“No thanks. That’ll do me for tonight. But let me ask you, what’s your name?”
“Sheila.”
“Well Sheila, my first time in, and I appreciated the service.”
She flashed him the 100-watt smile and said, “Well, you come back now.”
Mac smiled. He had a feeling he would.
They met in the parking lot. Riley started things off. “So what do we think?”
“He don’t look much like a serial killer,” Dan Patrick said.
“True enough,” replied Rockford.
“It’s not like he’s going to have a sign hanging on him-‘Hello, I’m your neighborhood serial killer,’” quipped Lich.
“I know, Dick,” replied Patrick, “It’s just that usually those guys have a look about them. This guy looks normal.”
“Ted Bundy was normal looking,” Rockford replied. “Hell, he was good looking, woman were drawn to him.”
Riles looked at Mac. “What do you think?”
“I think he knows University Avenue and the surrounding neighborhoods like the back of his hand. He was up and down it all day long, in and out of all of those businesses. Then after work, he’s at Applebee’s and three bars, all on University. He’s in and out of all those streets. And these guys are right, he’s normal looking, so he isn’t likely to draw suspicion.”
“I was thinking the same thing,” Riley replied. “Looks like he works hard for his employer, I mean there was no dickin’ around on those routes today. He was in and out of all those places quick.”
“Yeah. Hard-working guy,” Mac replied. “We go around asking people where the victims worked, anyone suspicious hanging around. Everyone says no. If it’s this guy, he’s doing nothing to raise suspicion. He’s in and out. I suppose he might throw a little line of bullshit at the ladies. I watched him do that at Dick’s Bar just now with the bartender. But she was a hot little thing so that’s pretty normal.”
Lich jumped in. “He’s strong too. He’s got that lean body you can tell is strong.”
Rock agreed. “He carries a lot of that laundry in on those hangers, over his shoulder. I mean there were some pretty big loads. It’s awkward, hard on your hands and arms, and he seemed to be doing it without breaking a sweat. He’s gotta have strong hands.”
Riley jumped back in. “He walks around like he’s still in the military, almost as if he’s marching. That straight posture, arms swinging at the side with that clipboard.”
“The military haircut, the spit-shined shoes,” Mac added. “Do we have someone trying to get his military file?”
“Sally Kennedy is on it. Says we should have it tomorrow.”
“Medical discharge right?” Rockford asked.
“Yeah, that’s what we got with the Wisconsin records.”
“Wonder if he whacked out or something. I mean, he’s walking and working okay.”
“We’ll find out when we get the file,” Riley said, stifling a yawn. “Let’s meet at the Cleveland in the morning, and we’ll go from there.”
“One other thing,” Mac stated. “He’s got his next target.”
“
“Bar back, bartender, whatever you want to call her, at Dick’s. Her name’s Linda.”
“How do you-” Riles started.
“-Know?” Mac described the bar and what he saw between Knapp and Linda. “He was practically ignoring this hot bartender and focusing solely on this Linda, and he had this look in his eyes, like a hunger. He was subtle about it, but I could tell. And the woman, this Linda, she fits the profile from what I’ve seen: smaller woman, working class, not overly attractive.”
“A little early to draw that conclusion, don’t you think?” Rock asked.
“Absolutely,” Mac replied. “I’m just saying, from what I saw, I’d be willing to go down to the casino and put a $100 down that she’s the target.”
“Anything else?” Riley asked.
“No. Just that you guys are all going to want to take turns going inside Dick’s. Let me tell you, that little bartender in there is smokin’…”
Viper saw McRyan’s Explorer pull into Kennedy’s driveway at 1:15 a.m. He and Bouchard were parked a block down. They had another van parked at McRyan’s place, but Viper figured he would go to Kennedy’s.
“Looks like you were right,” Bouchard said.
“I figured.”
“How come?”
“They’re both fairly recently divorced. They’re back in the game again, and they’re all hot for each other. Were I McRyan, this is what I’d be doing.”
Viper had thought he was done with McRyan. But then they’d gotten word he broke the serial killer investigation open. With McRyan having worked the Daniels case, they feared he’d make the connection between that case and how they used the serial killer to cover their tracks.
“So what’s the plan?”
“We follow McRyan to see what he and that detail are up to.”
“And.”
“We may need to find a way to take this Knapp fellow out before they get to him.”
Chapter Twenty
The detail trailed Knapp for another five days. By Monday they knew he was their guy and who his next victim would be. Mac was on the money.
On workdays, the pattern remained the same. Knapp started at 9:30 a.m. and did his deliveries up and down University Avenue. He’d eat his lunch and then do his pickups. After work, he would go out to dinner and then hit the bars along University Avenue. Each night he hit Dick’s Bar. Each night he’d closely watch Linda. Each night another cop would come out of the bar and tell Mac how hot the bartender was. After Knapp hit the last bar each night, he made the thirty-minute drive home to Hudson, with the St. Paul police department parading behind him.
In the interim, they got a copy of his military file. Dirk Knapp had been an excellent Marine. He was with a recon unit and received top marks in his evaluation reports until he met a woman named Shirley Warner, who worked in the administrative offices at his base. Knapp and Warner found themselves in a relationship that went bad. He had become very possessive of her, and she broke it off. Knapp took the breakup hard, but he seemed to be holding it together until another member of his unit started dating Warner. Knapp lost it, went to her home and severely beat the other man in his unit and went after Warner with a knife. The indication was that Knapp suffered some sort of a mental breakdown. He was hospitalized for a number of months and he eventually was granted a medical discharge. That was four years before.
Since his discharge, he’d worked for Quick Cleaners as a driver. Tax records indicated a steady income from his work there. A discreet inquiry uncovered that he was an excellent employee, always on time, courteous to customers and worked hard. He was a bit of a loner and kept to himself for the most part. He wasn’t unfriendly in any way, just not terribly outgoing.
