Scamper's Find

by Terry H. Watson

  “Well, whoever he was,” commented Ted, “he sure sped off from here. Another few seconds and I’d have been in a head-on crash.”

  At work that day, Carole related the incident to her colleagues who arranged for a police car to patrol her street. With that in place, Carole attempted to concentrate on her work and put the incident to the back of her mind but she was unable to shake off the feeling of trepidation deep in her being.

  Back home later that day, she was preparing dinner and attempting to control her unruly husband, kids and dog as they played around her feet, when she caught a glimpse of the mailman popping something into the mailbox.

  “Ted, that’s odd. We don’t normally get mail at this time of day.”

  “I’ll go fetch it,” he said and was about to race his kids down the drive when Carole screamed.

  “No!” She startled them all. “Ted, go by yourself, honey. Kids, stay here, go wash your hands before dinner.”

  She had almost forgotten the incident that morning but in true detective mode, had the presence of mind to be concerned at a late mail drop.

  Her fear was justified as the envelope contained a picture of her kids playing in the schoolyard. Without causing alarm, the couple again discussed with their children the need for extra care when not with their parents. Some days later, the two youngsters were playing upstairs and alerted their mother with a scream so loud that Carole dropped the plate she was removing from the dishwasher and ran upstairs like an Olympic sprinter. A heavy stone had shattered the window. The children were unhurt but shaken. Carole, once more in detective mode, ushered the children to a safe corner of the room, donned nylon gloves, and bagged the offending stone. Only then did she spot the handwritten note wrapped around it. It read revenge.

  Alarm bells rang. Colleagues were called to an incident room by Superintendent Tony Harvey, recently returned to work after his holiday. He took immediate charge of the investigation into the apparent harassment of his deputy and her family. Staff were briefed on events and helped plan strategies to locate and arrest the person who brought dread into the heart of their chief deputy detective.

  Several more incidents occurred, adding fuel to the already tense situation. A few days after the stone incident, the vigilant caretaker spotted a black sedan circling the area around the school.

  “Sorry, ma’am,” he reported to the principal, “he was too quick for me to catch the number. It was a black Chevy, with darkened windows. That’s all I can say. He drove around several times, too fast for here. Maybe Officer Karl will have something for us.”

  Sophisticated surveillance cameras had for some time been installed in several schools to provide a safe zone for the students and staff. The specially developed technology had been in operation across the city for several years and had proved a useful tool in deterring crime.

  “I’m checking it out right now,” said the portly officer, whose charismatic personality added to the sense of safety within the school. He was well liked by staff, adored by the kids who thought of him as a rather jolly Father Christmas type of person owing to his rotund frame that wobbled as he laughed and joked with them.

  “Yeah, I’ve caught the black Chevy right here on camera, and the times it circled our premises, way too fast for a school zone and too darn fast for the number to be recognised. I’ll send the film to our lab guys who might be able to retrieve it.”

  Several days after the caretaker had reported the incident, Officer Karl, viewing the area with a camera, identified the black Chevy as once more it cruised around the school perimeter. The recordings were carefully studied and sent to the lab but no more sightings were made of the black Chevy for many days.

  Sitting in the family room at home some days later and engrossed in some paper work for his latest reports, Ted was alerted to the roar of a motorbike speeding up the driveway. He rushed outside in time to see the bike racing off down the drive and turn into the street beyond. He called Carole at work. She immediately asked patrols to be extra vigilant.

  “Whoever it is has changed tactics. Who is trying to scare us?” she asked her husband after they settled the kids for the night. “It’s unnerving. I’ll get our guys to call over this way as often as they can. If the creep sees regular patrols it might frighten him off.”

  Meanwhile, the perpetrator of the crime returned to his apartment, stored a few groceries and locked himself in his den where he pinned his latest trophy to his collection. He congratulated himself on his achievement in photographing Carole Carr’s kids and placing a copy in her mailbox, without being observed. The mailman uniform stored in his car was one of several disguises used by him in his conniving scheme. Among his props on his wall was a plan of her house. He made several silent phone calls and thought he could detect fear in the voice of Carole Carr.

  Good, he thought, that’s what I like to hear: Fear.

  What he didn’t perceive was that he was not hearing fear in the voice of Chicago’s deputy chief, but anger, and an angry Carole Carr was a force to be reckoned with.

  For the next few weeks all was quiet until cops on patrol in the area spotted a black Chevy once again creeping slowly towards Carole Carr’s home. It took off at speed when the driver spotted the cop car, but despite their chase the vehicle was quickly out of sight. For several days cops in the area were extra attentive and were awarded for their patience when the black Chevy, unaware of the unmarked police car nearby, cruised around Detective Carr’s street.

  “Hey, we have the licence plate, caught it on our on-board camera from quite a distance. This thing is damned efficient.”

  “Call it in and run a search, Chuck,” hollered his partner. “Let’s find the creep who’s been stalking Detective Carr and her kids.”

  A call came through to her: “Ma’am, we have the name of the owner of the black Chevy. Burt Kennedy. Does the name ring a bell with you?”

  “Can’t say it does. Let’s get him checked out. So many cases come my way that it’s impossible to remember them all; in fact, he may not have any connection with anything I’ve ever investigated. I’ll do some research myself. Have you brought him in for questioning?”

  “Two of our guys are chasing him up, ma’am. He’s not at his last known address, and he seems to have moved. Our guys are making enquiries from the neighbours. Someone might know where he has gone.”

  “You looking for Burt, you say?” asked a former neighbour to the detective who came looking for the man.

  “He moved on from here a few weeks ago, got a place downtown. Real nice, quiet guy keeps himself to himself mostly.”

  The chatty neighbour, lonely and inquisitive, was happy to spend time with the cops.

  “Does he own a car, sir?”

  “Yeah, a real nice Chevy: black tinted windows; his pride and joy. He washes it regularly too, takes real good care of it. He’s one lucky guy; has a Suzuki Boulevard motorcycle, a real nice ride. That’s why he moved downtown; got a place with secure garaging. Up here, it wasn’t garaged and he worried about it. Hey, if you guys want to talk to him he eats out a lot in ‘Mike’s Diner’ two blocks down, goes there most days. Told me he never liked cooking. He’s a real cool guy, would do anything to help a neighbour. Sure when I was sick last few weeks he fetched groceries for me. Yip, Burt’s a real good guy. Hey, I hope the guy ain’t in no trouble.”

  “It’s just routine, sir, and thanks for your help.”

  The helpful neighbour returned to his newspaper thinking he had done his duty as a good citizen and hoped Burt’s motorcycle hadn’t been stolen or damaged.

  CHAPTER 20

  Burt Kennedy did not show up on the system as having any criminal record. Who was he and what interest did he have with Detective Carr? One of their own was being targeted and the entire squad it seemed, worked relentlessly to locate the wanted man. Two young cops patrolling the area spot
ted the black Chevy parked at ‘Mike’s Diner’. They waited for the man to return to his car. The unsuspecting diner continued with his meal, watched some TV sport, and sauntered out.

  “See you tomorrow then Burt,” said Mike to his most regular customer. Like Burt he had failed to notice a cop car parked in a corner of the parking lot. Burt Kennedy returned to his car and satisfied with yet another good meal, smiled to himself as he thought of the plan he had in mind for Carole Carr. He was so engrossed in thought that he was unaware of the approach of two officers.

  “Burt Kennedy?” they asked.

  The stunned man spluttered and answered, “Yeah, that’s me.”

  He was cuffed and arrested. As he sat in the back of a patrol car he appeared bemused that his foolproof plans had been discovered. At the precinct he waited in an interview room for a considerable time mulling over where his plan had gone wrong. Just as he thought he had been forgotten about, an irate Tony Harvey burst into the room, terrifying the detainee with his overpowering presence. The superintendent sat opposite him in total silence, never taking his eyes from the increasingly nervous man who wriggled uncomfortably in his seat, sweat beginning to form on his brow and palms of his hands, wanting to speak but finding his mouth dry and his brain confused as to what to say to break the unnerving silence.

  After what seemed an intolerable length of time, Harvey launched into a vicious interview, not sparing the agitated prisoner from his verbal attack.

  Despite his bravado at stalking Carole Carr, Burt Kennedy was nervous and excitable during the relentless questioning and with the possibility of imprisonment looming, came clean. He had been one of a number of people who lost their jobs when the newspaper company he worked for had been closed four years previously, following the scandal surrounding Ross S. Witherspoon, a presidential nominee. A rogue cop, Kip O’Rourke, a former colleague of Detective Carr and Superintendent Harvey, was responsible for passing on sensitive information to a newspaper reporter, Sonny Woods, during the investigation of the disappearance of Lucy Mears. Their scheming actions resulted in the suspension of the two detectives on suspicion that they, and not Kip O’Rourke, had disclosed information leading to the revelation that the man selected as a potential candidate for the office of President of the United States was the father of the missing girl. Uproar and mayhem had followed the exposé.

  Burt Kennedy, by now scared witless at the thought of imprisonment, revealed his reason for stalking the detective and her family. He found his voice and talked incessantly, the words tumbling out like bullets ricocheting from a machine gun.

  “Sir, I’ve never been in trouble in my life, not even a parking violation. This has all gotten out of hand. I worked with Sonny Woods at the newspaper and lost my job when the FBI closed down the outfit. Hey, I knew nothing about what was going on with Sonny and that cop, none of us did. It was a shock to find ourselves out on the street with no money and no prospect of work in the newspaper business. Other printing firms wouldn’t look at any of us, tarred us all with the same brush.”

  Burt, now that he was able to unburden his feelings of guilt, continued his account.

  Harvey menacingly stared at the uncomfortable man and listened in silence.

  “I got me a job in a fast food place but it wasn’t enough to live on. I visited Sonny in prison to find out if he had any contacts in the newspaper business, hoping he could help get me a better job. He owed me that at least. Sonny told me he knew some guys who might employ me, but he said, ‘Burt, you don’t get this for nothing. I’ve got a job for you, nothing dangerous like’.

  “He explained that he and his accomplice cop friend, Kip O’Rourke, wanted revenge on the detective who caused their incarceration. ‘Nothing too difficult, Burt’ he told me, ‘just do a bit of stalking, put the frighteners on her and her kids, but don’t get too close so as to get caught. Just want them scared a bit so that she’ll be watching over her shoulder for the longest time.’

  “So that’s what I did sir, wasn’t too happy about it, but didn’t see much harm in just driving around and scaring them some and I was promised a job with a guy Sonny knew in the business. Unfortunately, I was so bored with having no job that I threw myself into this scheme and got carried away with it. I have to confess, and I hope this gets me credit for honesty, I actually enjoyed it… didn’t think there was any harm in scaring those guys, just for a short time.”

  “You are right. You didn’t think,” hollered Harvey thumping the table. “Have you any idea how scared those little kids were? They have nightmares. They can’t sleep properly and when they do, they dream of a bad guy coming after them. And for their parents, constantly looking over their shoulders for a madman? Yeah, you didn’t think but you’ll have plenty time to think, where you’re going.”

  The shamed man, aware now of the seriousness of his situation, attempted some sort of apology which was curtly dismissed.

  “You say you had no job, no money, right? How come you could afford a Chevy and a motorcycle?”

  “Sir, I’ve had that Chevy for twelve years. Bought it when I was employed. It’s paid for and I look after it, do my own repairs and things, and it don’t cost me much to run. The Suzuki belongs to my brother. He’s in Mexico on business for three months and I get to look after his dream machine. I could never afford to buy a machine like that. I’m staying at his pad while he’s away; he has secure garaging there.”

  “Let’s rephrase that: you were staying at his pad.”

  A furious Harvey stormed out of the interview room leaving a junior colleague to elicit more details from the prisoner.

  Burt Kennedy was held over to face charges.

  ***

  Superintendent Harvey insisted that he go alone to interview Kip O’Rourke who still had many years of his sentence to serve.

  “You stay here Carole. I don’t want that lout gloating and thinking he has gotten under your skin. Leave him to me. I want to find out if there is any more to this Kennedy guy. I’m not finished with him yet. Stay out of the interview room; let your colleagues deal with Kennedy and O’Rourke.Take the rest of the day off, go shopping. Hey, give Gina a call; she may join you. I can’t figure out what you gals get out of spending so much money, but, hey, I’m just a mere guy.”

  Carole smiled at her boss’s attempt to defuse a stressful situation. Harvey made his way to where the bent cop was being held.

  Before interviewing Kip O’Rourke, he met with the prison psychologist who had carried out an assessment in an attempt to shed more light on the wayward cop.

  “O’Rourke,” said the profiler, “was insecure, and had real low self-esteem. He desperately craved power and recognition. He suffered from a mental disorder, which we have only now identified in him as bipolar. Sufferers swing between depression to manic behaviour to being charming and plausible. I don’t know how he managed to give us the slip and be accepted as a police officer, except that he was shrewd and manipulative and able to cover his deficiencies to the extent that he fooled us all. Being a cop gave him the power he so badly needed. He had a jealous streak and became almost paranoid when Detective Carr was promoted to a job he felt should be his. He holds on to that hatred to this day. He was astute enough to get Sonny Woods to arrange for someone else to do the stalking, thinking it could never be traced back to him.”

  Kip O’Rourke faced a tough time in prison. Not many inmates had sympathy for a bent cop. He spent his time talking to the wardens, regaling them of his past glories at catching crooks and putting them behind bars, missing the irony of his own situation. Staff knew of his mental health problems and let him talk of his exploits. He was in the midst of such a conversation when a call came through to one of the wardens.

  “Kip, get yourself tidied up, you have a visitor, a long-lost friend.”

  Seeing Superintendent Harvey in the interview room, his heart sank, the disappointm
ent showing on his pale face, but being the master of deceit, he changed his stance to one of defiance. His first ploy was to congratulate Harvey on his promotion.

  “I always knew, sir, that you would be superintendent some day. You’re the best boss I ever worked for; it was a privilege to serve in your team. Glad to see you again, sir. I don’t get many visitors… too far out for folks to travel, I suppose…”

  Harvey sensed the crooked cop was gloating during his interview with him.

  “You think this is some kind of game O’Rourke, do you? We have Burt Kennedy in custody and he sure is spilling the beans. This should get you a few more years in here.”

  Kip O’ Rourke, visibly shaken at the thought of a longer jail term, attempted to blame Sonny Woods for arranging the stalking of his former colleague.

  “Hey, I never meant it to go so far, just wanted her scared some. Sonny musta told that guy to scare her and the kids way too much. I ain’t got nothing against her. Hell, I worked alongside her for years, got nothing but respect for the broad, sorry, the lady. Sure she got the promotion I’d set my mind to, but, hey, these things happen and the best person was appointed. Can’t see how you blame me for all this. How’s she getting along? Give her my best regards. I sure enjoyed working alongside her.”

  Harvey, like the police psychologist, wondered how such a disturbed man ever got himself accepted into the force. As he left the prisoner to mull over his impending fate, he was determined to tighten up recruitment procedures. We want well-screened folks for the job, guys and gals who will be as honest and as uncomplicated as we can get.

  ***

  He then interviewed Sonny Woods, who, realising he had been rumbled by Burt Kennedy, came clean and admitted his role in setting up the stalking of Carole Carr, and hoped his confession would spare him more jail time. Harvey turned on him.

  “Not bloody likely. We in the force look after our own. You have caused more than enough damage in the past and we sure as hell won’t let you get away with any more interference in CPD. You’ve done the crime, so get on with doing the time. You and your buddy, Kip, can look forward to a few more years of imprisonment. We will throw the book at you for this latest incident.”