by C. Soto
“Yes, I don’t even want to imagine being stalked by some serial killer. Well, I will let you get back to the team. Call me tonight when you get home, so I know you are okay or you can come by here if it’s not too late.”
“That sounds like a plan sweetie. I’ll text you if it starts getting late and we are still here, so you know not to wait up for me. I don’t want you to stay up all night, waiting for me.”
“Okay, that sounds good. If I don’t see you later, have a good night.”
“Thanks, talk later.” John said as he then hung up.
John walked back to the dining room and asked Tammy what games she had lying around. Might as well have some fun and try to loosen up a little to take the stress off the impending doom they all felt.
Tammy went and found an Uno game she had lying around. They were an hour into the game having a great time laughing and joking around when all their phones started beeping with texts. They all groaned since they knew what that meant. Looking at the clock it was a little past 10:00 p.m.
The team was being called to the residence of a woman, Sara Carson, who was just reported missing. She fit the description of the other ladies, so the responding patrol unit had a hunch that she was connected and called them in to investigate.
As they were getting ready to leave for Sara’s house, John called Samantha to let her know he wouldn’t be making it to her house that night.
“That’s okay John. I hate hearing the reason why. It’s heartbreaking to hear another young lady has gone missing. It’s a scary place right now in this city. Some maniac running around abducting women. Promise me you’ll be safe out there.”
“Of course, babe. I have a great team, and we have each other’s back. We’ll be fine. We’re only going to conduct some interviews. Everything will be okay. I’ll talk to you tomorrow and check in with you.”
“Okay sounds good. Talk to you then.”
In the back of John’s mind, he was more worried about Samantha, while she wasn’t short, she otherwise fit this killer’s profile. Brown hair and gorgeous. He didn’t tell her, but he had patrol units circling her house, to ensure she was safe. Nothing would happen to her if he could help it. He would wrap her in a bubble if she allowed it. Unfortunately, he knew she wouldn’t.
The team all piled into James’ SUV since they were all going to the same place, and they wanted to all stick together, even though they suspected the killer was preoccupied now if the new lady, Sara, was indeed his newest victim.
When they reached the block Sara lived on, they saw two patrol vehicles in front of the house. James pulled in and parked. Then they all exited the SUV and headed up towards the entrance of the house. One of the responding patrol officers was on the front porch waiting on them.
The patrol officer greeted them as they were walking up, “Hey guys, sorry to call you in so late, but I thought you would want to know immediately and be here for the roommate’s statement.”
John responded, “Yes of course, thank you for calling us. We were all together anyway so we got here as soon as we could. Hopefully, getting a jump start on this disappearance will help us.”
John shook the patrol officer’s hand, then continued, “Well let’s head inside and hear what’s going on from the roommate.”
The team and the patrol officer walked into the living room, where Sara’s roommate, Savannah, sat with a tissue grasped in her hand and eyes swollen and red.
John introduced the team to Savannah and asked if they could ask her a few questions.
“Yes, of course! I want to find Sara before it’s too late, like those other people from the news. You can find her right? You are the FBI, so you can find anyone right?”
John trying to wash away the emotion from his face replied, “Savannah we will do our best to find Sara and try to get her back home, but we can’t make any promises. We will use all our resources to try and find her though. Could you tell us what Sara was doing today? What time does she normally arrive home on Mondays?”
“She usually gets home no later than 6:00 p.m. Today, she had an interview first thing this morning at a research facility for a billing specialist. It was the one on Linebaugh Ave. After that, she went to her job. She gets off about 5:00 p.m. and rides the bus home. She sent me a text around 5:10 p.m. asking me if I needed anything from the grocery store as she was going to stop by one on the route home.”
John finished writing the timelines down from when she got off work. “Has she noticed anyone watching her lately on the bus or following her?”
“No, she didn’t mention anything to me. If she had felt like she was being stalked, she would have told me. We tell each other everything.” Savannah’s voice high and on edge.
“Okay, was there anything bothering her lately? A breakup, a fight with a friend or family member?”
“No, there was nothing stressful going on for her lately. She was really excited about this job interview. It would have been a pay raise for her if she got it.” Savannah replied.
John thanked her, “Can you write down the route and bus lines that she would have taken home? Also, if you can write down the grocery store that she would most frequent. If she took the same route every day, she’d probably stop at the same one she normally frequents.”
“Yes, she does now that you bring it up. Let me get a pen and paper to write down the information for you.” Savannah said as she got up to get a pen and paper.
“Thank you, also could you write down every place that you know of that she has been in the past month and what modes of transportation she used to get there?” John paused waiting for her to sit back down. “Do you mind while you write down that information for us, if we search her room to see if there is anything that could help us?”
“No not at all. Do whatever you can to help find her. I’ve tried calling her phone for hours and it goes straight to voicemail. That’s unlike her, especially riding public transportation she keeps her phone charged at all times.” Savannah said through her sniffles and wiping her eyes.
“Thank you.”
The team left the patrol officers in the living room in case Savannah needed anything. They walked to Sara’s room and went through her drawers seeing if she had anything that could point them in the direction they should look. They did see an appointment book of hers sitting on her vanity. John had his gloves on and looked at the appointments for that day, which matched the roommate’s statement. He took an evidence bag out of his case he carried in and placed the book in the evidence bag. They would make copies of it in the morning so they could track her recorded movements. Hopefully with that book and the roommate’s knowledge of Sara’s whereabouts they could retrace her movements in the last month.
John speaking to the group, “Do you think the killer changed his method of meeting woman? This is now in the last two months where our victims rode public transportation.”
Derrick replied, “Could be, it would be a good ploy, because where do you begin to look for where they met and on what day? There are thousands of people that ride the bus each day and then you factor in switching buses, so it would be hard to even determine which bus route she would have met the killer. She also didn’t necessarily have to even have a conversation with the killer. He could have spotted her and that captured his attention, something about her spoke to him.”
John stating, “The killer has to have a car though to stalk them. I doubt he’s riding public transportation walking around stalking people. I would think neighbors would notice someone standing outside someone’s house. If he is riding the bus, it has to be in hopes of scouting out another victim and seeing where they get off at.”
The team mumbled their agreement, since what they had right now were theories until they could track down footage from the places she stopped at.
Derrick walked into the hallway and called the Transportation Garage for the second time and requested records, this time from Sara’s bus pass for the last month.
He walked back into the room
and spoke to the team and asked, “I think in light of this new information, in the morning we go and canvas the last known whereabouts for Sara. We need to see if there’s any footage along her routes. Whatever bus stop she had to get on or off at, hopefully something is there to point us in the right direction. After leaving here, we need to check out the grocery store’s location and see if they have any surveillance, or if the surrounding businesses do.
The team walked back in the living room and let Savannah know they were taking Sara’s appointment book with them in hopes it will provide more information to her last known whereabouts. She handed them her list as well of all the information she knew.
John handed her his card and said, “If you need anything or if you think of anything new, please don’t hesitate to call. Any information small or large may be the missing piece we need to find Sara.”
“Please find her. She can’t end up like those other girls and that couple from the news. Please, just find her.” Savannah cried out.
“We will do everything we can. I’ll be in touch if we need anything further. Thank you for your time, I know it’s not easy right now. Do you need an officer to call anyone for you, so you don’t have to be alone?”
“No, I’ll be okay. Thank you.”
The team got back into James’ SUV and headed towards the grocery store that Sara was believed to stop at.
Chapter 20
The driver pulled off I-275N and turned into the side road that would lead to his cabin. His passenger was not moving, still feeling the effects from the Ketamine. That was okay with him, he didn’t want a struggle while he was driving. They pulled into a dirt road in which his small cabin sat. He only used it for his visitors. His wife didn’t know about the place, as it was passed down from his side of the family. It wasn’t worth much, but it was perfect for what he needed it for. A secluded place that no one knew about.
He pulled up to the cabin, parked, and got out. He went and opened the passenger door, pulling out his new lady. He pulled her towards the front door, pausing for a second while he got the door opened. Then pulled her forward until they reached the bedroom.
He laid her down while she was still paralyzed from the drug. It should be wearing off soon. He removed her clothing and restrained her with the straps he already had attached to the bed frame. Once he was sure she was properly restrained, he went back to the car and got the groceries out and brought it into the cabin. He couldn’t leave any evidence of her in his car. He made a couple trips ensuring nothing was missed. He went back out to the car, taking a lint roller and removing any fibers of her hair from his passenger seat. He would take his car to be detailed in the morning to be sure he didn’t miss anything.
He went back into the house, unpacking her groceries, thinking, At least this is convenient, food will already be here, and I don’t have to stop before my visits. He’d have to make sure he didn’t forget to feed her when he came. There would be days he might not make it here due to family obligations. He thought, She’ll be fine and can go a day or two without food or water. That would be the least of her concerns once he started.
He stood in the bedroom doorway, watching her. He was elated how things went for him that night. Everything aligned perfectly. He could see she was still drugged and didn’t want to start right then. He would give her time to come down from the drug before he began his night. He wanted to ensure she had a lucid state of mind and would know everything he was doing to her.
He went back and sat down at the table in the kitchen while thinking about the FBI lady and how she was ruining his plans for his involvement. He knew what his next step would be, and what he would give her to ensure he remained involved in their progress of the case. He sat down and started working on his gift to her. He would have it delivered to her tomorrow. He saw the security she now had installed, so he couldn’t deliver it personally like he wanted. This will show her not to mess with him.
Once he was done, he knew it was time to reintroduce himself to Sara, she should be alert by now.
Chapter 21
The team arrived at the grocery store on N. Blvd that Sara frequented around 11:30 p.m. They walked up to the service desk and asked to speak to the manager, that it was urgent.
They had to only wait five minutes for the manager to come from the back. He walked up with concern on his face as he approached the team. “Hi, I’m the manager on shift, how can I help you?”
John replied, “Hi Sir, we are from the FBI.” As he showed him his badge and introduced the other three team members. “We currently have a missing person’s alert. The person was believed to have frequented your store. Would you by chance have any cameras on the property that we could look at between the times of 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.?”
The manager shocked, “I am so sorry to hear that! Yes, we have cameras in our store. We have one in the entryway that faces the parking lot, so it can capture people walking in and out. The parking lot area is not great quality, and our other cameras are near the cash registers. Let me show you to the back room where the footage is kept.”
John replied, “Thank you, we appreciate that. Is there a way to email the footage to us and we will see if our tech guys can clean up the images?”
“Let me check and see if we have that capability. I’ve never had to do that before, so I’m not sure.”
The team followed the manager to the backroom where the surveillance equipment was set up. The manager stood there looking lost at the set up.
John asked, “Do you mind if I call our IT department and put it on video and see if the agents can help us figure out how to get the video sent?”
The manager quickly replied, “No, not at all. I hope they can be of better help than I am now.”
John took out his phone and called the Information and Technology Branch and switched it to a video feed. The IT agent gave him instructions on how he could send it, and that it did indeed have the capability to be emailed. Once John got the video emailed they thanked the manager and went to canvas the other businesses surrounding the grocery store.
They wanted to see if any of the places would have cameras. Due to the late hour, they would have to speak with someone in the morning, but they wanted to be able to check if there were cameras on the outside of the businesses.
Across the street there was an ATM drive up. They wrote down the name of the bank to see if in the morning the bank could pull any surveillance from the ATM, especially since it was pointing directly at the grocery store. They saw a coffee shop but didn’t see any cameras on the outside. As they continued canvasing, they saw a T-shirt shop that had cameras. The cameras were on the outside and were angled towards part of the grocery store. They thought the angle might have also caught the bus stop. This way they would be able to confirm if Sara got off the bus and whether she made it back on the bus.
Once they were done canvassing the area they headed back into the office to check out the footage from the grocery store.
John speaking to the team once they were all settled in the SUV, “We need to catch a break on this guy. I only hope one of the cameras caught our killer on tape. We need something to nail him.”
Tammy replied, “Yes, now that he is targeting us or maybe it’s just me, he is showing he is becoming bolder in his actions. Also, days later taking another victim. He is appearing more frenzied. Tonight will be a long night and we’ll probably end up catching some zzz’s in the break room on the cots for a little bit, because we need to be back out there first thing once the businesses open up.”
Derrick let out a little laugh, “Well at least we can tell Eric we were together all night, no one was left alone.”
They all laughed.
They pulled up to their satellite office and got out of the SUV and headed in to begin reviewing the grocery store’s footage.
The IT agents went above and beyond, when John told them they were headed in to review the footage, they set it up and had the video ready to go in the conferenc
e room. It was already displaying on the big screen monitor with the remote right there for them. They would owe them big time, they saved their ass on more than one occasion.
They fast forwarded the feed to 5:00 p.m. when they knew Sara got off work. They knew they wouldn’t see her before then. They knew the window of time would be between 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. They had the description of what Sara was wearing and had a photo of her to know what she looked like. They started first with the entrance/exit door. It was a smaller grocery store so there was only one way in and one way out. They painstakingly watched each customer enter and exit, to make sure they could rule out each person, that it was not her.
At 5:37 p.m. they spotted Sara walking in, she was dressed in a gray business suit like her roommate said. They watched her as she made her way to the checkout line and as she stood in line, they paid particular attention to the customers surrounding her to see if anyone was paying her any extra attention. There wasn’t anyone watching her. Everyone near her was doing their own thing. They watched as she exited the store with her three bags and walked out of the entrance at 6:10 p.m.
They knew with a 100% certainty that she had been at the grocery store and left the building with no one following her. They needed to watch the other businesses’ video feed and the bus’ surveillance to see when she disappeared.
It was 2:00 a.m. by the time they finished confirming Sara was in the video feed. They went into the break area where cots were set up and called it a night. The team had to be up in a few hours to get back to canvassing the other areas for their surveillance. They still needed to visit the other victims’ sites and talk to the families that were left behind. Time was now of the essence since a new woman was taken. Sara’s life was depending on them finding her quickly.
Chapter 22
Tuesday
The team woke up at 6:30 a.m. They always kept clothes in their lockers for nights such as this. Everyone got up and went to the locker rooms and got ready for the new day.
