by C. Soto
It was nearing lunch time, so they ordered lunch, and all agreed on the Chinese Restaurant down the street, their favorite spot.
While they were waiting on the delivery, Tammy pulled up the ViCap results and printed a copy for each person. The report showed a list with similar MOs and the team would start reviewing each one.
Their lunch arrived as they finished organizing the papers. They used lunchtime as a brainstorming session trying to think of ideas where the killer was meeting his victims.
Each victim seemed so different. One was a college student with roommates. Another worked full time, single, and lived alone. Then you had a married couple. There was nothing that linked them in the same circle. They needed to figure out what circle did each victim go into, that now their death was forever linked to this killer. They had to find the commonality of each of them. They hoped finding the other victims would broaden the scope and tell more answers instead of questions.
As they were ready to wrap up lunch, Eric, the Unit Chief, walked in and wanted an update.
John speaking for the team, “Boss, we printed out the ViCap results and are getting ready to start reviewing for other cases linked to ours. Then tomorrow we have plans to go to each districts’ police stations and pull files for any cases that we get a hit on.”
John stretched to grab his notepad for his additional notes. “Oh yes, we are also going to make a visit to Dr. Hutton and see if he had an opportunity to pull case files for victims he thought were connected as well. The ones he remembered may already be on our list from the ViCap results, but if not, then we’ll investigate those cases also.”
Eric looked over at the whiteboard they had up. Reviewing the timelines that were detailed out for each of the victims from the statements received.
He responded to the team, “Well, keep me in the loop. Debrief me each day before you head home to see where we are at with everything. Let's find this murderer and get him off the street. The last thing we need is Tampa in a frenzy with the news reports every night talking about this killer.”
Feeling his irritation rise he continued, “Do you know what they’ve come up with now? They are calling him, ‘The Hacker’. I mean talk about scaring people into not wanting to leave their damn homes.”
Eric continued on, “The phones have been ringing off the hook reporting suspicious behavior. The people are not usually being suspicious, they are unknown to the caller, but since people are scared, they are calling the police if any unfamiliar person walks in their neighborhood. The police are running around crazy with all these calls.”
James replied, “I can imagine, what he’s doing to these girls is pretty horrific then with the news glorifying it even more. I’m sure imaginations are running wild. We will report the moment we get anything substantial.”
“Okay, well get back to it and if there’s nothing else today, then I will check back in tomorrow to see where we are at.”
James replied, “Yes sir, sounds good.”
The team went back to reviewing each of the cases, and with Emily’s help they’ll connect each of the victims to the same energy source. They found seven additional victims that perished within the last few years. Knowing his timeline as of late, they were sure they were missing a lot more, unless he only now started progressing his timeline, or did he keep some victims longer than the other two?
They would review each case in more detail once they went to the stations to pull their files.
As the night grew later, the team felt they were at a good stopping point and would touch base in the morning. Each pairing had their assigned districts to stop at in the morning and get copies of each case file. Since John and Derrick were going to a precinct close to the ME’s office they would stop and pick-up autopsy information tomorrow as well. The team had plans to meet for lunch then head back to the FBI office to work through all the detailed files.
Chapter 13
The driver parked down the street waiting for her to come home. He wanted to see how late they were working today. He wondered with a laugh, How long did they stare at the evidence trying to figure out who I am?
This boosted his confidence as they would have no idea. He had been at this for years and no one ever suspected a thing. He was a family man, friendly neighbor, and hardworking citizen. He had them all fooled. He didn’t makeover and display all his victims, only the ones that showed a masterpiece.
Once he saw a car entering the block, he took out his binoculars that also had night vision on it, to see who was driving.
Talking out loud, “Ahhh there you are. Working long hours today aren’t we? I’m in your backyard and you still can’t catch me.”
This thought confirmed for him that he was smarter than law enforcement officers working the case. He watched as she pulled in her driveway. He was ready for her to open the garage, taking his device that would clone the signal to her garage. She opened the garage, pulled in, and shut it behind her.
He shouted in anger, “Dammit, Fuck!” He was parked too far away that the signal didn’t carry to his vehicle. He would have to remedy that situation and be there when she left in the morning, parking closer, which was not what he liked to do. However, he had to be able to pick up the signal.
He continued sitting in the car, watching her every move through the windows, seeing if she bought any files home to look through. She didn’t pull any work items out. She made a snack and sat on the couch and watched TV. As he sat watching her he thought laughing, She even watched cop shows when she was off work. Was she trying to pick up tips on how to do her job? When the show was done, she turned off the TV, placed her dish in the sink, and headed towards the back of the house.
Hmm… he wanted to get a sneak peek of what she was doing. He looked around and saw that the neighbors’ lights were all off, signaling they already turned in for the night. He put on his balaclava and crept towards her house.
He was glad it stopped raining an hour ago as he didn’t want to get wet trying to see what she was doing. He slowly crept towards the back of her house.
He crouched down beside one of her bushes and peered into her bedroom window. He took out his phone and started recording her as she was undressing to head into the shower. Watching her walk around her bedroom naked. She grabbed a nightgown to sleep in and placed it on her bed. She wasn’t his type, but he thought, Hey she was still a beautiful lady.
Chapter 14
Monday
Tammy woke up to the sound of a blaring alarm clock. She rolled over, slamming the snooze button down, not ready to begin her day. Mumbling to herself, “It is too early for this crap, I need ten more minutes then I’ll be good.” Ten minutes came too quickly. She forced herself to get up so she could begin the day. She was always grouchy first thing in the morning. She knew it was due to that ratchet noise from the alarm clock.
In the past she tried setting it to songs to wake her up. Unfortunately, she was a hard sleeper, and the songs entered her dreams as if she were at a concert and they never woke her up. Now she was forced to wake up each morning with the most annoying beeps ever, set at the loudest volume.
Tammy reached for her phone to see if she had any missed messages that she needed to respond to before getting ready. She saw one from James.
James: “Hey good morning! Are you supplying breakfast this morning, your turn?!”
She glanced at the time and thought, I should have enough time to roll through a drive thru.
Tammy: “Sure thing, how could I forget that it’s my turn?!”
Before she even began getting ready, she went to the kitchen and made coffee. She needed it to be ready by the time she jumped out of the shower. She would need her ‘getting ready’ coffee.
The shower woke her up and she felt more alert by the time she finished getting ready. As she sat at the kitchen table, about to go through her mail from the prior week of being gone, she realized she hadn’t been to the mailbox yet. She wondered, Does the postal employee hate me fo
r having to continuously shove my mail in the tiny box each day, wishing the person who lived at the house got their mail out?
Tammy walked to the end of her drive, opened the mailbox, and retrieved all her mail. Mostly bills or promotional junk. The neighbor was outside walking the dog, so Tammy waved her good mornings. As she turned around to head into the house, Tammy noticed muddy footprints leading out of her yard. She followed the prints, as she walked through her yard, she noticed they stopped by the mud surrounding her bushes. The footprints didn’t go any further than her bushes, which were right outside of her bedroom window. This immediately made the hair on her arms stand up as she looked at her window. The curtains were mostly closed, but there was an opening that one would be able to see through if they were trying to peek in.
Tammy quickly went inside and called James. He picked up with a light tone, “Hey Tammy, what’s up? You trying to get out of bringing breakfast?”
Tammy responded with panic, “James, I need you to come over and let me know if I am overreacting. I saw footprints leading out of my yard this morning and tracked them through the yard. It appeared like they’ve stopped at my bedroom window. Will you come and see if I'm being paranoid before I start going crazy?”
James immediately responded, “I’m on my way”.
James didn’t live too far from Tammy, so he was there in fifteen minutes. He pulled into the drive and swiftly entered her house. He saw Tammy at the kitchen table, with worry written all over her face. She was trying to pull up her surveillance system, but it didn’t catch anything at the angle where the footprints were left. The camera she had at her front door pointed to the street directly in front of her house. She didn’t know what time the prints were left. So even trying to find a car that passed by wouldn’t prove much help unless it stopped in front of her house. Then the person might not have even been in a car but was walking.
James could see she was winding herself up more and more as each minute passed. “Tammy, why don’t we head outside and show me where the footprints are and then we can go from there, okay? I’m here for you.”
“Thanks James, I don’t know what I would do without you.” Tammy replied with gratefulness in her voice.
They walked outside and James immediately saw the muddy prints stained onto the sidewalk. They would remain until the next rain washed it away. He thanked God it wasn’t raining that morning and she was able to catch it. The pit in his stomach was growing. He also had suspicions like Tammy, that this wasn’t going to be good.
They followed the prints to where they stopped at the bushes. He was really hoping it was someone cutting through her yard, and she was getting paranoid over nothing. However, the evidence was showing there were deep imprints in the mud next to the bushes. As if someone put a lot of weight down or was standing for a long period of time to be that deep. The feet were pointed to where the person was looking directly through her window.
Tammy stared in shock as she looked down more closely. “Oh my God James, someone was standing here watching me. What if they were watching me while I was sound asleep. Some sicko standing there watching me.”
Tammy became more frantic with each spoken word on the verge of hyperventilating. She felt violated knowing someone was watching her.
“James, who do you think would do this? I need to run a background search on everyone in the neighborhood, see if anyone moved in recently. What if there are convicted rapists or peeping toms in the area and I wasn’t updated through an alert? I mean how did I not even know or feel someone watching me? For Christ sakes James I’m the FBI, and I can’t even catch someone peeking through my window?”
James gathered her in his arms and held her close. Comforting her in her time of need. James said to her, “Let me call the team and the chief and let them know what’s going on. Tonight, you’ll stay with me until we get this situated out.”
“Oh no, I am not letting some peeping tom run me from my own home. I’ll be up waiting on them.”
“Tammy you will need to sleep. How about this,” James put an arm around her, “I will come and stay with you. I’m not taking no for an answer either.”
James walked her back inside and called the team to fill them in.
The chief angered, “I’ll call up and have protective detail put on her since we don’t know who the perpetrator could be.”
“Sir, that’s not necessary. I will be with Tammy non-stop until we get this figured out. I’ll be staying at her house until this bastard is caught.”
“Thanks son, you're a great partner. I’ll check in with you two later.”
Since they still had a killer to catch, they couldn’t stay much longer. Tammy made calls to the security company to set up more cameras and have flood lights installed all around her home. The company was going to come that afternoon to set everything up. At least that was a start to ensuring more security was around her home.
After her calls, they headed to the police precincts to get files for the case so hopefully they could catch a killer that was out there now.
Chapter 15
The driver was parked a little way from Tammy’s house. He sat and watched her with his binoculars. He knew she had cameras on her property, so he made sure not to drive past her house or come close to the viewing angle. He saw her as she exited the house to head to her mailbox, waving to the neighbor while they walked their dog. He said aloud to the open air, “Aww, isn’t that sweet, being friendly first thing this morning, FBI Lady.”
He saw her stop, look at the ground, and then slowly walk through her yard. She stopped at the bushes right outside her window, where he had been. Anxiety hit him as he wondered how in the hell she knew. His eyes went back and swept the ground where she was looking. He saw where his shoe print left a stain on the sidewalk. He threw the binoculars to his passenger seat and slammed the steering wheel cursing for his lousy error. “I’m better than that, I can’t make stupid mistakes. Shit, Shit, Shit!!!!”
Once she walked into her house, he backed into a drive, and went down the street the opposite way so he wouldn’t pass her house. He parked on the next street over where there was a gap in between the houses. He needed to see what she did next. So much for me getting her garage synced today, he thought. He’d have to find another way to gain entrance to her house.
He looked at the time and knew he couldn’t spend much more time seeing what she did next, as he had another lady to go see. Fifteen minutes later, he saw another vehicle pull into her drive. He recognized the guy from outside the couple’s house when they were on the scene. He laughed, “Let’s see if you guys can solve the crime of the mysterious footprints. I doubt you can even do that.” He watched them as they came out and she directed the guy to where the prints were. Both stood there, watching the ground. He thought, How much longer are the two of you going to stand there like idiots looking at the ground? The shoe print is not going to talk to you. You can’t find anything out by looking at the mud.
After he watched them enter the house again, he looked at the clock to check his time and muttered to himself, Now I really must go. This lady has already put me behind.
Sara was a pickup he had a couple of weeks ago. He’d been watching her, finding the right moment to take her. Fantasizing about how she’d look with his makeover. All the ways he was going to make her better.
She walked out of her apartment and was headed towards the bus stop. She had dark brown hair that flowed down to the middle of her back. She had on a gray business suit with black heels on.
He thought, She must have an important meeting today.
She was oblivious that she was being hunted. She went about her way without a care in the world, not realizing she was his new prey.
He had a spontaneous thought the other day to grab her. While parked, sitting and watching, seeing her vulnerable as she sat waiting on the next bus. His desire to have her then called to him. As he sat, thinking, I should act now. The moment was ruined when someone pulled up and
parked. His felt his disappointment deeply. He reminded himself, I must be patient, a little while longer. He knew better than to act hastily. He hadn’t planned it first, so he shouldn’t even have allowed the thought. Thinking to himself, You’ve been at this too long to get careless now and not have a plan of attack. He always made sure he knew the area well and would choose a desolate area where traffic was almost nonexistent.
He stayed parked where he was until he saw the bus arrive. He watched her as she slowly got up, grabbed her purse, and walked up the bus stairs. Once the doors of the bus closed, he pulled in behind it and followed it until he saw her get off.
He already knew where she worked. However, today she was more fancy than usual. He needed to find out why. Where was she going? Did she have a new routine? He had to find the answers out, so he could plan his moment of opportunity.
He knew on Thursdays she had a late-night yoga class and she’d walk to the bus stop for the last bus of the night. The last few weeks, he watched that route, studying the traffic pattern, and how many people were at that stop. It stayed consistent with being scarce that time the last bus arrived.
He made the decision right then that Thursday would be the night.
He worked nights, so his wife wouldn’t be suspicious of him not coming home. He’d love to have the whole day and night with her, but his cabin was twenty minutes out of town in a desolate location. It didn’t make it easy to visit in the hours he was supposed to be home.
He was very methodical and detailed. This helped him get away with the killings for as long as he has. He wasn’t careless in his work, which made this morning's discovery even more painful. He always watched his surroundings and where cameras were located. It was second nature to him now. Ensuring he never parked in sight of a camera.
