CHAPTER NINE
The road trip was extended. After confirming Dr. Cowan had an alibi for the murder in Philadelphia, and also an alibi for the double homicide in Baltimore that happened through the night, they got back in the car with the same seating arrangements as before, and Special Agent Hartley drove them to Baltimore, not stopping until they reached the museum there.
A few people stood on the street, trying to see what was going on.
They would have turned up to visit the museum that morning to find it closed, and no statement had been released to the public explaining why.
Given the level of police presence, it must have been obvious to those gathered that the closure was the result of something serious.
After parking in the parking lot on the side of the building, the three of them, the small traveling task force, introduced themselves and were directed towards Detective Hanson, who was leading the investigation.
They ducked under the yellow-and-black police tape held up by the officer, and all three shook hands with Hanson.
"Two dead," Hanson explained to them. "Both of them were shot in the head at point-blank range. We might not have called if it weren’t for one of my guys. He said he saw the photograph around the body and knew it was connected to two other murders across the country. Is that right?"
"Yeah, it could be," Harley said. "We’ll know more when we see the body."
"It’s modeled after a previous case, isn't it?" Alison asked.
"Yeah, the Collector," Detective Hanson said.
"What do you know about that case?" Alison sassed as they all entered the museum.
"It was about ten years ago," Hanson explained.
"He killed four people in total, all in their homes.
From what they were able to figure out and from what he told them after the fact, he went to the door and threatened the occupants at gunpoint, forcing them into their homes and then executing them.
Always a single shot right in the middle of the forehead. "
The smell within the large building brought a memory flooding back to Alison, and she was unable to follow up with the next question she wanted to ask.
She’d never been to the museum in Baltimore, but she had been to other museums, some in California, and others spread across the city when they had done road trips as a family.
They all had the same smell. It was an old smell, but not a bad or offensive one.
It was a smell that Alison associated with knowledge and learning.
As she closed her eyes briefly, she conjured a memory of her and Emma running into the main foyer of a museum—she couldn’t remember where—ahead of their parents, and they were holding hands as they ran.
Perhaps there was a dinosaur skeleton, although Alison also remembers a large clock with an oversized pendulum.
When Alison opened her eyes, she snapped out of it and came back to the present.
"There’s more to the case," she commented. "Why would the killer risk entering a museum late at night to kill two people? Why not go to their home as the Collector did?"
Detective Hanson stopped in the large room they were moving through. They were surrounded by large wooden beams that had come from old ships, along with some of the tools used to build them. Supplementing that was artifacts from Baltimore’s shipping history.
"The Collector didn't get his name until after he was caught," Hanson explained.
"The department here didn't have a name for him, and we don't like to do that sort of thing anyway.
However, it was only after the fact that they discovered he was hunting them here.
The Collector watched people in the museum, choosing those who regularly frequented it alone, and then followed them home.
We don't know if he followed some people to find that they didn't live alone, and so selected someone else.
We only know he hunted them here, but didn't kill them here. The media dubbed him the Collector."
"That wasn’t discovered until after," Alison said. "That’s the mistake the killer wants us to see."
"Yeah," Hartley agreed. "If they had figured it out during the investigation, it might have saved some lives."
"Hey," Hanson scolded, pointing a finger at Hartley.
"I wasn’t a part of that investigation, but I won't speak negatively about the people here.
They would have done as good a job as any.
I can take this psychopath running around killing people because they think a mistake was made, but I won't allow us to speak about each other in that way. The killer was caught and is now behind bars, and that’s good enough for me. "
"I apologize," Hartley said. "I didn’t mean it to sound like that. I’m thinking like the killer, but I know we’re all doing our best. I don't mean anything by it. If we’re going to catch our killer, we do it by working together."
"We’re all on edge right now," Hanson said. "If they were both killed in their homes, it would be different, but the killer came here, to a safe place, and they left their bodies out to be found. This city took some time to heal from the Collector, and now this."
"We should take a look," Wolfe said gently, a world away from how antagonistic he had been in Dr. Cowan’s office.
"This way," Hanson said.
He didn't need to lead them much farther. They moved through the shipbuilding display and around the corner to where the forensic team was already at work. Everyone stopped to take it in except for Alison. She continued on to view the scene.
A young woman lay face up on the ground, a dark mark in the middle of her forehead where she’d been shot.
Her legs were straight and together, and her arms were by her sides.
Blood had run down her forehead and some into her hair.
There were white markers on the floor beside drops of blood leading away from the body, showing that she had been moved from where she was killed.
Then, a curious addition to the scene was based on what Detective Hanson had told them.
A security guard sat slumped in a chair that must have been moved to the scene by the killer.
He had his head hanging downwards and looked like he would fall from his chair with the slightest touch.
Alison moved closer to the guard in the chair and crouched down to see the same gunshot wound in the forehead.
"Maria Chen is the one on the floor," Detective Hanson said as he reached Alison. "She was supposed to be here all night tagging some new artifacts that had just come in. We have to assume that the killer knew she would be here rather than entering the building on the off-chance that someone was."
"Do we know how they entered?" Alison asked as they stood.
"No," Hanson admitted. He looked around the room they were in, which was mainly filled with artworks on the walls. "It’s a beautiful place, but there’s not really anything that is worth stealing. The history is invaluable, but this sort of stuff doesn’t fetch much on the black market.
That means there are only a few cameras. "
"And I’m guessing the killer wasn’t caught on any of the cameras?" Alison asked.
Hartley and Wolfe walked through the scene separately, taking it in.
"No, they weren’t caught on camera," Hanson admitted.
"As for how they got in and out, we know none of the alarms were tripped, and I have someone checking if the alarms were turned off at all or if any of the keypads were used. Maybe it was an inside job. Still, there was a delivery late last night, and the driver was coming and going for a couple of hours. It’s possible the killer came and went while the back doors were open.
I just don't understand the security guard.
It was always one victim at a time for the Collector, so why kill two, and why put one in a chair? "
Alison stood back from the security guard.
"I've been thinking about that, and one obvious conclusion is that the killer wants an audience.
Obviously, that's what they crave with all three murders.
They want us to take note, as law enforcement, of our mistakes, but the bodies are placed where they will eventually be found, especially in this case.
They want the world to see what they've done, so we have to take notice as law enforcement.
So, we have to be accountable for our mistakes. "
Detective Hanson took a deep breath. "So, the killer planned on killing both of them?"
"What do the blood drops say?" Alison asked.
"We know from blood in one of the research rooms that it was where Maria Chen was killed," Hanson said.
"The killer then dragged her body from there to here, which is about a hundred yards or so.
The security guard was killed there," Hanson pointed to a post on the floor a few yards from the chair—"and then moved into position here.
"Okay," Alison said. "Then I would assume the killer was disturbed.
They killed Maria, dragged her through here to leave her to be found, and were disturbed by the security guard.
I don't think this was planned until it happened, and then the guard became part of the audience, taking a front-row seat. "
"The wrong place at the wrong time," Hanson muttered.
"Yeah, it looks that way," Alison admitted.
Wolfe was crouched over Maria Chen, taking photos of the Polaroids left there by the killer.
It was another detail that backed up the theory that the security guard was not meant to be killed.
Maria had the photos around her, just like at the previous two crime scenes, but the security guard did not.
"More people blamed by the killer," Wolfe said to Alison as he stood back up. "Philly, Boston, and now, here. Where does the killer go next?"
"We have to hope nowhere," Alison said. "We have to hope we catch them before they have the chance. They’re mobile, we know that. They’ve gone to three different cities to kill innocent people.
"That also makes it harder," Wolfe said. "We need to ensure three separate departments in three cities are working together." He held up his hand toward Hanson. "No offense or anything; I’m sure you’ll be fine. I only wonder if the killer knows that. I mean, they have to go where they think the mistakes are made, right, but by spreading the murders out, it’s harder for us to follow the trail, especially when we’re slowed down by having to share information back and forth.
Is that part of the thinking behind this? "
"It could be," Alison admitted. "Either way, you’re right. It makes it harder for us to follow them."
"We know they have a sense of justice," Hartley said, joining the conversation. "We thought initially that might come from them being affected by one of the cases, but the more cases that pile up, the more unlikely that is. They can't be personally connected to all their cases, can they?"
"No, but they could still be connected to one of them," Alison pointed out.
"One case could be the catalyst, and if they blame police incompetence for some form of trauma, it might have sent them looking for more.
They have a personal connection to one of the cases that causes them pain, and they know others share that pain, so they go on a crusade to help everyone, to fix all the mistakes of the past."
"That’s great and all," Wolfe said, "but if we’re looking for one person connected to one case, then we’re looking for a needle in a haystack."
"Which I’ve done before." Alison placed her hands on her hips. "Maybe there’s no connection to any case, or maybe there is a connection to one, but I think we start there. We know we’re looking for someone organized and who can do their research.
If we’re looking for someone connected to one of the cases, it could be someone who was involved in it.
Either they can gather a lot of information about each case, or they’re part of law enforcement and can obtain details of the cases without arousing suspicion.
Of course, if the killer is smart and they were around for one of the cases, they wouldn’t go to that case first. They would save that one for the endgame so we wouldn’t know where to look for them. "
Wolfe let out a chuckle. "So, you’re telling us that we don't have a lot of information on the killer, and that information might not even be revealed to us yet?"
"It’s possible," Alison conceded. "I wish I had some better news for you, but I don't. It almost feels like what Dr. Cowan was talking about.
We really need the killer to make a mistake and lead them to us.
At the moment, we don't have a direction to go in.
I believe that we will find the killer, but I also know this takes time. "
"I know what it takes," Wolfe complained. "You don't need to treat me like a child. Besides, I thought you were the big expert who was coming in to tell us all what we’ve missed. That’s what you do, right? Solve the crimes that no one else can?"
"No, that’s not what I do," Alison corrected. "I can only work with the evidence at hand, and at the moment, that’s lacking. I’ve told you all that the evidence is telling me. Except…"
"What?" Hartley asked.
"I don't know," Alison admitted. "I’m sure we’re looking for someone intelligent, someone who knows what they’re doing and what they need to do to shed light on failures in investigation. Possibly someone in law enforcement who’s versed in what can and can't be done. This doesn’t feel like some wild accusations being thrown around.
They all make sense in their own way. Except that my picture was included.
I still don't understand why, but it feels like the killer is targeting me for my mistakes. It’s almost as if I can find the killer if I can discover what my mistakes were or what they were perceived to be. "
"Yeah, well, hurry up with that," Wolfe said.
Hartley slapped Detective Wolfe on the arm, which earned her a shocked look in return.
"We’re supposed to be working together, remember?" she asked.
"Yeah, I was joking." Wolfe shot back. "But she’s the one who said it." He gestured with his head toward Alison. "If she’s the key to this, then it’s up to her to figure out how to unlock that."
"And you’re not helping by pressuring her," Hartley said. "You obviously know her record from what you’re saying, so if you want to compare that to yours, we can."
"I hold my hand up and apologize when I make a mistake," Wolfe said.
"Well, then we can expect one of your apologies soon them, right?" Hartley asked.
"I—" Wolfe started.
"Hey, come and take a look at this," one of the forensic techs said.
The others stopped their bickering for now and turned towards the body of Maria Chen and the tech crouched by her. The woman in white coveralls used a set of tweezers to pull something from the dead woman’s pocket. She carefully unfolded it and read through the note.
"It looks like the killer wrote us a letter," the tech said.