Once Dad had left the school, Mom and I walked to the car and drove home stopping for lunch on the way. When we arrived home we retrieved John and Carter from Janisse and they went upstairs to play with John's new computer.
I helped Mom with a few chores and then we sat down at the piano together and played a couple of duets. I always enjoyed playing alongside with her. She had considered becoming a concert pianist, but her life led her elsewhere. The Concert Steinway was a gift from her father and it held a special place in her heart. Her father died not long after he gave it to her.
"When was the last time you played piano with Art," I asked.
"Just before he left on his trip, he's become a bit rusty but then he hasn't had a piano available lately," Mom replied. "I spoke with Madeleine long enough to learn that she's an accomplished player. I look forward to seeing more of her."
"Me too, I barely got to say hello before their ride arrived. Are they still due back tomorrow?" I asked.
"As far as I know, they'll be here midday," Mom informed.
"Jem, are you okay with the situation at the school? I know Chase is important to you and it must have made you angry to see what that man did."
"I'm fine Mom, watching him leave the campus in handcuffs made me feel just fine," I assured her.
"I had to ask, it's a mom thing you know?" She grinned.
*****
"Thanks for interviewing the two boys Jack, I couldn't do it because of my relationship with them. A defense attorney would get that thrown out in a hot minute," Mike said.
"I'm pretty good dealing with kids, I worked with a CPS agent for a couple of years," Jack replied.
"CPS? That must be tough duty. I worked with a few over the years on specific cases. I think if I had to do it all the time I'd be in prison for murdering abusive parents. I was sorely tempted once, an eleven year old boy was killed by a blow to the back of his head and I had to get a guy from USC to look at the pattern under different wave lengths of light to see what the depression was. His mother's boyfriend always wore a ring on his right hand but the one he was wearing when I interviewed him didn't match. Until one of his friends said something about him being a tool, always flaunting a Harvard class ring. I checked and he had never attended Harvard and couldn't account for the class ring. We found it with a search warrant inside an ice cube in the freezer. His reason for hitting the boy was that the kid left the room to go to the bathroom and left his ice cream bowl on the coffee table without a napkin under it.
It was very satisfying to watch the uniforms take him down when he resisted. You know I've only ever spanked my boys about touching dangerous stuff like electrical outlets. It made me feel terrible to do it. I wanted them to associate outlets, sharp knives and such with an unpleasant memory. Happily I didn't have to do it much. It would have killed me," Mike explained.
"Yes, it's a tough job, I don't know how people do it year after year, I needed counselling after a year. There's a lot of depraved bastards out there," Jack sympathized.
Mike's phone rang, it was Herb. "Hi Herb, catch them already have you?" Mike quipped.
"No Mike but we turned up two very strong reactions. The first was a male around thirty-five who left his paint and brush behind and went below deck. The observer followed him and he made straight for the toilet, I guess he needed to go urgently and after that he returned and resumed painting," Herb informed him.
"And the second?" asked Mike
"Female, thirty-eight, couldn't really see her build because of the coveralls, Carrie Chelsey talked to her and she claimed ignorance until the photos were shown and she recognized the first victim but didn't know her. Carrie told me she sneered and sounded judgmental about the victims. She had a strong reaction to the photos, Carrie thought she detected a bit of a smile. We're doing a work up on here now and we have a team at each end of the run to follow her," Herb supplied. "The observer kept an eye on her and she finished the rail she was painting and put her stuff away quick enough that the can wasn't sealed and she had to wipe up some spilled paint. Then as she was headed for the ladder she stopped and discarded her gloves into a bin by the passageway. Jerry Heppler retrieved them and they're bagged and on their way to the lab. I figure they can compare the texture and lift DNA from them.
"What's her name?" Mike inquired.
Marina Hobart, I have her vitals and her address so we'll sit on the house for a while and see if there's anything to learn," Herb finished.
"Sounds good Herb, we're on the way back to the roost so I'll see you there."
On the drive Mike relayed the news to Jack.
"Looks like we have another body, a stolen Ford Transit was found in the parking lot for the Bremerton ferry in Seattle. One of our deputies parked his personal car next to it and caught an unmistakable odor. It wasn't locked and the body was under a duvet in the rear. The Medical Examiner has the body and the van was put on flatbed and hauled to the lab facility," Herb revealed to Mike upon his arrival.
"Well shit! Any idea how long she was there?" Mike pressed.
"Initial estimate is three days, our subject is speeding up and escalation is usually a sign that they've really acquired a taste for it," Herb added further.
"The first and second were almost five months apart, another eight weeks for the third and then the fourth six weeks after that, now we have number five less than four weeks after the last one. This really sucks, what happened to my honeymoon?" Mike quipped.
"Sorry Mike, you really did walk into a mess didn't you?" Herb smiled back.
"I'll cope, I always had to hit the ground running in the aircraft biz most of the time," Mike related.
"Jack was saying you had a little activity at your boy's school," Herb mentioned.
"Yes, a member of staff was injuring the boys and he was dumb enough to do it in front of me and his victim was my son's best friend," I can't tolerate bullies like that. The conviction will keep him out of the education business though. He won't be able to work with kids in any capacity from here on," Mike informed him.
Herb's phone chirped and he read the incoming message.
"Well we have a name on the victim and the van's details. The victim was one Lois Lopez, verified through prints. Long rap sheet, mostly prostitution, small property crimes and a drug history from a decade ago," Herb announced.
"Lois Lopez, that was the woman that took over Tammy Reardon's shack, let's take another run over there with Child Protective Services and a couple marked units.
The drill was the same, the marked units ran off the dealers and users leaving the building to Mike, Herb, Jack and Erin Carter from CPS. Mike knocked on the door of Baba's shack hoping she had the children in her care.
"Hello, what can I do for the police," a large black woman asked as she opened the door.
"We came to see if Baba was minding Lois Lopez' children, two little girls I believe," Mike informed her.
"I'm sorry to tell you that Baba died last week, I had been tending her and her cancer finally took her. She fought hard for a long time. But the girls should be in their place with Silvio a friend of Lois'," The woman informed Mike. "Has something happened to Lois, is she in jail again?
"No ma'am, I'm afraid she's dead. We knew from talking with Baba that she had two little girls and we wanted to make sure they were taken care of," Mike shared.
"Oh that's so sad, you must be the man that is caring for little John, is he well?"
"Yes ma'am, he's thriving and happy. Did you know him? Mike asked.
"Yes, please tell him Jaranda sends him love, he's a sweet little child, I'm glad he's in a safe place now."
"I will do that Jaranda, will you be taking over Baba's house?"
"No, I'm a travelling healer, I'm only staying here a few more days and I'm back on the road. There are more people who need me out there and they can't come to me," Jaranda answered.
"Well I wish you luck in your travels, thank you for your help,"
"I am pleased to do it, Baba would have wanted it that way. She only hung on for the children. I can walk over and introduce you to Silvio," Jaranda offered.
"Thanks, it might smooth the way," Mike agreed.
A man in his mid-twenties dressed in women's clothes opened the door to the shack.
"Silvio, this man is with the Sheriff's department, he needs to speak with you privately," Jaranda explained.
Initially Silvio thought he was about to be arrested, but he realized that he wasn't even on the radar after Mike told him about Lois.
"Well I'm not equipped to raise two little girls, I can't even take them back to my building. They would all assume the worst and you'd come arrest me," Silvio blurted, mostly to Erin Carter.
"I understand Silvio, let's agree what to tell the girls and we'll get them to a safe place. If you like we can place you on the approved visitor list. It would be good for them to see someone familiar," Erin told him.
"Thanks, I'd like that.
"Would you be able to make a formal identification Silvio?" Mike asked. "We can have someone drop you at home when you've finished," Mike offered.
If Baba and Jaranda trust you, I will too. It's the least I can do for my Prima, she helped me a lot," Silvio agreed.
Two hours later Silvio was dropped off by Jack Maloney in front of his apartment building, It was a step up from the old packing house, but not a big one.
"That's a sad bit of business but at least the girls will be in a safe place. At least I hope they will, I've heard some horror stories about foster parents in my time," Mike uttered.
"We have a work up on the second suspect but it's not promising. First and foremost is his location during the first two murders. He was in BC with thirty other people doing a restoration on an eighteenth century frigate. He did some sightseeing and worked on the ship. I don't think Jason Ellsworth is our guy, he doesn't fit many of the parameters we've come to expect. Marina Hobart doesn't tic a lot of boxes either but female serials kill for different reasons than men. We're still gathering stats on her but I did find out a few things. She's a big woman, five nine and a hundred and sixty. The coveralls masked that but with her hair up she could be confused for a male. Toni er Antonia said that she had a nondescript voice that could be interpreted as male. Toni should be in here in a short while. We know she was married but her husband has not been in evidence for a while. He disappeared 4 months before the first victim was found and that was the same time that Marina Hobart secured her job with the ferry service. The team is doing a work up on Louis Hobart at the moment. We don't know at this point whether he left her or just disappeared.
The Ford Transit came from a company that is two blocks away from Hobart's dwelling. It was kept in an unlocked compound and the keys were routinely stored behind the fuel door so that the van could be moved if it was in the way. Hobart drives a 2012 Toyota Yaris and she appears to be a careful driver, no moving violations or infractions," Herb paused. "Any questions so far Mike?"
"Well if she is our actor, I'd bet that Mr. Hobart was number one which makes the count six. But I don't want to get ahead of the facts, so until we've found a corpse we can store that away for future consideration if it comes up. But I do have a question for you Herb," Mike supplied.
"What 's the question Mike? I'll be happy to answer anything within my power," Herb allowed.
"It's of a personal nature but I was wondering, how long did you live in Britain before you moved here? Unless the answer is painful, I'd like to know," Mike asked gently.
"Ah well, I was ten, up until that point I was under the impression I was a crown subject. At the end of term I left Eton for summer holiday and my parents announced that we were moving back to America, it was to say the least, a wrench. I was a bit of an oddity, I spoke and acted differently from all the other children, the girls were fascinated and the boys were rude. As if I had any control over the situation. In spite of that , I made a small number of close friends and managed to complete primary school and move on to a private school when I was twelve. That was no picnic either but I was on familiar ground and rose quickly. I went on to Old Dominion University in Virginia and pulled in degrees in electronic engineering, art and history. And if you've read my file you already know the rest. I must ask, what gave me away?"
"It was a number of things actually, I reviewed some of your case files prior to naming you head of the task force. While doing that I noticed a few things that jumped off the page. In the US we spell categorize with a zed, not an Ess. Use of the Oxford comma was another and just now when you were speaking about Mr. Hobart, you referred to him as "Not in evidence" which is not how the average American detective would describe the situation. I would like you to know that it makes no difference to me what so ever. Has anyone ever tumbled to that aspect of your past before?" Mike inquired.
"No, a few have said I talked funny, but as far as the written reports I credit pareidolia, sometimes people believe it's scotoma which is something else entirely,"
"Pareidolia, that's the pattern recognition glitch in the brain that keeps us from seeing our typos and such, is that correct?" Mike asked.
"Yes and it's damn hard to shift. Since Dan Brown wrote his book, which I will allow was a good work of fiction, people have been misidentifying the issue as Scotoma which is an actual defect in the field of vision. Unfortunately the OED got on board and recognized an alternate definition to mesh with popular culture, so the dunces won. It's a pity really, Mr. Brown did a lot of very good research but skipped over something that any second year psych student could have told him," Herb finished.
Well the Devil is always in the details, that's what makes our job possible. I think we made a good start today, and we'll get more done tomorrow. Have you acquired Ms. Hobart's work schedule?" Mike asked.
"Yes I have and to save you asking, I have a team of six watching her residence from a house across the road. We even rented a Ryder truck to make it look like we're moving in. We obtained a voucher to cover the rental truck and the rental of the house, It's across the street from Ms. Hobart offset by one house. It gives us a view of her front and side doors and her garage. There's a tall fence between the properties and no doors on the west side of the house. There's another vacant house which we looked at and the back door is a slider that opens to a cluttered patio with materials piled up in front of the door, She can't leave the place without passing through our field of view."
Have you verified there are no paths behind the property? I just discovered one behind mine that I didn't know was there, it runs along a little depression, in California I'd call it an arroyo but I don't know the local term, perhaps ravine. It's full of Dogwood, Scottish Thistle and Holly. I imagine it's the home of the local racoons. Maybe we could do an overflight with a drone, do we have any?" Mike asked.
"So that's why you get the big money and the cushy office," Herb smiled. Yes, we use them for a number of things, search and rescue, surveillance that sort of thing. I'll get on to the guys that do that and get them to grab a City Light truck and do a run through of the neighborhood for paths. We could set up video cameras if we find one. Just in case she is using it to avoid being seen," Herb suggested.
"How about the Transit van, has anyone been to the outfit that owns it? Did they have any security cameras set up to watch their fleet?"
"Davis is meeting the manager in a short while, he had to go out with the workmen because they were a van short. Davis will check on that and who was assigned to that van," Herb related.
"Well let's have someone check for stolen vans several times per day, distribute any hits to the whole task force and get everyone to keep their eyes open," Mike requested.
"I'll get that going, will you need Jack Maloney tomorrow?" Herb asked.
"I don't think so, I'll snag a uniform or a cadet if I need one. I prefer to drive myself. I'm all set up with hands free in the new unit. It's streets ahead of the Ford units. Um, how about you Herb, are you ready to surrender that old monster you're driving, we can keep it here as a backup surveillance vehicle."
"I don't know Mike, I guess after this I won't be on the street as much, if we sergeants are supposed to go back to managing casework and junior detectives, so I doubt I'll have a need for it. I suppose it's time to make a change, maybe something like that Avalon they gave me last time mine was in the shop, My garage can't handle an SUV."
"I'll get it in the works Herb, nothing that screams cop and civvy plates on it, does that cover your requirements?"
"Yes I think so, I know the choices will be limited but anything that doesn't look like a cop car would be good. We're using rental cars to go to our O.P. across from Hobart. Our cover story is that our residents just returned from a church mission in Australia. I've actually suggested that our team do a bit of late night noise making, hammering, saws, that sort of thing. Maybe some loud music. It will give them an excuse to contact the neighbors and apologize, and maybe get a little gossip in the bargain," Herb added.
"Good idea, I have another thought, not for right now but once we're reasonably sure we're looking at the right subject. Have you ever read George Simenon's Maigret books?" Mike asked
"Yes, and the TV series. There were some very good stories in there," Herb responded.
"I'm thinking of Maigret sets a trap and wondering if we have a female officer that would be willing to dress the part and take a chance if we need to provoke a response from our subject," Mike put forth.
"I can ask Rasmussen, she used to fight MMA style. I wouldn't want to tangle with her, I've seen her take down multiple opponents, like I say, I can ask, but she's not ours, she belongs to patrol but she has all the qualifications and she just came from a stint with vice."
"It would have to be strictly voluntary, no shame in saying no. Make that clear please," Mike requested.
"I understood that to be the case Mike. I'll see if I can track her down tomorrow and if she's willing, we can have her in reserve if needed."
"That's all I'm asking," Thanks Herb. "I'd ask but the rank might make her feel like she's being pressed into it."
"Got it Mike, we'll see what she says."