Mind Switch

by Lorne L. Bentley

  “What was his mood, was he happy, sad, what?” Fred asked?

  “He seemed to be neither; it was almost like he was in a fog.”

  “What name did he give?”

  “Let me see, I have a copy of that day’s receipts somewhere”

  “Oh, here it is, John Smith and the date was December 3rd.”

  “Didn’t you think something was wrong when he asked for a weapon that could fire a lot of rounds quickly and the guy didn’t even know what type of weapon to ask for?”

  “Officer, that’s none of my business. I thought he must have had a lot of squirrels or rabbits around his place.”

  “Oh, I understand; and they must have been as big as an elephant for him to want to purchase a weapon of that caliber.”

  “As I said, it’s none of my business, I just sell ‘em.”

  Fred was able to obtain the serial number of the weapon from the vendor and very little else. Obviously, John Smith was an alias.

  He left the crowded arena and returned to the parking lot. A Bradenton traffic ticket was on his windshield. A note was attached: “Sorry, but this is in exchange for the ticket you Sarasota guys gave me when I was in your town.” In disgust Fred ripped up the ticket and returned to his office.

  *

  Fred could now account for virtually all of Slivers’ time line since he had left his workplace. Fred had calculated the minimum amount of time that Slivers would require going from his office to the Sarasota Fair Grounds where the gun show had been held earlier. He then estimated another half hour would have been required for Slivers to procure the weapon and complete the necessary paperwork. Slivers had parked his car about three blocks from the bank. Fred figured a normal walking speed of about three miles an hour would be appropriate for Slivers to walk from his car to the bank. Adding it all together the sum time was within 15 minutes of Slivers’ actual time of arrival at the bank. “Close enough for government work,” Fred said to himself.

  Was this a premeditated murder? Fred felt in the last analysis that would be for the prosecution to determine. However, he felt establishing premeditation would be difficult at best; why would Slivers wait until just before he committed his crime to procure the weapon if premeditation existed? Was it a case of multiple personalities? Perhaps, since Slivers’ demeanor had changed markedly during the period in which he committed the murders. At the same time, Slivers had enough composure to provide a false name when he procured his weapon. On the other hand, it was very strange that Slivers had no idea what sort of weapon to acquire. Most premeditated murderers are fairly detailed as to every aspect of a murder plan; and Slivers was confirmed to be a very detailed person. However, Slivers didn’t even seem to understand that he needed ammunition as well as a weapon. Was it a case of a small prefrontal cortex dictating his behavior, as Maureen had suggested? Well, that’s for the psychologists to determine, it’s certainly beyond my field of expertise, thought Fred.

  It was five p.m., and just as Fred sat down, Jim entered the office to brief him on the progress he had made in interviewing the remaining people on the bank and theater list. Nothing was new. Jim had contacted fifteen prospects with no leads. He said Paul was still out working on his list but so far no luck.

  After Jim left, the chief called Fred in.

  Fred briefed the chief about his experience with the gun dealer and told him the latest status on the interviews being conducted by Paul and Jim. The chief yawned as he was briefed and only seemed to perk up when Fred provided status on Paul’s progress. The chief said, “Paul is a good man; in fact he was the board’s second choice after you to get those lieutenant’s bars. Make sure that you use him effectively.” The chief turned away. It was obvious that the discussion was over.

  When Fred left the office, he saw Paul taking to the chief’s secretary. Fred knew that Paul was going to go in the chief’s office to “re-brief” him. He was not happy with that development but decided to hold his cool.

  Fred called Maureen to tell her he would be home late that evening.

  Maureen said, “Well, I’ll probably be in bed. I’m dog tired—sorry, Molly,” she added, “but I’m still having problems sleeping and the pills I’m taking aren’t doing any good at all. I’m trying a new type of therapy and am hopeful that it will work.”

  Fred started to tell her about the latest developments in the case including the strange behavior of Slivers at the gun dealer, but he thought better of it. He wanted Maureen to determine if that behavior fit into the multiple personality concept; but he didn’t want to bother her while she didn’t feel well.

  He could hear Molly barking in the background. Obviously Molly wanted Maureen to play and, similar to a movie character he had once seen, Molly would not be ignored! Molly’s aggressive play routine would tire Maureen even more, Fred thought, but he knew Maureen would ultimately give in to that tenacious, lovable little terrier.

  Chapter 26

  The next morning, Fred arose before dawn. His sleep had been troubled with visions of victims of all ages and sizes being shot with arrows and then falling into a great endless abyss. Fred couldn’t analyze dreams but he felt the abyss symbolically represented his inability to solve the murders. He didn’t understand the reason for the arrows; maybe Maureen could decipher them for him later. Maureen was still in a deep sleep when he got dressed and left for the office.

  City streets were completely deserted at this early hour with the exception of a couple of vagrants most likely seeking escape from the harsh winter to the north; the sun was still a couple of hours away from removing the night’s chill from the countryside. At this early hour not even Paul had arrived at the office yet.

  Fred spent his rare free time working on his blackboard and making notes as he pondered. On the left segment of the blackboard he had written “Observations.” Below that heading were notes that he had written about the two shootings. To the right, a column headed “Actions taken and Pending,” was keyed to the first column’s notes. A third column was titled “Conclusions.” The annotations under the third column had been either left blank or were marked “No success.”

  Fred perused the board left to right, constantly asking himself, what am I not doing, what haven’t I thought about?

  Up to now, he had employed a technique known in intelligence circles as “serial network analysis.” It sounded complex but it was simply a data gathering and mining methodology that attempted to expose previously unknown connections among people. The logic behind it was that people in disparate organizations often have common acquaintances. In effect, that was what Fred had attempted to do in his interviews pertaining to the victims at the bank, to somehow link the murderer with his victims. If he could find some previously unknown link, then perhaps he could separate the mass murder from a random non-purposeful event to one that had been engineered and designed. Virtually everybody around him saw the killings as a senseless act. He thought differently but could not yet find the reason for any of the needless killings, even though his subordinates had already logged hundreds of man-hours in a futile search for links and clues.

  Then something struck him! Suppose the link was broader than what he had been searching for. Suppose the link he was seeking was not limited to the bank victims, but perhaps a connection of some type existed between the bank and the theater shooting. Also suppose that link was associated with the firms that the victims worked for.

  Fred was now speaking out loud to himself, “The killer may in fact have hoped to drive us into a dead end while, in fact, part of the puzzle he created may have been to make these shootings look totally random. His goal may have been to cross me up by executing a plan which appeared by all observers to be two disparate shootings.”

  So far there were no matches in the case of the bank shooting but, he thought, what if we compared the employers of the victims at the bank with the employers of the victims at the theater? This seemed to be far out, in fact very far out but it was a possibility; and so far, loo
king at his blackboard, Fred felt nothing had panned out, so anything possible was worth a try. But for Fred’s theory to be on the mark, the killer would have had to know at some level of detail the way Fred and his department went about solving selective crimes.

  Only those very close to him would have that knowledge. His predecessor, who had retired from the force unexpectedly, shared the same “damn the torpedoes, no holds barred” attitude as the Chief and Paul. To say they employed complex techniques in crime solving was to say the Neanderthal might have been on the threshold of determining how to go to the moon just before they evolved out of existence.

  Fred had only discussed his methodology with the chief, Jim, Paul and Maureen. To make his theory even plausible it would mean that someone knew that he would become the prime investigator on the case after his predecessor left and possibly also understood Fred’s thought process. Fred said to himself, this is crazy, and he almost dismissed his theory out of hand; but paraphrasing the statement by Sherlock Holmes to Watson, when the possible is eliminated from consideration, the answer must lie in the improbable.

  He also recalled a prosecutor once said, if you hear the sound of hoofs it may not be horses but it could be zebras. Facts do not always point to that which is logical or apparent. At that moment Fred decided to continue the investigation following his theory, as outlandish as it might be.

  When Jim arrived at the station, Fred gave him his assignment. “I want you to check out all the victims from the theater and then compare them to the information you have on the victims from the bank. I also want you to start with those that were killed.”

  Jim said, “You really think that the two shootings were connected?”

  “I don’t know, but I want to leave no stone unturned.”

  Fred could see in Jim’s eyes a reluctance to go down this very questionable investigative path, but as a good friend and a dedicated subordinate he didn’t question his boss’s orders.

  As Jim left the office he thought, “The track I have been directed to take on this investigation is crazy. If he only knew how much I want his job and how differently I would be handling it if I were in charge. Perhaps someday soon I will be.”

  Chapter 27

  Two more days had gone by with virtually no progress in either of the two cases. The DA had agreed to the delay requested by the defense in the Slivers indictment. The defendant was being held in the county jail without bail. Based on the vicious nature of the crime, the defense conceded early on that bail would not be a remote possibility so they focused their efforts further downstream on creating a palatable defense that might resonate with a jury. However, the defense was having a hard time understanding the rationale for the crime and had been unable to get any more coherent information from Slivers than the police had. As a result they sought to buy some additional time before the case went to trial. Since the DA wanted to present a rock solid case, he had no problem agreeing to the proposed delay in the trial date.

  The chief hadn’t called for Fred for three days since he knew in the short term that there would be no downward pressure exerted from the DA. However, this respite could not last since the theater murderer was still on the loose and it would not be long before the local paper would be calling for more expeditious and aggressive police work. That, of course, would set off the explosive chief once again.

  When Jim entered his boss’ office, Fred had been looking out the window, focusing on nothing in particular. He turned his desk chair around, greeted Jim in a somber mood and confessed that he was frustrated and at a loss. “Jim, I have only had my promotion a few days and everything possible is breaking negatively around me. Maybe I should resign, get out of the force permanently and shift to teaching, dentistry or something else that is not life threatening. At times I feel that I am in a Charlie Chan movie where all types of things are simultaneously happening but none seem related. The only difference is that Chan always solved his cases and the solution came within an hour.”

  Jim said, “Nonsense, Fred, you are the by far the best for the job. I will admit these cases are confusing; but if anyone can get to the bottom of them, you can.” The moment Jim uttered the words he knew he didn’t mean them, but he also knew that Fred desperately needed positive feedback.

  Jim had spent over two days pulling the records of those killed in the theater. He had then compared it to the background of the victims from the bank, and brought his conclusions to Fred. What immediately stood out was that two of those killed, one from the theater and one from the bank, worked for a local company called Analysis Unlimited, or AU, as it was commonly known.

  Fred said, “This may be another wild goose chase but it has to be checked out.”

  “Come on, Fred, I really think the fact that two of those killed worked for the same company is pure coincidence.”

  “I understand,” said Fred, “but suppose both melees were created to get rid of specific individuals and the others were killed just to obliterate the real objective?”

  “Gees, that’s really far out. Both Slivers and the man responsible for the theater killings would have had to have been hired as hit men. I don’t know what the pay for a hit man is, but it would have to be significant; because both men would know if caught they would most likely face the chair. Besides Slivers doesn’t have any financial problems and he didn’t even run from the scene of the crime. It would be more logical to think that both these guys went off their rocker than to believe these crimes were planned.”

  Fred had to agree, but he wanted the connection checked out anyway. At the moment, it was the only straw he could clutch at.

  Fred and Jim spent the rest of the day researching all the company information they could glean. Neither could find anything of substance. The only background he found concerning the president of AU was that he had been an electronics salesman who had been stationed in Germany for an extended period during the 90’s. About five years ago he founded the company. That was all the information that any of the public records held. Fred said, “I’ll go over to the company and check it out in the morning. I’m troubled that the public records have such limited data on this company. In the interim I want to look at the DVD of the bank robbery one more time.”

  Again he had Jan set it up. The three of them took another look at Slivers’ actions as he entered the bank. “Okay,” Fred directed, “please stop it just as Slivers first looks around the room.” The frame showed Slivers looking to his left first and then he paused.

  “Stop it now,” Fred ordered. “Let’s see who he is focusing on as he looked to his left.” The view from the second video tape seemed to indicate that he was concentrating on the bank guard first and then someone to Slivers’ extreme left. By now they could link names to the identity of the victims appearing on the DVD.

  Fred said, “The first man killed was the bank guard and he was most likely eliminated because he was armed and a potential threat to Slivers, but the second man was a Mr. Alfred Long. He was one of the two men employed by AU who was killed, one in the bank and the other in the theater.”

  Jim, still not buying Fred’s hypothesis said, “How can you possibly prove that Long was the only victim in the bank that was earmarked to be eliminated? Just because Slivers started aiming and shooting in one direction shortly after he entered the bank, in the end, means nothing.”

  Fred said, “Good point, Jim; however, I believe I just thought of a way to prove my theory. Meanwhile, notice that a woman is standing just to Mr. Long’s right. Let’s restart the DVD to see what Slivers does now with respect to that woman.”

  A few more frames were viewed when Fred said, “Stop! Notice that Slivers paused after he shot Long. During the time he paused he shifted his weapon to the right of the woman standing next to Long and then started firing again. I believe he intentionally did not shoot at the woman.”

  They continued to run the DVD; and with each pause in firing there was a woman in the line of fire; it appeared to Fred that Slivers
had paused to try to miss them.

  “But some of the people injured were women,” Jan said.

  “That’s true, Fred replied, “But none of the women were killed, and all of those women who were wounded sustained only minor injuries. Remember, Slivers was not an expert marksman; and even though I believe he tried to miss the women, considering his inaccuracy and lack of familiarity with the weapon he was holding, he couldn’t insure that he could always accomplish his objective.”

  “So,” Jan said, “Mr. Slivers is a compassionate killer? Isn’t that something like a compassionate conservative?”

  The sting in Jan’s liberal remark didn’t miss Fred. “Jan, this is not the time for politics.”

  “Sorry, I couldn’t resist.” She couldn’t hold back her smile.

  Jim said, “Well, now I’m curious. How you can prove that the murderer in the theater intended all along to kill an AU employee?”

  “Give me a little time and I believe I can show you a way to prove it!”

  Chapter 28

  The next morning Fred was in the station hallway when he was approached by Jim. Jim asked if he had heard about the jewel robbery on Longboat Key. “No,” Fred said, “I’m afraid I’ve been busy with other matters.”

  “Well,” Jim said, “there’s not much to tell except one of those society people was robbed of over $500,000 worth of jewels. We just got the call and were waiting for you to assign someone to the case. You probably remember the woman, Judith Emperor. She is the one that donates a million each year to the care and maintenance of feral cats.”

  “Tell you what,” Fred said, “you deserve a break today. How about you go out to see Mrs. Emperor and then brief me on what you find out.”

  While Jim was gone, for what seemed like the hundredth time, Fred went over the facts of the case. Fred had a strong gut feeling that someone beyond Slivers was responsible for the massacre. Nothing really pointed to that conclusion and it was incompatible even with the plausible multiple personality theory of Maureen’s. As far as motive, Slivers did not seem to have any motive to kill any of them. Even his selection of the bank was out of the ordinary. The closest bank was just across the street from Slivers’ office. He in fact passed that bank on the way to the County Bank where he had committed the murders. There had to be some reason Slivers had chosen the County Bank. The fact that he had passed other banks on the way to his killing spree would tend to mean Slivers did not have a vendetta about the banking industry or the financial world in general. Otherwise, he would have selected the bank closest to his office.