Chapter 39

After he got home from seeing his daughters, Darrell sat on the couch and thought of the day’s events.

He was in a foul mood. He grabbed a glass from the cupboard and went back to the couch. He poured himself a shot of Jack Daniels from a fresh bottle and sat and stared at it. He picked it up, set it back down and looked at it. This was the routine for the better part of two hours. Not once did the brown liquid touch his lips. Schrödinger came and got his pat and then went back to his usual business of stalking shadows and watching the traffic from the window.

Darrell was lost in thought when he heard the doorbell. He slammed the glass down on the table and opened the door. There was no one there. Darrell stepped out of the doorway looked around and still saw no one, when he turned around he stepped on something. He looked down and saw it was an envelope. A large manila envelope. He removed his foot, stepped around and then went inside and grabbed a large Ziploc bag and a nitrile glove. He put the glove on and then put the envelope in the Ziploc bag. Darrell grabbed the phone and called Gayle’s number instinctively. When he got her voice mail he remembered the scene at her house and that she was dead. He re-dialed the phone except this time he dialed SSA McLaughlin. He told the agent about the envelope and what he did. After Darrell hung up the phone, he downed the shot of Jack that was sitting waiting for him on the small coffee table. He wanted to open the envelope but he knew that it was better for someone else to open it considering all that had occurred in the past 24 hours. Impatiently Darrell stalked from room to room, until the agent finally arrived. Darrell showed the Agent the envelope. The second man put on gloves and opened the Ziploc bag. Darrell watched intently and cautiously as the Agent pulled the manila envelope out of the bag and then pulled the white piece of paper out of the envelope. The two men read it aloud together:

IT’S TIME TO GET YOU UP TO SPEED…

BETHANY CHRISTINE CROSS

Both Darrell and Agent McLaughlin looked at each other, not knowing what to say. The Agent placed the piece of paper and the envelope back into the Ziploc bag. Darrell sighed heavily. The questions were starting to parade through his head again.

Agent McLaughlin called his contact at FBI headquarters and gave the name to them. He hung up, replaced his phone on his hip and walked over to where Darrell was.

“We will know in a few minutes who this person is. My analysts are miracle workers.”

Darrell looked at the Agent and spoke quietly,

“I hope so.”

No sooner had Darrell finished speaking, the Agent’s phone beeped. He grabbed the device and looked at the screen. There was a picture. The Agent looked up at Darrell and showed him the photo.

“It can’t be!” Darrell exclaimed

“It is.” Agent McLaughlin spoke in a hushed tone, and followed with,

“She changed her name and proceeded to live her life as Gayle Adams.”

The look on Darrell’s face was at first confusion.

“Why would I need to know more about Gayle?” Darrell spoke out loud not necessarily to the other man in the room.

“She changed her name that is a fairly common practice these days. What does it matter?”

Darrell stopped and pondered the questions he had posed. After a few minutes of silence, Agent McLaughlin excused himself and left Darrell alone. His mind was swimming. More and more questions kept popping up. More questions than answers and for each answer he thought he had there were five or six more questions. Finally Darrell gave up and went to bed; someone would have answers in the morning.

“Well hopefully…” Darrell thought as his head hit the pillow and he drifted off into a dead sleep.

Darrell’s alarm went off at 8am. His hand magically hit the snooze button and for the next nine minutes he slowly started to wake. When the alarm went off again at 8:09, Darrell slid his legs to the edge of the bed and stretched. He felt as if he had only just gone to bed; let alone been there for six hours. After he showered and fed Schrödinger, Darrell left for the office. As he got into his car he had an urge to drive past Gayle’s house. When he stopped at the curb and stared at her house.

“WHY?” Darrell spoke automatically aloud. Darrell shook his head and then drove off to his office. When he got up to the IPK task force room he noticed that there were only a few people working away. One of the younger officers looked at Darrell and spoke almost in a whisper,

“They are waiting for you in the Captain’s office.”

Darrell nodded and walked the twenty five feet to the Captain’s office. As he walked in Agent McLaughlin spoke curtly,

“Good, we can start.” The man took a breath and then began.

“We analyzed the note that came to your house last night. As well, we pulled all of the records we could for Gayle Adams and Bethany Cross. What we discovered was interesting to say the least. Bethany Cross was a troubled teen, she ran away from home due to an abusive step parent and according to a social services report; her mother is on file reporting that the claims were false and that Bethany was upset because her natural father had denied her request to go and live with him. There were no follow up visits made by social services. Bethany legally changed her name to Gayle Adams approximately a year after that report was made. Shortly after her name change, Gayle Adams entered the Police academy. When we checked her enrollment record her name change was not listed so Bethany Cross was not ever investigated nor was her enrollment flagged. On the surface she checked out. Things were a lot less rigid back then. She moved quickly up the ranks and became Sargent within five years. Gayle then applied for Organized Crimes and was given the post because of her good service record. Four years later her mother and step father were found dead in an apparent domestic violence incident. Gayle didn’t attend the funerals. She then finished the next six years in Organized Crimes and made her move to Homicide. That is what we can track on paper. Our analysts did some digging and found that she seemed to have a reputation for being at the ‘right place at the right time’ for arrests. What we do not know is why she was murdered and why the scene staged to be thought of as a suicide. Thanks to Detective Darker, the killer left notes to try and taunt him and claim responsibility for killing Gayle Adams.

Our killer is devolving. We think he is losing touch with reality and is taking to his tasks with more vigilance. He has four women now and we think he will take another four. We need to deconstruct Gayle Adams/Bethany Cross’ life so we can find the link between her and our killer.

Detective Darker and I will hold a press conference regarding Gayle Adams’ death and lead the public to believe that it was a crime of opportunity not anything else. Separate and not involved with this case. We hope this will lead the killer to contact us to tell us our mistake and from there we can get more insight into our UNSUB.”

Darrell looked around the room and all the Agents, the Captain and the Chief of Detectives said nothing. After Darrell looked at each one of the people in the room again he spoke,

“So I’m the bait? Me and the four women he has now and the next four? All because you folks need to play catch up?” Darrell’s voice rose as he spoke. He was losing his patience and he knew he was going to explode.

Darrell grabbed the door opened and slammed it. When he reached his desk he saw the stack of papers he had photocopied from the library. He picked up the stack and flipped through them. Passage after passage flipped though his eyes then one stood out. He flipped back a couple of pages and read

“Know ye not, my son, that these things are an abomination in the sight of the Lord; yea, most abominable above all sins save it be the shedding of innocent blood or denying the Holy Ghost? For behold, if ye deny the Holy Ghost once it has had place in you, and ye know that ye deny in you, behold this is a sin which is unpardonable; yea and whosoever murdereth against the light and knowledge of God, it is not easy for him to obtain forgiveness.”

Alma 39: Verses 5-7

Book of Mormon

Darrell dropped all the other pages and took the sheet he had read into the task force room.

“This is it!” he spoke forcefully. “This is the passage, the one he whispers. This is why he lets some go and kills the others.”

Darrell finally felt as if the pieces were coming together. He knew who the targets were, he knew why they were targets, and he had the answers to the passage. Darrell grabbed a tack and placed the highlighted passage in the middle of the board where the team had posted the list of women from the clinic. Darrell sat down and stared at the photos and pages of paper all over the room. Then he noticed a picture of Gayle next to a blank photo spot. Above them was a title that startled him a little.

UNSUBS

Darrell stared at the word and let the rest of the room melt away. All he saw was Gayle’s face and the word UNSUB.