Black Forest, Denver Cereal Volume 5 (39 page)

“
Yes,” Delphie said.
“Henry James showed the monster to her. He told her about its
power, strength and the depth of its evil. Celeste saw it as a puff
of dark smoke – no more, no less. They had a bitter argument over
it.”

“
Celeste wasn’t affected
at all,” Jacob said.

“
Henry James saw the
creature as the devil incarnate,” Delphie said. “Celeste thought he
was crazy.”

“
He is crazy,” Raz
said.

“
Where do you and the
profiler disagree?” Alex asked.

“
The profiler believes
that by taking and hanging Ava, Saint Jude is decompensating.
However…”

“
He killed Bonita,” Seth
said.

“
And other adults he felt
were inhibiting his progress, starting with Mark
Gilmore…”

“
He’s killed lots of
adults,” Charlie said. “Jeffy used to talk about it. Anyone who got
in Saint Jude’s way tended to disappear.”

“
God, more deaths,” Seth
rubbed his hand over his forehead.

“
Or an exaggeration to
keep the kid in line,” Raz said. “We know he killed Mark Gilmore,
Beth, and Bonita.”

“
Not to mention a Denver
Police officer,” Seth said. “You don’t believe he’s
decompensating?”

“
I believe he has
retreated to his tunnel,” Raz said. “He knows you have access to
his residences. He will retreat for as long as it takes until you
move on to something else. I’ve reviewed Detective O’Malley’s notes
from the original six bodies found at the ball park. You found his
residence? His work place? His vehicle? His girlfriend?”

Seth nodded.

“
He retreated to the
tunnels then,” Raz said. “What’s the time between
killings?”

“
Three years,” Delphie
said. “That’s the longest gap.”

“
I would guess he’s
prepared to wait at least that long,” Raz said.

“
You’re saying that we
have time,” Alex said. “No need to rush. He’s going to be there a
while.”

“
If his hideout is in the
tunnels, he’ll be there for a while,” Raz said.

“
Long enough for us to
collect him?” Jacob asked.

Raz nodded.

“
Let’s figure out where he
is,” Seth said. “You finished the map?”

“
With Max and Colin’s
help,” Alex said.

“
I’ve translated Tunnel
Rat Mike’s book,” Sergeant Margaret Peaches said. “He meticulously
documented every segment of the tunnel. I can match his work to the
map.”

“
Great,” Seth said. “We
might just have a chance.”

“
We’ve identified three
areas,” Mike walked to the map that lined the south end of the room
and pointed out three areas. “These areas looked like places for
employees. One had a series of old lockers.”

“
According to Tunnel Rat
Mike, those areas are heated by old gas lines,” Margaret said.
“There’s even some electricity.”

“
Our team contacted Xcel
Energy to see if we could shut those off,” Seth said. “They have no
record of them. At all.”

“
Phantom gas lines,” Raz
said. “That’s interesting.”

“
Where did you go,
Charlie?” Alex asked. “While we were waiting for you, Charlie told
me about meeting Saint Jude. He went into the tunnels with his
friend Jeffy a couple of times.”

“
Four times,” Charlie
said.

“
Four times,” Alex
repeated.

“
Did you see him?” Seth
asked.

“
Not in the tunnels,”
Charlie said. “But Jeffy was hiding from him.”

“
Jeffy knew the
tunnels?”

“
Only where Saint Jude had
been,” Charlie said. “Jeffy was like Delphie. He thought the
tunnels were creepy. We went there to get out of the
cold.”

“
You went
where?”

Charlie jumped to his feet and walked to the
map. He looked from place to place and then pointed to a spot near
the areas Mike had pointed out.

“
Here,” Charlie
said.

“
That’s where we found the
lockers,” Jacob said. “There are gas lamps and running water at
that location.”

“
And easy access,”
Margaret said.

“
Right,” Charlie said. “We
slipped into the tunnel. No problem.”

“
Delphie?” Max
asked.

Delphie looked at Valerie. Valerie smiled
and held out her hands. Delphie closed her eyes.

“
Under Wynkoop Street,”
Delphie said. “Under…”

“
Union Station,” Valerie
and Delphie said at the same time.

Stunned, everyone fell silent.

“
That’s got to be it,”
Seth whispered. “We found him.”

“
How do we get him?”
Charlie asked.

“
I didn’t get it before
but looking at this map Seth is absolutely correct,” Raz said.
“He’ll hear us coming a mile away.”

“
Not if he expects company
down there,” Jacob smiled.

“
That’s a sinister smile,”
Valerie said.

“
What do you have
planned?” Mike asked.

“
Nothing specific,” Jacob
said. “Maybe some minor flooding from an underground utility
project.”

“
You don’t have a project
going there,” Mike said.

“
We did,” Jacob said. “Dad
finished a sewer and water project under Lower Downtown during the
redevelopment about ten, maybe fifteen years ago. Part of our
contract was to monitor seeping from the sewer into the tunnels.
There’s a tributary to the South Platte that runs along there. At
the time, there had been seven or eight years of
drought.”

“
The land was mostly dry,”
Valerie said.

“
The State didn’t want the
cost of capping or diverting the tributary until it was necessary,”
Jacob said. “We go down there every year, usually in the
summer.”

“
When were you were last
down there?” Alex asked.

“
Last summer,” Valerie
said. “Takes about three days to set up, do the check, document and
clear out.”

“
I can have a team down
there tomorrow morning,” Jacob raised an eyebrow.

“
Herd a serial killer?”
Alex asked. “Make him move where we want him to go? I bet that will
work. We closed off the tunnels at the Castle when we were guarding
Mike.”

“
The Castle is a couple of
miles from LoDo,” Jacob said.

“
There’s lots of side
tunnels and places to hide in between Wynkoop and Race Streets,”
Mike said.

“
I bet the State’s going
to call Lipson Construction and ask them to close off that
tributary,” Max said.

“
In fact,” Alex said. “I
bet you’ll find that work was in your original contract. No need
for the water to leak into the rest of the tunnels.”

“
And if there’s no water?”
Valerie asked. “In all these years, there’s never been a
drop.”

“
It’s the State of
Colorado,” Mike said. “They do stupid projects all the
time.”

“
Val and I will lead the
team,” Jacob said. “Val thinks he’s looking for her. If he is, he
won’t be able to resist talking to her.”

“
Especially since she’s
pregnant,” Charlie said. “Baby and all.”

“
Draw him out and
capture,” Raz said. “Nice. Can the Denver Police be trusted to
actually capture him?”

“
You mean instead of
killing him?” Seth asked.

“
The families deserve a
trial,” Delphie said. “They need to see this man receive
justice.”

“
I’ll hand pick the
officers,” Seth said.

“
Homeland Security will be
there with a team,” Alex said. “Of course, my team won’t miss a
chance to kick ass.”

“
We can mix them in with
our construction crew,” Jacob said. “I’ll pick a few people who
were there last year. If he saw them last year, or the year before,
he’ll recognize them.”

“
Wow…” Seth let out a
breath. “We’re going to get him. We’re really going to get
him.”

“
We’re going to get him,”
Alex said.

~~~~~~~~

Sunday night — 9:20 P.M

“
Sure Jake,” Honey Lipson
Scully said. She turned her wheelchair to face him. “I went down
last year and the year before. Remember I worked for Jerry before I
started working for Bambi.”

“
I don’t think it’s a good
idea,” Sergeant MJ Scully, Honey’s husband said. “She’s almost four
months pregnant and…”

“
I don’t like it either,”
Sam said.

“
I can do this,” Honey
said. “I want to do it. Can I see the picture again?”

Jacob gave her Saint Jude’s driver’s license
photo.

“
He looks kind of
familiar,” Honey shrugged. “I could have seen him last
year.”

“
No one from my team can
be involved,” MJ said. “Alex says we look like
soldiers.”

“
You are a soldier,” Sam
said.

“
Well, there’s that,” MJ
smiled.

“
I’ll be fine,” Honey
said. “Have you talked to Jerry?”

“
He’s in,” Jake
said.

“
Then I am too,” Honey
said. “I’ll get the team together.”

“
We have four or five
Homeland Security agents,” Jacob said. “Seth is hand selecting a
few Denver Police.”

“
Once you get the tunnel
shut off, we’ll set up surveillance – heat, motion, everything we
have,” MJ said.

“
I can keep everyone in
line,” Honey clapped her hands. “Finally, I get to
do
something.”

“
You work full time,” MJ
said. “You’re taking your core college classes, helping out at the
house and gardens; that’s not to mention the fact that you’re
pregnant. You do a lot.”

“
Now I get to do something
to catch a serial killer,” Honey said. “It’s like being on
America’s Most Wanted.”

“
America’s Most Wanted?”
MJ chuckled.

“
If anything close to
risky happens, I’m going to take you out of there,” Sam said. “No
argument.”

“
Ok, Dad, I promise. No
arguments,” Honey said.

Sam leaned down to kiss Honey’s cheek and
took the stairs up to Delphie’s apartment.

“
Go on, Jake. Jill’s
waiting for you,” Honey said.

“
Thanks,” Jacob jogged up
the long stairwell at the top he turned to wave.

“
America’s Most Wanted?”
MJ asked.

“
You’re not the only crime
fighter in this family,” Honey said.

Shaking his head, he followed her stair lift
down the stairwell to their basement apartment.

~~~~~~~~

Sunday night — 11:20 P.M

“
Seth?” Ava’s deep voice
came from under a pile of covers on the bed.

Seth came into the dark room and closed the
door to the hall. Pulling at his tie, he went to the bed to see
her.

“
Were you playing at
Charlie Brown’s?” Ava asked.

“
Charlie Brown’s?” Seth
asked. “How did you know about…?”

“
Sandy told me,” Ava said.
“Did you go to play?”

“
No,” Seth said. “I was
with the Chief and a couple of Captains. We spent the evening
picking officers to work with Jake and his people. We’re going to
get Saint Jude next week. These guys have to fit into their crew…
and be willing to start at 4:30 AM.”

He leaned over to kiss her face.

“
How are you?”

“
I’m really good,” Ava
rolled over to watch him undress.

“
Your voice is gorgeous,”
Seth said. “Deep and incredibly sexy.”

“
Warm water, lemon juice
and honey,” Ava said. “It’s some kind of cheerleading remedy.
Lizzie told me about it. I used Delphie’s honey.”

“
Seems to have helped,”
Seth said. “I thought Blane was coming by this evening. Did you see
him?”

“
I did,” Ava said. “I
really like him. He gave Dale some acupuncture too. Dale and I had
dinner. He told me what you said… about us.”

Seth turned to look at her.

“
I’ve asked a lot from
you,” Ava said. “And you’re right. We’ve only been dating a few
weeks. Are you okay with… everything?”

He nodded and went into the bathroom. She
got out of bed to follow him. Her eyes watched him brush his teeth
and get ready for bed.

“
You don’t have anything
to say?” Ava asked.

“
There will be a time when
we both have a lot to say,” Seth said. “Now’s not that time. I’m
very tired and have a huge day tomorrow.”

Her eyes puzzled at his response as he moved
past her to the bed. He slipped under the covers and retrieved his
pillow from her side.

“
Come to bed,” he
said.

“
You’re not going to play
tonight?” Ava slipped in beside him.

“
Too exhausted,” Seth
said. “Plus, I think I may have finished the last
piece.”