by Paris Morgan
My bladder took over, and I couldn’t lay there any longer, no matter how much I wanted to put a pillow over my head and block out the world.
The backpack I’d brought with me the day before had a lot more than just extra cell phones and a laptop. It held a toothbrush, extra cash sewn into the lining, and a change of clothes. I would be able to look presentable today, but if we were going to fly around the country, I’d need to go home and get a few things first.
Having lost my appetite last night, the smell of pancakes and bacon pulled me toward the kitchen. Normally, it would have felt weird being in a house with three other guys, but these guys had become my family.
Adam took one look at my face and handed me a cup of coffee, along with two aspirin.
“Eat up. Agent Watson wants us all there in the next hour. I sent him the specifications for Martha to run last night, and he thinks we may have a hit.” Adam poured another cup for Ryan as he joined us.
“How did you sleep last night?” Galen asked as he joined us.
“Honestly, I don’t remember anything, so I think it was okay.” I shrugged and sipped the coffee.
“Thanks for letting us stay here.” Ryan helped himself to a few pancakes covered in syrup.
“It made the most sense. I’m not sure we’re going to want to share for the next five months, but we can work something out.” Adam grinned. “If Galen decides to come back, then we’re going to have to find him his own place, because I’m going to need my man cave back.”
“You’re only saying that because you and Flora are officially an item,” I giggled. I was happy for my friend, but it was a little strange to see Adam so lovey-dovey about a girl.
“Don’t worry, I’m leaving at the end of the month. I’m supposed to keep Lex with me, but there’s too much danger down here. We’re going back up to my cabin and get settled in before school starts.” Galen sat at the table as he put his shoes on.
“Are you mad that he’s with Flora?”
“Good gracious, no. She may be his aunt one day,” he prodded with a laugh. “But it’s good for him to see a community where it’s okay to have his kind of gift and use it.”
“Speaking of gifts, has yours come back at all?” Adam cleared off the empty serving plates into the sink.
“Not yet. It’s like I can feel the edges bubbled up around me, but I can’t move through it.” I frowned. “That’s not going to help us this time I’m afraid.”
“Don’t put so much pressure on yourself. When you need it, you’ll be able to work through it. Don’t force it,” Galen instructed.
“That’s easy for you to say. I know that something important is just sitting there, waiting for me to figure out how to use it.”
“Well, right now, we need to figure out how to fly because we’re barely going to make the briefing unless we do.” Adam motioned us all to the door.
Ryan drove, while I turned my phone back on and scrolled through the messages.
Most of them were reminders or unimportant stuff, but one message caught my eye.
“Hope you had a good time having John Reed questioned. I’d celebrate with pizza too. Smart move to put the ‘womenfolk’ under a group of psychics’ protection. Score points for you. We’re tied.”
“Well, he texted me.”
“Who?” Ryan asked, keeping his eyes on the road.
“The ZM, or Henry Stevens. He’s pissed that we had John Reed questioned. He also knows that we had pizza.” I shook my head. “He thinks that because we poked at him, and then got the girls to a safe place, that we’re tied.”
“Can we trace his number?”
“Nah, probably not. I’ll check with the tech guys, but if he’s confident enough to text me, then he’s not going to be using the same phone more than once.”
While technology could be helpful, there were so many ways that it made it harder to prove that someone was using it in the wrong way.
“Think you’re going to be able to handle the sympathy from everyone?” Ryan asked as we pulled into the parking garage.
“Yeah, because I’m done crying. Now I’m just ready to catch this bastard.”
“Yes, ma’am. I’ll remember that.” Ryan waited for Adam and Galen to get parked, and we all walked inside together.
“Ah, here’s the A-Team,” Agent Watson announced as we entered the conference room.
“Yep. Here and ready to get to work.” I spoke loudly so that everyone would be able to see that I was good. It wouldn’t take care of all the offers of sympathy, but it would cut down on the stupid ones.
“Good. Let’s get started.” Agent Watson turned to the board. “Information came to our attention last night that the Leo killer is using a gun. We don’t have any idea what kind of gun, but I’ve started with the larger cities, looking for similar crimes. We have a couple that seem like they might fit the profile.”
Martha stood up and pointed to change the screen to reflect the information. “There have been a rash of ‘birthday’ killings in the past three weeks. Most have been concentrated in these cities of Miami, Lansing, Augusta, Chicago, Seattle, and a few showed up this morning in New York. Now, there’s no telling if these were just coincidences or if it’s the real killer, but on a few of these, a birthday card was found at the scene with a message.
“Hope you enjoyed your life. Now you get to pay for what you’ve done,” Martha read out loud. “They’re all signed by ‘Leo the Lion.’”
Agent Watson took over. “Normally, the local police would assume that these were part of some cartel or mafia hit. Names like this are used on the street all the time. Once we determined that it had been used at more than one crime scene, we added that to our searches and found twenty that matched. These crimes were all committed with the same weapon, a Smith and Wesson M&P, 9mm hand gun. From the burn marks, it suggests that they were close up and personal, but witnesses don’t remember hearing a gunshot.”
“So she used a silencer. We know that the Zodiac Master likes to prepare his people for their missions, but do we think that she’s been proficient for a while with guns, or was this just the easiest choice?”
“There’s nothing to suggest anything either way. I mean, most people aren’t going to miss when you point a gun directly between someone’s eyes and pull the trigger. It’s not like they would need a lot practice,” Agent Watson pointed out.
“All of those killed had been involved in a criminal trial of some sort, but for whatever reason, had been set free. The local police have termed these recent killings as vigilante justice, and while they were working the cases, they weren’t focusing as hard as they could have.” Martha grimaced at the thought.
“We’d all like to think that justice was served, but it has to be done within the confines of the law. When people take to the streets looking to exact punishment, we have problems.” Agent Watson pointedly looked in my direction, but I ignored the obvious reference to our activities last night.
“The Zodiac Master chooses his victims carefully, so this woman is being used to take out those that he or she feel need to be removed. He’s playing on her emotions, and sense of right and wrong,” Ryan pointed out.
“There’s no way we can compete against that, but it means that the same thing probably happened to her, and this is her way of gaining closure.” I could feel that this was the way he worked, by playing to what she considered to be justice. My gut was telling me that we were going to be unhappy when we finally arrested her, because she was probably a victim.
“Where are we expecting her to strike next?” Galen raised his hand.
“All the larger cities are being monitored, and if we get a hit on one, then you’ll be sent there immediately. Our guess is one of these cities, in or around New York. There have been a few there, but we aren’t sure when they occurred. Most of the reports from early this morning haven’t even been put into the computer, and we can’t run searches on incident calls,” Martha explained logically.
�
��All right. So we’re going to go get our stuff together, and by the time we get to the airport, you should have a location for us to fly to, is that correct?” I stood up, ready to get moving.
“Yes, but it may take a little longer than that.” Flustered, Martha checked her computer again. “I guess we could send you to New York, and then you would be much closer if or when something pops up.”
“Detective Boxe, before you leave, I’d like a word with just the four of you, please.” Agent Watson dismissed the rest of the team members.
“Crap, now we’re in trouble,” I joked. “Teacher’s going to ground us.”
“Not exactly.” He pinned me with a glare and I sat back down.
“When you left yesterday, I completely understood. Heck, I wanted to do that as well. I can’t have you going rogue and questioning well-respected citizens without some kind of proof.”
“Oh, we had proof, and a signed warrant for what we did,” I defended.
“Be that as it may, and I’m not saying that this particular citizen didn’t need some serious fines or jail time, but if you’re going to represent the FBI, you have to work within our rules,” Agent Watson reminded us.
“Everything we did, or, rather, our colleagues did for us, was under the approval of the correct channels of the Dallas PD. Not once did we mention the FBI or claim that we’d gotten our evidence from here, which means that you do have a mole. Otherwise, he never would have known about it to assume that the FBI was behind it.” I crossed my arms defiantly. “We can’t just wait for him to come and get us. We have to make a move sometime.” I debated on showing Agent Watson the text message, but felt that it was relevant enough to do so.
He took my phone and read, a look of disbelief taking over his features. “You’re right. He knows a lot more than he should about what you and the others are doing. The fact that he knew about the pizza and where you stashed Flora and Shea is pretty telling.”
Galen held up his hands. “Those of us in this room are all on the same side. He’s got someone watching us. We’ve checked for tails and bugs. That’s why you couldn’t get a hold of them yesterday, because they’d put their phones in a Faraday bag so that no one could follow them to Adam’s house.”
Agent Watson shook his head. “I’m going to have to start doing an independent analysis and see where we have a leak.”
“Agreed,” Adam acknowledged. “Galen is staying here, and the three of us will be going to find this new killer. He’s going to go stay out with the girls and his son.”
“I think that’s wise. We don’t want to have any issues, or find more family members dead.” He paused. “I’m truly sorry for your loss.”
“It is what it is. I’ve got to move on and keep at it.”
“Make sure that you report, or give me a text so I know that you’re going radio silent, so I don’t have to worry that something happened if I can’t get a hold of you.”
“That’s reasonable,” I acknowledged. “Let’s go get this lion lady.”
***
New York was a huge place, but Martha had narrowed it down to the island of Manhattan, which wasn’t much better, with over 1.6 million people. This killer could have a field day taking out Leo’s, and not run out for several years.
We arrived at the latest crime scene, and got to see it for ourselves. The local police department had also handed us a file on the deceased. It was quite an impressive rap sheet, with many of the crimes not being prosecuted because witnesses disappeared. This was one time when I agreed that the killer might have done us a favor.
“What is something we know about our killers? He’ll fly them anywhere to throw us off the track. Let’s contact the airport for all incoming flights from about four days ago for women who have birthdays listed for this month.”
It took us two days of looking at the computers and trying to scan through thousands of potential people, but finally, we hit a few that matched pretty close to our timeframe.
There was no way to know if we had the right person, because they could have a fake ID and name, but we were going to check into our potential list.
Martha called early the morning of the third day, saying that there was a new set of murders in Baltimore.
“It would be a nice way to see the country if we weren’t trying to find a killer,” Ryan groaned as we got on a small plane for the hop to Baltimore.
“Ryan, you’re a genius.” I turned to him, excited. “What if this woman is playing tourist while she’s here to kill the next person on her list? That would explain the several days in each of the larger cities. Otherwise, there are horrible people who ‘deserve’ to die all over the U.S.”
“Nah, that’s crazy. A killer tourist by day and serial killer by night?”
Adam turned from his place in the driver’s seat. “She does have a point. Check out all of the main points of interest in the Baltimore area. We know that there have been two murders so far. There’s a way that Martha can run the facial rec software over those areas with the four potential women we got from the airport.”
“I mean, think about it. You have a mission, but you’re pretty sure that the Zodiac Master has killed off each of your predecessors. Wouldn’t you want to cover your bucket list before you died?” I couldn’t believe that we hadn’t thought about this before.
“The reason you didn’t bring this up before,” Adam commented, reading my thoughts, “was that we haven’t dealt with a normal or innocent type of killer before. All of the others were over the top, or cut from the same serial killer material as the Zodiac Master. This one doesn’t seem to be set in a killing lifestyle. She seems almost apologetic in her birthday cards, as if she doesn’t want to do it, but it has to be done.”
“That’s my point, she’s not a killer by nature. It’s mainly to accomplish her goal. The others have used it as a game to toy with their victims, or as a huge point of revenge.” I couldn’t believe that it might be this simple.
“What if she’s doing this for revenge because something happened to her? Doesn’t that take away from what you said a moment ago?”
“I think it’s two sides of the same coin. She had an end goal, but she doesn’t seem consumed by it like the others. Maybe that’s the difference between the killers. One is by choice, and the other is because they feel obligated.” I shrugged. “At this point, I’m just pulling crap out of my heinie. We aren’t really going to know until we find her.”
“All right.” He gave up on the argument. “It makes no sense, but if we can find her, who am I to argue?”
The places tourist would go to weren’t as many as the city of New York held, but there were a few main ones that might appeal to someone from out of town.
“I’ve made a list. Are we going to the crime scene first, or trying to find her from one of these places?” Ryan kept typing on his phone.
“Crime scene, to make sure it is one of ours. Then we can do a comparison for the days she would be in town. She might not have made it to those places yet either.”
“If we’re going on the premise that you assume your life is over when you start working for the Zodiac Master, then would you use cash or card?” Adam questioned.
“I’d say mostly cash, but then again, if you thought no one was looking for you, wouldn’t you want to spend your last month in places that were amazing? The best hotels, food, clothes and the works, as a last hurrah before it all ends?” I nodded thoughtfully. “Then again, you’ve got the other side, which is that the killer isn’t used to fancy things, and wouldn’t feel comfortable in a nice hotel.”
“Fair point. I guess that means we’ve got a lot of calling and leg work to do tonight.”
“Yep. Hopefully, we can grab a meal, because I’m starving.” Ryan patted his stomach from the back seat.
***
The crime scene was the same as the previous ones. The lone witness gave us their statement.
“It was early this morning, when Tom was supposed to be leaving fo
r work. I’d come out to get my trash can, and there was this lady standing on his porch with coffee. He said something to her. I was too far away to hear what he said, but then I heard this pop, and he dropped to the ground.” The woman put a hand over her heart. “It was terrible. One minute he was standing there, and the next, she was standing over him. Then she walked down the stairs and got into her car. I ran in the house and called the police, but they said he was already gone.”
“We are so sorry you had to witness that, ma’am. Did you happen to see what kind of car the woman was driving?”
“No, but it was a dark-colored car. I’m not much on cars. As long as they get me from point A to point B, you know?”
I nodded and turned to see Adam looking at the house curiously.
“What did you find?” I approached him quietly.
“Not much, but this looks like a professional hit. There’s not even a splash of coffee, so she held the cups while she shot him.”
“She’s had almost a month to practice.”
“Well, I don’t know. Something’s bothering me.” Adam rubbed his chin, scanning the porch for the answers.
“How did she manage to get someone outside of their house at that time of the morning?”
“If someone knocked on your door with food or coffee in hand, you’d open it just a little to see what they needed, right? Then, when they pointed to a phone or paper regarding the address, you’d walk out to help them. Bang. It would all be over in a matter of minutes.”
My phone rang, and I walked down the sidewalk a little ways so I could have privacy.
“Leslie, speaking on an open line.” I knew it was Mac, but he needed to know there wasn’t any privacy.
“We got a hit on him. I’ve got a few guys heading over to his current address right now.”
“That could be a problem. Be really careful, he’s so dangerous. If you just found the information, then it might be a trap. Do we need to come back?”
“No,” he answered. “I don’t see the point if it turns out to be nothing, but this could be it.”
