Hard Case VI: The Killer Inside (John Harding Book 6) (27 page)

“Are you sure they’re not angling to get a four on one fight like Psycho Crue put on John the last time out. The way he’s been doing in training, he could probably do it, but we have the Viking fight coming soon.”

“I can get word to 98 Crew the Cartel’s not interested in them, Tommy.”

“We can’t turn away from a challenge, T.” Jess stood away from his stool as if someone had just challenged him to a duel.

“No one’s turning away,” Tommy replied. “I’d like to get the parameters of this meeting. I don’t think it would hurt for us to meet with them tomorrow night. How about it, John?”

“Sounds good to me, but if I may have to fight, how about we skip the sparring rounds? I’d still get my work in the Bay done.”

“After what you did to Crue today, the morning tomorrow will be enough for you, brother,” Tommy said.

“I hesitate to ask what you have done to the premier torturer in existence, my friend,” Alexi said.

Jess told him as only Jess can, and Alexi nearly went into hysterics with all the Jess additions after she was on the boat. When he finished enjoying that, I told him what Crue had done to me with Tonto. He was in a great mood when he left after telling us to be at the arena at 8 pm. He reached to grasp Marla’s hand at the other end of the bar for a moment on his way out. Yep. I didn’t have to be a detective to see something going on there. If my favorite all time bartender leaves The Warehouse, I will have to shoot Alexi right in the head though. Oh well, maybe I can get past the loss… or not.

“I’m glad this first meeting with the 98 Crew takes place at Alexi’s arena,” Dev said. “We haven’t had anyone contact us before. Do you think this is a trap?”

“We operate as if everything is a trap. We’ll make sure to spend time on the surrounding area before setting up inside. Maybe I’ll grab one of the Crew for a chat and some insights. If I promise Lynn a subject for her further experiments, maybe tomorrow won’t be so bad.”

“My advice is pretend like it never happened, and don’t give her anyone else to torture,” Jess said. “Maybe her motherly instincts will kick in again without a victim.”

“Maybe you’re right, Jess. She did seem more mellow at times until we captured the bank robbers and her old friend Carla.”

“Here she comes,” Tommy said, waving and smiling. Tommy has been a happy man since Crue hit the water. It’s nice to be the cause of someone’s happiness.

Chapter Nine

Killer Meeting

Clint wore his usual jeans, black t-shirt and windbreaker. Lynn looked very nice with her hair tied back. She was still dying it blonde for Clint, and it must be working, because he couldn’t keep his hands off her. She wore a burgundy dress with high heels, so this must be a date night even though Clint didn’t dress for it. After the hellos, I told them about the 98 Crew’s request to Alexi.

“I know you, Cheese. You’re thinking about trying out the old arm-bar tomorrow night.”

“Yeah, I am, Lynn. I figured I’d spar though first for the usual time I do when Dev and Jess train me after the Bay.”

“What if this guy’s another ‘Dragon Hands’, partner,” Clint asked. “It was pretty funny after you smashed him, but I thought the kid was going to kill you for a moment.”

“No more Dragon Hands incidents. I’m going into the fights covered up until I see what they got. Hands clocked me real good, and the damn snake nearly slithered me into a killer hold too.”

“What do you mean nearly,” Tommy said. “He had you so good you said you were seeing Smokey the Bear.”

I nodded at the amusement Smokey stirred. I had forgotten Hands nearly squeezed my head until it popped like a damn pimple before I ran him into the cage. I don’t need another one of those experiences. “Okay, fine, Hands was on the verge of taking down the Dark Lord. Remember though, no matter what I’ve said before the fight, if the sucker kills me, you know what to do, Clint.”

“I’ll put one right between his horns, John. He won’t live more than a couple minutes longer than you.”

We all laughed like hell. My friends know better. I don’t want any revenge shit if I get ended in the cage. Sam and Janie finally showed, spotted us, and trudged in our direction like the manikins they sometimes portray in real life. They should be lighting the place up with smiles after their bank robber gifted prosecution. We did our usual greetings, and both MIB’s ordered a draft beer which I put on our tab. Janie was the first to speak after hugging Lynn. Those two get along, and Janie always requires follow-ups on Clint Jr.

“I don’t know what you did to those two murdering bastards, but the first thing they demanded was paper and pen before we could even get them seated at the office. They confessed to stuff we had to search for a record of before we knew what they were talking about. They had only one condition for doing everything up to locking themselves in prison by their own hand – they are never to get placed in your custody again. That wasn’t hard to agree to since they confessed to enough to get the needle after the courts get through wringing their hands for a couple decades.”

“I’ll call them,” Lynn replied with a shrug. “I’ll tell them to request a firing squad. They’ll do it.”

Even Sam laughed at that one. “Have you two had a chance with all the rest of the shit you people have handled to take a look at the serial killer? Thank you by the way for saving the West Coast. Many of us suits know what you did. I’m glad John gave us an outline at least of what happened.”

“Thanks, Sam,” Clint said. “John convinced us we needed to let our contacts we trust in the field know about that near miss.”

“I knew you two would spread the word amongst people you trusted,” I told him. “We know the rumors will get out to the public eventually. I’m certain Denny won’t like it, but even he’s back in Washington trying to get at least a nationwide alert amongst agencies. I’m beginning to believe they would take this ‘keeping quiet for our own good’, right to the point where an entire city could disappear into nuclear dust. After allowing a part of America to glow in the dark, they’ll still be defending their cover up with ‘oh… sorry… we didn’t want to panic the populace’.”

“I wish I could say you’re wrong,” Sam said.

“After what you told us, we were relieved to get involved in the zany stuff like Hollywood TV episodes with you,” Janie added. “God… that was more entertaining than the first time we did it. Have you seen the outtakes yet, Lynn?”

“They’re fine,” the Director said. “You two were much improved from the performances before when we transferred Michael Moronas in that other episode. That scene prepping our Bounty Hunters before they confronted the bank robbers was exactly the way I’d hoped it would be. What does the Agency say about you two doing this TV gig?”

“Frankly, it’s been the best publicity the Agency has had in years. Janie and I get punked every time we go to the office though for being Hollywood Agents. Our bosses aren’t asking any questions about how two murderous bank robbers fall right in our hands with their confessions stapled to their foreheads. All they care about is the end product.”

“How did you do on our other nightmare case, Clint?”

Clint smiled at Janie. “I’ve been considering it a bit.”

Lynn elbowed him. “He’s been spending every waking moment while not involved in Monster business probing details from any angle his twisted brain can imagine.”

“Gee… thanks, babe.”

“He plays with the baby while watching video for hours. He has Clint Jr so spoiled we can hardly leave the little one alone for ten seconds. If we don’t end this case soon, Clint will need an intervention.”

Clint absorbed his wife’s verbal abuse with his usual aplomb. “In answer to your question, Janie, I have a suspect.”

That declaration rocked the two agents. I could tell they had been expecting a general acknowledgement. I also saw by the way the rest of the guys reacted they weren’t prepared for Clint’s verbal bomb either. Knowing his skill as a damn human bloodhound, I listened with interest. He rightfully savored a small moment as the rest of us awaited the result Clint had found no task force could.

Marla delivered Clint’s favorite and mine, the brothers Beam and Bud while also serving Lynn a glass of Beringer White Zinfandel. He had a little of each before engaging. “I used our rather special connections to pour through every scene indoors or outdoors where the victims moved on campus through security footage. I of course checked college employees, staff, and other students. Every class the young women took from a few months before the attacks started to present day, I found every person at or around them on record, video, or stray picture taken by college photographers. I then delved into hacking every smartphone used by the victims and their classmates, data mining for hints of classroom pictures, recordings, or shared calls.”

“I’m not going to embarrass myself by saying that’s illegal,” Sam remarked. “Do you have a plan for arresting this guy that will stick, or did you want to simply put him on the task force’s radar to be dealt with?”

“I’ll take that question,” Lynn said. “Clint went back in time encompassing a ten year period. This clown’s numbers are at fourteen not counting the four he strung together on. He’s smacking you alphabet soup agency goofballs in the face, because he doesn’t think you can catch a cold. Clint’s found the guy. He simply changed his kill tactics, numbers, and colleges. Clint has pissed me off so much with what he’s found out, we’re not even giving him to you dumbbells until he’s in the same shape as the bank robbers. I don’t know if I’ll give him back then. He’s killed eighteen young women.”

I saw the look of resignation on both Sam and Janie’s faces. “You two suspected this was an old killer, didn’t you?”

Sam nodded at me. “Yeah, John. Janie and I have already been baited before in that case with the killer trio, Clint and Lynn ended. We saw signs in the last two murders hinting we were being laughed at. It was the main reason we asked Clint straight out. We don’t want any more murders because we’re trudging along in the same tired ass game of tag. Can you brief us on how you found this guy, Clint?”

Clint looked at the rest of us serial killer case observers after partaking in a bit more liquid refreshment. “Are we boring the hell out of you guys with this?”

Heads shook in the negative accompanied by a chorus of ‘no way’. I said, “don’t leave us hanging. I want to know how you found this guy too. I already know if you have Crue pissed off at him, the rest of his time amongst the sane is short.”

“Clint went one step beyond with his scary ass method of projecting,” Lynn said. “Sam and Janie can tell you. I was dancing along, slicing and dicing bad guys, and they call Clint in. Suddenly, I’m finishing a predator off in a most satisfying way, and there’s Clint waiting for me to finish. Clint knows where this guy will be tomorrow afternoon, and who he’s stalking for a new kill.”

“First, I cast a wide net around the area colleges in a ten year period, looking for mysterious coed deaths, not necessarily related to dumping places, manner of deaths, or groupings. I found fourteen before these newest four. The security cam footage at the colleges has been pretty decent since 9/11, and updated with digital storage as the years passed. I knew I wouldn’t get solid recognition evidence on anything I found during the earlier times, although what I did find confirmed my suspicions.”

“With the four new victims, like Lynn said, he has no respect for the capabilities of law enforcement to find haphazard killers, even if a dumping site is added, and the killing technique is the same,” Clint continued with all of us clinging to every word. “The easiest place for a killer to stalk targets at a college would not be in a closed classroom of any sort. Even if all four of the girls had attended the same English class in the same room, I would not have paid much attention to it. Executions and public dump sites are not done by low IQ people killing for the hell of it, especially not college coeds. I knew there had to be common threads in what the killer had to go through to exist even in secret as a stalker at the college. Even if not legitimately registered in any class so as to keep off the radar, the killer would have to be registered as a student with a parking pass.”

“Then the hunt became easier. Registered students without registered classes are very few. Add in registered students without registered classes and parking passes during a long time period, and that left only one. With my suspect, I looked for him at the one place where he could stalk his prey openly without much chance of being singled out – lecture halls with hundreds of attendees. He could audit any lecture hall as long as there was seating. It was then a matter of finding my suspect attending the same lectures as the victims with security footage. To avoid any hint of a coincidence, I took my suspect’s face and identity and backtracked to the other fourteen deaths. I found him pictured at all five of the colleges. He has three identities he uses, but facial recognition software found him during the time periods.”

Clint took out his iPhone, touched a button, and showed us a picture of a now thirtyish clean shaven man, shoulder length brown hair, thin, with angular smiling features. “His name under the Davis identity is Huey Novenco. The new identity was stolen off a dead man from New York who died in the first in 2005. He’ll be auditing a psychology lecture at Davis tomorrow afternoon at 2:15.”

He pulled his phone back and switched photos to an auburn haired coed’s Cal State Davis picture ID. “This is Kelly Garner. Huey is stalking her. I think that because he’s made contact with her, just as he did with his other four victims. He makes contact with no one but victims. I’m thinking that was one of those in your face type actions. Using our best facial recognition software, I’ve traced Huey in numerous places where Kelly is. She is his next victim. He’ll be auditing the psych lecture she’s attending tomorrow.”