'Tell me about Highsmith,' I said.
'As I said, he's always been in the main office, London. He was a high-level analyst, then he actually ran several agents. He's a very bright chap, well thought of.'
'He claimed that The Four Horsemen was just a harmless fantasy game.'
'It could be for him, Alex. He might be telling the truth. He's been in a wheelchair since eighty-five. Road accident. His wife had just left him and he cracked. He's an enormous fellow, about three hundred pounds. I doubt that he's going about murdering young women in the seedier areas of London. That's what you believe Shafer was doing here in Washington? The Jane Doe murders?'
Jones was right and I didn't deny it. 'We know he was involved in several murders, and I think we were close to catching him. He was picking up victims in a gypsy taxicab. We found the cab. Yes, we knew about him, Andrew.'
Jones tented his thick fingers, pursed his lips. 'You think Shafer knew how close you and Detective Hampton were getting?'
'He might have, but there was a lot of pressure on him. He made some mistakes that led us to an apartment he rented.'
Jones nodded. He seemed to know a great deal about Shafer, which told me he'd been watching him, too. Had he been watching me as well?
'How do you think the other game-players might react to Shafer's being so out of control?' I asked.
'I'm fairly sure they felt threatened. Who wouldn't? He was a risk to all of them. He still is.'
Jones continued. 'So, we have Shafer, who's probably been committing murders here in Washington, acting out his fantasies in real life. And Highsmith, who probably couldn't have, but could be a sort of controller. Then there's a man called James Whitehead, in Jamaica, but there have been no murders of the Jane Doe variety on the island, or any nearby island. We've checked thoroughly. And there's George Bayer in the Far East.'
'What about Bayer? I assume you've investigated him, too?'
'Of course. There's nothing specific on his record, but there was an incident, a possible connection to follow up on. Last year, in Bangkok, two girls who worked in a strip bar in Pot Pol disappeared. They just vanished into the noisy, teeming streets. The girls were sixteen and eighteen respectively, bar dancers and prostitutes. Alex, they were found nailed together in the missionary position, wearing only garters and stockings. Even in jolly old Bangkok that caused quite a stir. Sounds distressingly similar to the two girls who were killed in Shaw.'
I nodded. 'So we have at least two unsolved Jane Does in Bangkok. Has anyone actually questioned Bayer?'
'At this point, no, but he's being watched. Remember the politics, the fear of a scandal that I mentioned earlier? There's an ongoing investigation of Bayer and the others, but to some extent our hands are tied.'
'My hands aren't tied,' I said. 'That's what you wanted me to say, isn't it? What you expected? It's why you met with me tonight?'
Jones turned very serious. 'It's how the world works, I'm afraid. Let's do this together from here on. If you do... I promise to do what I can to find out what happened to Christine Johnson.'
Alex Cross 5 - Pop Goes the Weasel
CHAPTER Ninety
The trial resumed sooner than expected, the following Wednesday in fact. There was speculation in the press about how serious Shafer's self-inflicted wounds had been. None of the public's perverse interest in the case seemed to have been lost.
It seemed impossible to predict the outcome, a fact of life I tried not to let get me down too much. Both Shafer and I were present in the packed courtroom that first morning. Shafer looked pale, weak, an object of sympathy perhaps. I certainly couldn't take my eyes off him.
Things got stranger and stranger. At least they did for me. Sergeant Walter Jamieson was called that morning. Jamieson had been at the Police Academy when I attended. He had taught me my craft, and he was still there, teaching others. I couldn't imagine why he was in court as a witness in Patsy Hampton's murder case.
Jules Halpern approached the witness with a heavy-looking hardback book open in his hands.
'I read to you from the textbook Preserving the Crime Scene: A Detective's Primer, which you wrote twenty years ago and which you still use in your classes: “It is imperative that the detective not disturb the crime scene until backup can be brought in to corroborate charges effected by the detective to unearth evidence, lest those charges be misconstrued to be those of the perpetration. Gloves must be worn at all times at a crime scene.” Did you write that, Sergeant Jamieson?'
'Yes, I did. Most certainly. Twenty years ago, as you said.'
'Still stand by it?' Halpern asked.
'Yes, of course. A lot of things have changed, but not that.'
And you heard earlier testimony that Detective Cross wore gloves both inside Detective Hampton's car and at the Cassady apartment.'
'Yes, I heard the testimony. I also read the grand jury transcripts.'
Halpern turned on the overhead projector in the courtroom. 'I direct your attention to prints number 176 and 211 provided by the DA's office. You see the ones denominated?'
'Number 176 and 211. I see them.'
