Chapter 26
The captain stood at my right shoulder, and Gomez stood at my left.
Colt had clipped the envelope to a small stand on the table inside one of the forensics department’s glass-walled labs.
Using a flashlight that had the power to rival the sun, Colt held it up to the envelope to try to see the contents.
“I would think if there was some kind of powder or something in here, we’d be able to see it like this,” Colt said.
Colt ran the beam of light around both sides of the envelope. “See anything that I don’t, Gomez? Because I don’t see anything in there other than what looks to be a letter.”
“Nah. I would think that you would see something in the corners if there was a powder in here,” Gomez said. “It damn sure looks like we have some paper, though.”
“That looks like a letter,” I said. “And all those little squares and rectangles make me think whatever the thing says, it was done in the same cut out letters like what is on the front.” I pointed at where the word “police” was spelled on the front of the envelope with individually clipped magazine letters.
“Okay. Seeing as to how I like living but not so much living dangerously, this is how we’re going to do this,” Colt said.
“I’m going to toss on a suit and respirator quick, and you guys are going to step out of the room.
I’ll seal up the lab and open the envelope.
If there isn’t anything other than that letter in there, I’ll give you guys the green light to come back in. ”
It sounded like a good enough plan to me.
“I’ll grab you some gear,” Gomez said.
Gomez, Halloway, and I walked out. Gomez took Colt his safety gear, which he quickly put on before closing himself up inside of the lab.
We watched as Colt grabbed a razor and slid it through the top seam of the envelope.
With a pair of forceps, Colt pulled open the top then had a look inside.
Apparently not seeing anything he was too concerned with, he used the forceps to remove a folded piece of paper from inside.
Colt set the paper on the table beside the envelope then gave the envelope a closer look.
“We’re good,” Colt said, looking at us through the glass.
Gomez let us into the lab, and I followed the captain in.
We gathered around the table, and Colt again used the forceps to unfold the letter that had been inside the envelope.
As he flipped the first fold open, I could see the individually clipped magazine letters.
I began to read the first line as Colt flipped the bottom flap down and exposed the full letter.
“Well, that’s great,” Halloway said.
I read the message for a second time. I killed this man. I also killed the man at the storage unit. I didn’t know either. If you don’t tell the press that I’m responsible for both murders by the 5 o’clock news, I will kill someone else tonight. And every night after until you do.
The letter was signed by “Steven,” again written like the rest of the piece in individual letters clipped from a magazine or something similar.
“What the hell are we supposed to do with this?” Halloway asked. “Have we talked to anyone anywhere named Steven?”
“Not that I can remember,” I said.
“Why would someone give us their name?” Colt asked. “I mean, it’s not an uncommon name, but I don’t know.”
“I guess all we need to do now is find someone connected to the case named Steven,” I said with a heavy dose of sarcasm.
Halloway let out a hard breath. “Yeah, it’s probably the name of someone that our killer is trying to set up or something.”
“Could also be that,” I said.
“Seriously, what the hell are we supposed to do with this?” the captain asked.
I imagined the question was of the rhetorical variety. Colt didn’t have a response either.
“No, I’m serious,” the captain said. He held up his hands.
“If we go on the news saying that there’s a killer on the loose and start spreading the word that his name is Steven, the city will go absolutely nuts.
Every person with a weird brother or uncle named Steven will be blowing up the call lines.
And if we don’t, this guy is saying he’s going to kill more people. It’s lose-lose for us.”
“Yeah, it is,” I said.
“So what do we do?” Halloway asked.
“Catch him before the five o’clock news,” Colt said.
“Did some magic fall out of that envelope with our suspect’s full name and address on it or something?” the captain asked.
“Nah. But I’ve got a handful of things to do on it. Try for prints. Try for DNA evidence. Inspect the letter for fibers. Then drill down to the individual letters themselves. See what we get there. I mean, if I get a couple prints off this letter and the guy is in the system, this is a done deal.”
“Do what you have to do. And get us something, fast,” the captain said.
Colt gave us a nod, and we left him to his work.
I followed Halloway from the forensics department and back to his office. He took a seat behind his desk and leaned back in his chair. He jammed both palms into his eyes and groaned.
“What do you think we should do?” he asked.
I pulled one of the guest chairs away from his desk and took a seat.
“Not sure. But there’s really only two options.
We call the guy’s bluff and don’t say anything to the press while we keep investigating, or we stir up a hornet’s nest by telling the city that we have an active killer out there murdering people—random people from what his letter said. ”
“Let me see the photos you took of the letter. I want to read it again quick.”
I pulled up the photo gallery on my phone, brought up the first of four photos that I’d taken, and slid my phone across the desk to Halloway.
He sat for a moment in silence, reading, before he pushed my phone back to me.
“What’s to say, if we do tell the press, that he won’t just kill someone else anyway?” the captain asked.
“Nothing. And he most certainly will kill someone else if he has the opportunity,” I said. “I mean, are we really supposed to take the word of a killer on a piece of paper that was attached to someone he killed? That would be pretty dumb, I think.”
“So, we’re not saying anything to the press,” Halloway said.
“I wouldn’t. It’s clearly what the guy wants.
He wants the recognition for the murders.
And he also wants his name known. If that actually is his name.
The guy is trying to get off on the fear that stirring up the city would bring.
He wants everyone scared that he’s out there.
If he stops killing, people will stop being scared.
So he’s going to keep killing. I say that we don’t feed into it.
Let him get angry. People who are angry make mistakes.
And I actually think that this letter is the beginning of that. ”
Halloway spun his finger in the air, indicating for me to continue.
“Well, if he was just into killing people, he wouldn’t want to be known.
He would just kill and get away with it.
If he was in fact responsible for the Grant Minter murder, he kind of did get away with it because we really don’t have much with that investigation.
Now the guy is purposely leaving evidence?
” I shook my head. “No matter how careful you are, there’s a chance you overlooked something.
You know, maybe you lose a hair into the envelope.
Or you somehow left a print on the envelope adhesive or something.
You’re just playing with fire by leaving something behind.
Someone who wants to get away with killing someone doesn’t do that. ”
“I get what you’re saying,” Halloway said. “But how do we actually find the guy?”
“All we have to work from is the letter and the victims,” I said. “Speaking of, I need to call Skip and see what he has for me as far as this John Russell’s next of kin.”
“That’s the latest victim?” Halloway asked.
“Yeah. I need to make contact with whoever knows him, find out where he worked, who last saw him, etcetera. And I need to find out where he was killed. And I need all that information yesterday.”
“Get to it,” the captain said.
I pushed back from Halloway’s desk to go do exactly that.