Chapter 36

Dr. Aspinall was at his desk reviewing the most recent autopsies when Darrell interrupted him.

“Excuse me Dr. A, I was wondering if you could answer a question for me?”

Dr. Paul Aspinall held a finger up to the Detective and when he was finished he looked up and spoke,

“Yes Detective, what is your question?”

Dr. Aspinall was curt at the best of times and today was no different.

“Is Ketamine easily obtained?”

“Well Detective, due to the ease of purchasing of most drugs on the internet, Ketamine or Hydrochloride salt would be somewhat easy to obtain. Some sites won’t sell NMDA receptor or paralyzing drugs, whereas others sell anything to anyone with a PayPal account or credit card. Veterinarians use Ketamine regularly as do anesthesiologists; in the doses we are seeing with these victims, it is highly unlikely that anyone in either of those professions would use this drug. There are so many others that would be more effective for what I can only ascertain is to subdue these women.”

“Oh!” Darrell stood there with a look of dismay on his face. Dr. Aspinall spoke again

“I know you will get the answers you want Detective.”

“Thank you Doctor. I appreciate your knowledge and candor.” Darrell walked out of the morgue office to the elevator, and went up the six floors to where the homicide office was. As he waited in the elevator Darrell thought of all the girls that had been killed. He was awestruck at how their lives had been snuffed out so horrendously and viciously. The doors opened on the elevator and Darrell stepped out. He looked to his right and then to the left. He didn’t want to go back to his desk. He needed to think. He decided to get back into the elevator and go to the main floor. He wanted to go somewhere that was quiet so he could think clearly without any distractions. He left the building at Police Plaza and walked up the street in a trance. He walked eight city blocks and found himself in front of the main branch of the City Library. Darrell walked in and was greeted by a young librarian. He nodded to her as he walked by her desk. He made his way to the reference section of the library, and started looking for the medical reference section. When he found it he looked for specific books on chemical and drug interactions, psychiatric disorders well as any other books he could think of that might gain him insight into the sadistic bastard that was killing women who had abortions. While that thought went through his head, Darrell pulled some books from the shelves and then placed them on a table and went and found some bibles. He grabbed the King James Bible, The Qur’an, The Book of Mormon, The Analects and The Torah. He took the bibles back to the table with the medical books already pulled. He sat at the table and started to flip through each book. When he got to the pages he was looking for he stopped and read them, then moved the open book over to the left of the table. Darrell repeated this with each of the books. When he was finished with all the books, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. There was nothing like the smell of books he thought. Then with three books at a time he went and photocopied each of the pages he needed. He asked the librarian if she had a highlighter that he could borrow, she did and she let him borrow it. He closed all the books he had and looked at the sheets of paper in front of him and started to highlight phrases and sections. While he was going through the passages, he stopped and pondered how people often used religion to validate what their skewed beliefs led them to do. His most favorite example was the “Holy Wars” or how women in Islamic cultures were considered non-citizens because of what their Bible led that group of people to believe. Darrell wasn’t sure if or what he believed, he just hated when religion was used as a reason to commit crimes and unspeakable acts. He smiled to himself and thought how hypocritical he was being. The entire western civilization was based on the King James Bible. Darrell suddenly had a mental image of Charlton Heston holding up the stone tablets that the Ten Commandments were etched in by the ‘Almighty Lord’ when he looked down on the saved ones. He rubbed his eyes and continued on with his highlighting. When he was finished, Darrell gave the highlighter back to the librarian and thanked her. She gave Darrell a knowing look and nodded at his papers.

“Find what you were looking for?”

“Yes thank you.” Darrell answered “More actually than what I was looking for.” Darrell smiled at the woman and walked out of the library. It was a dark and starry night out when he opened the outer doors to the library. Darrell folded his papers in half and walked back to Police Plaza. When he got into the building Darrell signed in then went up to his office to collect his things for the night. When he opened the door to the homicide unit, things were chaotic to say the least.

“What happened?” Darrell grabbed Agent Frie.

“Four girls were taken. We are trying to figure out why the four?”

Darrell spoke into Agent Frie’s ear. The blood fell from the Agents face. Agent Frie knew that Darrell’s theory was correct. The Agent went and told the other two Agents that were in the area and within seconds there was head nodding and decisive gestures being used.

“Detective, will you come with us please?”

Darrell followed the Agents to the media room, there the four of them talked quietly in the corner.

“We are holding a press conference.” Agent Frie said more forcefully than he usually was. Agent McLaughlin looked at Darrell and asked,

“What is your partner’s number? She needs to be here!”

Darrell looked at his phone and gave the Agent what he wanted. The Agent called Gayle immediately and then walked out of the media room.

“Don’t worry; he’s just calling the Mayor, the Chief and the media.” Agent Frie said knowingly.

“We need to draft what you are going to say.” Agent Gatsburg grabbed her laptop and started typing. When she was done she printed the statement and then handed it to Agent Frie who then handed it to Agent McLaughlin who had walked back into the room as quickly as he left. He nodded his head in agreement and gave the piece of paper to Darrell. Darrell read it through and said disbelievingly,

“Am I reading this?”

“Actually we want your partner to read it. We think it would come across more genuine and more thought provoking coming from a female detective.” Agent McLaughlin said.

At that moment Gayle entered the media room and everyone turned and watched her walk further into the room. When Gayle noticed that the four were staring, she looked instinctively behind her and then turned and asked inquisitively

“What? Do I look funny?”

“No! No!” Darrell said “We were just talking about you reading this at the press conference.” Darrell stretched out his hand with the statement in it for Gayle to grab. She took the paper and read it and then looked up at the people staring at her.

“Fine, but I’ll need this larger and double spaced so I can be clear and concise.”

As the media started to gather, the three Agents and two Detectives met in the Captain’s office with the Chief and Mayor. Agent McLaughlin went over what was going to happen.

“I will introduce myself and let the public know that along with you two,” pointing to the Mayor and Chief, “that we on the task force are working hard to catch the killer. I will then hand the conference over to Detective Adams who will read the statement we wrote. Now before I go any further, I want to make it clear that what I am about to say goes no further than this room.” When all the people in the room nodded in agreement Agent McLaughlin started again. “The person or persons responsible are not crazy or unorganized. This is not a killing frenzy and it is not random. In fact, this person or persons are almost never out of control. They will not stop. These killings will go on and on until we get smart or get lucky. I pray for both!”

The Mayor opened her mouth and in a quiet voice asked,

“Why won’t they stop?”

“Easy!” Darrell answered “These killings make them GOD! If you had that kind of power, would you stop?” Darrell looked directly at the Mayor and she closed her mouth and then her eyes trying to process what she had just been told.

Twenty-five minutes later, the media room was filled beyond capacity. The majority of news reporters from the entire city’s media outlets were there with cameras and digital recorders, microphones were taped to the podium and a handful of newspaper crime reporters were hanging around in the back. When the clock hit 10 pm on the dot, the Mayor, Chief of Police, the Captain, Agents Frie, Gatsburg and McLaughlin, Detective Darker and Detective Adams walked in to the room and onto the makeshift stage. Agent McLaughlin took his place at the podium and a hush fell over the crowd.

Agent McLaughlin started

“Good evening folks. Before we start there will be statements made and there will be NO questions after the statements are made.” The Agent cleared his throat and began again “As you know the city has had a rash of homicides in the past two weeks. The FBI and your local Police have formed a task force to catch the person or persons responsible for these crimes. With the help of the Mayor and the Chief of Police, we are putting tremendous efforts and resources to apprehend the guilty party. I will now turn this conference over to Detective Gayle Adams, one of the lead Detectives on the case, to give you our profile.” Agent McLaughlin stepped back and Gayle placed the paper on the podium and took a quick breath and then started.

“Good evening, our task force believes that the person responsible for these homicides is a white male in his mid to late 40’s. He is a professional of some sort where order takes priority in every aspect of his life. We also believe he drives a dark colored SUV or Cargo van that is or has been equipped with some sort of darkening or dimming head lights. This person is extremely calm in almost every situation he is in and we also feel that he is a loner. We believe that this man has some sort of sexual dysfunction which makes him sexually inadequate. The task force believes that there may be a religious aspect to these murders. We are asking the public to be vigilant and watch for any unusual vehicles in their area. We are close to finding the killer responsible; however we wish to encourage women between the ages of 18 to 50 to modify their daily routines so they are not as predictable and to try to have friends or family check in on them daily. Thank you for your time. The task force number will be handed out to all of you, please ensure that your audience gets this number. We encourage individuals to call with any information they think is pertinent to our investigation. Again thank you for your time and be safe.” Gayle picked up the papers on the podium and stepped back. Agent Frie had handed out cards with the task force number on them to all the media personnel in the room. When Gayle finished speaking many voices were trying to overpower each other to ask questions. As to the script, all who were on the stage walked out of the room followed by Agent Frie.

When it was clear that nothing else going to happen, the media started to leave, panicking to get the story to the appropriate people for the 11 pm news and to make print deadlines for the papers.

At 11 pm the televisions were turned on all over the homicide division to see how the media would handle the press conference. All went as planned and frustrated news reporters and anchors all said the same thing “The Mayors’ office could not be reached for comment, as we receive new information we will give you, the community, updates as they become available to us.”

When the segment was complete the phones started to ring and light up. It was orchestrated chaos between the ringing phones, low voices and paper shuffling. It was a type of symphony. Darrell grabbed the phone at his desk and started to take calls. Gayle’s phone went off and she picked it up. There was a long pause and then laughter. When the laughter stopped Gayle heard the voice she was terrified of.

“Nice performance my dear. Did you have to practice or did that truly come from your heart? My favorite part was calling me a sexual deviant. Although I realize that the FBI probably wrote the entire script I commend you on keeping a straight face.”

Gayle slammed the receiver down on the base. She went white and then immediately got up and ran to the bathroom where she wretched up her entire dinner. Gayle was shocked.

“Didn’t he know that he was being recorded? Did he want to get caught? What stupid trick was this?” Gayle got up, washed her face and hands then stood in front of the mirror grasping the sink and staring at her face.

“It was a nut job! That’s all Beth, just a nut job!” Gayle took a deep breath and then returned to the phones. She realized that she was scared of being caught. Police in prison do not get special treatment. Everyone from the top down hated cops in prison. She couldn’t get caught. That was all there was to it. She had worked too hard to get this far, she done terrible things, necessary things to get this far. Gayle went back to her desk and continued answering the phone. The next person that called snapped Gayle out of her thoughts when she had heard the woman talk about how she saw a van in her neighbor's driveway. She then saw the news and thought she should call in to the tip line just in case. Gayle thanked the woman took down her address and then hung up the phone. Gayle held up her hand with the address of the ‘suspicious van’ and one of the Agents came took the paper, and then sent a patrol over to the house. Gayle went back to answering phones. About thirty minutes later Darrell and Gayle were tapped on the shoulders by Agent Gatsburg.

“Come with me!” The Agent spoke and then walked away towards the task force room.

“There was this note addressed to you and Detective Darker at the house where your suspicious van was spotted.”

Darrell grabbed the note and read:

Nice try Detectives….hiding the next 4 on my list, no matter, no worries. I have taken the next 4 instead. Good Luck and God Speed.

P.S. I found it humorous that you needed the FBI and the Mayor to stand up and support you both…A mob cop and an almost retired beat cop. How sad!

Having fun like this is fantastic and can’t wait until you catch me, or I catch you. Either way it will be fun!

Darrell wanted to ball the note up and throw it at something. Gayle grabbed the note and went instantly red.

“This is crazy!” Gayle retorted. “How are we going to deal with this?” Gayle looked at Darrell and the Agent waiting for a brilliant action plan. When neither of them spoke Gayle said in a huff,

“Fine! This is what we are going to do. Talk to the neighbor. Collect what we can from the victims’ houses, now that we know who they are, and go back to the industrial park and set up video cameras to see what is going on and try to capture whoever is doing this on video. Any objections?!” Gayle looked at Darrell and then at Agent Gatsburg. Neither said a thing and then Gayle walked away with a plan of action in her head.

Darrell looked at Agent Gatsburg and looked puzzled when the Agent grabbed his arm and pulled him to the side where no one could see or hear them. Agent Gatsburg gave Darrell her phone and said,

“Listen to this…”

When the recording was done Darrell was visibly shaken.

“It’s just some nut job!” Darrell tried to say convincingly.

Agent Gatsburg looked at Darrell disbelievingly.

“You know. In your gut, you know!”
Darrell nodded, now came the hard part.

“We need evidence. There has been none so far, how are we going to do this?” Darrell was visibly shocked and upset but knew that he needed to do this the right way so there was no way that Gayle Adams and her accomplice could wiggle their way out of the charges or plead insanity.

Agent Gatsburg spoke quietly,

“We will get them, we need patience. They will turn on each other. We need to dig and when we find it we will know how to deconstruct their entire worlds. Have faith, we will get them.”

Darrell shook his head and went back to his desk. He felt his anger boiling just beneath the surface. He picked up the next call and went back to answering all the concerned and frantic people who were calling in. By 2 am the phone died down and Darrell decided that was enough for one day. It had been a very, very long day and all he wanted to do was crawl into a bottle of Jack Daniels and see Schrödinger. He needed to breathe; he needed to get rid of some anger. Instead of going to his car he went to the lower basement to the firing range. He set up his block and then shot at the paper until there was nothing but three small pieces where the clips held the paper in place. Surprisingly Darrell felt exhausted after this. That was good. Instead of getting drunk he could go home and sleep. As he was getting off the elevator, Darrell saw Gayle coming down the hall toward the front door over to the parking area. He greeted her, and said,

“Done for the night?”

“Ya, it’s been a long one!”

“Yes!” Darrell said emphatically. “Need a ride?”

“No thanks, Darrell. I really am just going home, having a bath and then going to bed.” Gayle rubbed Darrell’s arm and then walked to her car. Darrell followed her with his eyes as he walked to his own car. He was exhausted but he needed to follow her to see if she was lying. If she could lie her way through the police force she could lie to anyone and be okay with it. Darrell followed Gayle in the typical old-school way, six or seven cars back never letting her out of his sight. He got to her house, drove by and then turned around the next block over. He saw Gayle enter her house turn on lights, and then as she left rooms, turn them off. He waited. He wanted to see if she left again or not. Darrell noted the time as 3:47 am. As he got settled for a long night, he suddenly saw a small Gremlin turn out of the alley and turn right.

“Well that is interesting!” Darrell watched from the rear-view mirror and then started his car and turned around and followed the Gremlin the same way he had followed Gayle home. The Gremlin turned toward the industrial park but then went straight by it. Darrell took the higher road so he could watch with the binoculars he kept in the car. He saw that the Gremlin turned onto the freeway and Darrell realized that he needed to hurry. So he sped to the freeway and easily caught up to the Gremlin. He kept back as was normal and followed the car. When the Gremlin pulled over at the next gas station Darrell drove by and pulled into the fast food place that was next door. When he looked over he saw a young man about 17 or 18 pumping gas into the 1975 Gremlin.

“Dammit!” Darrell shouted at the car. Darrell pulled out of the fast food place and drove to his house. When he opened the door Schrödinger was there demanding his food and some attention.

“Hey buddy! Sorry I’m late. Did something really stupid and it took me an hour to realize I was wrong. Want some dinner?”

The cat mewed in agreement. Darrell put the food in the dish and placed it on the floor. Darrell grabbed the almost empty Jack Daniels bottle and poured himself a good stiff drink. He tossed it back and then went up and placed his gun on the night stand, got undressed, climbed into bed, turned out the light and promptly fell asleep. Schrödinger found his place on the bed and Darrell instinctively petted the cat in his sleep.