“So what do you have in mind?” he ask sitting back in his chair and crossing his arms across his stomach.
“We are going to take another run at him. I have a plan that might just work,” I said.
“Then get on with it. I want to wrap this up.”
“You got it boss,” I said.
Dan and I grabbed a squad car and headed back to gather up Mallory Keebler.
“Geez. Are you back again? I just left there a short while ago. Don’t tell me the FBI wants another round with me.”
“No. As a matter of fact I don’t want the FBI involved at all. Dan and I just want to ask you a few more questions.”
“Man, this is getting to be a drag. Alright, come on in. I still can’t tell you much more than I already have.”
“Come on Keebler. Do you really expect me to believe you don’t know where you were just two days ago around 4:00 p.m.?”
“Yeah, well, I gave it some thought after I talked to you. I left Muncie at 3:00 p.m., stopped in Anderson and had a late lunch. I got to Indianapolis around rush hour. It was right at 5:00 p.m. It took me about thirty minutes to get home. After that I stayed home and didn’t go out again.”
“So you were traveling when the judge was shot.”
“If you say so. All I know is when I was on the road.”
“And no one was with you?” Dan asked.
“Nope.”
“Would you mind putting that in writing? That way it will become an official part of the investigation.”
“What do you want me to say?”
“Just what you told us. You left at 3:00 p.m., stopped to eat and then came on home. Just fill in the times and where you stopped to eat in Anderson. That way we can check it all out and if it pans out, we can eliminate you as a suspect,” I told him.
He looked at me for several seconds then asked for my pen. I had him write it on the other side of the paper we had given him with the questions about time. When he was finished, he handed my pen back and pushed the paper across the table.
“Are we done now?” he asked.
“All we have to do is make sure you were in Muncie like you said. That should pretty much do it,” I assured him.
“Then if you don’t mind, I have a life,” he said standing up.
I guess he was tired of us. Imagine that?
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
Dan glanced over at me when we got in the car.
“Okay. What was that all about? It sure doesn’t take two and a half hours to get from Muncie to Indianapolis. Forty-five minutes maybe. An hour and a half even with stopping so what gives?”
“This,” I said waving the paper at him.
“I don’t get it.”
“He left two notes for me and wrote to the newspaper. We now have a sample of his handwriting. We can have it compared to the notes and voila, we have him nailed.”
“Hey, not bad. At least the FBI will be useful for something,” Dan replied.
Indeed they were. When we got back to the station I explained what I needed from the FBI and how it would help solve the case. With only a little arm twisting they agreed to rush the analysis through. I took a quick look at the two handwriting samples and really couldn’t tell. I saw similarities but I saw a few differences as well. I still held out hope.
“I don’t think it is the same,” Dan whispered to me as we left the room.
“I’m not sure either. He could have been clever. After all he knows we have the other notes. Maybe he was trying to disguise his writing,” I said hopefully.
Dan just shook his head.
“Yeah I know,” I replied.
***
My fears were realized later the next day. The FBI lab analysis said while there were some similarities, the match was only fifty-one percent.
“Well you were pretty much prepared for that weren’t you?” the captain said when I told him the news.
“I guess. I was hopeful that he had just disguised it and they would find enough to nail him,” I said.
“So what is your plan now?”
“I’m not really sure. I guess I’ll go out and tell him that he is no longer a suspect. This pretty much clears him.”
“Okay, but don’t stop digging. We need this cleared up,” the captain said.
“Are you really going to go tell him he has been cleared?” Dan asked.
“Why not? Unless something else turns up I’m not going to waste any more time on him. As far as I can see his alibi pretty much checks out. His aunt said it was closer to four o’clock when he left, not three.”
“Alright, but I think we are jumping the gun,” Dan said.
“Duly noted,” I replied.
***
I knocked on the door and Keebler opened it and just looked at us.
“Now what? Look people, you want to arrest me, go ahead. If not, leave me alone. My pizza just got here and I intend to eat it while it is hot,” he said gruffly.
“Sorry to bother you. I just….”
“Can we talk about this in the kitchen? My pizza is getting cold and my beer is getting warm,” he said and opened the door.
We followed him into the kitchen and he sat down and pulled a slice of pepperoni pizza onto his plate. I could almost hear Dan’s saliva dripping on the floor.
“Mr. Keebler, I just wanted to tell you that we have taken you off the primary suspect list.”
He stopped mid bite and looked at us.
“Why?”
“We checked your alibi and a few other things and it all appears to check out.”
“So, just like that, I’m no longer under suspicion?”
“It just means that you are not being considered a primary suspect. A person of interest would be a more accurate description.”
“Well I guess that is better than nothing. Have a seat and grab a slice. I guess we can act like normal people.”
I had started to say ‘no’ but Dan was already pulling out a chair and grabbing for a slice of pizza. What was I going to do with that boy? I sat down and decided when in Rome. I picked up one as well.
“Want a beer?” he asked.
Dan looked over at me.
“Sure, go ahead. We are off duty now anyway,” I told him.
Keebler pulled two beers from the fridge and opened them for us. When he closed the refrigerator door my eye caught a post card with a magnet holding it in place. I swear my jaw dropped.
“Who is the post card from?” I asked, using the bottle to point.
“Oh just my crazy cousin. We were really close at one time. Got into all kinds of trouble but he is a good kid. He really took it hard when Brandi was killed. He went to the trial every single day. Even on the days I couldn’t go. Ever since, he hasn’t been the same. He took off for a full month and just went off into the desert someplace. That card is from him,” Keebler said.
Dan was wide eyed while listening to us talk, trying to stuff pizza in his mouth and down his beer. I almost felt sorry for him.
“Where does your cousin live?”
“John lives out on the edge of Fishers.”
“John’s last name?”
“Kingman.”
“I need to borrow that post card. Do you mind? I need his address as well.”
He looked at me for a second then shook his head. He took it off the refrigerator and handed it to me.
“His address is the return one on the card.”
“Thanks. We really need to run.”
“Please, don’t tell me John had anything to do with all of this,” he said.
“I honestly don’t know but for now I need ask you not to tell him or call him. Please. It is for his own good,” I said.
“He is my cousin.”
“I understand but believe me it is for the best right now.”
‘Alright’, was all he said and went back to eating his pizza.
I grabbed Dan and we headed out the door. He protested having to give up his pizza all the way to the station<
br />
***
I grabbed one of the notes that had been left for me and did a quick comparison. I am definitely no expert but all I can say is that they looked pretty darn close to me.
I showed the two to Agent Farling and the other FBI agents and we all agreed that they were darn close. We decided to send them off to the FBI lab with the highest priority.
In the meantime, we looked up his address on Google Earth and zeroed in on the location. He lived in a modest home on what looked to be several acres of land, mostly wooded with a pond a few hundred yards from the main structure. There was only one ingress and egress to the land without having to climb a fence that bordered the property.
Eric called the site up on the County Tax records and we found that it was a manufactured home built in 2005 and sat on eight and a half acres of land MOL.
“What do you think?” Farling asked.
“I think this is our guy. Eric said he has a record for minor offences, disorderly conduct, threatening a police officer during a routine speeding stop. Minor stuff, but still…”
“So as soon as the report comes back you need to pay this guy a visit,” the captain said, coming up behind us.
“It would appear so,” I replied.
“I want surveillance on him starting an hour ago. I don’t want this guy killing anyone else,” McGregor said.
“You don’t know it is him for sure,” Agent Conroy replied.
The captain turned and looked at her for a second.
“No. We don’t know that for sure but I am not going to risk it. He may or may not be the person but I am unwilling to take that chance. I do not need your permission to determine the course of action for my officers. I’m not asking the FBI to be involved. Actually I don’t see that you have contributed anything since you have been here. I believe it is time for you to pack your things and leave. We will handle it from this point on,” he said and turned and walked to his office.
“Well,” Conroy said, hands on her hips.
It was all I could do to keep from laughing.
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
Few things are more boring than surveillance work. It is especially bad when you don’t have the luxury of being able to blend in with the surroundings. It is one thing to park on a street and watch someone’s house but out in the boonies it is a heck of a lot more difficult.
Dan and I found a small turnaround area that gave us a view on the main road in front of his place but we couldn’t see much of anything else. We were going to have to depend on him turning on his lights and hopefully spotting them in time.
You go through stages when you are doing surveillance. At first you yap and shoot the bull for a time but then that starts to wind down. Then you find things to amuse your mind. After a while you start shifting from cheek to cheek. Then comes the hunger. For Dan that may be the first thing for all I know.
You know you can’t drink too much out in the woods like this. At least female cops can’t. We have lousy plumbing. Men have it so much easier.
Sleep and alertness start to drop off and pretty soon you are deciding who is going to stay awake while the other one grabs a quick nap.
Dan had just yawned for the tenth time so I told him he might as well catch a nap. He didn’t even bother to put up a fuss, he just closed his eyes and off he went. I had been hoping he would at least offer for me to take the first nap. At 3:00 a.m. I shook him awake and stayed up talking to him for a few minutes to make sure he wouldn’t drift back off.
Finally I closed my eyes, laid my head back against the headrest and went to sleep. The next thing I knew Dan was shaking me and starting the car at the same time.
“What?”
“Headlights,” he said.
I could see them flickering through the trees as they headed toward the exit to the main road.
“What time is it?”
“4:25.”
I knew I hadn’t been out very long. I was trying to shake myself awake and get with the program. A few seconds later the lights disappeared and we could make out the tail lights moving away from us. It isn’t like in the movies where you can just suddenly pull out and start following the guy.
Headlights magically appearing behind the guy would definitely cause him to notice us so we had to sit there until they disappeared before Dan could pull out and turn on the lights. As much as Dan wanted to floor it and get John Kingman in our sights, he held his speed down pretty well, trying to gain without making it obvious. Finally, after three or four miles, we could make out the tail lights ahead of us.
Dan was able to close the gap when we got to a stop sign and we could get the license plate number. I wrote it down and called it in. A few minutes later we got conformation the car did indeed belong to John Kingman.
“Want to just pull him over?” Dan asked.
“No. He hasn’t done anything wrong and we don’t have probable cause to stop him. Let’s just see where he goes. Dan allowed several cars to get between us and Kingman. It was easier now that we were getting closer to Fishers, Indiana. More and more cars were starting to make the morning commute into Indianapolis.
We followed him all the way into the heart of the city and he pulled into a pay parking lot. Dan pulled into a no parking zone and put a ‘Official Police Business’ card on the dash.
We had to hustle to catch up with him but I was pretty sure I knew where he was going. We saw him open the door to City Hall and we rushed up the steps. There was no way he had a gun. You have to go through screening to get into any of the courtrooms.
We got inside just as he was walking down the hall toward courtroom 4B.
“What do you think he is doing?”
“I don’t have a clue,” I replied.
We opened the door and took seats in the back of the courtroom. Several other people were there and we could see Kingman sitting three rows in front of us. Prosecutor Linda Evens was sitting at one table and Attorney Tom Levine was sitting at the defense table with a mean looking black man who had tattoos all up and down his arms.
“All rise,” the bailiff said as the judge walked in.
“Court is now in session. All rise for the Honorable Taylor Hilton.”
He strolled in and took his seat, rapped his gavel and told us we could be seated. I watched Kingman intently. He never took his eyes off Prosecutor Linda Evens. Either he had a thing for her or she was his next target.
About two hours into the trial I was starting to lose interest. It was just another murder trial but Kingman watched everything Evens did. When they finally called a recess I saw Kingman get up and slowly walk down the aisle towards the courtroom door.
“Follow him,” I told Dan.
I went down to the railing and called to Linda Evens. She vaguely recognized me and I held out my badge. She nodded and came over to the rail.
“Bartoni isn’t it?”
“Right. Listen, I know you are aware of the killings by a lone gunman that is taking revenge for what he perceives as an injustice. I think he may be watching the trial. We have been keeping an eye on a suspect and he has been sitting behind you watching your every move.”
I could see the surprise register on her face. She had no idea she was being watched.
“You’re sure?”
“He slipped in just as the trial was starting. He has been taking notes and watching every move you make. I don’t want to alarm you but I think you may be his next victim.”
“But why? Did I try him?”
“No. He hasn’t been in trouble that we are aware of other than some minor stuff. Honestly, I think it is because he thinks you are too easy on the criminals. You have a record of pleading hard criminals down to lesser offences.”
“What? I just do what is best for the system.”
“He doesn’t see it that way. He wants what’s best for the victim and their families. He doesn’t care about the criminal. This is about how he sees justice being abused by the system. You are part of that system so you
are a part of the problem.
“That’s crazy. If we didn’t do plea barging the system would collapse under its own weight. Cases would back up.”
“Do you honestly think he cares about that? His aunt was killed, raped and murdered, and the guy got off with eight years. He hardly sees the justice in that. He is on a mission to get rid of what he sees as bleeding hearts for criminals and ones that don’t care enough about the victim.”
“But…”
“No use arguing with me. He is the one who sees the system as broken. Right now we are keeping an eye on him. We don’t have enough for an arrest but we are closing in. I just wanted to give you a heads up.”
Just then the judge reappeared and the bailiff made the announcement that court was now back in session. I took my seat and a few minutes later Kingman walked in and sat down. Dan followed a minute later.
“He went and made a long phone call to someone.”
“Any idea who?”
“Couldn’t hear.”
“Alright. Call Eric. Have him trace the call from that phone booth and let’s see who he was talking to.”
***
Something was wrong. I sensed it. Dan had gone out to call Eric and almost immediately Kingman got up and made his way toward the courtroom door. He headed out and I wasn’t sure what I should do. If I jumped up and followed him he would know something was up. If I didn’t, he could disappear and we would have to go hunting for him. I decided to follow him.
I headed for the door and as soon as I opened it I knew we had a problem. I looked right and didn’t see him and then checked to the left. I just caught sight of him running down the stairs and out the front of the building. I started running after him. People were looking at me and I had my badge out holding it up so Security wouldn’t decide I was crazy and shoot me.
“Police,” I yelled several times as I raced for the exit.
When I finally burst outside I could see Kingman running across the street, almost getting hit by two vehicles. He reached the other side of the street, jumped in his car and took off before I could even reach the sidewalk.
I muttered some un-ladylike words that would have gotten my mouth washed out with soap if my mom had heard them. How did he know? kept rolling around in my head. It had to have been the phone call.
Victim's Advocate: Angie Bartoni Case Flie # 12 (Angie Bartoni Case Files) Page 16
