Book Five: Part 9 - Raging Evil - Chapter 6
Thursday – November 1st
The Squad Room – 8:31 a.m.
“This just came in a few minutes ago. Another young girl was found raped and murdered just south of Columbus, Ohio.
“Following his pattern, Jackson started in Phoenix, and has raped and killed in a haphazard manner.
“Two in Arizona, four in New Mexico, six in California, seven in Texas, one each in Oklahoma, Missouri, Kansas, and Nebraska. Then he hikes it to Oregon and Washington and rapes and kills five more girls.
“From there he hit Idaho and kills two more. Then in Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Illinois, another five.
“His pattern isn’t normal, but from Tennessee to Ohio, there’s the possibility he’ll make a run through the Keystone State and might come up our way. The age range of the vic’s have been 14 to 62.
“As I said before, keep an eye on the kids and if you do spot him, bring him in. Make sure backup is there.
“Speaking of backup, Clauson and Banyard had their hands full yesterday. You both did a hell of a job.
“These two men had backup that saved their lives or from serious injury. And no matter how good you think you are; when you need help, call for it. Don’t play John Wayne.
“Halloween came and went without incident which is always a good thing. Now, does anyone have any questions?”
Silence.
“Then get out there and stay safe and keep our streets safe.”
As Baker started toward her office, Satchell followed behind her.
“I know today is your day to go through all the unsol’s but do me a favor.”
“Let me guess? Cross-check all the girl’s this Jackson has killed and see if any of them are in my files that can be closed, right?”
“You read my mind. How many do you have left, anyway?”
“Five. I’d be surprised if any of ours are in his kill group. All but two or three have been identified.”
“There might be one, two, or three we might be able to close. Work on it and see what you come up with.”
Sitting behind her desk waiting for her computer to boot up, she nodded her head at Satchell, then asked, “Are you and Samantha doing all right?”
Satchell, about to turn and leave for his office, stopped short and tilted his head at Baker. “Things are progressing nicely. Let’s say better than all right.”
Just as he made it to the center of the doorway, he stopped and snapped his fingers.
“Almost forgot. I’m going to Stanhouse for a business luncheon with Don Baters, and at two, he wants me to attend one of the school’s there with him. If anything goes down while I’m gone, call me. ASAP.”
“No problem, Satchell, and uh,” she looked at the clock (9:12) on the wall, “enjoy your lunch.”
Baker pulled up the remaining unsol’s.
Through NCIC’s system website and her police authorization code, she was able to search for and find each of the deceased victims. Four unidentified bodies.
The early rapes and murders were horrible. Heads decapitated, hands removed, vagina’s and breasts were burned. Jackson was one sick degenerate SOB.
Baker knew that when he was finally caught and sentenced, he wouldn’t last a day behind prison walls even if he was put into solitary. She felt that if he were cornered with no way out, he would probably blow his brains out. Most generally do. Surely, Jackson had to know it was only a matter of when before he was tracked down and caught.
Baker began looking closely at one particular file of Jane Doe: estimated age by bone structure: 14. Height: 5’2”. Weight: 98. A half-moon scar on the inside of her left ankle. That got her attention.
She opened the file on Denise Lassiter. Missing three years while vacationing in Oregon with her parents. She disappeared at the Dalles, alongside Klamath Falls. Jane Doe was found not too far away from a hiking trail. Her body was found. Her head and hands, never recovered. But as she looked at Denise’s file she read where it stated a half-moon scar was on the inside of her left ankle had occurred while riding her bike at age seven. A spoke snapped when she lost her balance and it gouged her ankle.
She called the Dalles Police and informed them she would fax the information she had, she believed would identify their Jane Doe.
With a lift in her spirits, Baker checked the other two remaining girls. No luck. Nothing listed with any of the states Jackson had been in, matched her files.
She switched over to overseas operatives, logged onto Interpol’s website, entered her password, and went to recent updates of unsolved crimes. Scrolling on the left, she clicked on: MURDERS. On the next page she clicked: FEMALES ONLY. Then she clicked the age group: 6-14. 4,365 listings.
This kept her busy the rest of the day right up until five that afternoon when she received a fax from the Dalles Police Department. They changed the Jane Doe’s name to Denise Lassiter. They would also make preparations to ship her remains to Montie once the parents were notified.
At 5:30, she would be at the home of Charles and Marlene Lassiter, telling them their little girl would be coming home. She had wanted to avoid the gruesome details of their daughter’s death, but explaining as gently as she could saying, “An open casket wouldn’t be a good idea,” both Charles and Marlene understood what she was saying. At least their closure could finally begin.
1224 Clearfield Street – 6:12 p.m.
Checking his website email, it was empty. No one looking for a private eye’s help with a missing person or someone cheating in their marriage.
Lee shrugged and thought it was lucky for him his dad and brother left him a good deal of money. Between that and his military combat pay and back pay he received; he wouldn’t starve over the next several years.
Lee then checked his regular emails. He had eleven new messages. The third one down captured his attention.
How are Kelly and Melody?
Opening the email, the first thing he looked for was the sender’s address: dknytesdeadnytes@doa.dndn.
Lee knew without going any further, two things. If he tried to trace the origins of the email, it would lead to a dead end. The second thing: it came from Freddy. Lee read the email.
you are very good at what you do. you would be the first to ever get that close to me without my knowing. my congratulations. let me get to the crux of this letter. your brother (and the resemblance is flawless) left behind two beautiful little girls. it would be sinful to see anything happen to the truly innocents of the world, wouldn’t you agree? i am in a forgiving mood with this message. drop your idea of trying to kill me and i will erase any notion of killing those little girls along with jack and peggy. and I will do so as you watch before i slice your throat ever slowly. i offer you this only chance to save yourself and your family. do not mistake what i write you may interpret as fear. i do this out of respect for your courage. if you come after me again you will have signed their death warrant. delete this email now and i will know you are a brave fool. wait 72 hours then delete. i will know we have an understanding. make the right choice and your future and safety of your family is assured. F.
Lee sat back with a mixture of shock, anger, surprise, and grief transforming his features.
He knew that Freddy had this message encoded with some sort of parallel relay switch that would allow him to know the time and date the email would be read, then deleted.
Minimizing the screen, he went to his favorites and opened: corruptions.net.
Lee spent the next hour searching for a program to read and filter laced emails. Just when he thought he wouldn’t find one, he smiled and opened up Xmksaspot.exe. He began reading the outline of the program.
This file generates exact locations where all emails come from. We aren’t talking ISP’s, we are talking physical addresses, cities, states, even countries. We give you the capability to alter sensitive email content, and ghosted emails. This is the best hacker program developed to not only protect you, but family and close friends as well. Get the scoop on your friends, the Pentagon, NATO, Interpol—whoever, wherever, whenever. Estimated download time: 60 seconds. 24-hour free trial. Cost: $99. Your information being sensitive due to purchase, will be encrypted in 12 different languages. Payment on your credit card will appears as: ucan2Inc.
Lee clicked on payment. Ten minutes later, he found the email was sent from Milan, Italy, Hilton Presidio, Room 216. It also listed the hotel’s address, phone number, and the name of the guest in Room 216.
Tracey McPhearson.
Lee could have done the right thing at that moment. He could get on the phone, call the Italian Policia and have them storm Room 216 and have Freddy finally captured and placed behind bars.
But then what? It would be years before he would die. Several countries besides the United States would want to prosecute him, and by the time it was all over, Freddy would probably die of old age.
Lee couldn’t let that happen.
Through the program, Xmksaspot, Lee made an exact duplicate of the email and deleted the original.
He believed if that didn’t work, Freddy would be back in Montie very soon, or he would send one more message, brief and to the point.
Tomorrow, and for the next several days, Lee decided he would stay at Uncle Jack and Aunt Peggy’s house. For the next several days he would sleep lightly and be a hand reach away from a pair of Magnum Colt .44’s.
Lee also knew one other thing. If this worked, he would have one more chance at Freddy. If he missed again, his family wouldn’t get a second chance at living.
1517 Applewood Drive – 10:45 p.m.
They both started to say the same thing, then broke into laughter.
“You first.”
“I was going to say that this was the most incredible physical experience I can ever remember. And you were absolutely beautiful, John.”
“I was pretty much going to say the same thing, and you are absolutely beautiful, Sam.”
Samantha curled against Satchell’s left side and sighed.
“I guess this means we’re serious about each other.”
Satchell chuckled.
“We didn’t know it at the time, but we were serious the day we met at Don’s cookout.”
“You fought it, John. Or at least you tried to.”
“Obviously, I wasn’t supposed to fight for very long.”
“Which brings me to a point I should tell you about. I part of my past I think is only fair and right you should know.”
“What’s there to know, Sam. You told me about the divorce. You mentioned how you and your mother are estranged. Things like that happen to a lot of people every day.”
“I know, but you need to know why. Even though I’ve been a good girl over eighteen years, it was those few years way back when and then, that nearly destroyed everything I loved. And I was responsible for damn near every bit of it.”
Satchell wrapped his arm tighter around her shoulder.
“It doesn’t matter, Sam. We have right now and that’s,”
“John, it does matter. It’s important for you to know the person I became wasn’t always me.”
“I’m sorry, Sam. Go ahead. I’ll just shut up and listen.”
Samantha looked into his eyes and began her story.
“When I was eight years old, my mother married a man I learned to call, daddy. My real father died when I was four while he was selling drugs. That was all I ever knew about him. My new daddy took a liking to me. When my mother wasn’t around, he would use me. He threatened to kill my mother if I ever said anything, so, I kept my mouth shut through the tears and abuse I suffered.
“I ran away from home when I was fifteen; hit the streets and eventually got a job stripping. I became the darling of the strip. The more I put out, the more money I made. But to keep up with the streets, I had to do the upper’s to maintain. Eventually, I moved up to coke and from there I was sampling just about everything. Because of it, I nearly died from overdosing.
“That didn’t stop me from hustling tricks on the street, until I screwed up and got pregnant. And it was that quick I wanted a better life. I wanted to be a better mother than my mother was to me.
“It didn’t happen. Had a miscarriage, and I blamed it on the drugs, the sex, and my hellacious lifestyle.
“I vowed to change, and I did. I came back home. My mother was actually glad to see me. She was alone. My other daddy left her for a younger woman. Go figure. I got back into school and life rolled on.
“I met a nice young guy in school, and we fell in love. After we graduated high school, we went on to college as we both had college scholarships. We married shortly after graduation. He went into banking, and I became an administrative secretary. My past was never an issue, so I never brought it up.
“Five months later, we were overjoyed. I was pregnant. After a healthy baby girl was born, shortly after, my world collapsed. A trick from years past appeared and threatened to expose me if I didn’t give him some money. I refused.
“Before I gave him the chance to go to my husband, I went to him first, and told him everything. Talk about a complete 360. He was a Junior Vice-President at a prestigious bank. He luncheoned with the elite, he was going places, but it would all stop if my past came out.
“He filed for divorce and cut me off of everything we had built together. He refused to pay child-support claiming the child couldn’t be his, since his wife whored with half the city.
“I was at an extreme low. I left Alicia, our baby, at my mother’s and went for a drive and got blind drunk and wrecked the car. Four days after that, in a fit of rage, my mother threw me out of the house and said I wasn’t a fit mother! I came unglued and spit out all the abuse I took years ago, and she called me a liar!
“Now, my head’s on straight, my life’s direction is straight. I’m well-respected at my job, and I have a wonderful man, who, I hope will not get up and run away from me.”
Samantha wiped away the last of her tears, grabbed a tissue, and blew her nose.
“Okay, I listened. No, I’m not going to run. You lived a life where you paid your dues more times than you should have. One question though, what happened to Alicia?”
“My mother adopted her, remarried, and this time to a decent man. I can’t tell you the number of times I have tried to contact my mother over the years, and she refuses to believe my life has changed. The last several calls I’ve made; she just hangs up. They live in Columbia, South Carolina now. Alicia will be graduating high school this year, and is an honor student; but you know what? I love her and I’m happy for her. That’s all I can give now.”
“Sam, I’d say even from a distance, your genes are connected to Alicia’s, which means you have produced a beautiful child and every bit as remarkable as you.”
He kissed her lightly, then his hands caressed her back, and he began to nibble lightly behind her right ear, then up along the side of her neck.
“Mmmm … John … if you … keep that up, we’ll … never get to … sleep.”
“That’s the whole idea; to keep it up.”
As they laughed a lover’s laugh, Satchell rolled completely atop Samantha, his hands grasping her hips; her arms wrapped around the lower part of his body, their eyes locked onto one another and just as Satchell entered her, and just as her thighs pulled up and squeezed against his own, just before he would give her a deep, long, and passionate kiss; he spoke words a long time since said.
“I love you.”
Samantha knew then her life would only get better and become more complete from that one moment in time.