“I’ve wanted to see you,” she said.
He looked her in the eye, expecting her to look away, but she held his gaze with a strange look on her face. One he hadn’t seen in a long time. It brought back a flood of memories; times that had been good, but now seemed bitter in the light of the florescent lamps. He didn’t know what to make of this conversation and hoped it would end soon.
“Me. The dog. We’ve both been there. I’ve never heard you knock.”
“Maybe you weren’t listening,” she said, cocking her head slightly and giving him the little grin that used to drive him crazy. Now, it was just pissing him off.
“What? Is there supposed to be some deep meaning in there? Because I’ve missed it. What is it, Vick? What do you want?” His voice had grown louder and he saw Sally look up and Scoggins staring.
“Apparently you’re still deaf,” she said, getting up. “I’ll try pounding on the door next time.”
“You do that.” And she walked away.
The radio crackled to life. “We’ve got a visitor.”
Time to move.
Luke and John were hunched over his desk watching the blip creep up the street behind Luke’s house. Ellie was sitting on the bed and Jimmy was standing looking out the window. Luke’s room faced the rear of the house and even though there were quite a few trees in the backyard, you could still see headlights if a car drove into the cul-de-sac behind them.
“I got lights!” Jimmy said.
“That’s him,” Luke said. “Is he stopped?”
“Yeah-the lights just went out.” Jimmy stepped back away from the window and looked at the computer. Luke pointed to the blip that was now stationary on the map.
“Alright, remember,” Luke said, “this is just for verification. We don’t want him to see us. John, set up the three way call with me and Jimmy. When we’re in position, Ellie, you send the Facebook message and we’ll see what he does. Come on Jimmy.”
Luke and Jimmy left the room and Luke’s phone vibrated first. He had the earpiece in and he said, “Got ya’ John.”
“Roger,” John said, and put Luke on hold. When the three way was set up, they were all linked, and Luke and Jimmy went out the back door, splitting up. Luke went to the back of his fence slipping through the hole between it and the hedge, and snuck around the tennis courts to a spot he could easily see the car, yet remain hidden. The night was moonless, and the darkness, oppressive. Luke shivered in his spot despite the warm, humid air.
Jimmy went in the opposite direction, hid in the neighbor’s backyard and watched from around their fence. When he was in place he said, “I can see the car. He’s still inside.”
“Yep, he hasn’t moved,” John said.
“I got him too,” Luke said. “I can’t make out his face but I see his silhouette. Tell Ellie to send the message.”
What Luke hoped for was that the killer owned a smart phone. When Ellie sent him the message on Facebook, he should get some kind of notification. At least if he was as meticulous as Luke thought he was. Then they would watch and see if he would use the phone while they observed him. Visual confirmation was their only option at this point. They did not want to alert him to the fact they knew his cell phone number.
A few minutes went by, and Luke asked, “Did she send it?”
“Yeah,” John said. “Give it a minute.”
Luke’s legs were starting to cramp from the position he was in, and he shifted a little trying to get comfortable. A soft glow of light showed inside the car and Luke could see him bring what must be a phone up to his face. Luke was shocked at what he saw. The man was completely white. His face, hair, and lips looked to be the shade of vanilla yogurt. He wasn’t even sure if he had any hair.
“I can see his cell phone!” Jimmy said, excitedly. “He’s doing something.”
Luke then heard Ellie’s phone ringing through the connection with John.
“Her phone is ringing,” John said.
Luke watched as the man put the glowing phone to his ear, then the light went out and all he could see was his silhouette. He listened carefully but could only hear the sound of Ellie’s voice, but not the conversation. At least at first.
Her voice rose and she started yelling. “I don’t want that!” she shouted. “You leave them alone! Please don’t hurt anyone else! Hello?! Hello?!” and then Luke heard the sound of her crying.
“You guys better get back in here,” John said.
They were down from the house about a hundred yards, crammed in an unmarked van with two other detectives. A small SWAT team was set up and waiting behind the house next to their guy’s shack. That’s exactly what came to Jaxon’s mind when he saw the place. Run down, piece of shit, shack. The roof sagged in the middle and what was once a porch now resembled a listing or sinking boat. One lone rusted chair stood on its side in the section that remained intact. The windows were mostly glass, but one just to the right of the main entrance was covered in plywood. The yard was overgrown and weeds poked up through cracks in the broken driveway. No vehicle was visible.
The night was quiet except for a lone dog barking somewhere in the distance. Movement caught his eye and a drunken man weaved down the street approaching the van from their right. He moved past and they could hear him mumbling to himself. Something about
“He’s been in there how long now?” Victoria asked one of the detectives.
“Twenty minutes.”
There were no lights on in the house and no movement had been seen since the detectives observed a darkly dressed individual enter the residence from the rear. He had crept along the street near the front of the houses as he made his way to the shack. They said he looked like a man not wanting to be seen.
“Alright, we move in two minutes,” Victoria said, and opened the van door exiting to the street. Jaxon, Scoggins, and Sally followed.
They each had an earpiece and radio, and wore Kevlar vests and FBI Jackets. The SWAT team would move in first, then Jaxon and Sally would follow with Victoria and Scoggins. They remained hidden from view behind the van, but Jaxon peered around the rear of the vehicle and watched as the SWAT team moved silently into place at the front and rear of the shack. It was like watching shadows as they crept around the plants and trees in the yard.
Jaxon’s cell phone vibrated. Victoria glared at him, but he pulled it out and read the text message. His knees suddenly felt like jelly. The text message was from him.
Jimmy caught up with Luke in the backyard and they went up to his room where John was doing his best to console Ellie. She leapt into Luke’s arms when he stepped in the room. He held her tight and stroked her hair softly trying to calm her. She finally looked up at him and said, “He’s going to kill somebody tonight.”
“What did he say?” Luke asked.
“I asked him how he knew so much about me and he ignored the question, but told me with that creepy voice he has that one of my friends would be gone tonight.”
“Who?”
“He didn’t say.” She looked around at all of them. “We can’t let him. We have to call Jaxon now. We know this guy,” she pointed out the window, “is him.”
“Let’s do it,” Luke said and pulled out his cell phone and the business card Jaxon gave them. He walked over to his desk and glanced at the computer program showing them the position of the killer. His phone was still in the same spot. Luke hoped that meant William Smith was there too. Just then a little window popped up on the computer screen showing some text.
201106172012 OUTGOING MESSAGE SENT TO 555-432-2020
