we headed first?” Kate asked Nick.
“Foot patrols are almost in place at quadrants one and two. We’ll go there first in advance of their efforts to see what the Infrared can pick up.”
“Will the chief be issuing statements to the press?”
“Yes. He’ll need to inform the public that Stroud is here and that we’re conducting the search. We don’t have a choice. It’s a matter of public safety. And, it might work in our favor. The more people who are looking out for him, the better our chances.”
“What if he finds the boy before we find him?”
“That won’t happen.”
» » »
Stroud sat in the corner of the near-empty diner wearing a baseball cap to aid in his disguise.
“Here’s your coffee, sir.” The waitress smiled, unaware, it seemed, of who she was looking at. “Your food will be right out.”
“Thanks.” He checked the time on his phone. Dawn had just emerged and he still didn’t have a plan on how the hell to get out of here. He’d made it pretty far south, about forty miles from where she escaped. Getting out farther than that would require a highway and he couldn’t risk it. His only choice was to try to stay hidden until they believed he’d made it out ahead of them. He sure as hell painted himself in a corner and this was the only way he could see through the problem.
He sipped on the too-hot coffee and flinched before setting it back down. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of a small television mounted on the wall above the breakfast counter. A headline scrolled across the bottom of the screen and although Stroud had youth on his side, his vision suffered mildly, and he struggled to read it. But what he did see was a man standing outside what appeared to be a police station, ready to speak to the crowd of reporters.
Stroud scanned the diner to see if he could spot anyone else watching the TV. A few patrons sat at the counter and cast a brief glance above, but they didn’t appear interested and continued eating, staring at their phones. Of course, whatever this conference was about, it was only a matter of time before it started showing up in people’s news feeds. No one needed to watch television to catch the news anymore and most people didn’t.
He strained to listen, but the volume was down. It wasn’t until a mugshot of him appeared that confirmed his suspicions.
The cameras focused on the police captain or chief, Stroud didn’t know which and didn’t care when he heard a snippet of a question.
“How could this have happened when the man was in prison for a sex crime? Why was he allowed parole?”
“I’m afraid that’s a question for the State Parole board. I’m here to find Lyle Stroud and when we do, he won’t get out again. Thank you and we’ll keep you posted.”
As he looked at the people in the diner, no one turned to him. No one seemed to notice that he was there at all. His stomach rumbled and he needed food, but waiting for the waitress and risking that she might recognize him now wasn’t going to work. Stroud had to leave.
He slid out of the booth and headed toward the door, when the waitress called out.
“Sir? Sir, your meal is here.” She moved in closer. “Sir, you need to pay for this.”
Stroud pushed through the doors and rushed to his car. He pressed the exposed wires together and the engine whined. With the gear shift slammed in reverse, he sped out of the parking lot.
“What the hell?” The waitress shook her head.
Stroud pulled out onto the road and headed west.
“Fuck!” He slammed his fist onto the wheel. His brow beaded with sweat beneath the baseball cap and he flicked it off his head. The idea that he was going to have to chance getting out of the state seemed better than having the state on the hunt for him. But either way could be a losing proposition.
He veered off onto a residential side street a few miles from the diner. He had to stop for a minute and think. A train or a bus? He could be at the bus station within minutes. That would get him past the highway patrols. It was possible, assuming he could buy a ticket and board without anyone recognizing him. With this press conference, though, what were his odds?
If they were all searching for him, he needed to get as far away as possible. Hiding out here until it passed no longer seemed a viable solution. By the sounds of it, they were going to search every nook and cranny to find him. “God damn girl.” This was all because he let that girl go free. She’d been his undoing and his rage grew.
» » »
Mid-day came and went and still no signs of Stroud.
“We need to refuel.” The helicopter lurched forward as it headed back to base.
“Either he’s hiding or he’s already gone.” Nick turned to Dwight. “We need to get on the ground and find this son of a bitch.”
“I agree. I feel useless up here.” Dwight turned to the Trooper commander. “We’re going to revise our tactics and try to make better headway on the ground. We’ll still need you in the sky, but we’re doubling our efforts here and we could be more effective on the ground.”
