Chapter 37

The Whisperer laughed heartily as he hung up the phone. He knew that his protégé would be panicking and it was time to tie up loose ends. She was a loose cannon and he couldn’t afford any of those. When his list was complete it would be time to disappear as he and his brothers had decided years before. The plan had been set in their journal when it would be time for the boys to be together again.

The Whisperer hid in the alley behind Gayle’s house after his phone call to her. He had a pizza delivered to the back door of Gayle’s house while he was waiting for his protégé. He knew that she would be followed home, especially after he had left that note at the one house. He had made a production of that; he wanted the neighbor to notice, remember then phone in. He wanted to make sure that Detective Gayle Adams would be remembered as the cop that had turned and betrayed the city. He had all the dirt on her: the name change, the death of her parents, the dirty kills while she was in Organized Crimes. He had her entire life on paper, proof positive that she was a bad apple from the get go. He had recordings of her talking about the kills she made, the ones she had helped with. There would be no way that she would get out of this clean. The Whisperer had all this information stacked into 5 piles. One for every major news station and one for the police to find when she was found dead.

When Gayle entered her house she smelled pizza, but didn’t think anything of it. She had eaten pizza the night before. She turned on the lights to see her answering machine, no messages, she turned the light back off and then went upstairs to draw a hot bath. When she was ready to get into the tub, she heard a car but just figured it was the neighborhood teens coming back from their bar run. As she started to relax she quietly slipped into the water. Just as she started to fall asleep she felt her neck being stretched and a very sharp knife pressed against it.

“My, my dear, you are slipping. I thought for sure the odor of pizza would have given me away. Oh well! Your partner is following that poor pizza delivery boy and I am here ready to slit your neck. You my dear have come to the end of your usefulness.”

Gayle tried to swallow but realized that the knife was connected to her skin. The Whisperer smiled and then took the knife and slit Gayle’s left wrist up to her elbow. The wound was deep, she bled a lot and quickly. Gayle knew there was nothing left to do. If she fought she would bleed quicker and die faster, she understood that she was just a patsy. She let out a sigh of relief knowing she wouldn’t go to prison. The Whisperer then did the same to her right wrist, except a little shallower, and not as far up on the underside of the arm. When he was certain that Gayle was almost dead, he grabbed the files and recordings from her bedroom and scattered them on the floor around the bathtub. He bent down and looked at Gayle and as he watched the life drain out of her he spoke almost soothingly,

“You were so sweet to think that you had control of your destiny. You were merely a toy to me. Someone to take the blame for some of the things you and I have done. Goodbye deary. It was fun.”

The Whisperer then made sure that the knife was gripped in each of Gayle’s hands in turn and then dropped it from the height of the tub onto the papers he had distributed over the floor. Before he left he checked for a pulse- nothing. He had learned years before to be sure there was no pulse. Less questions later.

The Whisperer left the same way he had come, and in minutes there was no trace of him in Gayle’s house.

Darrell woke to a phone call. When he looked at the phone he saw that it was Gayle’s number.

“Ya?”

The voice on the other end was not Gayle’s.

“Detective, so glad to have caught you, I just wanted to let you know that your partner is in a bit of trouble. You should really go see her. She did give it her all, you know. She died for a cause. Not yours, but mine! Goodbye Detective. It will be fun watching you try to figure out who I am.”

The phone went dead. Darrell stared at the phone for a second then hung up and dialed Gayle’s number again and got her voice mail. He tried several more times and then realized that whoever called from Gayle’s phone had probably disposed of it. Darrell sat up in bed and turned on the light. He dialed Agent Gatsburg and she in turn called her co workers. In 20 minutes they were all gathered outside of Gayle Adams’ house. They were waiting for the Crime Scene Unit to arrive. They had to do things right if their suspicions were correct.

When the CSU arrived they released the house except the bathroom, Darrell knew that Gayle was dead. Now they had to wait for the Medical Examiner to release Gayle before they could move go in and see the bathroom. Pictures were being snapped all over the place. The knife that was used was photographed and placed in a plastic bag, tagged and placed into a tote. Pictures were taken of the documents and Cd's on the floor; everything was documented and collected. When the Medical Examiner arrived, Darrell was relieved to see that it was Dr. Aspinall. Things would be done properly and analytically.

Dr. Aspinall went upstairs and saw Gayle lying in the bloodied bathtub. He felt a slight sense of sadness but went on to do his job. As he and his assistant brought the Detective’s body downstairs and out to the Medical Examiner’s van, he stopped and looked at Darrell and shook his hand.

“I’m sorry son.” Dr. Aspinall spoke and then continued his trek to the van.

Darrell went back upstairs and looked around. Something was bugging him. He started to look around and found Gayle’s gun and badge. They were sitting on her dresser, nice and neat. Side by side in front of her police academy graduation photo. The whole scene screamed of a set up and Darrell and the FBI agents knew it. Darrell grabbed one of the people taking photos and got them to take pictures of the gun and badge, and then Darrell grabbed a couple bags and placed the badge in one and the gun in the other.

Darrell gave them to the lead Crime Scene Unit investigator and then signed his name to the bag labels. Darrell walked out of the house and to his car. He was feeling troubled. Now it was just him and the killer. The killer had an advantage. He knew everything that had been going on and knew what the plans were and now he was in control. Not Darrell or the task force. There would have to be another press conference. This time detailing Detective Gayle Adams’ untimely death and possibly her involvement in the killings. He needed to think clearly. Darrell was deep in thought when Agent Talon knocked on the window of Darrell’s car. Darrell jumped and then looked. He rolled down the window and the Agent spoke.

“I’m sorry; this was left for you on the refrigerator.” The Agent handed Darrell a plastic bag with an opened letter in it. Darrell grabbed the plastic bag and read:

Detective Darker, Game on! Let’s see who wins…perhaps you can join your late partner or even better you can try to capture me.

Either way God Speed and Good Luck.

HA HA HA

W

Darrell handed the bag back to the Agent, started his car up and left the scene. Darrell thought,

“Now this sick bastard is taunting me. He kills the only lead that we had, he takes four girls and now he is thinking this is a game!”

Darrell was angry. There had been cases before that had got to him, but none like this one. This was a serial - they don’t come along often, and when they do it is unlikely that a cop would be involved. Darrell’s head was pounding. He made the decision to drive to his ex wife’s house and see his daughters. He knew it would be a fight to see them, but he needed to try. He was floundering and he needed the vision to bolster him.

Darrell made sure that he took the long way around and was sure that no one car was following him. The last thing he needed was to have his daughters involved in this mess. When he pulled up he saw his ex wife standing outside smoking a cigarette. She watched Darrell pull up and get out of the car.

“I knew I would see you. They are downstairs watching TV before school. Please try not to upset them. They are teenage girls.”

Darrell said nothing and nodded in agreement. He walked in and went down the stairs to the rec room.
“Hey girlies…”

All of a sudden there was a scream “DADDDDD” and then a rush of three girls running and tackling their father. Darrell felt vindicated in knowing that he had done the right thing by coming here. He immediately felt better and felt like he could tackle anything. After a few minutes the girls let up and let Darrell get up off the floor where he had been tackled.

“Now one at a time…how are you?” Darrell asked knowing it would be 20 minutes of non-stop talk and interrupting.

When the girls had stopped talking he hugged each of them told them to behave and respect their mother and gave them each $20.00 for whatever purpose they needed. The girls thanked their dad and then went back to watching TV and eating their breakfast.

Darrell watched them for a few more minutes and then walked back up the stairs. His ex was at the top of the stairs waiting. She grabbed him and hugged him. She spoke into his ear,

“I saw the news and I knew you would be here. I told the girls that until this case was over you would be busy, and not to expect to see you much until then.” She hugged him a little tighter and then said,

“I’m sorry.”

Darrell looked into her eyes and saw the woman he had married. Just when he thought he would kiss her, she stepped back and her look hardened, she had changed into the woman that had fought tooth and nail to keep her kids away from the cop and his horrific job.

“Thanks for letting me see them. I appreciate it.” Darrell said.

“No problem, like I said - I knew.”

Darrell said, “Don’t let them watch the news. Please, let them stay young.”

“I don’t.”

Darrell walked out of the house he had purchased for his kids and their mother. He felt better than when he walked in, and that in itself was worth the drive and the loss of $60.00.