One by One

by Chris Carter

  ‘Are we talking to him?’ Garcia asked. ‘He sure sounds like someone who knows his way around cyberspace.’

  ‘We probably will be, but not just yet. First I want to find out how badly Christina Stevenson’s article affected him. But even then we would still need to link Paulsen to Kevin Lee Parker. Maybe he had a beef with Ms. Stevenson because of the article she wrote, but how would our first victim fit into his payback plan?’

  Garcia said nothing.

  Hunter’s desk phone rang, sucking his attention away from the board.

  ‘Detective Hunter, Homicide Special Section.’

  There was a click on the line.

  ‘Hello . . .?’

  ‘Detective Hunter,’ the caller finally said. His tone was cold and unrushed, like a doctor greeting a patient. ‘I’m glad you are at your desk.’

  In hearing his voice, Hunter felt an emptiness form in his stomach, a kind of vacuum sensation, that was instantly replaced by a rush of anxiety. Hunter clenched his jaw and locked eyes with Garcia.

  ‘Are you online?’ the caller asked, his voice now filled with mocking amusement. ‘Because I’m about to show you something I am certain you and your partner will enjoy watching.’

  Fifty-Nine

  Despite the temperature inside their office being around a hundred degrees Fahrenheit, Hunter felt cold sweat break out on the nape of his neck and trickle down his back.

  ‘Are you ready, Detective Hunter?’ the caller asked rhetorically. ‘Because your favorite website just went back online. You don’t need me to give you the web address again, do you?’

  Hunter was already typing it into his browser’s address bar.

  The web page loaded in less than three seconds. But what Hunter saw forced him to do a double take. This time the picture wasn’t dominated by the green tint of a night-vision lens. Neither was it being broadcast from a dingy, dark dungeon-looking room somewhere. The caller was broadcasting in broad daylight from a busy city street. And this time the camera wasn’t static either. It was moving with the crowd, walking along leisurely, as if handheld by a tourist filming his LA vacation.

  Hunter’s eyes narrowed.

  There were people all around. Men and women dressed in a variety of different attires, from casual jeans, T-shirts, shorts and dresses to business suits. Some seemed in a hurry, with their cellphones glued to their ears. Some were casually walking around, maybe window-shopping. It was hard to tell, as the camera lens angle was straight and narrow, like tunnel vision. Hunter could see people coming toward the camera and walking past it, but the peripheral vision was blurred.

  Hunter quickly used the palm of his hand to cover the phone’s mouthpiece. ‘Call Michelle at the FBI Cybercrime Division,’ he whispered to Garcia. ‘The website is back online.’

  Garcia’s desk was probably the best-organized desk inside the entire PAB. Everything had its designated place, and always seemed to be symmetrically positioned. Michelle Kelly’s card was the first of three arranged side by side to the right of his telephone. He dialed the number, and Michelle answered within two rings.

  ‘Michelle, it’s Carlos.’

  Instantly Michelle picked up on Garcia’s serious tone.

  ‘Hey, Carlos. What’s wrong?’

  Garcia typed into his browser’s address bar as he spoke. ‘He’s back online. The website is back online.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘He’s on the phone to us right now.’

  He heard frantic keyboard clicks from the other end.

  The page loaded on Garcia’s screen and he cocked his head back, frowning at the street images before looking at Hunter. ‘What the hell?’

  Hunter gave him a subtle headshake.

  ‘What do you mean – the website is back online, Carlos?’ Michelle said over the phone. ‘I’ve got nothing here.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘I’m looking at an Error 404 page. File not found.’

  ‘Recheck the web address you typed,’ Garcia replied, instinctively rereading the one on his address bar. ‘The images are playing live on my screen. I’m looking at them right now.’

  ‘I’ve already rechecked it. You sure it’s the same address?’

  ‘Positive.’

  More keyboard clicks.

  ‘Damn, he’s blocking us out,’ she ultimately said.

  ‘He’s what . . .? How can he block you out, but not us?’

  ‘There are a few methods, but I’m not going to get technical with you right now.’

  Garcia shook his head at Hunter. ‘They can’t see it,’ he whispered. ‘Somehow he’s blocking them out, but not us.’

  Hunter wrinkled his nose at the information, but he knew he didn’t have time for an explanation. He switched the call to loudspeaker.

  ‘Are you watching?’ the caller asked.

  ‘We’re watching,’ Hunter replied, his voice calm but firm.

  ‘Where the hell is that?’ Garcia mouthed the words at Hunter, pointing at his computer screen. ‘Rodeo Drive?’

  Hunter shook his head. ‘It doesn’t look like it.’

  Rodeo Drive was Los Angeles’ best-known shopping district, situated in Beverly Hills, famous for its designer labels and haute couture fashion. It attracted a multitude of people every day. But Hunter was right. What they were looking at didn’t look like Rodeo Drive. Right now, those images could be coming from any regular shopping street – in a city with thousands of them.

  ‘Nice day for a walk, isn’t it?’ the caller commented. There was a distinct lilt in his tone.

  ‘Indeed,’ Hunter agreed. ‘In fact, if you tell me where you are, I’ll come and walk with you.’

  The caller laughed. ‘Appreciated, but I think I’ve got enough company for the moment. Can’t you see?’

  People were walking by in all directions.

  Hunter and Garcia were glued to their computer monitors, looking for something, anything that could give them some sort of clue to where the caller was broadcasting from. So far they’d seen nothing.

  ‘Isn’t it great that we live in a city so full of people?’ the caller carried on. ‘So vibrant and full of life?’

  Hunter said nothing.

  ‘The downside is that Los Angeles is also a very busy city, where people are always rushing somewhere, too busy with their own thoughts, their own problems, their own obsessions. Too busy to notice others.’ The caller laughed, as if what he’d just said amused him immensely. ‘I could be wearing a Batman outfit out here, and no one would look at me twice.’

  The caller carried on walking as he talked, but still neither Hunter nor Garcia had seen anything they’d recognized yet.

  Suddenly the caller had to quickly shuffle left to avoid colliding with a man whose eyes were locked on his cellphone’s screen while typing a text message. As the man whizzed past the caller, missing bumping into him by an inch, the caller turned around, his camera following the man’s walk. A few yards ahead, the man slammed into a dark-haired woman who was going in the opposite direction. The man never stopped. His eyes didn’t even leave his cellphone’s screen.

  ‘Wow, did you see that?’ the caller asked. ‘That guy just shouldered that woman to one side without giving a shit. No “I’m sorry”, no apologetic smile . . . He didn’t even miss a step. People out here just don’t care, Detective.’ Another laugh. This one with a hint of contempt. ‘No one cares for anyone else but themselves.’ A short pause. ‘The good old American way, huh? Always look out for number one. The rest can go fuck themselves.’

  Despite his harsh words, there was no anger in his voice.

  Garcia was through with this one-sided conversation. ‘You’ve got something against the American way?’

  Hunter’s eyes moved to him.

  ‘Ah, Detective Carlos Garcia, I presume,’ the caller said. ‘Delighted to make your acquaintance. No, I’ve got nothing against the American way. On the contrary. But your question strikes me as a little odd, coming from a person who wasn’t actually bor
n here.’ He paused again. ‘Brazil, isn’t that right?’

  Carlos Garcia was born in Brazil. São Paulo, in fact. The son of a Brazilian federal agent and an American history teacher, he moved with his mother to Los Angeles when Garcia was only ten years old, after his parents’ marriage collapsed.

  ‘How the hell . . .’ Garcia began, but Hunter gave him the most subtle of headshakes, suggesting that he didn’t engage in a verbal confrontation with the caller.

  A laugh came through the phone. ‘Information is easy to obtain when you know how to get it, Detective Garcia.’

  Garcia took Hunter’s advice and bit his lip.

  The caller took the silence as a cue and moved on. ‘There are so many people out here, walking around, just getting on with their own lives. You know, being out here makes me feel like a kid in a candy shop. So many choices. Anyone could become my next guest, if you know what I mean.’

  Unconsciously, Hunter held his breath. Was this the reason for this call? The killer had shown them how he tortured and killed people. He had shown them how he chose the death method. Was he now showing them his selection process?

  ‘But I think I already have someone in mind,’ the caller said before Hunter could say anything back. ‘Can you guess who it is?’

  Hunter and Garcia craned their necks, moving closer to their monitors, but the camera didn’t zoom in to anyone in particular.

  Just ahead and a little to the left, a blond woman had stopped. She was searching for something inside her handbag. Was she the one the caller had chosen?

  An odd-looking man with thin lips and a pointy nose, separated by a thick mustache that looked designed to offset both, was walking slowly, coming straight toward the camera. Maybe the caller had picked him.

  The truth was anyone walking down that street could be the next victim. Hunter and Garcia had no way of knowing.

  The man with the thick mustache moved right, stepping out of the way.

  Inside Hunter’s office, the world stopped moving.

  Standing in a direct line with the camera, about ten feet away, Hunter and Garcia finally saw who the killer was talking about.

  Sixty

  There were two of them walking together. Two friends enjoying a day out, window-shopping somewhere in Los Angeles, completely unaware of the evil that’d been following them. Their backs were toward the camera, but the one on the left didn’t need to turn around for Garcia to recognize her.

  ‘Jesus Christ!’ Garcia’s voice croaked.

  ‘Anna,’ Hunter whispered, also recognizing Garcia’s wife. His gaze shot toward his partner as a thousand butterflies came alive inside his stomach.

  For a moment Garcia seemed unable to move, to speak, to blink. And then he exploded.

  ‘You motherfucker . . . I swear to God . . . if you touch her . . . if you come close to her, I’m going to find you, and I’m going to kill you. You hear me? I’m going to kill you. Screw the badge. Screw being a cop. I will bring hell and all its demons to your doorstep, no matter what.’

  Garcia was now shaking. Adrenaline fueling every inch of his body.

  The caller laughed once again. ‘She’s beautiful, isn’t she?’

  ‘Fuck you, you sick freak. You have no idea what I will do to you if . . .’ Garcia reached for his cellphone.

  ‘Let me tell you how this is going to work, Detective,’ the caller cut in, predicting Garcia’s next move. ‘If you call her now to ask her where she is. If I see her reaching for her phone and turning around to look at me, I promise you you’ll never see her alive again. The two previous victims will look like Christmas morning compared to what I’ll do to her. And you know I mean it. Trust me. You can’t get here fast enough.’

  Garcia’s desperate stare moved from his phone to the monitor on his desk and then to Hunter.

  Hunter lifted his right hand, signaling Garcia not to dial. ‘Do you know where she is?’ he mouthed the words. ‘Did Anna tell you where she was going today?’

  Garcia shook his head. ‘I didn’t even know she was going out,’ he mouthed back.

  ‘Do you know what intrigues me?’ the caller proceeded. ‘Both of you keep saying that you’ll find me. That you will catch me. Detective Hunter said that last time we talked. Do you remember it?’

  No reply.

  ‘Do you remember it, Detective Hunter?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘But the truth is that you aren’t even close to getting to me, are you?’

  Silence.

  ‘Meanwhile, as you can see, I can get to people close to you, and if I so see fit, take them away from your lives. It’s my choice, not yours, or theirs. I can even get to you if I want to. I can be anywhere, and everywhere. But all you have are empty threats.’

  ‘It’s not a threat, you sack o’ shit.’ Garcia’s voice was still trembling with rage. ‘It’s a promise. If you touch her, nothing else matters. Not even the law will matter. There isn’t a hole under a rock on this earth that will be safe for you to hide in. Do you understand what I’m saying?’

  ‘I do,’ the caller said, as calm as a priest in a confessionary. ‘Would it make a difference if I took your wife’s friend instead?’

  Hunter and Garcia tensed once again.

  The caller didn’t wait for an answer. ‘But of course it would. Then it wouldn’t be personal, and your reaction wouldn’t have been the same, isn’t that right, Detective Garcia? As you said, when it’s someone close to us, nothing else matters. We will even forget who we are. Maybe even become a monster in the process.’ The caller let out a heavy breath, and for the first time his voice got a little harsher. ‘You know, most people believe that we, as humans, always have a choice, no matter what situation we find ourselves in. Well, I’d like to contest that theory. I’d like to suggest that we don’t always have a choice. Sometimes choices are made for us by others, and there’s nothing we, as humans, can do about it, except react. For example, if I decide to take your wife from you right now, Detective Garcia, my choice, not yours, will change your life forever.’

  Garcia didn’t know what to say.

  ‘But anger and emotional pain are good things,’ the caller moved on after a silent moment. ‘They show that we’re still alive. That we still care. That other people still matter to us. Is my psychology correct, Detective Hunter?’

  Hunter looked deep in thought for a split second. ‘Yes,’ he replied.

  ‘You should be proud, Detective Garcia, you did well. I like your reaction. A reaction of a man who cares.’ The caller chuckled. ‘Well, I guess my work here is done. But we’ll be talking again soon – that is a promise.’

  The line went dead.

  The images disappeared from their computer screens.

  The website went offline.

  Sixty-One

  Silence ruled the room for only a couple of seconds before Hunter turned to Garcia.

  ‘Call Anna,’ he said. ‘Find out where she is. Tell her to find a busy place, like a coffee shop, and stay there until we get there.’

  Garcia looked at Hunter as if he were from outer space. ‘Are you kidding? You heard what he said, right? If he saw Anna reaching for her phone . . .’ He wasn’t able to finish the sentence.

  ‘He’s not going to do anything, Carlos,’ Hunter said. ‘It was a bluff. He wanted to get a reaction.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘It was a bluff. Trust me. There were signs all throughout his telephone conversation with you. I’ll explain in the car. Right now you need to get Anna on the phone and find out where she is so we can get to her.’ Hunter had already grabbed his jacket. ‘Let’s move.’ He dashed for the door. ‘Call her.’

  ‘Woah, hold the fuck on, Robert,’ Garcia said in an unsteady voice, lifting his hands. ‘We’ve been partners for over five years. There’s no one alive I trust more than you, you know that, but we’re talking about the sickest, most sadistic and psychopathic killer this department has ever faced, and at this precise moment he’s following my wife. As he
said, we can’t get there in time, even if we knew where she was. If I make this call and you’re wrong, he’ll take her, you know he will.’

  Hunter paused by the door and faced his partner. ‘I’m not wrong, Carlos. He will not take Anna.’ Hunter’s conviction was absolute, Garcia could see that, but still he didn’t move.

  Hunter checked his watch. He wanted to gain time, but right now they were doing exactly the opposite. ‘Carlos, whatever agenda this killer has, Anna just doesn’t fit in.’

  ‘How so?’

  ‘OK, one possibility we’re facing is that the killer picks his victims at random from the general public, right? Well, if that really is the case, Anna isn’t a random pick. She’s your wife, and he knows it. There’s no random factor there, which, in that case, would be a detachment from his MO. If he’s after his victims for some other reason, like revenge or something else, again, I can’t see how Anna would fit.’

  Garcia scratched his chin.

  ‘He went after Anna for one reason, and one reason only.’

  ‘Because she’s my wife.’

  ‘Exactly. He did it to get under our skin. To prove a point. Not to satisfy whatever agenda he has.’

  ‘And what point would that be? That he can get to anyone he wants? That he can hurt us?’

  ‘That too,’ Hunter agreed. ‘And to stamp his superiority. To remind us who is in control of this game. He is, not us, and he can change the rules anytime he wants, just like he did with the Internet broadcasting and the online voting. But there were other things he said that hinted at something else.’

  Garcia frowned. ‘Like what?’

  ‘He talked about how personal your reaction was. He wanted you to lose control. He wanted you to allow your emotions to take over, and for you to feed on them. He wanted you to forget who you are, who you’ve always been . . . and you did just that.’

  Garcia knew Hunter wasn’t being critical of his actions. ‘I wasn’t bullshitting, Robert. If he touches Anna, I will find him, I will make him suffer, and then I will kill him. I don’t care what happens to me.’