Mystery: The Isherwood Case Files (Mystery, Suspense, Crime, Murder, Detectives, Fiction, Unsolved Mysteries, Mysteries, Thriller, Intense, Drama)

by Johnny Scotland

  Looking through the case files, there had to be a link or a reason why this guy killed all of these people. “I need all the case files dug out.” said Isherwood upon his return to the bureau. Robert was glad to go to the records office, since the lady he was interested in worked there, and he always jumped at an opportunity to see here. Charley grinned, knowing why Robert had been so keen. Isherwood noticed.

  “Do you have a friend there?” asked Isherwood, and Robert visibly blushed.

  “Try and find out what you can about this case. Records may even know if any of the officers who dealt with the case are still alive and kicking.” said Isherwood.

  Indeed they were. There were two officers that remembered the case well. They had been angered by the lightness of the sentence. Steve Bragg was one of them and he told Isherwood on the phone that it had been very hard to catch the guy.

  “Is there anything in particular you can tell me which will help me.” asked Isherwood.

  “The guy has a real hatred for authority. There's a history of parental abuse and although his father never went to jail for anything in his life, he was one of the nastiest pieces of work I had met for a very long time.”

  “Is he still alive?” Isherwood inquired.

  “Not likely, he was in pretty bad shape back then. A real Bible basher but one who drowned his sorrows in alcohol. A real hypocrite. The only escape the kid had from his father was chess.”

  That was helpful. Isherwood was beginning to build some kind of knowledge base, and the more flesh people put on the characters, the more it seemed likely that this was the perpetrator. Looking over the case files, he had murdered men. These were men in authoritative positions, two within the church, and the pattern seemed right. Tonight he would study the files. There had to be a link that was more than just speculative. No doubt, the killer would strike again, but this time Isherwood wanted to arrest him before the murder happened.

  “Can I help you with that load?” asked Charley, grabbing two of the boxes from Isherwood. They walked down toward his old car together. It amused Charley that this guy should be driving around in such a beat up Volkswagen, but somehow it fit the character of Isherwood. It wasn't the kind of car an American would drive unless making his way home from Woodstock, though there was something terribly sixties about the guy that made the car fit.

  Chapter 4 – Classic Moves

  “I'm a chess piece. A pawn,' she said. 'I can be sacrificed, but I cannot be captured. To be captured would be the end of the game.”

  Paolo Bacigalupi

  There was something that wasn't quite fitting into place for Isherwood. They had the name of the guy, they had his past record, though there was something just not quite right. He took out the list of chess pieces. Perhaps these would wield results. Looking at the pieces all in white, these had to be the pieces that had been taken by the opponent during a game. Isherwood was very aware of famous chess games and had tried to live up to them, but had failed miserably in the past. He played a mean game of chess by normal standards, but always felt disappointed because he knew that he could do better. Looking over famous games by Fischer, he knew that the pieces he had listed had significance, and although the Internet page was slow to load, the significance came to him before the actual information did. Of course, this was Fischer's classic game against the Russian, wasn't it? You don't often look at a chess game by seeing the pieces which have been beaten, but looking at it in this manner, he could see exactly what the next move was and what the piece that would turn up in the next victim's pocket would be. It would be a rook, a white rook.

  Throwing all the old newspapers off the coffee table, he placed a chess board onto the table and traced the moves. At each juncture, where a murder had occurred, he marked the board with a red sticker. A pattern was forming that seemed familiar. If his estimations was correct, the black player would take control of the board and the white player would be forced to lose that precious rook. He marked the position with an X.

  He pulled the board from the table and held it up to look at the pattern forming. This was a very similar pattern to that produced by Robert the previous day when plotting out the scenes of each of the crimes. X marked the location of the next murder. The cat mewed in the background, and Isherwood rose to feed it. This exquisite cat was his family. He stroked its back as he placed the food in front of the cat. Isherwood had been living off junk food since being here, and the cat had often looked on with a bemused sense of disapproval. Tomorrow, he would make more effort. For now, he had all of the answers he needed to pinpoint the location of the next murder, but was not sure about how much time he had to stop it from happening. Between murders, there was usually a pause of about two weeks, so perhaps time was on his side.

  The next day, Charley and Robert were amused by the display on Isherwood's desk. Short of losing his marbles, the guy had an extraordinary way of expressing his thoughts. Papers were scattered here, there and everywhere and the chess board had been laid out with names tagged to each of the murders he had marked with red dots.

  “So what's the cross for?” asked Robert, passing Isherwood a hot cup of coffee.

  “That's the location of the next murder.”

  Robert looked at the chess board and then looked again. He thought he saw something familiar in the layout but he wasn't sure.

  “Pull up that map you had yesterday which showed the location of the murders.” said Isherwood.

  As Robert pulled up the information on his computer screen, there was a clear match. The locations marked on the screen were almost identical to those marked on the chess board. It took a little bit of head movement to see them, but when they did, Isherwood and Robert knew for certain where the next murder was to take place. Wareham Heights was the next location. There was no doubt about it. All they had to do now was find out at which address precisely and who had been targeted this time by the murderer.

  “Okay.” said Isherwood, “We know what we have so far. We have the name of the murderer, although we have no idea of his whereabouts. The guys on the beat have said he isn't living where he was registered as living, so we drew a blank on that. We have the location of the next murder and we know that it will be the murder of a man. Now all we have to do is find that man or find the murderer and arrest him before he gets to that man.”

  “How do we locate the guy?” asked Robert. “It's like looking for a needle in a haystack.”

  Isherwood was quick to reply, with a little ironic humor. “We look for a man who is limping and who has a bloody great big dagger in his left hand.” he joked. That was the first time that he had demonstrated a sense of humor, but the guys in the office appreciated it. Yes, indeed, it was going to be a difficult task, though with a list of the residents of Wareham Heights, it should merely be a question of elimination that would help them to discover the next intended victim.

  Chapter 5 – Victims and Common Traits

  “The victim mindset dilutes the human potential. By not accepting personal responsibility for our circumstances, we greatly reduce our power to change them.”

  Steve Maraboli

  With the list of resident's names, some apartments could be eliminated straight away. This guy didn't kill women which made the elimination easier. Looking through the list of previous targets and comparing characteristics with potential victims, there were two names that stood out. One was quite a powerful figure in politics although the killer hadn't really targeted political people in the past and the other was a staunch follower of the church who lead the choral society. Other than that, the other tenants fell outside of the frame.

  Ellis Carver was the political candidate, and upon telephoning his secretary, it appeared that he was going to be away for some months in Washington. That narrowed the field down to the one potential victim who was clearly in the frame. Isherwood and Robert visited the apartment block to check out vulnerabilities. If the killer was going to attack William Morrison, then they had a duty to advise the man a
nd to ensure that the murder did not happen. Charley had tried to trace the killer's last address though even the address given to social security proved to be a fake one.

  As Isherwood knocked on the door of Morrison, he heard the man nearing the door. When he opened the door, he appeared to be a tall man with graying hair, particularly slim and wearing eye glasses. He looked over the eye glasses as if questioning who these men were.

  “Allow me to introduce myself. I am detective Jon Isherwood from the homicide department and this is my partner.” Isherwood gestured toward Robert.

  “And what can I do for you?” asked Morrison.

  “We need to talk with you in private.” said Isherwood and the man ushered them into his apartment. He was a single man, a church goer and it was obvious that the life that he lived revolved around his belief. The crucifix that hung over his bed and the Bible that sat on the bedside table were obvious signs. They noticed as they passed the doors to the open rooms, heading toward the living room.

  “We believe that your life may be in danger.” said Isherwood. With that, the man turned and began to pay attention. Until that moment, he had thought this was merely a routine kind of inquiry. Now that it involved his safety, it was obvious that the man was anxious to hear what was about to be discussed.

  Isherwood walked toward the window of the apartment. There was a small balcony, although at this height in the block, it was unlikely that anyone could gain access by this means. He explained the story to Morrison, who listened intently. He showed the man a photograph of the suspect and stated that although they could not be sure of this being the murderer, they had grounds to suspect that he was. A plain clothes police officer would need to be within close range of the apartment at all times and Morrison agreed that this seemed to be a wise precaution. Robert and Charley had already tossed a coin for the job, and Robert had lost.

  It was strange talking to this man. Isherwood remembered the church where he went as a child. This was the type of man who preached all of the commandments and who then defied them in the privacy of his own home. The vices of smoking and drinking were apparent in the apartment and behind closed doors, people such as this judged the world from a high up place. The similarity between the man's character and the characteristics of other victims was very similar, and what Isherwood had found out was that Josiah Hettenburg had been through hell as a child and the remainder of childhood experiences had apparently fired his need to kill.

  Now it was just a matter of time. With Morrison protected, and patrol men passing the apartment block on a regular basis, someone would see Hettenburg before he struck. As Isherwood drove away, he noticed several places where someone could get a good view of the apartment and this would be where the killer would install himself as he cased the scene before taking his move. He dialed Robert's cell phone. Robert came to the window and could see where Isherwood was pointing. This would be the most likely spot to view the killer in advance, and Robert needed that knowledge to stop the Rook from being taken in this dangerous game of chess.

  Chapter 6 – The Chase

  “Men are like lions, we hunt.”

  Kevin Hart

  Over the course of the next couple of days, Robert felt as though he was chasing shadows. The man was positively annoying and very intent on offering Robert his opinion on God regardless of whether Robert actually felt he needed to hear it. He was glad in a way that his background had been a happy one. His memories of childhood church services were happy memories, not those tarred with fire and brimstone. When he answered the man that he was a strong believer in God, Morrison seemed to find this to be the trigger to let rip with his opinions.

  When Isherwood rang, it must have been apparent in Robert's voice that he was less than happy with this assignment. The man had very few visitors and the ongoing lecturing was getting annoying. “I'll be over in a short while.” he said, knowing that Robert was struggling.

  On his way toward Wareham Heights, Isherwood swerved the car to a halt. In the distance, he could see a man with a dark overcoat. His limp was definite and he was heading in the right direction. By the time that Isherwood had parked the car, the figure had disappeared from sight. He ran down the street looking down alleyways, but the man was nowhere to be seen. He couldn't have moved that quickly. It was almost impossible for him to have disappeared that swiftly, though disappear he had.

  Picking up Robert was his main priority now. He had asked for a squad car to pass regularly and didn't see why Robert should have to put up with any more of the man's pompous behavior. As they drove back through the streets, Isherwood's mind was working overtime. The man had disappeared into thin air. He needed to take a look at a plan of the area to find out how that was possible.

  Back at the station, Isherwood stood and examined the plan which had been placed on the wall of the office, and then gazed at the chess board. Neither Charley nor Robert could get much sense out of him. He seemed obsessed with the calculations, the map coordinates and the fall of the pieces on the board. After a while, he stopped looking, hit his hand against his forehead and realized that the calculations were one square out. It wasn't Wareham Heights at all. It was the block before getting there, on the left hand side of the road, around the same place as the man with the limp had disappeared.

  Getting more information about the building was actually easier than he anticipated, since the whole building of three floors was inhabited by two people. One was in the lower apartment and this was a woman, and the man in the upper apartment, accessed by the fire escape or the main lobby lift, was a name he had seen before in the old case files for Josiah Hettenburg. This was the man that Hettenburg had attempted to murder twenty years ago and who had been crucial to the initial capture of the man.

  Perhaps the rook had already been placed in the pocket of the victim. All Isherwood knew was that he needed to get there and find out whether his instincts were right and if so, whether the discovery was too late. Robert checked the guy's phone number and passed it to Isherwood. He explained to the man who answered the phone that he should not answer his door. The fact that the man had still been alive made Isherwood feel less guilty for the mistaken calculation. It was easy to do, since both of these buildings fell within that same square on the chess board and he had simply taken the larger of the buildings as being the target.

  Driving through the streets of Los Angeles toward the suspected location of the next crime, Isherwood noticed more about this city today. The lights, the noise, the confusion of the place seemed to fill him with a frustration he hadn't felt since sitting in a London traffic jam. Upon reaching their destination, Isherwood and Robert drew their arms as they entered the building. A noise at the far end of the corridor caught their attention.

  The light in this part of the corridor was dim though both had heard the noise at the same time, and turned toward it with their guns pointed in that direction. What they had heard was someone dropping something onto the floor. As they shone a torch toward where the noise was coming from, Isherwood could see something on the floor that a man was bending to pick up, almost in fear for losing whatever it was. They came closer to the man and what he had in his hand was enough for Isherwood and Robert to know that they had met the killer. The rook that he took within his hand was the very piece of the puzzle that Isherwood knew would have ended the game between Fischer and his Russian opponent, had it not been for a clever move on the part of the Russian.

  “Check mate” he said, as he approached the man and placed the opposing rook into his hand. The look of astonishment on his face was enough for Isherwood to know that the man knew he had been defeated. He put up no fight, for there was none left in him.

  As they marched him toward the car, handcuffed and with his knife safely secured within an evidence bag, Isherwood remembered that remarkable game of chess as if it were yesterday. With the rook saved from being savaged by the opponent's rook, Hettenburg made no attempt to escape. He knew that this time, he had lost and had los
t fairly.

  Mystery 5:

  The Isherwood Case Files

  The Case of the Travelling Salesman

  By Johnny Scotland

  Chapter 1 – Rest

  “Men seek rest in a struggle against difficulties; and when they have conquered these, rest becomes insufferable.”

  Blaise Pascal

  “What do you guys do for fun?” asked Isherwood. Having been imported to Los Angeles Police Department from Scotland Yard in the UK, Isherwood wasn't on familiar territory.

  “I'm on home repair duty.” said Robert, the family man out of the team. “As for Charley, he'll be out fishing.” Isherwood needed to know what was available locally as he had received a letter to say that his nephew was coming to stay with him. He didn't cherish the thought but had been nagged by his sister into submission.

  “I don't know what to do with a child.” he said, with frustration showing in his voice.

  “Bring him over to our house and he can mix with local kids.” suggested Robert and that seemed quite a good idea. At this time of year, the police department was particularly prone to silent telephones. The sun seemed to bring out the best in people. Thus, Robert and Isherwood would be on vacation at the same time and Charley would take the second shift of vacation time when they came back. As Isherwood looked at his watch, he could see that he had a very short time to get to the airport to meet his nephew. Quickly packing up his papers and heading toward the door, he told Robert to expect to hear from him soon as he wasn't that hot at looking after children.