Kenny the Making of a Serial Killer 3
Date: 2018-04-13 04:00:00+00:00

KENNY

- THE MAKING OF A SERIAL KILLER -

- A Trilogy -

Book 3

Patrick Laughy

Dedication

This book is dedicated to the memory of Vancouver Police Service dog, Duke lll

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Without Suzy’s help, this book would never have been written.

ISBN:978-1-927965-39-9

Copyright 2018

All rights reserved

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or have been used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

Contents

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

- October 2000 -

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

- September 2005 -

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

- October 2005 –

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

- Early November 2005 -

CHAPTER THIRTY

- Mid-November 2005 -

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

- Late November 2005 -

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

- Wednesday, November 30th, 2005 -

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

- Early Hours of December 1st, 2005 -

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

- Morning of December 1st, 2005 -

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

- Afternoon of December 1st, 2005 –

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

- December Second, 2005 -

CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

- December Third, 2005 -

CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

- Morning of December 4th, 2005 -

CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

- Afternoon of December 4th, 2005 -

CHAPTER FORTY

- Evening of December 4th, 2005 -

EPILOGUE

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

- October 2000 -

Kenny found it necessary to have things properly structured.

Over the past six months he’d been experimenting with his periods of hiatus between kills.  As a result, he had concluded that he needed to fulfill his needs monthly, if he wanted to reasonably satisfy his sexual needs.

He’d reached that decision on his birthday in September, shortly after he’d done his last one.  That appeared to be a good balance, enough time to build up the sexual urge to a pinnacle, so that it could be properly savored and appreciated, but not so long as to cause him to become uneasy and moody.

He was both excited and pleased at having now picked a specific monthly date for each of his sessions.  He was convinced such a plan would work well when it came to both his desires and the growing need to meet the special sausage production requirements.

From this point on, he would start each new month with a bang.

Rain seemed to be the order of the day for most of October.  Frequently heavy.  On other days, overcast and showery.

A couple of serious windstorms also hit the Vancouver lower-mainland during October.

By the first of the month, Kenny had a total of seven successful kills behind him.

Early on the morning of the eighth, he found himself happily humming as he went through the final processes of cleaning up after his last kill.

His only problem this time around, was getting the kid’s effects burned in the barrel.  The damned rain was pounding down.  He had to keep pouring gas on the barrel’s contents to sustain the fire.

It seemed to take forever to get it done.

During the third week of the month, the second of the windstorms hit with a vengeance and power had been knocked out, reportedly from uprooted trees falling on wires in many locations of the lower mainland.

Kenny’s was one of the households that found themselves in the dark as a result.

At first, he hadn’t worried about it too much.  He’d been through several short outages before.  But when this one looked like it was going to last for days rather than hours, he immediately thought of the contents of his big commercial freezers and began to panic.

He certainly didn’t want the meat to thaw before his next sausage run had been completed, and without power for his machines, he couldn’t empty them and turn it into his special sausage mixture.

As a result, he’d scrambled to buy some large commercial generators.

Unfortunately, he soon found he wasn’t the only one looking.  In the end he had to get Walter to send one of the trucks across the provincial border into Alberta with instructions to pick three up there.

The whole operation had taken two days and Kenny was still without power when the truck came back.

By the time it was over, and he had temporary backup power, Kenny was a wreck.

For the whole time the power had been off, he had been unable to sleep.  He’d kept checking the two big freezers to see how they were holding up. Each time he’d done it, the temperature dials had shown a steady, if slow, rise in temperature.

Once the portable generators were functioning, one for the house, one for the piggery and one for Walter’s place, Kenny had finally been able to relax, and he slept for twelve hours straight.

The next day, normal power was restored, and the crisis was over.

Twenty-four hours later he had finished processing the contents of the freezers and shipped the outstanding orders to his customers.

That out of the way, he had once again meticulously cleaned the sausage-making equipment.

From his perspective, the whole system was organized to the point that it was all working like a well-oiled machine.

All the planning and effort had been worthwhile.

There was a physical change beginning to take place however, one that Kenny did not yet see coming.

‘Boystown’, was about to undergo a transformation, brought about by two factors.

The first was the subtle changes occurring in the commercial area where the stroll flourished. This had come about by way of the creeping gentrification taking place there, a move towards a reuse of the derelict industrial area, by way of a large upscale development to be known as ‘Yaletown’.

This meant that increasing pressure to drive out the young male prostitutes was going to come increasingly into play over the next few years.

The second was the advent of cellular phones and their expanded usage, to the point that over the next decade they would probably become mainstream.

Once the cell phone was in common use and the price had come down to the point where everyone was carrying one, a kid wouldn’t have to stand on a corner in the rain and snow to advertise his wares.  He would be able to do it electronically.

Slowly but steadily, times were changing. By October of 2000 the writing was on the wall, but Kenny hadn’t noticed it yet.

He was content.

Little Malinda was eight months old and along with her three-year-old brother, keeping the Richard’s household busy.

In August, Ed and Cathy had decided it was time to get a place of their own.  They had moved out in September.

After a good deal of discussion, Dave and Linda, both wanting to continue their careers, agreed to the idea of hiring a nanny for the kids and the day after Ed and Cathy vacated, Blessica Cruz, a petite, attractive twenty-two-year-old Filipino woman, took up residence in their secondary suite.

They’d hired Blessica under the Federal Temporary foreign workers program and although initially somewhat apprehensive about whether she would work out, in the end found themselves very pleased with the entire process.

Blessica turned out to be somewhat reserved, but eager and full of energy for her new task. She was delightfully polite, caring, and earnest in her care, concern and affection for the children.

Within a matter of weeks, she had completely settled in and it seemed that she had been with them for years. Any preconceived concerns quickly faded.   By that time, Dave and Linda had complete faith in her abilities to handle the care of the children when they were at work.

Linda had come off her maternity leave and had been back at work since August.

Dave’s vasectomy had become a reality in July.

He’d had an uncomfortable couple of days afterwards, accompanied by a goodly amount of friendly banter from within Major Crime, Linda’s tongue-in-cheek sympathy and ‘I told you so’ looks from Murphy the cat.

Dave had remained as Acting-Inspector for the squad up until September, but the replacement for Henderson was due to take place on October first.

It had been generally agreed in the lower ranks that a Staff/Sergeant was not likely to be raised to Inspector rank to fill the void.  Rumors had been flying around for the last two weeks, but no one below the top floor really had any idea as to which current Inspector the Chief was likely going to put in the spot.

On the drive in to the office on the first, Dave had a few butterflies hovering around in his gut as he tossed around some of the names that had been popping up of late.

When he pulled the unmarked unit into the underground parking garage at headquarters and parked it in its reserved ‘Insp. Major Crime’ slot, he knew he was going to miss the car perk.  He would be catching a ride home tonight with Ed and driving his own truck back and forth to work again after today.

As he rode up to his office in the elevator from the parking garage, he shifted his thoughts away from trying to guess who would end up in the big office he’d vacated the night before, and back to a more positive scenario.

ViCLAS results were more than justifying the upgrades he had put into place.  Tips provided by the system were bearing fruit weekly and leading to some astonishing charges being laid in both current and cold cases. The entire department was now in full support of the new thrust to fully utilize the possibilities the program provided.

When he entered the reception area of Major Crime, Dave was immediately aware of an aura of general unease.  The usual low-key banter that normally bubbled just below the surface was missing.

The small groups of detectives who habitually gathered in various parts of the section, were not in evidence and the silence was deafening.

The odd phone was still ringing, and the sound of the photocopier operating at the back of the office could be clearly heard.

Over-all apprehension was palatable.

Although he hadn’t expected this change in the squad, he quickly realized that he should have.

A new man in charge.

Everyone was diligently working at his or her desk and with a few exceptions, on pins and needles, wondering what if any radical changes were about to come to descend upon them.

Brenda, the civilian secretary seated at her desk behind the counter, looked up as Dave reached over the top of the gate and popped it open, so he could enter the squad proper.

Brenda was a no-nonsense old-timer.  She had been in her post for more than twenty years and Dave got along with her very well.

There was a blank expression on her face as she spoke.  She kept her voice low, intentionally ensuring that he was the only one to hear her.

“Inspector Campbell would like to see you in his office first thing.”

She had a twinkle in her eye as she raised her eyebrows and then slowly shook her head, before delivering a deep sigh.

“Better you than me!”

Dave paused before passing her desk and grinned as he let his eyes meet hers.

“Our new boss would be Doug Campbell then. Interesting times ahead.”

He winked.

“Right, well I better go straight in then, hadn’t I?”

What he knew of Doug Campbell began to roll through the back of Dave’s mind as he crossed the open work area and moved down the hall toward the offices at the far end of the building.  He was well aware of the multitude of eyes that were following his progress.

Fifty-three or fifty-four.  Spent most of his career in the Patrol Division.  Campbells only experience in the detective office had been with stolen autos and that had been over twenty years ago of short duration.

Never worked any of the serious Major crime desks.

Made the cut for Inspector ten years ago and had been moved to a position of acting as one of the Duty Officers for the patrol division, after hours.  The Duty Officer position was a first placement for most new inspectors. Those who were actively on the march up the ladder normally spent less than a year in that position, before they were moved into a more specialized area of command.

Campbell had not been one of those.

In the end, he’d never been transferred to any other duty.  He’d spent his last ten years working afternoon or night shifts, as a Duty Officer.

Within the department, Campbell was generally considered to be a cement-headed pompous ass, who was infamous for talking down to his subordinates.

A man who was clearly less than bright, but who thought very highly of himself and over the past ten years, had made it very clear that he believed he had been unfairly treated by various promotion boards and repeatedly passed over for promotions, that should have been his for the asking.

Physically unimposing as a policeman.  Five nine, slightly overweight, completely bald, perpetual frown and introverted.  Well-known for his bad temper and dislike for anyone who disagreed with him.  Never wrong.  The type of supervisor who always managed to find an underling scapegoat if anything he himself was responsible for went sideways.

An unforgiving man with a long memory.

Not someone you wanted to have on your bad side.

Dave didn’t know what to think.

He’d never in his wildest dreams even remotely considered that the Chief would select this dolt to replace Henderson.

Dave entered his own office and closed his door softly behind him.  He took his cap and overcoat off and hung them on the hook on the back of the door and then sucked in a deep breath.

What in heavens’ name had the Chief been thinking?

Dave perched his butt on the corner of his desk and shifted his mind back to the last conversation he’d had with Henderson as to what he intended to recommend to the Chief - mentally rerunning parts of that discussion.

‘… I’m going to suggest that he select my replacement by way of a current Inspector who has had some minor experience with the detective division, but one who is of a seniority that means he has no more than a couple of years left to put in before he pensions off.

That way you will still have a good chance to take the top spot once he goes.

I’m also going to push for someone who is already in a ‘pre-retirement’ frame of mind and more importantly, who has already been promoted past his abilities within the department.

Someone who the Chief considers likely to be happy with leaving you to do all the work and make all the important decisions, while he sits, happily on his duff, studying travel brochures in this office, in name only.

In other words, a guy who will keep out of your hair and let you run the squad your way.’

Then he reweighed what the Chief had said to him when he saw him last.

‘… he’s came up with a backup proposal, one that he led me to believe he’d discussed in a general sense with you already.

…  the less we talk about it the better. Suffice to say I will play my part in this and I’ve already got somebody in mind who might just fit the bill.

… the two deputies are going to be nattering at me about the man I’ve chosen and trying to get me to reconsider.  I can ride that out, and if you can do your part to make the squad run smoothly, despite who is sitting in the corner office down there, I think the whole thing will blow over in time.

…If all goes well, when the new guy retires in two year’s time, you’ll be a shoe-in to replace him.

I’m sticking me neck out here Staff/Sergeant Richards.  Don’t make me regret it.’

Dave rolled forward off his desk, left his office and walked down the hall.

He knocked and opened the door to the Inspector’s office.

For better or worse, stepped directly into the lion’s den.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

- September 2005 -

Kenny turned twenty-eight on the first of the month.

As he had for the past five years, he celebrated his birthday by way of adding yet another victim to his tally.

Over that timeframe, he had been able to maintain his system without any serious hitches and his total kills now numbered sixty-eight.

As August was coming to an end, the hint of a problem had arisen - one that he recognized he would have to deal with before it got out of hand.  It was a concern that he admitted he had initially recognized over several months but had been hesitant to deal with.

The problem was Robbie.

It was a two-fold concern.

Firstly, Robbie had matured, reaching an age that made him far less sexually desirable to Kenny.

Secondly, recently Robbie had begun to openly express disenchanted with the current state-of-affairs.

As Kenny got his real kicks from his monthly kills, his need for Robbie as a sex partner between kills was, while necessary for his daily comfort, certainly not paramount and in fact was waning.

Now, if that had been the only problem, he could have dismissed it as minor.

However, an uncooperative and moody Robbie was a risk that Kenny was not prepared to take.  He sensed that he was losing the ability to fully dominate Robbie and that was completely unacceptable.

A Robbie deciding to vary the procedure for whatever reason by thinking on his own could only eventually lead to a screw-up which would leave Kenny vulnerable. Additionally, in mid-August, Robbie had casually mentioned to Kenny that he had noticed that none of the past targets he had selected for their nights of special fun, seemed to be currently working the stroll.

While he had made no further comment in that regard at the time, it seemed obvious to Kenny that Robbie was curious about this situation.  It was a transient lifestyle for sure, which would go a long way to explaining their absence and Kenny had immediately pointed that out.

As he had done so, he’d carefully watched Robbie’s facial expressions.  By now, he could read the kid like a book, and he doubted that Robbie had found his answer a fully satisfactory explanation for the missing boys.

It was then that Kenny had decided that Robbie had become far to independent in thought for his own good.  He had become more trouble than he was worth.

The problem would have to be nipped in the bud.

Things had been going along extremely well and this development was discouraging to say the least.

That said, Kenny had known from the start that this would probably happen at some point.  He had also been fully aware that the concept of replacing Robbie would necessitate him again putting himself into direct contact with the stroll to select a replacement.  With that contact would come all the risks the process would subsequently entail.

Kenny didn’t like the idea one damn bit, but the alternative was far worse.

Which was why this month was going to be an extra special one.

Kenny got Robbie very drunk during their session with the September target at the house in the east-side.

When they were finished with the victim, Kenny presented Robbie with two pre-drawn documents to sign, explaining them away as necessary for tax purposes.

In fact, the two certificates actually served to sign away the ownership of both the house and Mustang on Robbie’s part although the signature of the purchaser on each, remained blank.

That done, Kenny poured them each a nightcap before he got ready to leave for the night.

He saw to it that Robbie’s drink contained a good dose of Rohypnol.

Kenny waited for it to take effect and then, with a good deal of effort loaded the semi-conscious forms of both Robbie and the night’s target into his truck and put the Mustang into the garage before securing the house and heading for home.

Kenny took great care on the drive.  He sure as hell didn’t want to attract any attention with the two of them laid out in the back seat of the truck’s cab.

As he stopped for an amber light two blocks away from the house, he took the opportunity to look up into his rear-view mirror to check on his cargo.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a cube-van headed toward him from across the intersection.  The light turned red and Kenny realized that the van was not going to stop but had instead accelerated toward him through the intersection.

Kenny swore as he watched it shoot through the red light and as time stood still for a second, he prayed that the stupid bastard would make it safely through.  He sure as hell didn’t want to be involved in an accident now.

Luckily, traffic was light and there were no vehicles crossing on the green.   The truck made it though without incident.

Well, yes and no.

As luck would have it, the intersection had red-light cameras and Kenny watched the camera across the intersection flash, indicating that the cube van had been recorded running the light.

Relieved, Kenny let out a nervous laugh.

Asshole got himself a ticket.  Serves him right!

The remainder of the trip proved uneventful, but Kenny remained on pins-and-needles, until he had parked the truck safely in his own garage and closed the door.

The worst was over.

Now, once he had the two of them into the secure room, he could chill and get ready to thoroughly enjoy the rest of the night.

Kenny was highly aroused by the prospect and eager to get started.

Kenny did Robbie first.

The sex itself was old hat and not particularly exciting, although he did get an absolutely-stupendous, high when he was finally free to take Robbie all the way and actually haul the choke-chain tight while simultaneously finishing in Robbie’s writhing body.

He then wrapped Robbie’s corpse in a rubber sheet and dumped it on the floor, before re-placing him on the bed with the stripped quarry and shackling him securely in place.

Once that was done, he began to relax a little and spent a while just gazing appreciatively at his new victim as he rubbed his hands lovingly over the nude semi-conscious form.

He decided to wait for a couple of hours before doing this new one.  Letting the excitement re-build before he got started again.  With that in mind he bent over the now passive form on the bed and kissed each of the firm buttock cheeks firmly, before turning his attention to dealing with Robbie’s rubber-sheet wrapped form.

Because of the relatively high temperature of the day, he knew he would have to process the bodies quickly to save the meat.  He’d determined to process them both at once, and as he would be keeping the new one for at least a couple of days before finishing with him, he needed to put Robbie into cold storage ASAP.

Whistling softly to himself, he used the dolly to cart Robbie out to the butchering building and left him, still wrapped in the rubber sheet, on the floor of one of the big commercial freezers.

On September the fourth, Kenny butchered the two bodies and immediately processed the meat, which resulted in his largest ever sausage run.  It was a lot of work, but by the evening he had cleaned up and was in the process of burning the clothing and personal effects.

For the first time in years, Kenny’s confidence had taken a hit.  He was unhappy about, and lamenting the fact that Robbie was out of the picture and he now had to start all over in selecting a new cohort and all the trouble and risk that was likely to entail.

Subsequently, he put it off as long as he could, but by mid-month he was already beginning to feel the pressure to get the job done to ensure that he would be ready for the first of October.

The monthly routine he had set up was by this time, set in stone.  He knew there was no way he would be mentally or physically able to skip the October first date for his next kill.

Finding the right kid turned out to be even harder than he’d envisioned.

He spent more than a week prowling the stroll before he was confident enough to make his move.  By that time, he was a wreck.  Over the period, he hadn’t been able to eat or sleep properly and his self-confidence was at a low.

He was afraid of the risk, unsure of his ability to make a good choice and ended up rejecting his eventual choice at the very last minute on two separate nights, before, at his wits end, had let him in the truck.

It appeared that he had lucked in.

Joel Hurst, looked no more than fourteen but was sixteen and had a driver’s licence; necessary, as he would have to be able to drive.

The kid was unquestionably cute, on the small size and baby-faced, but the shorts and muscle shirt he was wearing when he’d climbed into the passenger seat of the truck, clearly outlined a good body.

Kenny figured he was new to the scene for sure. He hadn’t been on the street until the last three days of Kenny’s search.  Kenny had spotted him standing off by himself.  Obviously unsure of himself and scared shitless about being on the stroll.

He certainly appeared gay, all the mannerisms were clearly there.  Effeminate to a degree, though not to the point of unattractiveness.

On that third night, when Kenny had finally pulled to the curb, he’d had to motion the kid to the truck several times, before he’d had the courage to approach.

By the time Kenny had Joel back at the house in east Vancouver he found out that the kid had been orphaned early in life and then been taken over by the province and bounced around from foster home to foster home for the last ten years.

He’d been both mentally and sexually abused in the last two and taken off from the final one just days before Kenny had spotted him on the stroll.

Kenny’s self confidence had rebounded, and he was certain he had scooped up exactly what he’d been looking for.

It would be a busy week ahead, but if I really put my mind to it, Joel will be ready to go for the first of October.

Just after five in the evening on September the fifteenth, Inspector Dave Richards was waiting for Staff/Sergeant Ed Hamilton to join him for their regular, Monday to Friday afternoon change-of-shift meeting.

Dave was standing looking out the window of his corner office in Major Crime, scanning the bright blue and cloudless sky when Ed knocked and entered his office.

They exchanged greetings and moved across the room to sit at the small conference table.

It had been an eventful five years for both men.

The Chief had been true to his word and both had been promoted as planned.  There had been some uneasy blips over that time, primary during the two years under the command of the, now retired, Inspector Campbell.

Nothing that Dave hadn’t been able to handle by using ‘kid gloves’ and a good deal of flattery, however.

Since Campbells retirement, things in the squad had been going very well.

Through attrition, Dave had taken great care to recruit bright and eager young detectives to replace the older, and in some cases, less productive pool he had inherited and statistically, the squad was currently performing well above expectation.

The day-to-day operation had become second nature to both Dave and Ed and both were becoming a little restless due to the lack of a new challenge.

That was about to change.

It was toward the end of the month, and it was Dave’s wife Linda, who started the ball rolling.

She and Dave were at home cleaning up after dinner.  Dave loading the dishwasher, while Linda wiped down the counters.  They had been working silently for several minutes before she spoke

“An interesting report landed on my desk this morning...”

Dave looked up at her as he closed the door on the dishwasher.

“Oh, and what did it have to say?’

She tossed him the cloth she’d been using, and he rinsed it and draped it over the tap as she continued.

“…not that much really.  It’s what was implied that got my attention.

It was from one of the front-line social workers on the ‘Boystown’ stroll.”

She raised the wine bottle sitting on the table and waved it at him and Dave nodded as she refilled their glasses before settling down onto one of the chairs at the table.  He left the sink and sat down across from her.

“And?”

Linda reached down and opened her briefcase, which she’d left by her chair when she got home.  She pulled out a sheaf of stapled papers and passed them to him.

“I think maybe you should read it.

You remember way back when I said that we seemed to be losing a lot of the boys we had taken an interest in, far more than the number of girls?  The statistics in this report seem to drive that point home rather strongly.

I’ll let you form your own opinion before I tell you mine.  Give it a read while I go check on Bless and the kids.”

Dave took a sip of wine as he watched her walk out of the kitchen, then he picked up the report and began to read.

It was about ten pages long, the last four, a set of graphs.

He was aware of her coming back into the room some time later, but his interest had been piqued and he didn’t look up as she sat down across from him and picked up her glass.

By this point, Dave had reached the graphs at the end and when he’d finished eyeballing them, he set the document down on the table and leaned back in his chair.

“Intriguing for sure…doesn’t add up when you compare the males and the females…so what did you make of it.  Something is out of whack, yes?”

Linda smiled and shook her head.

“Nope, you first.”

Dave frowned and sat forward, resting his elbows on the table.

“You’d have a better idea than I would.  Its your bailiwick, not mine.”

Linda raised her eyebrows.

“Are you sure of that?”

He frowned.

Linda shrugged her shoulders.

“These boys are going somewhere.  I know, I know, it’s a transient lifestyle.  They come, and they go.  But just not as regularly or this often and none of them have come back.  And did you notice…they are all recently arrived on the street, young, have similar physical descriptions and; in a general sense, are also very similar in appearance.”

Dave nodded.  He now knew where she was going with this.

“You think maybe, just maybe, we have a serial killer on our hands.”

Linda nodded.

“These stats go back over at last seven years and if you base an assessment on the last five, you must accept that the numbers indicate one hell of an uptick over that time line.”

Dave leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms.  He thought for a few seconds before he responded.

“Ok, but we’d need to have more than this one report before we reach that conclusion.  What are you suggesting?

“For now, a joint operation.

If this is what I think it might be, it’s obviously something that you will end up running with.

For now, I would think maybe statistics and case load facts from me and from you, a discreet on-going street surveillance, on the stroll itself by one of your teams.

Let’s see if we can nail anything down.”

Dave took a deep breath.

“Ok, I’ll get my team set up tomorrow.

You get some people working on the data relating to each of these ‘missing-in-action’ boys.  Bring home whatever you have each night and we’ll discuss it.  I don’t think it will take more than a few weeks to reach a conclusion one way or another.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

- October 2005 –

Kenny was ecstatic.

Joel was tuning out to be a gem, though yet, not an ideally polished one.

Perhaps a bit too early to be unquestionably convinced; but still delightfully effective at putting asunder a good deal of the worry and sweat he’d suffered over having to reset the stroll selection process.

Brighter than Robbie, quick to learn, all the while lacking in self confidence, subservient and crying out for affection.

Gay and horny.

What more could one ask for?

Kenny still had to be gentle with Joel during their initial sex acts.  That went without saying, but was to be expected, at this early stage of their relationship.

As a result, their one-on-one couplings, did not provide the ideal satisfaction level Kenny had been used to with Robbie.  But that would come in time.

Kenny had to build trust, after all.

He pointedly kept his sessions with the kid relatively mild in nature, unfortunately reducing the personal stimulation he got from them in the early stages.  On the plus side, the kid was already freely open to being dominated, and Kenny was confident that it would surely work itself out over time.

Despite the short prep time, the October first of the month scheduled kill had gone as smooth as silk.  Joel had been eager for the idea of a threesome when Kenny suggested it and had turned out to be a natural.

Although he knew it soon had to be done, Kenny wasn’t quite yet ready to transfer ownership of the Mustang and house to Joel by way of having him sign on the part of the purchaser, the two documents he had prepared and had Robbie sign for that purpose.

That was a big step.

It had to be accomplished for sure, to remove any easily traceable connections between the two of them.  However, prior to committing to that, he would require a little more assurance of Joel’s absolute loyalty.

He would have to make sure to get that out of the way before the next selection process was to take place to facilitate Joel’s choosing of the November target.

A few little things to get tidied up, but all-in-all, reasonably doable.

By the fourth, Kenny had completed his sausage run and clean up.

He now had the rest of the month to get all the parameters set in place for Joel and satisfy himself that he could put any currently remaining concerns aside, for the foreseeable future.

By the end of the month, Kenny was still not completely convinced that he had the kid exactly where he wanted him.  However, still uneasy about sending him out in the Mustang before it and the house had been legally put into his name; he went ahead with the ownership transfers anyway.

In mid-October, Dave, Linda, Ed, and the two younger detectives, Julia Arnold and Jack Stewart, who Dave had selected to set up the surveillance of the stroll met, in Dave’s office.

Julia was thirty-two, stood five feet six. She had a trim athletic build exhibiting well-formed curves in all the right places.  Her thick shoulder-length, dark-brown hair framed cute, if not outright striking facial features.

She wore dark-framed glasses, which seemed to be forever slipping down the bridge of her nose, requiring her to unconsciously push them back into place repeatedly, and spoke with a noticeable English accent.

For work, she normally dressed relatively casually in slacks and a sweater, neither of which were provocative in cut but certainly in their own way, accented her femininity.

Bubbly, full of energy, she didn’t like to sit still.  She could have a short fuse if she felt unnecessarily pandered to, patronized by a male colleague, or challenged about her ability.

When Julia walked into a room, men noticed.

She was once divorced and was currently in a long-standing relationship with Phil, her engineer boyfriend.

Her partner, Jack, was thirty-six.

Jack worked out daily.  His broad-shouldered six-foot-four frame was well muscled.  He kept his dark hair short and had chiselled, if somewhat boyish features, which made him look younger than his years,

Handsome, a quiet man of few words, cool, collected and very confident, he was a no-nonsense type, and was not known for his sense of humour. That aside, he was a skirt-chaser of some repute within the department and had a good number of successful conquests under his belt.

When they had initially been transferred in to the squad, primarily due to their very distinct personalities and reputations, Dave had wondered about what chemistry might raise its ugly head if he chose to pair the two of them up.

He’d been a little hesitant to make the move but, in the end, had taken the chance and to date, had never regretted it.  Together they made a crack team, accepting of each others’ strengths and each readily supportive of the other’s shortcomings.

After making the introductions for the sake of the two detectives who had never met his wife, Dave took the lead.

“We are having this meeting so the rest of us can bring Jack and Julia up to speed on what we are trying to accomplish.  In late September I tasked the two of them with setting up a continuous around-the-clock surveillance of the ‘Boystown’ stroll.  This was done to provide us with an idea of exactly what daily activity takes place down there.

I wanted that type of an overview because of a concern that The Ministry of Human Resources brought to our attention at the end of September.  At that time, Linda showed me a report…”

Dave reached for a stack of paper sitting on the desk in front of him and scooped up the top two stapled items.  He gave one each to his two detectives before continuing.

“…these copies are for you to read when you get the chance.

The long and short of this report suggests, only suggests mind, that a very large number of young male prostitutes have been simply disappearing from the stroll over a long period of time, roughly five years or more.

The numbers suggested in the original report are staggering.  Included was a ratio comparing boys against girls involved in the sex trade, to attempt to illustrate just how glaring the rate of disparity is between the two sexes.”

Dave paused and turned his full attention directly to the detective team, both of whom were by this point hanging on to his every word.

“After reading the report, both Linda and I felt that there might be a possibly, just a possibility that we might have a serial killer preying on the young males working the stroll.”

Dave paused and let that settle in for a few seconds before he spoke again.

“At the time, I suggested that we accept that possibility and that we immediately look deeper into the situation to do our best to either confirm that possibility or dismiss it entirely.

With that in mind, on behalf of the ministry, Linda undertook to immediately review every single file they had opened for boys on the stroll over the past five years and then attempt to trace their current whereabouts if possible; if that was not possible, to garner as much information as they could on when, and under what circumstances they were in when last confirmed to be on the stroll.”

He reached out with both hands and lifted the remaining stack of stapled reports that had been resting on the table in front of him.

“These are the copies of what they unearthed.

Linda, Ed and I have had only a brief chance to peruse them prior to this meeting, but we all agreed that they are disquieting in many ways.

To put it mildly, they do not inspire one to conclude that there isn’t a reasonable concern as to the possibility that we may be very well looking at the work of a serial killer.

And if so, it is one on a massive and continuing scale.

With that in mind, I want to bring Jack and Julia into the full picture at this juncture.

Before I commit wholly to treating this as a serious investigation, I want all of us in this room to spend the next few days studying the information we now have before us, with a view to forming their own opinion of what it tells us.

As you do this, I want you to keep in mind some very salient facts; for example, we have not had a single reported incident confirming this situation, nor have we had even one body turn up that would indicate that such a thing is happening.

No crime scenes.

No complaints.

No bodies.

Conversely, consideration must be given to the fact that this is a marginal population, one that of necessity exists under the radar of not only the general population, but that of the police.  That fact may well tend to explain why we might yet have no crime scenes, no complaints and no bodies, even though a serial killer is in fact at work.

Life on the stroll is populated by a highly transient group of people, many of whom are living day-to-day and as demonstrated by their choice of lifestyle, very likely have no practical fall-back position available to them.

In other words, it is unlikely that they have a better option accessible to them, one that would reasonably allow them to realistically drop out of the picture, without a trace of any kind.

Additional information for us to consider will be coming to us from the ministry as well over that time frame, and Jack and Julia will begin to review our footage of the stroll during this period.

If this turns out to be what we think it might be, it will be one of the biggest investigations this department has ever undertaken.  That being the case, I must stress that it is imperative that what is said here between us now, must remain within these walls.

No leaks.

If this is a serial killer, we do not want to send him underground, because if we do, past case studies tell us that its highly unlikely we will ever catch him.

So, we keep what we know between us.

We’ll give ourselves a week to reach a decision.

Linda won’t be joining us again, as from this point on she will just be providing us with a continuous stream of updates on client files.  She will not be directly involved with any investigative efforts that we may decide to undertake.

The rest of us will meet back here, same day and time, next week.”

Each passing day had produced additional, more thorough examination of individual files by the ministry for Dave and Ed to study and analyse for any indication of obvious interest and investigative value.  Jack and Julia worked overtime throughout, initially reading the reports in-depth and following that up by watching surveillance disks of life on the stroll, to see if they could determine any patterns that might indicate what was going on, one way or the other.

For all concerned the week passed quickly.

When the four gathered for their second meeting, Dave turned his attention to the two young detectives and opened the discussion.

“Ok, you’ve had a chance to thoroughly digest and access the reports and the tapes.  What do you make of it?”

Julia responded.

“We both feel that its not only possible that we have a serial killer preying on the stroll, its probable.”

Dave nodded and looked at Ed.

“Well then, that makes four of us.

And that means I’ve got to take this to the Chief and let him know what’s going on.  I’ll need him to sign off on this before we take the next step.

I’ll do that first thing in the morning and in anticipation of him giving me the green light, our next move will be to initiate the departmental investigative procedure on serial killers.

Ed, would you dig out the procedure tonight?

I wrote it up eons ago.  I’ve made some updates since then, but the last time I did it was a couple of years ago and there will likely be new information available today, information that wasn’t available the last time I looked at it.

With that in mind, spend your shift garnering any pertinent law-enforcement updates and revising our procedure accordingly.

I want us to be as up to speed as possible as we can be by morning.

Jack, you and Julia each take one of these follow-up reports home with you tonight...”

He selected two of the four stapled reports from the pile in front of him and passed them across the table to them.

“…these are updates to the ministry client reports we already have on hand; ones that they’ve delved deeper into over the past week.  They provide a lot more detail in relation to several of the individuals overviewed in the last batch.

This is all we have to go on, at this stage.  Somewhere in this information, is a key to opening the door to the case.

My suggestion would be for you to look for a specific thing when you go through them.

Using the additional information, see if you can nail down the shortest possible window of opportunity our serial killer was afforded, in relation to one or more of the boys.  Look for those cases in which we can be sure of a specific timeframe between when they were first noted as having hit the stroll by ministry staff and then the date of their subsequent disappearances.

The ministry street workers check the stroll daily for new arrivals.

The dates these kids are first recorded by them can be expected to be very accurate in relation to when they first joined the stroll.  So, pay particular attention to those individuals who we can definitely pinpoint as recent arrivals on the stroll and who then dropped out of sight before the ministry ever had a chance to interact with them for a second time.

What we want to do is to see if we can find a pattern of some kind.

For example, if we have the ministry registering a newbie client who arrived on a specific day, and who, at the initial contact, seemed responsive to their offer of assistance, and then he simply vanishes from the stroll two or three days later; that kind of information alone may give us a starting point for our investigation.”

That should keep everyone busy until tomorrow.  So, let’s put it aside for now and look at what’s coming at us.

Ed and I have both taken the FBI course on serial killers.

It was a while back, but I think we both have a fair understanding of what we are facing here.

You, on the other hand haven’t and you should be forewarned as to just how difficult this type of investigation will likely be.

Simply put, it is like nothing else you’ve ever had to deal with.   For the most part, normal procedures don’t initially work when going after serial killers.

If they did, they wouldn’t be able to continue murdering to the point of becoming serial killers.

In the morning we’ll give you a general overview as to the investigational techniques that have historically brought the best results.  That will at least give you a rough idea of how we will be handling it.

Okay, that will keep us all busy for now.  We’ll meet again after I’ve talked to the Chief, to go over the updated departmental procedure and ensure we are all up to speed on the best practices.

Once that’s been done, we’ll jointly review what pertinent information, if any, we’ve managed to garner from the additional reports provided to us by the ministry.

Get a good sleep tonight.

You’re going to need it.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

- Early November 2005 -

Over the past week, dull rainy days had returned to the Vancouver lower mainland.

Kenny did his best to write his recent moodiness off to the dismal weather, but the fact that he wasn’t yet completely confident in Joel’s ability to play his part in the first of the month kill, had been primarily responsible.

His concerns in that area proved to be unfounded, however.

The kid’s choice of a victim turned out to be a reasonably good one.

And, everything went off smoothly.

By the afternoon of the fourth of the month, Kenny was finished with the sausage run and his cleanup. He had come out of his funk.  His outlook for the future seemed considerably brighter than it had at any point since he’d had to put Robbie down and therein face the prospect of a fair amount of uncertainty and risk.

Everything seemed to be back on track again.

As he watched the personal effects turning to ash in the burning barrel, Kenny found himself looking forward to spending some quality time working on Joel sexually, with the aim of improving his gratification of the one-on-one nightly sessions during the time before they executed the December first quarry pickup.

On the morning of the fifth of November, Dave, Ed, Julia and Jack were once again gathered together around the small conference table in Dave’s office.  The aroma of fresh coffee filled the room.

In front of them, each had a revised copy of the departmental procedure manual on serial killers Ed had recently worked on.  They had received their copies the day before and both Jack’s and Julia’s versions appeared well thumbed.

A large stack of file folders containing the ministry reports received to date sat in front of Jack with a smaller pile in front of Julia.

Dave had had his meeting with the Chief and he’d been given the green light to open an initial investigation of the situation.  At the time, the Chief had asked if Dave wanted any additional manpower for the project, but Dave had declined the offer, explaining that at this stage he had sufficient for his needs. Instead, he said he’d keep the Chief posted as to necessary manpower allotments, if it appeared they were in fact dealing with a serial killer and as the investigation proceeded.

The Chief’s interest had been definably piqued, and he’d instructed Dave to keep him in the loop.

Once the four of them had imbibed in a few sips of coffee, Dave lifted his own copy of Ed’s rewrite.

“Ok, let’s get started.

We’ve all had a chance to go over this and get up to speed on the latest methods and we have the Chief’s agreement on proceeding to confirm what we are up against.

Ed has done an excellent job in updating our original manual to include the very latest methods of investigating serial killings.

First thing now, is for us to be sure we are all on the same page as we proceed with our investigation.

So, welcome to ‘Serial Killer 101’.

The topic of serial murder occupies a unique niche within the criminal justice population. In addition to the significant investigative challenges they bring to police agencies; serial murder cases tend to attract an over-abundance of attention from the media, mental health experts, academia, and the public.

Over the past several years, there has been significant, independent work conducted by a variety of experts to identify and analyze the many issues related to serial murder.  Unfortunately, during that period there has not been any real concerted effort to reach a consensus between the police agencies and all those other experts, regarding these matters.

As luck would have it, the FBI very recently hosted a multi-disciplinary symposium in San Antonio, Texas.  It took place from August the twenty-ninth 2005, through to September second, 2005.

The goal of the Symposium was to bring together a group of respected experts on serial murder from a variety of fields and specialties, with the intention of identifying any commonalities of knowledge.

One hundred and thirty-five experts attended the five-day event.

Those in attendance also included representatives of police agencies who had successfully investigated and apprehended serial killers as well as officers of the court, who had judged, prosecuted, and defended serial killers; and members of the media who’s job it is to inform and educate the public when serial killers strike.

All were given an opportunity to share their expertise.

The attendees also reflected the international nature of the serial murder problem.

They came from ten different countries on five continents.

The agenda encompassed a variety of topics related to serial murder.  These included common myths, definitions, typologies, pathology and causality, forensics as well as the role of the media, prosecution issues, investigative Task Force organization, and major case management issues.

Each day included panel discussions, case presentations, and discussion groups which addressed a variety of topics related to serial murder.

Courtesy of Ed, we can now take advantage of what came out of that symposium.

As at least some of this is new to all of us,  I’m going to run over the pertinent points to ensure that as we begin, we share a basic understanding of what is ahead and how we are going to deal with it.

Any questions so far?”

Heads shook, and Dave continued.

“First a little background.

Serial murder is neither a new phenomenon, nor is it uniquely North American. Serial killers have been reported around the world for over a century.  That said, serial murder is a relatively rare event, estimated to comprise less than one percent of all murders committed in any given year.

While rare, it repeatedly stimulates a macabre interest in the topic - one that far exceeds its scope.

A good portion of the general public’s knowledge concerning serial murder comes from how it has been depicted in the movies we see. The problem with that is that in these, the story lines are created to heighten the interest of audiences, rather than to accurately portray serial murder.

By focusing on the atrocities inflicted on victims by ‘deranged’ offenders, the public is captivated by the criminals and their crimes, which tends to lead to confusion as to the true dynamics of serial murder.

Historically we police had been subject to the same misinformation, albeit from a different source - the use of anecdotal information. Professionals involved in serial murder cases, such as investigators, prosecutors, and pathologists rarely have had more that a limited exposure to serial murder. Their experience is often based upon a single murder series, and the factors in that case are then often improperly extrapolated to other serial murders.

As a result, certain stereotypes and misconceptions take root when it comes to the actual nature of serial murder and the characteristics of serial killers.

A growing trend that compounds the fallacies surrounding serial murder is the ‘talking heads’ phenomenon. Given creditability by the media, these self-proclaimed authorities profess to have an expertise in serial murder.

They appear frequently on television and in the print media and speculate on the motive for the murders and the characteristics of the possible offender, without being privy to the facts of the investigation. This often impairs law enforcement’s investigative efforts.

The relative rarity of serial murder combined with inaccurate, anecdotal information and fictional portrayals of serial killers in the past has resulted in creating many common myths and misconceptions regarding serial murder.

For example, contrary to current belief, most serial killers are not reclusive, social misfits who live alone. They are not monsters and may appear quite normal. Many hide in plain sight within their communities. They often have families and homes, are gainfully employed, and appear to be normal members of the community.

Because many serial murderers can blend in so effortlessly, they are oftentimes overlooked by both the police and the public.

Serial killers are not all white males.

They come from all racial groups.

Serial killers are not always transient.

Most serial killers have a very defined geographic area of operation. They primarily conduct their killings within comfort zones that are defined by an anchor point, a residence or a place of employment.  A small number of serial killers have much larger comfort zones, usually due to their employment, for example long-distance truckers. The difference between these types of offenders and other serial murderers is the nature of their traveling lifestyle, which provides them with many zones of comfort in which to operate. While it is commonly believed that serial killers cannot stop killing, some can and do.

However, these are relatively rare.

Any ability to do so is normally due to events or circumstances in their lives that inhibit them from pursuing more victims. These can include increased participation in family activities, sexual substitution, or other diversions.

It has been intimated that a serial killer must be either insane or an evil genius.  In truth, serial killers tend to suffer from a variety of personality disorders, including psychopathy and anti-social personalities.  When caught and facing trial however, most are not adjudicated as insane under the law.  As in other populations, serial killers range in intelligence from borderline to above average levels.

Ask anyone if all serial killers want to be caught.  They will inevitably say yes, but that is not the case.

When killing for the first time, its true that most are inexperienced. It seems to be the case that while most serial killers plan their offenses more thoroughly than other criminals, the learning curve is still very steep. They must select, target, approach, control, and dispose of their victims. The logistics involved in committing a murder and disposing of the body can become very complex, especially when there are multiple sites involved.

But they tend to gain experience and confidence with each additional kill, often moving on to succeed with few mistakes or problems.

As serial killers continue to offend while avoiding capture they can become empowered, feeling they will never be identified. As the series continues, investigations have determined they may begin to take shortcuts when committing their crimes. This may cause them to take more chances, which in turn may lead to them coming onto police radar.

It isn’t that serial killers want to get caught; its simply that they feel that they cannot be caught.

As much as it would be great for us to take for granted that there is a single generic profile of a serial murderer, that’s not the case.  Serial killers differ in many ways, including their motivations for killing and their behavior at the crime scene.

That said, certain traits are common to some serial murderers.

These traits and behaviors are consistent with the psychopathic personality disorder. They include sensation-seeking, a lack of remorse or guilt, impulsivity, the need for control, and predatory behavior.

It’s therefore vital for each of us to understand psychopathy and its relationship to serial murder.

Psychopathy is a personality disorder which is manifested in people who use a mixture of charm, manipulation, intimidation, and occasionally violence to control others, to satisfy their own selfish needs.

The degree of psychopathy an individual possesses can be measured through clinical assessment.  This is done by measuring a distinct cluster of personality traits and socially-deviant behaviors of an individual.

These fall into four categories: interpersonal, affective, lifestyle, and anti-social.

The interpersonal traits include glibness, superficial charm, a grandiose sense of self-worth, pathological lying, and the manipulation of others.

The affective traits include a lack of remorse and/or guilt, shallow affect, a lack of empathy, and failure to accept responsibility.

The lifestyle behaviors include stimulation-seeking behavior, impulsivity, irresponsibility, parasitic orientation, and a lack of realistic life goals.

The anti-social behaviors include poor behavioral controls, early childhood behavior problems, juvenile delinquency, revocation of conditional release, and criminal versatility.

The combination of these individual personality traits, interpersonal styles, and socially deviant lifestyles are the framework of psychopathy.

They can manifest themselves differently in individual psychopaths.

Research has demonstrated that in those offenders who are psychopathic, scores vary, ranging from a high degree of psychopathy to some measure of psychopathy. However, not all violent offenders are psychopaths and not all psychopaths are violent offenders. If violent offenders are psychopathic, they can assault, rape, and murder without concern for legal, moral, or social consequences.

This allows them to be in absolute control, to do what they want, whenever they want.

The relationship between psychopathy and serial killers is particularly interesting.

Not all psychopaths become serial murderers. Rather, serial murderers may possess some or many of the traits consistent with psychopathy. Psychopaths who commit serial murder do not value human life and are extremely callous in their interactions with their victims. This is particularly evident in sexually motivated serial killers who repeatedly target, stalk, assault, and kill without any sense of remorse.

However, psychopathy alone does not explain the motivations of a serial killer.

Understanding psychopathy becomes particularly critical to law enforcement during a serial murder investigation and upon the arrest of a psychopathic serial killer. The crime scene behavior of psychopaths is likely to be distinct from other offenders. This distinct behavior can help us in linking serial cases.

Psychopaths are not sensitive to altruistic interview themes, such as sympathy for their victims or remorse/guilt over their crimes. They do however, possess certain personality traits that can be exploited.  Specifically, their inherent narcissism, selfishness, and vanity. Exclusive themes in past successful interviews of psychopathic serial killers focused on praising their intelligence, cleverness, and skill in evading capture.”

Dave noticed that despite holding their interest and the fact that the young team of detectives were making copious notes, Julia was beginning to fidget and more than a few eyes were beginning to glaze over.

He glanced up at the clock and smiled.

“Right, although the topic is interesting it tends to be dry when belaboured.

Let’s break for lunch and meet back here at one.”

They were all back in his office at a quarter to the hour.

Dave took this as a positive sign.  He picked up where he’d left off.

“Motive.

It normally plays a large part in any investigation.  Know the motive and you are on your way to knowing your perp.  Most homicides are committed by someone known to the victim, so police immediately focus on the relationships closest to the victim. This is always a successful strategy to use in most murder investigations.

Unfortunately, motive in the case of a serial killer can be hard to nail down.

Most serial killers are not usually acquainted with or involved in a consensual relationship with their victims.  Subsequently, we need to understand that motive can be extremely difficult to determine during a serial murder investigation.

A serial murderer may have multiple motives for committing his crimes.

Their motives could evolve both within a single murder as well as throughout the murder series.  Any classification of motivations should be limited to observable behavior at the crime scene.

Even if a motive can be identified, it will not necessarily be helpful in identifying the serial murderer. Utilizing investigative resources to discern the motive instead of identifying the offender can derail the investigation.  Investigators should not necessarily equate a serial murderer’s motivation with the level of injury.

Regardless of the motive, most serial murderers commit their crimes primarily because they want to.

That said, serial killers can be motivated by many things.

These include anger demonstrated as rage or hostility towards certain subgroups of the population or simply with society.  Or, criminal enterprise in which the offender benefits in status or monetary compensation by committing murder that is drug, gang, or organized-crime related.

It could also be for financial gain, where the offender benefits monetarily from each death.  Examples of this would be ‘black widow’ killings, robbery homicides, or multiple killings involving insurance or welfare fraud.

Ideology could be the motive; the intent to further the goals and ideals of a specific individual or group by way of the commission of multiple murders. Examples of these include terrorist groups. The ‘power/thrill’, during which the killer feels empowered and/or excited when he kills his victims.  Psychosis resulting from the offender suffering from a severe mental illness and who kills because of that illness during which they may experience auditory and/or visual hallucinations. Or, paranoid, grandiose, or bizarre delusions. And, often there is a sexually-based motivation, driven by the sexual needs and/or desires of the offender.

The serial killer selects a victim, regardless of the category, based upon availability, vulnerability, and desirability.

Availability is explained as the lifestyle of the victim or circumstances in which the victim is involved, which facilitates the offenders access to the victim.

Vulnerability is defined as the degree to which the victim is susceptible to attack by the offender.

Desirability is described as the appeal of the victim to the offender. It involves numerous factors based upon the motivation of the offender and may include issues dealing with the race, gender, ethnic background, age of the victim, or other specific preferences the offender predetermines.”

Dave paused and took a sip of his now cold coffee, then leaned back in his chair and stretched.

In a few words, Julia quietly articulated what, albeit to varying degrees, all four of them were thinking.

“Needle in a haystack comes to mind.”

Ed gave a thumbs-up and grinned.

“Nicely put.”

Dave nodded and let out a deep sigh.

“OK, that’s enough for now about who we are looking for.

Before we move on to how we are going to structure our investigation to find this bastard, let’s shift to assessing what we have to go on so far.

Julia, you and Jack have been looking into that, so I’ll turn the floor over to you.”

Julia set her right hand on the files in front of her.

“Well, we haven’t had a lot of time, but we’ve allotted what we had to two specific paths.  The reports from the ministry and the round-the-clock surveillance we were able to get in place.

The reports based on the client files took priority.

We managed to go back chronologically over the last two years, with a view that those would probably be the most helpful.  Having done that, we have been unable to trace any of the teens in the files we brought with us today.

They’ve simply vanished into thin air.  On the stroll one day and gone, without a trace, shortly thereafter.”

She paused to let them think that fact over and then continued.

“The sixteen files Jack and I have brought today have been selected out of the hundreds of client files that were opened by the ministry over the last two years only.  That’s as far back as we have had been able to go within the timeframe we had to make our search.

Of those, the seven I have in front of me are the ones that tell us the most. The ones in front of Jack are from the same period but appear to provide less firm information in them, than mine.

Keeping in mind what you said about trying to find any patterns and specifically trying to nail down a time-frame over which the victims are going missing, we have had some success, I think.  It’s early days yet of course but Jack and I believe that we have found at least a couple of starting points.

The ministry street-teams are very good at spotting new arrivals on the stroll and quickly registering them.

Without detailing the specific parameters that we had set for ourselves in our examination of each case, something we did with the knowledge that these may well change as the investigation develops, we did come up with a couple of indisputable facts.

Firstly, the boys we are concerned with are being picked up toward the end of each month and the selections took place over no more than a three-day period.

In each case, the victims selected were not seen on the stroll again after the first of the following month.  It’s important to note that each of my cases here, strongly confirms these facts and that, while the remainder, those in front of Jack, may not completely support that supposition; they do not don’t dispel that probability.”

She paused and turned toward Jack.

“As far as the second revelation goes, I’ll pass that one on to Jack.  He’s done most of the reviewing of the surveillance coverage of the stroll itself.”

Jack cleared his throat and nodded.

“The second interesting points we discovered, came about from the review of the surveillance material coupled with some follow-up interviews and discussions, held with the ministry street workers.

What we learned there seems to indicate that our killer is likely selecting only what are known on the street as ‘recent clients’.   The ministry confirms that in the main, these boys tend to range between twelve and seventeen, have little, if any street smarts and are by far the most vulnerable.

We have also been able to at least nail down a few additional parameters about the victims.

For example, the most common service these kids supply to the ‘Johns’ is oral sex.  A vehicle pulls into the curb opposite them and beckons them over.  After a short conversation, they hop into the passenger seat and the car pulls out.

Apparently, they find a quiet spot nearby, laneway or what-have-you and that’s were the sex act takes place. This transaction is usually consummated quickly, and these kids are often back on the stroll in less than an hour, frequently in half that time.

In a minority of cases, anal sex is the soup-of-the-day and this usually takes a little longer.

On very rare occasions, a boy or boys, may be picked up for a ‘Party’, which can mean they will be gone for several hours or even over-night.

The deep furrows etched into the space between Dave’s eyebrows seemed to disappear for the first time since the meeting began.

“Right.  Well, its not a lot but at least it gives us something concrete to move forward on.

Okay, I’ll have to give the Chief and update on what we have, first thing in the morning.

Ed, I’d like you to sit down with Jack and Julia at the same time and put your heads together.  See if you can summarize and confirm exactly what we have so far and determine what kind of additional tools we need to bring into play now, if any.  That may include additional manpower in various forms.

Tomorrow at eleven, we’ll meet back here and share and discuss the remainder of the updated information we’ve found in the FBI symposium conclusions - specifically, those related to the procedures and structure we intend to use for the expanding investigation.

CHAPTER THIRTY

- Mid-November 2005 -

Grooming Joel meant Kenny needed to dedicate a fair amount of time with the kid during the day, assessing his needs with the goal of ensuring that the kid was generally happy with the new arrangement. Within a couple of weeks, he had a good idea of what would be required.

Initially they spent a few hours each day out and about enjoying various entertainment activities together before returning to the east-end home to relax, before getting into the sex sessions.

The video games he’d set up for Robbie seemed to appeal to Joel as much as they had to Robbie and kept him happily engrossed for hours.  He found that whereas Robbie had leaned more toward alcohol, Joel preferred pot, and Kenny ensured that there was a good supply on hand.

Joel proved to be an eager learner and Kenny’s early assessment of the kid’s subservient sexual proclivity was correct.

The kid wanted attention so badly, he readily welcomed the contact, was very eager to please, and pretty much willing to try anything.

Recently Kenny had begun to use restraints during their couplings and had introduced the casual use of the choke chain.

Kenny was still taking it easy, letting the kid get used to complete subjugation in progressive steps.  His initial restraint seemed to be proving worthwhile.  The kid had a fabulous body and their sessions were becoming very hot.

Kenny felt that by the end of the month any remaining small kinks would be worked out.

On the morning of the sixth of November, Ed, Jack and Julia had joined Dave in his office and settled in around the small conference table.

As the two young detectives arranged several stacks of files in front of them, Dave opened the conversation.

“I’ve updated the Chief.  I can’t say that he’s pleased that we’ve come up with the idea of having a probable serial killer working his turf, but he is ready to give us whatever we need to get the job done.

Before we get to deciding on what help we might ask him for, I want to go over the updated information from the recent FBI symposium as it relates to their conclusions regarding optimum procedures and structure needed to ensure a swift and successful conclusion to our problem.

The symposium participants listed the initial identification of a homicide series as the primary investigative challenge leading to the successful apprehension of a serial killer.

Generally, the first indication that a serial murderer is at work has resulted when two or more cases were linked by either forensic or behavioral evidence.

In most cases identifying a homicide series is a relatively simple task, when it takes place in rapidly-developing, high profile cases, which involves low-risk victims.  That’s because those cases are usually reported to the police upon discovery of the crimes and draw immediate media attention, which often results in the location of both crime scene and behavioral evidence.

Our case does not currently fall into that category.

It falls into a more challenging type.

Identifying serial killings involving high-risk victims which may be taking place in multiple jurisdictions can be very difficult.

There is no question that our victims maintain high-risk and transitory lifestyles.  It is also quite likely that our crime scenes may be found in jurisdictions other than our own.”

Dave briefly changed topics.

“Luckily for us, we have already been able to conclude that we have a probable serial killer at work.  In our case, that means that we have already accomplished the symposium-listed primary investigative challenge.

But we still need to prove it, completing all the missing blanks in the five ‘w’s’ and ‘h’ of any investigation that are required to facilitate the laying of criminal charges so that the perp can be taken off the streets and locked up.

So, lets keep those uppermost in mind as we move forward.

The who, the what, the where, the when, the why, and the how.”

He paused and let his words sink in, before returning to the discussions of the symposium conclusions.

“OK, there is a recognition that these types of high-profile investigations present a multitude of leadership challenges for police forces, at all levels.  They stress that it is imperative that strong management throughout the chain of command continually reinforce the supreme goal of the investigation - that being the arrest and prosecution of the offender.

During the investigation of serial killers, the roles of both investigators and supervisors needs to be clearly delineated.

At all times, the investigative function is the primary mission.  All other activities have to be in support of that mission.  To succeed, the actual investigation must be directed by competent homicide investigators, those that have previously demonstrated both the experience to direct and focus the investigative process.

While police administrators often think they should run these investigations themselves because of their importance, that approach simply doesn’t work.  Instead their sole responsibility should be to ensure that the investigators who know what they are doing have the resources to do their job.

Additionally, the job of any supervisors involved have to be primarily concerned with acting as buffers between investigators and the other levels of command.”

He paused again.

“I’ve discussed this with the Chief and he has agreed with this premise.  He’s directed that I assume the position of lead investigator and that the three of you will head up whatever structure we feel we need manpower-wise.  That means if you find it necessary to have the last say over any senior ranks who may partake in various areas over time, so be it.  He’ll see it happens.”

Jack and Julia looked at each other.

Julia responded.

“Are you sure we should be an integral part of the team to run this?  You have several senior detective teams you could have picked to do that.  There is bound to be at least some backlash?

Dave smiled.

“I also discussed that with the Chief, as he raised the same concern.

I told him I wanted you two and I told him why.

You’ve worked homicide exclusively for the past two years and have been involved in this case since the inception.  More important to me is the fact that you’ve both done well so far.  I see no reason to make a change at this critical time in the investigation.  If I were to select a more senior team, it would mean that they would have to be brought up to speed and we really don’t have the time to play that kind of game now.

Based on what we now know, this guy is going to kill again before the end of this month.

The Chief’s response was short and to the point.

You might say it was a test of his previous commitment to the process as laid out by the symposium, which I was surprised to learn, he has found time to read in its entirety.

He said, and I quote.

‘Inspector Richards, I’ve designated you as the lead investigator on this case, and if these are the people you want in place, I support your decision.”

Dave sat back in his chair and gazed across the table at them.

“Do either of you have a problem with my choice of personnel so far?  If so, I’d like to hear it.”

He let the silence fill the room for several seconds before continuing.

“Right, now that that’s out of the way, lets get back to boning up on the symposium conclusions and get about catching this bastard.

We have to consider the various strategies outlined regarding what police executives may consider when preparing for these intense serial killer investigations.  Although you, as investigators, will not be directly involved in the decisions around this, I will have to keep a keen eye on it, so I want you to be familiar with them.

So, here is an overview of what the brass has to do to get and keep things running smoothly:

When necessary, complete memorandums of understanding between different law enforcement agencies when they arise.  This is necessary in order to obtain mutual support agreements and commitments of manpower, resources, and overtime.

Identify all resources that may be needed during the investigation and maintain up-to-date lists of available resources.

When it becomes necessary, create good working relationships with other departments, through networking, scheduled meetings, and joint training prior to calling on them.

Provide on-going training opportunities in the latest techniques and methods of homicide investigation.

The brass also has to see to it that all communication on administrative issues is restricted to management personnel of the various agencies, so as not to distract investigators.  Keep the intense pressure, often resulting during these high-profile investigations, away from the investigators as it tends to decrease logical decision-making.

The rest of the brass responsibilities are their concern and the Chief has indicated he will look after that end.

While these investigations are definitely a team effort, only the Task Force team leader and his inner circle will make decisions relating to the investigative process.

And what the hell is a Task Force you may ask?

Well…for now its the four of us, but that is probably going to change, and it will change rapidly.  We’ll discuss that next, but for now, let’s break for lunch and meet back here at two.”

Everyone was back on the dot of two.  Julia was the first there and was still munching on a sandwich when others arrived

Dave got right to it.

“Task Force…

…once a serial murder series has been identified, it is important to create a Task Force.  This unit that will be responsible for the many operational and investigative issues critical to the successful establishment of an organized investigation.

These types of investigations often end up involving more than one legal jurisdiction.  We are not at the stage where we know that to be true in our situation; however, we should plan for that eventuality in the likelihood that it will occur.

The FBI symposium studied this concept in depth and they’ve concluded the following:

Right from the start, a lead police agency for the Task Force should be designated and assume the primary investigative role. The choice of that lead organization needs to be based upon several factors.  Those include the number and viability of the cases, available resources, and investigative experience. Once established, subsequent law enforcement forces involved in the investigation must be represented by someone within the Task Force.

The chosen model for an effective and reliable investigation identifies a lead investigator and co-investigator, who, regardless of rank, are given complete control of the investigation. These investigators review all incoming information, collate the information, and assign leads.

I will assume the responsibility of lead investigator.  Ed will act as co-investigator.

We will be bumping up one of our in-house sergeants to acting Staff/Sergeant to free us up from the majority of our normal duties in the interim.

As the lead investigators we will handle all crime scene activities and related leads, as each incident may be interwoven. It will also be our shared responsibility, all four of us, to ensure relevant information is distributed to the entire Task Force.

If the flow of incoming information becomes unmanageable due to an excessive influx of investigative tips, the lead investigators will delegate this responsibility to an experienced investigator or team of investigators, who will act as lead control officers.

Julia, you and Jack will fill that spot.

It will be up to you to choose which personal you want for each task as it arises.  I want to emphasise that those choices will not be questioned or challenged in any way by anyone of the same or higher rank and that you should not necessarily use seniority as a guide in making your selections.

We do not want people who lack the skill or ability to do an effective job or who obviously have no desire to be involved in a major case in our Task Force.

Step one in the setup of the Task Force is for the lead investigators to implement a preplanned Task Force model. We will need to establish an information management system to track tips and leads in the case. We will have a dedicated computer system that should be able to account for the idiosyncrasies of the investigation while being flexible enough to handle any contingency.

All personnel we take on board must be familiar with its operation, and it needs to be be pre-tested to insure viability under investigative conditions.

While sufficient manpower is primary to the success of a Task Force, the overwhelming consensus from the attendees at the symposium was that the assignment of excessive numbers of personnel to the investigation may be counterproductive.

A small group of experienced homicide investigators, under the direction of the lead investigator(s), is far more effective than massive number of less experienced investigators or investigators who hold only previous experience in different areas of criminal activity. That is not to say the expert personnel will not be brought in for specific tasks as and when necessary.”

When Dave glanced up from his notes, he saw that both Julia and Jack had heads down and were scribbling furiously on notepads. Julia was having her usual problem with her glasses and on several occasions, she had one hand pushing them back into place while the other was working her pen.

“Am I going too fast for you?”

The two heads across the table shook in the negative but didn’t lift from the notepads in front of them.

Dave nodded to himself and continued.

There should be a distinct division of responsibility between the administration and investigation of the case.

The task of running the investigation is the sole responsibility of the lead investigator.

The Task Force administration is solely responsible for all the necessary support, including procurement of equipment, funding, and manpower. It will require and achieve authority for priority requests for services, from the forensic laboratory and all other service providers.

That said, the lead investigator and the administrators of the Task Force must have a close, cooperative working relationship despite the need to maintain their own areas of responsibility.

Jack, you and Julia will be responsible for selecting and assigning staff.  One of your first picks should be that of choosing a person to act as liaison officer between us and the families of the victims.  They may well have information that will prove crucial to our investigation.

You should be thinking about who that will be soon.

You will need someone in this spot who will raise the level of confidence in these families in the force’s competency and determination to bring the killer to justice to the point that they will be supportive of the investigative efforts.

An investigator with exceptional interpersonal and communication skills is needed and his sole responsibility will be to maintain constant contact with the families, keeping them apprised of the progress of the investigation and any pending press releases that may be contemplated.

As the investigation grows you will also select someone who can be assigned to act as liaison with the numerous support entities both inside and outside the Task Force, including the prosecutor’s office, the forensic laboratory, the medical examiner’s office, and other law enforcement agencies. Prior to that you need to draw up a list of available experts in specific forensic and related fields and open liaison with them for use in the investigation.

Initially and while the flow of information is manageable, one individual can be assigned to multiple liaison duties.

I think that’s enough for now.

I will be seeing the Chief before he leaves today regarding the provision of an adequate working space for the location of the Task Force.  I’ve outlined what would be ideal, and he says he has some ideas. He told me he would confirm it one way or the other before the day was out.

I’ll go over all the details of what we are going to need in equipment etc. once we have a better idea of what kind of space we’ve been allotted.

We’ll need to get in there and get set up as quickly as possible.  Hopefully we can get started on that first thing in the morning.

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

- Late November 2005 -

With six days still left before month’s end, Joel was coming along nicely, very nicely indeed.

For the first time since he’d had to dump Robbie, Kenny felt fully confident that the problems that situation had created had been well and truly dealt with.

If anything, in some ways, Joel was proving to be the better of the two cut-outs.

He had become as subservient as Robbie and surprisingly even more eager when it came to the sadomasochistic aspect of their sex sessions, the parts Kenny enjoyed the most by far.

He was mentally quicker than Robbie, a fast and eager learner and, big bonus as far as Kenny was concerned, he kept both himself and the house cleaner than Robbie had.

The fact that he was a pothead played both ways.  It was something that could go to excess if Kenny didn’t keep an eye on it, but it also meant that Joel was usually high and laid back, making him even more easy to deal with.

As month-end approached, Kenny found himself relaxed and looking forward to the pick up of the next target.

When leaving the east-Vancouver house to return home just before midnight on the twenty-ninth, he told Joel to go easy with the weed the next day, pointing out to the kid that he would be driving that evening and could not risk the chance of being caught by a cop while driving stoned.

Joel was in love with the Mustang and Kenny knew that the possibility of losing his licence would be a strong deterrent.

The kid had taken the warning to heart.  When Kenny arrived the next afternoon, Joel told him he hadn’t indulged since he got up and it was clear to Kenny that the kid was straight.

After he sent Joel off in the Mustang on the evening of the thirtieth, Kenny experienced anticipation and was understandably a little nervous, but that was to be expected.

The excitement of what was to come, coupled with the adrenalin pump he got each time before a new victim selection went down, inevitably made him a bit hyper each time it occurred.

Besides, he had added an additional safety factor into the method of the stroll pickup.

He’d given the kid a cell phone so that now, if anything untoward happened during the operation, they could immediately communicate, providing Kenny with better control but still allowing him to remain at arms-length from the act.

The phone had been provided with the proviso that it was only to be used when the pickup of a target was underway and only to call the home number of the east-side house to advise of any problems.

At all other times, Kenny kept the phone in his possession.

The three weeks between the sixth and the twenty-eighth of the month had flashed by in a blur for the members of the Task Force.  The first week had been especially daunting.

There had been a good deal of overtime, all authorised without question by the Chief.

During that period, all their efforts had gone into moving upstairs into the area the Chief had ordered repurposed for use by the Task Force and getting it set up with desks computers, dedicated phones and office supplies.

It had turned out to be better than Dave had hoped for. The Chief had given them the exclusive use of the executive boardroom, which was located on the top floor and just two doors down the hall from his own office.

The room was large and unusual in the old building, had a long wall encompassing very large windows, providing natural light and a fairly good view over the building tops and out to the bay beyond.

It had fallen to Ed to oversee the equipment sourcing and supervision of the setup while Dave, Julia and Jack kept up with the investigation.

By the end of week two, they had added three civilian clerks to the team, two data-entry and one who would work general phones and secretarial.  No additional police staff had been deemed necessary at that point, although there were several extra desks, phones and computers stacked against one wall, because they would probably be needed before the case was closed.

It was at the start of the third week before the four of them could get together and sit down as a team at the boardroom table, which had been moved out of the center of the room and placed against the windowed wall.

Everyone looked a little worse for wear, but eager to get back on track.  The room had its own small kitchen and the smell of fresh coffee wafting up from their freshly poured mugs, added to the general ambiance.

Dave riffled the pages sitting in front of him and then set a selected sheet on top.

“I know you’re all chafing at the bit to discuss recent developments, especially Ed, who has been out of the loop for the last couple of weeks, but before we do that, we have to deal with the remaining procedural overview regarding the proper operation of a Task Force.

I’ll make this as painless as I can, but I urge you to turn your minds fully to it, so we can get it out of the way and get back to what this entire exercise is all in aid of.”

Both Julia and Jack pushed the files in front of them aside and took out notepads.  Dave waited until they had finished and then started in.

“As the investigation continues, the manpower requirements of the Task Force will increase for various reasons, including increasing the number of investigators and support staff.

As previously discussed, the use of fewer personnel may be more effective.

Therefore, restraint must be practiced by Task Force administrators to avoid the use of excess personnel. The lead investigator is in the best position to recognize when additional personnel are needed. The administrator’s responsibility is to provide the authority for the permanent or temporary reassignment of the requested number of personnel to the Task Force.

When additional personnel are needed to expand the Task Force, the reassignment should not be temporary.  To insure continuity of investigative information, it must be for the duration of the Task Force.  That does not mean that specific, short term needs, such as a neighborhood door-to-door canvass or road block canvass, personnel cannot be reassigned temporarily to complete that specific task and then be returned to their normal duties.

In either event, the arrival of new personnel should be pre-planned, and a detailed case briefing provided. This briefing should include an explanation of the specific assignment, the work hours, and such details of the investigation that apply to their assignment, expected standards for report completion, and a complete list of contact numbers for report purposes.

It goes without saying that such personnel must be cautioned about discussing any case-sensitive information with anyone outside of Task Force members.

Arbitrary rotation of Task Force personnel must be avoided wherever possible, as it tends to negatively affect the continuity of the investigation, for obvious reasons. Rotation of personnel should only occur if requested by the investigator, or emergency coverage issues.

If for some reason the Task Force is disbanded and subsequently reinstated, the original investigators should be utilized.”

Dave paused and looked up to check to make sure he wasn’t going too fast for the notetakers.

As both Jack and Julia took advantage of the lull to quickly grab a swallow of coffee, he continued.

“Information sharing among the Task Force members is paramount.  We all need to be kept in the loop from this moment on.  That means daily briefings, especially when there are different work shifts. Periodic summary briefings will also be necessary for managers and patrol officers. These can be accomplished via e-mails or at roll call and must be conducted by investigative personnel.

With that in mind, I’m now authorizing a liaison member to be brought onto our team, so the rest of us do not have to worry about it when liaison becomes necessary.

Julia, that falls within your bailiwick, you and Jack get that individual into place before the end of the day.

The facilities supplied by ViClas should not be overlooked during the investigation”.

Dave paused and stretched briefly before moving on.

“A common problem in serial investigations occurs when data is not entered into the electronic database in a timely manner. Useful leads are lost when investigators are overloaded with information. Your computers are set up with a computerized case management system.  It will effectively organize and collate lead information.  It can analyse a tremendous amount of data.

Having sufficient personnel committed to ensure that data is being promptly recorded into the system in a timely manner is paramount.  The system will also provide us with an up-to-the-minute overview of all the pertinent investigative information to date.

For that reason, we have two civilian data-entry clerks working with us and Ed has already given them their marching-orders.

For our part, we must see to it that all reports are written as soon as each investigative lead is completed.  If reports are not finished by force members before the end of their shift, the lead investigator may not have time to review them. This will lead to a back-log of reports, containing pertinent and timely investigative information.

You don’t go home until your reports are done.

All rough notes should be maintained and entered into evidence.

Next, let’s look at resource use.

For some reason, the wide range of the analytical tools available to police are typically under-utilized at the onset of a serial murder investigation. Due to the voluminous amount of information characteristic of high profile investigations, critical lead information is often lost, therefore the implementation of a tested and reliable case management system, as previously discussed, coupled with competent analytical staff, is imperative.

Specialists in various areas will be required to offer critical support to the investigation by developing timelines on victims and suspects. That falls to you and Julia again Jack. Its up to you to see that information is sorted, compared, and charted to provide timely lead information.  To handle that aspect, you will need a review team of experienced investigators to assist in filtering through the information as it is gathered.  I have authorized bringing on one more detective team for that purpose.  You need to see that they are also in place, before the end of the day.  They will need to be brought up to speed and will be permanently assigned to the Task Force for the duration.”

Dave set his notes down and smiled.

“That’s it.  Any questions you have about the topics I’ve covered over the past few days?”

There were none.

“Right, then let’s get Ed up to date on what we’ve learned since he temporarily dropped out of the loop.  Jack, I’m tired of talking and you’re a man of few words, why don’t you do that.”

That brought a smile to three faces, although it seemed to go right over Jacks head.

He looked down at the single sheet in front of him briefly and then responded in typical fashion, nodding his head toward Julia before quietly but clearly annunciating each word.

“We have been able to further narrow the pickup time for the victims.

After going over a third year of ministry client files, Julia and I sat down again with two of the ministry street workers and between us concluded that these boys are not only being taken toward the end of the month, but in fact on the last day of each month.

This, regardless of the day of the week that falls on.

We have been able to nail down an ironclad pattern.

Its gets even better.

We now have twelve separate occurrences in which the streetworkers made face-to-face contact with the victims in the early evening hours of the last day of a month and subsequently recorded the fact that they had not been seen since on the stroll.

Additionally, a review of all the other missing kids in no way refutes that pattern.

Twelve is just too many to be just a coincidence.”

Ed grinned and clapped his hands.

“Wow, we now have the exact date and time of the next killing!  In the words of Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock, ‘the game is afoot’.”

Dave nodded.

“Very likely, unless of course he decides to change his MO.”

Julia shook her head

“After at least three years of sticking to it…not very likely.”

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

- Wednesday, November 30th, 2005 -

Kenny’s well planned and choreographed world took a nose-dive on the last day of the month.

That evening began well enough.

He arrived at the east-end house shortly after five.  He found Joel straight and up and eager for the night’s activity.

They talked for a half hour or so, until Kenny felt the kid was settled down enough to carry out his mission.  He then gave him the cell phone and sent him on his way to the stroll.

Twenty minutes later, while Joel, driving the Mustang, made his first pass along the string of tempting jailbait, he thought he spotted a familiar face, that of Jonathan Hunter.

Hunter, a fourteen-year-old aboriginal, had been billeted with him in his last foster home placement and although they had only been together for a couple of months before Joel had taken off, the two of them had become friends.

Hunter, who was gay and had recently come out, had been kicked out by his parents and upon his arrival at the foster house, had looked up to Joel as a sort of mentor.  The two of them had quickly bonded and in short order were enjoying regular sex together.

Before Joel had done his bunk from the home, he’d told Hunter all about his plans to head for the stroll, so he could be out on his own.  At the time, Hunter had begged to go with him, but Joel had counselled against it as he liked the kid, and until he was sure that he could make it himself on the stroll, he didn’t want to have the responsibility for looking after the kid as well.

Joel made a quick swing around the block for a second pass and sure enough, it was a sodden Jonathan standing by himself in a door alcove.

Half obscured by the drizzling rain, shoulders hunched, the kid looked miserable.

Joel wheeled the Mustang into the curb and sent the passenger window down.

“Johnny.  You crazy bastard!  What the hell are you doing out here. C’mon, get into the car out of the rain and warm up.”

The kid raised his bowed head and squinted through the tangles of his drenched and matted hair.  He paused for a second and then a grin formed on his face and he literally raced to the door and dropped into the passenger seat as Joel shut the window and turned up the heat.

“Christ man.  I been looking for you for days.  You said you were coming here. I been looking for you everywhere.  I got a couple of guys picking me up, but I was scared shitless.”

Joel turned his attention to the rear-view mirror, snapped his turn signal on and pulled back into the traffic.

“Easy my man, you’re in good hands now.  Let’s just get out of this hellhole and find a place to park and I’ll explain everything to you.”

Hunter, who had been introduced to the wonder of booze at age nine, took note of the bottle of rum resting prominently in the console between the bucket seats and reached for it.

Joel caught the move out of the corner of his eye as he accelerated and quickly placed his right hand firmly over the bottle.

“No man.  Don’t touch that.”

A hurt look filled Hunter’s face as he reluctantly withdrew his hand.

“I could really use a shot or two…I’m freezing man.”

Joel softened his voice as he replied.

“Not from that you don’t. Its not what it looks like. The bottle has been doctored.

Just chill and give me a chance to find us a place to talk and I’ll explain everything.  Relax, everything is going to be all right.”

Five minutes later Joel pulled the Mustang into a commercial alleyway and shoved it into park.

The heater was pumping out warmth, the kid had stopped shaking and his breathing, which had been laboured, seemed to be settling down.

Joel shifted in his seat and rested his right hand on Hunter’s left shoulder and squeezed.

“Ok, so what’s the story.  Did you get booted out?”

Hunter shook his head.

“No, that bastard was making me blow him daily and I just got pissed off with it.  I stood for it for as long as I could and then three days ago I took off and came looking for you.

Why weren’t you here.  You said you would be here.

I didn’t know what the hell to do when I couldn’t find you.  I haven’t eaten in two days…”

Joel raised his hand to the kids neck and squeezed gently.

“Easy, I was on the stroll until a short while ago.

Then I got lucky with a date.  Got myself a sugar daddy.  Young guy, good looking too.

Now I’ve got it made, a house of my own, anything I need, including this car and all the weed I can smoke.”

Joel grinned.

“I’m sorry I wasn’t here for you, but you can forget that now.  You’re coming with me and everything will be great, you’ll see.”

The windows inside the Mustang were all fogged up from the moisture.  It wasn’t until the cop car had pulled up behind them had turned on its overhead light bar that the two of them were even aware of its presence.

A second later a flashlight beam hit the driver’s window.

Joel flinched and whispered to Hunter.

“Shit.  Ok, just stay cool.  Let me deal with this.”

He hit the switch and the driver’s window went down.

The cop let the beam of his light shift across from the driver to the passenger.

“Is the car yours?”

Joel nodded.

“Let’s see your driver’s licence and registration and some ID from your friend there.”

Joel hauled out his wallet and passed over his DL and then reached across Hunter’s legs and opened the glove compartment to pull out the vehicle registration.  Hunter pulled his wallet out and took out his birth certificate.  Joel took it from his hand and handed the documents through the open window to the cop, who glanced at them briefly and then turned on his heel and headed back to the marked patrol unit.

“Sit tight, I’ll be back in a minute.”

Joel put the window up and watched in his outside mirror as the cop walled back to his car.  When he’d disappeared inside he turned to Hunter.

“Nothing to worry about. We haven’t done anything wrong. I doubt that prick at the foster home has reported you missing.  He’s not very likely to want to have you picked up, considering what he’s been making you do.  But even if he has, they won’t have told the cops about it yet.

He’s just going to run the plates and check us out.  It’s all legit.  He’ll be gone before you know it.”

In the patrol unit behind them the cop behind the wheel turned to his younger partner, who was riding shotgun, and handed him the documents.

“Run the plate and both names for wants.  The driver is young, sixteen.  Not the usual ‘Chicken Hawk’.

His partner frowned.

“‘Chicken Hawk’?”

“Ya, that’s what we call the Johns who go after these young guys.  They’re usually in their forties and like to go for the young fresh meat.

Even more interesting, the car is registered in his name.

Strange when you realize that I’ve seen the driver before not that long ago and he was working the stroll himself.

Seems to have come up in the world suddenly.

I think its worth doing a check card on them as well.”

The younger cop nodded.

“Ok, but on rollcall they said that we were only to worry about vehicles who picked up young ones and then left the area with them.  These two are only a couple of blocks away.  I know that we have three cars doing these checks tonight, but according to dispatch all three of us are now tied up with vehicles.

I’d hate to find out later that we missed the big one because all three of us were busy.”

His older partner frowned.

“True, but this stop just seems weird.

For one thing they were just talking when I reached the car. I’ve been working car five for over five years.  In that time, I’ve made hundreds of these checks.  Experience tells me that if it had been a normal pickup, I would have expected to find the guy in the passenger seat with the driver’s cock in his mouth or his ass by this point.

These kids were not stopped for sex and are both young.  They don’t fit the usual profile. It won’t take that long for at least one of us to clear.

Do the check card.”

Dispatch came back with no wants or warrants.

Ten minutes later, car five had cleared the alley and was back in service and watching the stroll.

Joel let out a sigh of relief and looked over at Hunter who was putting his ID back into his wallet with shaking fingers.

“See.  No problem.  Now let’s get out of here and find somewhere quieter to talk.”

Joel pulled out of the lot and turned in the opposite direction that the marked patrol unit had taken.  Fifteen minutes later he pulled into the deserted parking lot of a park, well away from the stroll.

The inside of the Mustang was roasting by this point and he shut down the fan to minimum and shifted in his seat to look at Hunter.

“Ok, I’ll make a call to my daddy to let him know what’s going down.  Just sit tight and relax.”

He took out his phone and dialled the number of the east-end house.

Kenny, who had begun to wonder about the delay in Joel’s return, heard the phone ring and went into the kitchen to answer it.  He waited until the recording clicked in and when he recognized Joel’s voice in response he picked it up and interrupted him.

“What’s wrong?”

Joel’s voice came back down the line.

“Some exciting news.  I found a buddy of mine from my old foster home working the stroll.  He’s done a bunk from his foster home.

Un… I think you’re gonna like him.  He’s young, just fourteen, but he and I had a thing going and I know he’s into having a good time.

I told him he could stay with me.  It will be great, the three of us will have a ball.”

Kenny froze for a few seconds.

Joel’s voce came back on.

“You still there?

He’ll be no problem and we can have a permanent set up for the three of us.  It can be a regular thing.  No more having to pick up off the stroll for our threesomes…”

Kenny closed his eyes as his mind raced.

In the background he heard another voice.  He couldn’t catch exactly what was said.

“That him talking?

Haven’t you offered him a drink?”

Joel responded.

“Hell no, we don’t need to put him out.  He’s up for it man, trust me.  He’s just a little nervous.  A cop stopped us and checked us out and…”

Kenny cut him off abruptly.

“A cop stopped you?”

Sensing his displeasure, Joel responded quickly in hopes of easing the tension.

“Ya, no big deal.  It happens pretty regular down here.  He didn’t hassle us or anything and he let us go, no problem.”

Kenny knew he had to cap the conversation quickly to give himself time do some heavy thinking.

Not wanting Joel to pick up on his concerns, he did his best to sound upbeat.

“Oh, OK then.  Look this may be for the best.  I won’t be able to stay tonight.  I’ve got some business stuff to clear up.  So, you go ahead and bring him home with you and have some fun.  I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

An obviously disappointed Joel replied.

“Shit, I wanted you to meet him.

How come you can’t stay?

Can’t you at least hang on for another ten minutes or so?  We should be able to be there by then.”

Kenny bit his lip and tasted blood.

He sucked in a deep breath and did his best to keep his voice level.

“No, I can’t.  It’s a bit of an emergency.  I was on the way out the door when you phoned.

I was going to leave you a note.  Now I won’t have to.

I gotta go.

I’ll give you a call tomorrow.”

Kenny hung up the phone.

In less than five minutes he was in his truck and headed for home.

Dave, Ed, Julia and Jack were ensconced in the room rented to hold the surveillance equipment that was in place to cover the activity on the stroll.  All four were working four-to-midnight shifts and they expected to be pulling down at least some overtime.

Dave had arranged for the stroll area car, number five, to be temporarily seconded to the Task Force.  In addition, he had borrowed two marked units from district two, to back them up.  On parade the patrol constables manning the three two-man units had been taken aside to be briefed on their temporarily assignment.

Julia had taken them into the coffee room and given them their instructions.

Without going into any detail, she had told them what was expected of them.

They were to work on an allocated tac channel, not their normal radio channel.  They were to observe the stroll from a distance and watch for all pickups of the younger kids made overnight.  When they spotted one, they would in rotation, notify the other two units and then follow any vehicles involved in same, and ‘IF’ these vehicles drove more the six blocks away from the stroll, pull them over and check the occupants.

They were seconded and not to concern themselves about any other duties, short of ‘need assistance’ calls by other nearby units and instructed to leave unchecked, any vehicle that parked close to the stroll and stayed put in the area.

Only those vehicles which left the stroll and continued to drive after passing six blocks were to be given scrutiny.

If they ran into anything that seemed unusual, the borrowed units were to first discuss the situation with car number five, whose occupants were well versed in the normal activities of the stroll, and ‘If ‘car five felt something wasn’t right, they would then pass on the information by radio on the tac channel to the Task Force line, for any follow-up.

She did not advise them that Dave, Ed, she and Jack had also parked four unmarked units in the alley behind the building they were set up in and were prepared to use them to make stops as well, if all the marked units found themselves tied up at the same time.

It was deemed unlikely that they would need to step in and Dave preferred that marked units make all the stops, as such checks were not unusual in the area and they were far less likely to arouse any undue suspicion.

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

- Early Hours of December 1st, 2005 -

Kenny was fit-to-be-tied by the time he got home.

Over the next several hours, random thoughts continually circled around in his mind.

The bottom had fallen out.

In the wink of an eye everything had gone sideways.

What the hell was he going to do now to straighten it out?

He could go back to the house and dope the kid and bring him back home and do him.  For that matter, he could dope them both up and kill the two of them.  Stupid bloody Joel, too damn smart for his own good.  It would serve him right.

No!

He couldn’t do that.  The cops had stopped the car.  They knew the new kid was with Joel.  If he didn’t turn back up on the stroll, it would probably raise a red flag for the cops and they would have a direct line to Joel.  If they got to Joel, he would spill the beans for sure and drag me into it.

Kenny was restless, couldn’t sit down.

After several drinks, he gave up carrying the glass and bottle around with him and in frustration threw the glass against the wall where it shattered.

Ignoring the mess, he continued to stalk around the house, now drinking directly from the bottle.

Round and round his inner voiced ranted about the unfairness of it.

To have this happen now, after all the years of careful planning.

To have reached his goal, everything falling perfectly into place, only to have it snatched away from him.

Shortly after midnight, realizing that he was accomplishing nothing other than getting himself thoroughly drunk, he managed to get hold of himself.  He put the bottle aside and forced himself to shift away from feeling sorry for himself and instead determined to concentrate on how to recoup the achievement of his goal.

He made two sandwiches and poured himself a glass of milk.  Not because he was hungry but knowing that he needed nourishment and something in his stomach to soak up the excess booze he had consumed.

By one in the morning he was finally able to think clearly and manage to examine the complexity of the quandary he found himself in.

The kid had to go back onto the stroll and he had to go back soon.

Now, how the hell was he going to swing that when Joel was so pleased with himself for getting the kid in the first place.

If it had been Robbie, it would have been easy, he’d just tell him to do it and he would, without question.  But this Fucking Joel was something else.

He was too damn smart for his own good and I know damn well that he’ll balk at taking the kid back unless I can find some pressing reason for that to become necessary.

And I need to do that fast.

He was still wide awake and pacing uncontrollably around the house at four in the morning.

Kenny picked up the phone and dialed the house in east-Van.

It rang five times before it was picked up and, in a sleep-filled voice, Joel said hello.

Kenny kept his voice level and with an upbeat lilt.

“Hey man, sorry to wake you.  Sounds like you two had a great session.”

Joel’s words came out slurred and Kenny realized that it was more than sleep clouding his brain.

The realization pissed him off, but he left it alone.

Maybe having him high was a good thing.  He wouldn’t be thinking all that quickly.

“Look, I’ve been thinking about what you said last night.

You know about this new guy having taken off from his foster home and being only fourteen and all. That being the case, the ministry is probably going to be putting out a pick-up for him with the cops. If they do, the cops will come after you cause he’s underage and you sure as hell don’t want to have that happen.  If they checked you earlier like you said, that means that they can tie you directly to him.

Look, what you need to do is to take him back to the stroll now so…”

Joel managed to respond.

“Shit, he’s not gonna want to go back and I want to keep him with me, anyway.  He’s a good kid and great in bed and…”

Kenny had to take a deep breath before he could respond in a light tone.

“Hey man.  I’m not saying he has to go back permanently.  Hell, if after a few days no cops come looking for him on the stroll, then sure, you can bring him back.

I just don’t want the cops hanging an underage endangerment type of charge on you.

You don’t want that, do you?

It’ll only be for a few days…”

It took a few seconds for Joel to mull that over and respond.  As he waited, Kenny was tempted to push harder but thought better of it.  Instead, he waited, silently if impatiently, and finally got a rejoinder.

“No shit…I don’t want that.  It would screw up everything.  Okay, I’ll do it, but he isn’t going to like it.”

Relieved, Kenny quickly brought the conversation to a close.

“OK man, get him in the car now and take him straight back to the stroll. Don’t put it off for another moment or everything we’ve got going for us will be over.

It will only be for a few days and you can give him enough coin to keep himself safe until you pick him up again.”

Kenny hung up.

Ok.  For now, the immediate risk was tackled.

But that still left several problems that needed to be dealt with over then next few days.

Son-of-a-bitch!

No kill on the first of the month.

He’d needed that so badly emotionally.

Now all this other shit to deal with.

He should have never taken Joel on!

He had done his best to fix the immediate threat for now.  Hopefully Joel would do as he was told and not fall back asleep. The kid was obviously high.  He could see it getting even worse if the idiot somehow managed to get stopped by the cops for a second time, while he was taking the kid back to the stroll.

That could really fuck things up.

Kenny was exhausted and completely stressed out.

He told himself that he had done what he could.  For the short term it was now out of his hands.

If Joel got the kid back to the stroll and himself back home without incident, then, maybe, just maybe, this whole debacle could be put behind him.

Yes, there were other problems to deal with, but he didn’t need an intermediary to solve those.  He would look after them himself.

He felt a little better.  There was hope.

For the first time in several hours he could see at least the possibility of light at the end of the tunnel.

He climbed into bed for some much-needed sleep.

It was just before two in the morning when car five spotted the Mustang drop off the young native kid back onto the curb.  As the car drove off, they reported the fact by way of the tac channel.

Dave looked over to Ed, who was had just put a check against the list in front of him and tossed his pen on the small table in front of him.

“That’s the last one.  Everyone is now accounted for.”

Dave stifled a yawn and nodded.  You could cut the cloud of disappointment filling the room with a knife as he responded.

“Ok, tell them to pack it in and head for headquarters.  We’ll debrief in the Task Force room.”

The four Task Force members were the first to arrive at the station.

Everyone was tired, and the mood was glum.  Dave had anticipated the sense of letdown and he moved immediately to do what he could to pull the rest of the group up out of the doldrums.

“Ok, we didn’t get what we were hoping for.  But, that aside, it appears that we did manage to see to it that another kid didn’t get added to our killer’s list of victims.

Who knows why?

Maybe it was simply due to our presence on the street. Perhaps we spooked him.

Maybe something just went wrong on his side of the equation.

Either way you see it, we came out on top.

What matters is that we don’t appear to have another body out there somewhere.

If it was because we upset his applecart but putting a monkey-wrench into his little game, well that has got to be a real upset for him.  Based on what comes out of the observations and what we already have, I’m going to be starting work on a profile for him.

Although we still don’t have any crime scenes or bodies to work from, I think, after tonight, we will have enough to at least get a basic profile for him blocked in.

If it was because something went wrong for him outside of our project tonight, that means he’s likely off base in his carefully laid out plans to do a kill on the first of the month. Based on what we know of him so far, I’d say that this is going to be very upsetting for him.  He’s been riding a high for the last several years and suddenly he’s no longer in control.

A serial killer who is not in control makes mistakes and mistakes are what are going to help us bring him down.

In a few minutes the uniforms are going to arrive.

They don’t know what we know, so they’re not going to be disappointed in tonight’s operation.  It behooves us to be upbeat when they arrive and to see to it that whatever intel we and they have garnered by way of it, gives us enough information to allow us to advance our investigation.

I can’t emphasize this enough.

These people are street cops.  They will look at things with a different set of eyes and those eyes are experienced eyes.  Something of what they have to say during the debrief could well break this case wide open.

Pay attention to them.

Don’t lead them, let them express themselves in their own way.

So, everyone, grab a coffee, and brighten up.

When the patrol units arrive, they need to be carefully debriefed. I know that what went down tonight will tell us several things that we didn’t know before, and every one of those details can make a difference.

Let them know that we appreciate the effort they’ve provided and listen carefully to what they have to say.  Make sure that you take notes of what they saw and be sure that their reports are complete and ready for computer entry in the morning.”

There was a knock at the office door and the first uniformed team entered the room.

Ed got up to pour them fresh coffees and when they had their preferred mix in their steaming mugs, he took them aside to a corner of the room to a smaller table and sat down with them.

Repeating the scenario, Julia took the next two and Jack similarly greeted the third team.

Dave retired to his own desk and set to work on sketching the first rough profile of their perp.

He was the last one out of the office and managed to climb into bed beside Linda’s warm body just before five in the morning.

He knew he was in for a short sleep.

He had set a meeting for the Task Force members for eleven in the morning.

That would give the data entry clerks time to have entered all the information gathered overnight into the system, providing an up-to-date account of what they had learned to date.

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

- Morning of December 1st, 2005 -

Kenny was badly hung over by the time he managed to drag himself out of bed at ten.

As his head began to clear, he chastised himself for losing his self control, for drinking too much and made a mental note to lay off the bottle until things were back on track.

After a couple of painkillers for his head and a hearty breakfast, consisting of a heaping plate of sausages, eggs and toast, he felt much better.

He sipped black coffee as he turned his mind to solving his current dilemma.

First up, was a call to Joel to find out if the kid had been returned safely to the stroll.

Kenny needed confirmation of that fact before he could confidently apply himself to working out how he was going to sort out the mess he’d inherited by way of Joel’s idiotic move of picking up the kid in the first place.

Joel answered on the first ring.

“Hello.”

Kenney took measure of the kid’s voice and was relieved to find it seemingly unclouded by any recent trace of indulgence in weed.

“Is he back on the stroll?

The response, as if anticipated, was immediate.

“Ya, he was really pissed but I got it done.  It went down fine.”

Kenny felt a weight lifted off his shoulders and he gave an audible sigh of relief.

“OK. I want you to get the placed cleaned up.  Change the bedding.  We don’t want any trace of him left in case the cops pick him up and then come calling on you.  I’ll be over at the usual time tonight.”

“Right.  OK.  I’ll do that.

Look, the kid is scared shitless down there.  How long does he have to stay there before he can come back here?”

Kenny had expected such an inquiry and had his answer ready.

“Like I said last night.  A few days, to see if the cops come nosing around.  You’d better hope that doesn’t happen, because if it does, they will be visiting you shortly thereafter. “

He lightened the tone of his voice.

“Did you give him enough cash to help him make it through the wait?”

“Ya, but its not the cash so much that he’s worried about.

It’s just the stroll.  He’s likely to be bullied.

I talked to him about that and asked if the street workers had already spoken to him and registered him.  He said yes, he’d talked to them, but he gave them phony information.

I told him if he was scared, he should talk to them again and register, because I know if he does that, they will at least give him a place to say overnight and see that he gets fed.  They have to do that because of his age.

Was that OK?”

Kenny thought about it for a second, before answering the question.

“Sure, that’s a good idea.  He should give them his correct ID when he does that. Once he’s in the ministry’s care, the cops will lose interest in him and maybe this whole mess will just blow over.

Does he know how to keep in touch with you?”

“Ya, I gave him the number here.”

“Alright when he calls, tell him to do that and tell him to keep his mouth shut about last night.  Tell him if all goes well and no cops hassle him, you’ll come get him and take him home with you in a week or so.

I’ll see you tonight and we’ll talk more about it.”

After he hung up, Kenny sat staring blankly at the phone for several minutes.

It might be ok in the short term.  The cops might not even see any reason to talk to the kid.  And once he’s under the protective wing of the ministry, if he keeps his trap shut, he’s not going to attract any of their attention.

He’s going to have to die of course.  That goes without saying, and the sooner the better.  He knows too much to be left sitting around.

So, two problems of immediate concern.

Get rid of the kid and deal with Joel.

He didn’t have a lot of time to figure out how to deal with the kid.

So that had to be the immediate priority.

Joel he could handle in one of two ways.

He could simply kill the little bastard.  But that would mean starting all over yet again to find a replacement cut-out.  Experience had shown that hadn’t proven all that simple.  Nor had it worked out very well, the last time around.

Or, else he could see if he could salvage him.

If he was going to try to salvage Joel, he would first have to find a way to kill the kid without Joel knowing.

It was obvious that he was infatuated with the kid.  If the kid went with the ministry and kept in touch with Joel, then a possibility could probably be arranged, which would allow for me to snatch the kid unbeknownst to Joel, then drug him and take him home and do him.

Of course, Joel would be unset by the kid’s sudden disappearance, but Kenny was confident he could then step into the role of an empathetic-supporter and easily deal with that little problem.

Practice made perfect and by this point he would have no difficult in mimicking that kind of emotion.

It could go either way.

Whatever.

Offing the kid was the immediate problem.

The situation no longer seemed overwhelming to him.  These were things he was quite capable of dealing with.

All things considered, Kenny was beginning to feel the return of control over his situation.

The data entry clerks had been working since just before nine and by eleven that morning, the four Task Force members had arrived at the office.

A little bleary-eyed, they were all were slurping coffee like there was no tomorrow.

That aside, everyone seemed to be eager to begin the assessment of the up-to-the-minute computer-generated overview of the case intel.

The printouts arrived just before eleven-thirty.

Dave handed them around the table.

“OK, let’s just take the time to read through these individually before we put our heads together and jointly discuss them line by line.

Make notes and highlight anything that strikes you as interesting.”

Jack was the last to put his pencil down.

The sound of rasping highlighters and pencil scratches had been the only sound within the room for a good half hour.  Dave was encouraged to see that everyone had made several pages of notes.

“OK.  Let’s get started, Ed, you go first and then we’ll go around the circle.  Give us your highlights and we’ll discuss each point.  If we agree that we have any new fact nailed down securely or we have something we think is worth following up, I’ll make a note of it.

Once we’ve all had our say, we’ll go through what intel I’ve listed as a result.  I’ll use the facts discerned as part of working up a profile and we’ll divvy up between you three, for follow-up, what points need further investigation.”

Ed and Julia had finished their input shortly before one o’clock.  They broke for lunch and were back at it, starting with Jack’s notes by one forty-five.  Dave then finished his in about ten minutes, as many of the things he had noted either for follow-up or confirmed, had already been raised by one or more of the others.

He then pushed aside his copy of the printout and his rough notes and placed the lined notepad upon which he had made his final two lists directly in front of him.

“Right, lets go over what we know first and then we’ll shift to the points that need further investigation.

We know we have a serial killer working the stroll.  We know he has been active for several years.  Even though he didn’t succeed last night, most likely for one of the two reasons I mentioned earlier, we know that he has, at least over the past couple of years, picked up his targets on the first of each month.  We know that our man lives driving distance from the stroll, very likely somewhere in the lower mainland area.

While we don’t know for sure why he missed last night, courtesy of the check card and information provided by the uniforms in car five, we all agree that the Mustang they checked is very likely a vehicle of interest.  We have also spotted it on our own October surveillance operations and it has been seen by car five on several occasions in the area before that.  Because of the check done last night, we’ve now got solid info on both the car and its occupants.

I’m convinced that this car is being used to service our killer.

For several reasons I won’t belabour now, I don’t believe that the driver of the Mustang is our killer. He’s too young for one and according to car five, he was himself working the street not that long ago.

That said, all four of us think this vehicle is in fact being used to pick up and deliver the victims to our killer and the only reason the kid who was in the passenger seat last night ever made it back to the stroll alive, was because car five pulled it over.

A total of six vehicles were followed further than six blocks from the stroll.  The Mustang being one of them.  Each of the other five ended up at private homes or at cheap hotels and/or motels.

Every kid that had been picked up was back on the stroll within a few hours.  The last one back was the kid dropped off by the Mustang.

I think it’s more than probable our killer panicked when he found out that the Mustang had been checked. That the young guy driving the car is just a go-for who was told to take him back to the stroll.

That the car check by car five saved that kid’s life.

If I’m right, while we haven’t identified our killer, we’ve finally found ourselves some substantive leads toward identifying him.

Jack, you get on to your contact at the ministry. Talk to the streetworkers. Find out all you can about the two kids who were in the mustang.

Julia, you take the Mustang.  Trace the ownership and confirm the registered address.  Have a covert look at the address and see if you spot the Mustang.   Get what information you can on who currently owns the property and its sales history.  Get the telephone number and printouts of incoming and outgoing calls covering the past year or so.

This may well be our crime scene, something we badly need if we are going to build a case once we identify this scumbag, so no direct contact with neighbours or anything at this point, stay under the radar.

Ed, you go over the files we hold on our suspected victims.

Focus on common characteristics.  Let’s see if we can’t pinpoint exactly what our killer looks for in his targets.  Also eyeball the Mustang by way of past check cards.  We may be able to trace other drivers back over time.  The kid behind the wheel last night was relatively new to the scene, the Mustang had been seen for some time, so we might expect to find a history identifying previous drivers.

As well, check the surveillance tapes and find out if we have any footage of the Mustang being used to specifically pick up any of our previous victims.  That would remove all doubt and tie it directly to the crimes.”

They’d been sitting for a long time.  Dave’s ass felt like it was part of his chair.

He leaned back and stretched.

“Any questions?”

Three heads shook.

Dave grinned, looked at Ed and quipped.

“All right…to quote Sherlock again, this time properly, ‘Come Watson, come.  The game is afoot’.”

It lightened the atmosphere as Dave had hoped.

Everyone had a good laugh.

With a sigh of relief, Dave heaved himself out of his chair.

“Off you go.

I’ve got a dental appointment for this afternoon, so we’ll meet back here in the morning, nine sharp.”

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

- Afternoon of December 1st, 2005 –

Kenny arrived at the house in east-Van in late afternoon at five on the dot.

He found Joel somewhat subdued.  Apparently not sure what he had done wrong, but aware that Kenny wasn’t pleased with him.

Good!

Kenny checked throughout, finding the house tidy and no trace of anything left in relation to the night before.  Satisfied, he plunked down a bag containing a bottle of rum and a two-liter of coke on the coffee table in the living room and took out the contents.

He poured them each a drink, handed one to Joel and waved him into a chair.

Putting a concerned frown on his face, Kenny took a sip from his glass before he spoke.

“I’ve been thinking about this kid.  I know you two are friends and all, so I want to help him.

Did you tell him to go to the ministry like I told you?”

Joel perked up a little.

“Ya, he was OK with that.  He’s scared shitless of the stroll.  He was afraid that they would send him back to the same foster home, but I told him to tell them about the asshole who was diddling him there, and they put him into a different one.

He went there last night.

It’s a place out in Richmond.  He called me after he got there.

He doesn’t like it.  He wants to come back here.”

Kenny nodded.

“Ya, I don’t blame him.  But that’s not in the cards for a week or so.”

Kenny took another sip and then put his glass down on the table.

“Do you think he would be happier somewhere else.  Someplace on his own.  I could get him a hotel room for a week.

Maybe close by here.  That way you could go and visit him and keep him company now and then.”

Joel, as Kenny had foreseen, welcomed the suggestion.

He grinned and nodded vigorously.

“Ya, that would be great. Like I told you he’s a good kid.  We could maybe both visit him, he wants to meet you.”

Kenny smiled.

“Well, that’s settled then.

I feel much better about things.

Get hold of him and tell him what we have in mind.

I’ll make the arrangements to get a place for him set up on the way home tonight and you can pick him up and take him there.

If the kid’s unhappy we should do it as soon as possible.  Tomorrow morning would be good if he can manage it.

Just make sure that he doesn’t tell anybody about the plan before you pick him up and don’t go to the foster home itself.  Arrange to meet him somewhere away from it.”

Joel was half out of his chair.

“Can I call him and tell him now then?”

Kenny laughed.

“Sure, at the same time, you might as well arrange a time and place with him for the pickup in Richmond as early as possible in the morning for tomorrow.

Go ahead and do it now.

And when you get off the phone, get out of those clothes.

I’m as horny as a three-peckered rat.”

Dave had been working long hours recently and although he would much rather have been back at the office working on his rough profile, the dentist’s drill soon cleared his mind of thoughts about the case and brought him back to the real world.

Dave hated dentists.

By the time he was entering his driveway at home, the freezing was coming out and the damn thing was bloody sore.

He and Linda had not been seeing much of each other of late, due primarily to his need to work varying hours and the longer shifts needed to keep on top of the investigation.

He had arranged with her to take off a little early, so they would have the time to sit down to dinner with the kids as a family for a change.

Linda was understandably interested in the progress of the investigation and he had been keeping her current when their paths crossed.  Dave was looking forward to bringing her up-to-date once the kids were finished eating and were off watching television with Blessica.

After a couple of glasses of wine with the meal, the damn tooth had quieted down to a dull ache and Dave could live with it.

He and Linda discussed the stroll investigation while the two of them cleared up the kitchen, Dave loading the dishwasher as Linda first carried the dirty dishes over to the sink and then wiped the table down.

By the time the cleanup was done they had shifted topics and Linda was sharing some of the current dilemmas she was having to deal with at work.

The household routine was well set by this time and domestically things were going very smoothly.

It felt good to have enough time to think about things other than the case and Dave felt fully relaxed by the time the two of them climbed into bed.

Their lovemaking over the past few weeks had been both sporadic and rushed and without voicing their feelings, both were eager to take advantage of this chance to change that.

They made love at a leisurely pace for what seemed like the first time in ages and afterwards, mutually satisfied with a job well done, they both slipped into deep sleep.

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

- December Second, 2005 -

On the way home the night before, Kenny had stopped long enough to get a place for the kid set up and then called Joel to let him know its location.

It was a dump, located on the east side, that Kenny had driven past many times in the past.

From what he’d seen previously, it was primarily used by hookers to turn tricks, and druggies living on welfare.

A dilapidated complex.  It was clearly on its last legs.

When he’d entered the office, the wizened old lump of shit behind the counter hadn’t give him a second look.

He’d paid cash for a week and was able to get the unit he wanted.

Located at the end of the complex, in a dark alcove and far from the office and inquisitive eyes.

He figured, that, when the time came, he would be able to keep an unobtrusive eye on it from the parking lot of the corner store, which was located just across the road.

That was were he was parked at shortly after eleven in the morning of the 2nd.

Ten minutes later he watched the Mustang swing into the motel lot and pull into the parking space in front of the chosen unit.

Joel got out and walked back to the office on his own.

A few moments after, he came out carrying the key and made his way back to the passenger side of the car.

Kenny could make out the silhouette of a second person sitting there.

The door opened and the kid, wearing a hoody and with a backpack draped over his shoulder got out and he and Joel went inside.  A few minutes later, Joel came out alone and climbed into the car.

Kenny watched him pull away and head back in the direction of the east-Van house.

It was done.

Kenny lit a cigarette, smoked it leisurely and then tossed it out his window, before pulling out of the store lot and heading for home.  There, he planned on having a nap and some R&R before he headed back for his nightly visit with Joel.

He was a little early arriving at the east-Van house later that day.

The Mustang was parked in front and Kenny went down to end of the block and turned, then swung into the lane and pulled his truck into the garage at back.

Joel was surprised to see him, but eager to talk.

“Hey, I dropped Johnny off at the motel.  He’s happy to be on his own, but the place is a real hole.  Its damn near as bad as being on the stroll.  The phone in the room doesn’t even work.”

Kenny nodded.

“Ya, sorry about that.  I was trying to find something off the beaten track.

Not the best, but it will only be for a short while.

You don’t think he’ll do something stupid and fuck off out of there do you?”

Joel shrugged.

“Well like I said, he didn’t think too much of it, but I figure he’ll stick there.  He’s excited about seeing me regularly and is looking forward to meeting you.”

Kenny smiled.

“Good, well, we’ll let him settle in and then you can go visit him in a couple of days and make sure he’s doing OK.”

Kenny, who normally spent several hours when he visited, begged off early, blaming a headache and by midnight he was pulling into the motel parking lot.

The place looked half deserted.  There was no one around.

He parked in the poorly lit space in front of the end unit and got out.

Using his key, he entered without knocking.

He was a little taken aback to find himself face to face with the kid, who was listlessly sitting on the sagging bed with has back propped up against the scarred headboard.

Kenny hadn’t been expecting a Native.

Not really his type, but then beggars could not be choosers after all and on the positive side, siting there with his mouth hanging open in surprise at the sight of me, he was deliciously young and vulnerable looking.  Besides, he needed a supply of special meat for his grinder to do his next sausage run.

And, here it was on the hoof.

The kid had obviously not been expecting company and looked scared as hell.

Kenny kicked the door closed behind him, grinned broadly and held up a brown paper bag.

“Joel said you were unhappy with the room.  I’m the friend he told you about.

He had some running around to do, so I’ve come to pick you up and take you back to his place.

He won’t be home for an hour or so.  He’s going to give me a call when he gets back.”

Kenny waved the bag.

“So, I’ve brought along something for us to drink to help pass the time.”

Forty-five minutes later the kid was laid across the bed, out like a light.

Kenny stuffed all his personal things into his battered backpack and took it out to the truck, doing a quick look around as he walked and put it into the passenger seat.

It was all clear.  No one was around.

He returned inside and dragged the kid up off the bed and onto his feet.  He was more than a little wobbly and Kenny had to damn near carry him to the tuck, but as he took all his weight while shoving the semi-comatose form into the back of the cab, Kenny was surprised at how light he actually was.

Just over a half-hour later Kenny, humming happily to himself, was pulling into his own garage.

His confidence was fully restored.

Not a worry in his mind.

Things were back under his control.

As he went to work, unconcerned, he found himself idly wondering if brown meat was going to affect the taste of his next batch of sausage.

It was an intriguing thought.

He’d soon know the answer to that.

He wasn’t going to take time much time with the Native kid.  The sooner he was finished with him, the better.  He’d only play with him overnight and then off him and deal with the disposal at first light.

Maybe catch a few winks here and there.

By ten after nine in the morning on the 2nd, Dave, Ed and the detective team were back sitting around the table, notebooks out and open in front of them.

Surprisingly they all looked well refreshed and were clearly pleased with themselves.

The vibes Dave was picking up from his team were good.

He had every reason to anticipate some good news and he wasn’t to be disappointed.

Julia started the ball rolling.  She was clearly eager, no preliminaries, right on topic.

“The Mustang is registered to Joel Hurst, lives in an older bungalow at an address in east-Van.  He’s the sixteen-year-old kid who was behind the wheel when it was stopped.  I’ve scoped out the place and found the Mustang parked out front on the street.

I could see activity inside. Looked like just one person.   I couldn’t swear to it, but based on what we have so far, I would say that it was the Joel kid.

Interestingly, the house is also registered in this kid’s name and both transfers of ownership are recent, done on the same day in October of this year.”

She paused for a couple of seconds, shoving her glasses back up into place on the bridge of her nose, glancing from face-to-face around the table to allow those facts sink in, and then carried on.

“It gets better…I looked back at the history on the car and the house and found that both of them had been also previously been owned by the same individual, one Robbie Brody, who just happened to also be sixteen years old, when he purchased them in December of 1998.

Coincidences?

I don’t think so.

I checked further back on the ownership of both, before Brody took possession, and the owners of the house and the Mustang, historically, are both different; I couldn’t find any link between the two before then.

As he was detailed to follow up with the ministry on both Brody and Hurst, I passed this information on to Jack immediately, and I’ll let him take it from here.”

Jack cleared his voice.

“It turns out both Robbie Brody and Joel Hurst have other commonalities.

They were both sixteen and working the stroll before they became the proud owners of the Mustang and the house.  Down and out, penniless, hooking, and living day to day with no real family contacts.  They are also similar in physical appearance.

Most importantly, Robbie Brody seems to have disappeared off the stroll, in early December of 1998.

Its pretty hard to overlook the fact that these two homeless kids didn’t just happen to each find a bundle of cash on the street, sufficient to buy the house and car.

It follows that these kids were obviously selected by our serial killer to run interference between him and the stroll. He chose them, set them up and used them to do the physical pickups of his target victims.

If our killer has indeed been using these two to do his stroll pickups, then the killings have been going on since at least 1988, meaning we are going to have to go back much farther than we have so far, in our search for victims.

First, our perp used Robbie Brody and then, I believe one can reasonably conclude, for some reason he needed a replacement for Brody.  I figure he likely killed him and then promptly replaced him with Joel Hurst.

Julia has more for us.”

He nodded to her and she stepped in.

“Just regarding the telephone records for the house.  I used my contact with the company there and I expect a printout by tomorrow.”

Dave shifted his eyes to Ed.

“How did you make out?”

“Julia also passed her info on the Mustang to me when she got it. No previous check cards on it, but we know from car five that its been around for a long time.

Ministry street works say they’ve seen it prowling around off and on for years.  They also say that the Robbie kid was driving it then.

Courtesy of Julia’s info, I did hit pay dirt going back over the surveillance coverage with the car as my target.  Although we only have footage from about mid-October, it was enough.

We’ve got the Mustang making a pickup overnight on both the first of October and that of November.

The kids that got into the passenger seat of the car those two nights were never seen on the street again, and I can’t find even the slightest trace of either of them after they stepped into the Mustang.

There is no doubt in my mind that this vehicle, by proxy, is being used to grab the kids off the stroll for our perp.

Oh, and the ministry staff have been working overtime checking on the next-of-kin of our confirmed missing kids and to date they can find no trace of any of them.

Our guy has been damn busy, that’s all I can say.

As far as an overview of the physical attributes of all the missing kids goes, I’ve done up a list and, with the exception of only the last one, Jonathan Hunter, who was a Native, they all prove very similar and provide a good idea of what our guy likes to get his hands on.

The ministry tells me that Natives make up approximately forty percent of the kids working the stroll.

That means our guy could obviously have had one or more of them, if he wanted any, a long time ago.

He didn’t.

So, it occurred to me that, perhaps our killer isn’t really into them and maybe he wasn’t particularly enthralled by Hurst’s choice of Hunter the last time around.

That could be why the native kid ended up back on the stroll later that night.

His race may have saved his ass.

I’ll give you each a copy of all the data.”

Dave nodded.

“Could be.  Either way, the Native kid did get back and maybe, just maybe during the time he was gone he got a look at our phantom killer.

We need to get hold of this Native kid, Jonathan Hunter.  Where is he now?

Ed responded.

“I checked with the ministry.

He’s not on the stroll.

Kid’s only fourteen, if you can believe it.

He was a foster home runaway when he started turning tricks on the stroll.

He was taken into care by the ministry the day after he was dropped back off by the Mustang and they have placed him in a new foster home, out in Richmond.

I got onto the Mounties in Richmond this morning and asked them to pick him up and hold him for us.  I haven’t heard back yet.”

Dave smiled and gave them a thumbs-up.

“Well done.  We still don’t know who our killer is, but it looks very much like we soon will.  Let’s take a break for lunch.  Meet back here at hall-past one.

Ed, you better follow up with the Mounties.

This Native kid has taken off from foster homes before and he might do it again.  We don’t want to have him slip into the ether somewhere.

Julia, call your telephone person and put a rush on that phone printout.  Hopefully it will give us a direct line on our killer.

In the meantime, I’m going to have to speak with the Chief.  I’m sure he’s going to be very happy with what we’ve got so far.”

Julia spoke up.

“What about the house?  It might be a crime scene.  Should I arrange for a warrant to hit it?”

Dave let out a deep sigh.

“I’ve been thinking about that one.

We don’t want our killer getting wind of the fact that we are getting close to him.  If we do, he may go to ground or simply pull up stakes and move his operation elsewhere.

He’d sure as hell get a heads up if we hit the house.

And everything we now know about him tells us this the dude has access to the kind of money he would need to do that.”

But you’re right, it might well be a crime scene and we are in dire need of one of those.

Let’s leave it for now.  My gut tells me no, but I will talk it over with the Chief when I see him and get his input as well.

We’ll decide one way or the other, when we get back from lunch.

See you back here at one-thirty.”

The Chief was delighted with recent progress in the investigation, and shared Dave’s hesitancy to hit the east-Van house immediately.

It would have to be watched for sure however, as there was always a possibility that the killer might turn up there and they couldn’t afford to miss such an opportunity.

He suggested that they just sit on it for a couple of days to play it safe.

The others were already in their chairs when Dave got back to the room allotted to the Task Force.

Dave looked across at Ed who was frowning.

“Any word on the kid from the Mounties?’

Ed shook his head.

“Nothing good, I’m afraid.

Apparently, he bolted right after breakfast, this morning.  He took all his stuff with him, so it looks like he has no intention of coming back.  They’re going to check back later, but I think he’s long gone by now.

He may be heading back to the stroll.  I asked the ministry street teams to keep and eye out for him and scoop him if he turns up.

I’m not holding my breath.”

Dave nodded.

“Shit, I was afraid of that.  OK, we can’t expect to win them all.  Julia how’d you make out with your telephone guy?”

Up went the glasses to the bridge of her nose.

“Should have it by early tomorrow.

What did the Chief say about the warrant for the house?  We going to hit it?”

Dave shook his head.

“No, not just yet.  We don’t want to spook our guy unnecessarily.  Get the warrant anyway but leave the date of service open.  That way we will be ready to do it on short notice if we need to.

In the meantime, we need to set up round-the-clock surveillance on it.”

Julia nodded.

“It will take at least four teams.”

“Yes, you and Jack get working on that.

The two of you can carry one shift per day.  Pull another two out of the detective pool and to make up your fourth, I’d like you to second the two uniforms that were working car five the other night and have them assigned temporarily to the Task Force.

Go directly to the D1 Inspector for them.  Tell him if he has any problems with losing them, he can discuss them with the Chief.  Once you have them, brief them and get them into plain clothes and assign them their own unmarked pool car.”

Julia smiled.

“They’ll like that, and they deserve it.  We wouldn’t be where we are now if it hadn’t been for that car check of the Mustang.”

Dave beamed back at her.

“My thought exactly.

How soon can you manage it?”

Julia pursed her lips and pushed her glasses back into place yet again.

“Well, Jack and I could probably pull an early morning shift, say midnight to eight in the morning. And I might be able to get the other teams in place before tomorrow night at the earliest.”

Dave shook his head.  No, you and Jack can’t take a shift tonight.

You’re going to have your hands full just selecting your people and getting them briefed and scheduled to start coverage by tomorrow night.

Our killer likes to do his victims on the first of the month and he likes the ‘soft’ targets provided by the stroll.  We’ve still got camera coverage going on down there.

Ed, perhaps you can make an early morning check on what we have on the stroll overnight, just to cover our asses. Julia, try to have your teams ready to go at the house for tomorrow night.  I’ll be satisfied if it’s a go for then.”

CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

- December Third, 2005 -

It was getting on to one in the afternoon by the time Kenny had completed the sausage run and begun his cleanup.  By four he was finished and on his way to his regular visit with Joel.

He’d been doing a lot of thinking about things while he’d been busy with his cleanup after the last kill.

He was refreshing those musings in his mind as he drove

Things had been a little tense of late to say the least, but it hadn’t been his fault.

Even after the best of planning, things could and did go wrong. Besides he had already dealt effectively with the biggest problem, that of the Native kid.

For the moment, Joel remained a dilemma that would have to be handled, granted.  But he’d faced that specific problem before and been able to handle it well.

So, the cops had checked the Mustang.  It was likely just a routine patrol stop.  He doubted that they would treat it as more than that.

Cops were stupid.  He was smarter than all of them put together.  He’d proven that for years and was confident that he could keep it up for as long as he wanted.

Which was another thing that he had been thinking about.

With the last kill, he had reached a total of seventy-two.  Pretty damn impressive.  Probably the most ever done by a serial killer.

The more he’d thought about that, the more he wanted to be certain that he was the best in the world at it.  He deserved to be, and just to make sure he reached that pinnacle, he’d decided that he should have a firm target number to strive for.

Add to the challenge.  Prove beyond a doubt that he had controlled his own destiny.  Become a god in his own right.

In the end he’d settled on one hundred as a nice round number.

Surely that would top the list for successful kills by an individual worldwide.

Set a new standard.

Make him the master of all serial killers.

Reaching that conclusion had been very heartening and he was sure that it was the right choice to make.

That out of the way, he’d decided that he needed to take his overall planning to one more stage.

If he had not been quick to react over the screw-up Joel had made in picking up the Native kid, the cops may well have had themselves a lead to getting to him.

Something like that could happen again.  If it did, he needed to have himself an escape plan in place.

To manage that he’d promised himself that he would give serious thought as to how to organize just that, first thing in the morning.

He’d also made his decision on Joel’s fate.

He was not looking forward to having to yet again find a replacement to act as his cut-out, but an in-depth evaluation of their relationship had clearly indicated that Joel was likely to continue to be a loose cannon.

For years Robbie had been satisfied with an exclusive relationship with him.  He had been, beyond all else, totally loyal. I’d had absolute control over him.

Joel did not have that level of commitment.

He was unpredictable in many ways.  Ways that would almost ensure future screwups.

He had no other choice.

Joel was going to have to pay dearly for that lack of loyalty and his necessitating the search to find yet another cut-out.  Joel was an affront to years of planning.

Kenny was going to enjoy every minute of the next few days.

If he could resist the temptation to finish the little prick off and he did not bleed out too soon, he would kill the little bastard very slowly and painfully indeed

The clean-up after was going to be one hell of a job, but it would be more than worth the effort.

And that would be number seventy-three.

The Task Force had grown exponentially overnight. When Dave entered the room, he found that eight more chairs had been arranged around the conference table.  He knew all the new detectives by sight and in a glance was satisfied that Julia and Jack had made good choices.

The remaining two men, now sitting slightly to the side of the others, had to be the team from patrol car five.  They were clearly finding the situation a little intimidating, but were nonetheless, in civvies, bright eyed, and bushy-tailed.

As Dave took his seat, Julia made the introductions all round.

Dave took interest in the name of the senior uniformed cop from car five, one fourth-class PC who went by the name of Steve Moody.

He addressed the two men directly.

“Welcome aboard.  We owe you two a lot and when this investigation wraps up, I’m not going to forget it.”

Clearly pleased, the pair both flushed slightly at the attention, but were clearly pleased with the individual recognition.

That over with, Dave welcomed the other new detective members of the Task Force and then looked to Julia.

“Is everyone up to date?”

Julia nodded and then because of the move, had to push her glasses up on her nose again.

Dave was seriously considering taking her aside later and advising her to get contacts.

As that thought rolled through his mind, she responded.

“We’ve been here since seven.  Everyone is now up to speed.”

Dave nodded.

Okay, lets get the ball rolling then.

“Ed, any news on the Native kid?  Anything on the coverage of the stroll last night?”

“Negative to both.”

“Julia, telephone printout?”

“Nope, not yet.  But I will give my guy another call, when we wrap up here.”

“Okay.  I went by the house a couple of times overnight.  The mustang is still sitting out front where you spotted it, Julia.  My passes were only drive-bys.  There were no lights on and I saw no sign of activity.

That made me a little nervous and I’m thinking that we should run our surveillance…”

He looked over at Julia.

“You set up to start that tonight?”

She responded

‘Ready to go.”

“Right, well done.

Ok, as I was saying, I’m thinking we run the surveillance for just one night and if we don’t see some kind of activity in the house during that timeframe, we date the warrant and hit it first thing in the morning.

I want this Joel kid in cuffs and in an interview room before he decides to disappear too.  And I want a house- to-house around the target dwelling completed before the day is over.

Is everyone on board with that scenario?”

There were nods all round.

‘With that in mind, I want everyone who is not working the watch on the house tonight to head on home and get a good sleep.  The next few days are likely going to be hell on wheels for all of us and I want you to be well rested before the pressure hits.

I apologize to the teams that have to work overnight watching the house, but we all meet back here at eight in the morning and if there has not been any observable activity at the house overnight, we exercise the search warrant first thing in the morning.

Ed, I want a crime scene team on site with us when we hit it.

Give them a heads-up before you leave for home.

If there is nothing else, that’s it for now.

I’ll see you all in the morning.”

CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

- Morning of December 4th, 2005 -

Kenny had spent most of the night enjoying making Joel pay for his infidelity.

This was going to take days…

He’d finally left him at three in the morning, still in restraints on the bed in his special room, screaming in pain, bleeding from numerous cuts and slashes and begging for mercy.

He’d grabbed five hours of sleep and was, at eight o’clock, sitting in front of his computer screen surfing for specific data.

As a fall back, just in case things began to look too risky, it would be prudent to have a plan in place to divest himself of all his property and allow him to simply leave the country.

He was looking for information on what specific countries in the world did not have a reciprocal extradition agreement in place with Canada.

He was surprised and extremely pleased to find that there were well over one hundred of them.

After a little research, he liked the sound of Belize and entered the name into the search engine.

Up popped:

‘Belize is a crown jewel carefully carved out by the British over three centuries, located on the Caribbean coast of northern Central America at 17°15′ north of the equator and 88°45′ west of the Prime Meridian on the Yucatán Peninsula. Central America is the isthmus that connects North America with South America. The country shares a land and sea border on the north with the Mexican state of Quintana Roo, a land border on the west with the Guatemalan department of El Petén, and a sea border on the south with the Guatemalan department of Izabal.

It is about two hours by air from Miami, or Dallas-Fort Worth. It is a two-day non-stop drive through Mexico from the Texas border. The land border with Mexico is at Chetumal City.

From Central America, Belize is a one-day drive from Guatemala City, or a half hour boat ride from the Izabal Department in Guatemala that features the beautiful tourist city of Puerto Barrios.

Belize is also located next door to Honduras. A two-hour boat ride from Punta Gorda in the Toledo district will land you at Puerto Cortez, Honduras. Commuter flights connect Belize to Chetumal City, Cancun and Merida in Mexico, Flores City (near Tikal) in Guatemala, and San Pedro Sula in Honduras.

To the east of Belize is the Caribbean Sea and Atlantic Ocean; the second-longest barrier reef in the world flanks much of the 386 kilometers (240 mi) of predominantly marshy coastline. Belize Map below is by Google Maps.

The area of the country totals 22,960 square kilometers (8,860 sq. mi), an area twice the size of Jamaica, and slightly larger than El Salvador or Massachusetts. The abundance of lagoons along the coasts and in the northern interior reduces the actual land area to 21,400 square kilometers (8,300 sq. mi). Being a small country, it is no wonder most people need to ask: Where Is Belize?

The land area of the country extends about 280 kilometers (170 mi) north-south and about 100 kilometers (62 mi) east-west, with a total land boundary length of 516 kilometers (321 mi). The undulating courses of two rivers, the Hondo and the Sarstoon, define much of the course of the country’s northern and southern boundaries. The western border follows no natural features and runs a north-south imaginary line through lowland forest and highland mountainous plateau. This area is officially known as the adjacency line between Belize and Guatemala, the latter having a centuries old territorial claim on the former British colony. English is the official language of Belize, followed by Spanish. The Adjacency Zone is administered by the Organisation of American States (OAS).

The north of Belize consists mostly of flat wetlands and coastal plains, in places heavily forested. The flora is highly diverse considering the small geographical area. The south contains the mountain range of the Maya Mountains.

The highest point in Belize is Doyle’s Delight at 1,124 m (3,688 ft.). The Caribbean coast is lined with a coral reef and some 450 islets and islands known locally as cayes (pronounced “keys”). They total about 690 square kilometers (270 sq. mi) and form the approximately 320-kilometre (200 mi) long Belize Barrier Reef, the largest in the Western Hemisphere and second only in the world after the Australia’s Great Barrier Reef.

Three of only four coral atolls in the Western Hemisphere are located off the coast of Belize. One of the natural wonders of the world, the Great Blue Hole is located here.

One writer on the site described the country in these words:

“Belize goes unnoticed by the rest of the world, and over the years the country has parlayed its obscurity into an attractive asset. For those shipwrecked on the shoals of life, Belize offers a new beginning.

The country teems with adventurous refugees who’ve set up shop in the middle of the Central American jungle. British innkeepers, Mennonite farmers, Chinese shopkeepers, Lebanese entrepreneurs, American missionaries, Canadian aid workers, and Dutch scientists live peacefully alongside the nation’s longer-established residents, the Garifuna artists, Maya cacao growers, Mestizo plantation managers, and Creole politicians who make up the majority of the country’s population. Belize draws the eccentric, the madcap, and the downright mad.”

Kenny laughed uproariously, promptly highlighted the entire description and engaged his printer.

Now you’re talking my language!

Who could ask for more.

Time to apply for a passport.

There had been no sign of activity at the house in east-Van overnight.

The mustang was still parked out front and had not moved.

The Task Force units, using a tac channel to stay in contact, bolstered by a crime scene van with a full complement and accompanied by three two-man marked patrol units arrived in a convoy at eight-twenty-five.

Before they entered the block, one of the marked units entered the lane at the rear and took up a position with a clear view of the back door.

Once they were in position, they notified the others and the remaining units pulled up in front and quickly exited their vehicles and approached the front door.  Of the pack, Jack and Julia were first up on the porch.

There was no response to repeated ringing of the doorbell by Julia and a final solid pounding on the front door itself, delivered by Jack. This information was transmitted to the unit at the back and then Dave nodded to one of the uniformed teams who were carrying a ram and they stepped up front and let go.

Ed, who was keeping the official log of the operation, noted that the door to the house went in at shortly before eight-thirty.

Julia led the way in, with Jack as backup.

Both had their guns out and down at their sides.

Jake give the warning.

“POLICE…EXERCISING A SEARCH WARRANT.”

Ed, who had been holding two clear plastic bags containing sterile white coveralls, booties and caps passed one each to the two of them.  They quickly got into the gear.  Dave and Ed followed them in but stayed put in the entranceway as Julia and Jack checked the house room by room and in short order shouted that it was clear.

Dave looked at Ed and shook his head.

“Shit…no kid.  Son-of-a-bitch.”

Dave turned to two of the remaining uniformed teams and instructed them to double tape the house, stringing yellow ‘POLICE- DO NOT CROSS’ around the house itself and then a second string around the entire property line. He directed the other patrol unit to begin a house to house down the street in both directions and the second team of new detectives to do the same along the far side of the back laneway.

He and Ed then also suited up in sterile dress and the four of them, Dave leading, began a room -to-room.

Dave’s gut feeling was that if the kid was not in the house, he was probably dead.

It didn’t take long for them to confirm that likelihood.  The kid’s stuff was everywhere.  If he’d simply taken it on the lam, a goodly amount of it would have gone with him and the fact that the Mustang was still parked out front, also supported that concept.

Nevertheless, there was a good chance that the house was a crime scene and that’s how they determined to play it.

Two of the uniform units were detailed to sit front and back to enforce the yellow tape and one of the newly added Task Force detective teams, who worked murder for Major Crime, were left to handle the site as the crime scene group unpacked their boxes and went to work.

Dave, Ed, Jack, Julia and the car five team headed back to the office.

They sat down, and Dave set the stage and began to assign follow-up responsibilities.

“Now that the tape is up at the house, we will have the media to deal with.  The Chief and I will look after that.  We’ll set up an in-camera press conference here at the station and give them just the basics.  Do our best to get them to agree to sit on it for twenty-four hours with a promise to provide everything we have at that time.

Hopefully we can black it out for at least that time frame.

I wouldn’t count on that by the way.  And even if we do manage it, our killer, just by the fact that we found no one at the house, is likely now aware that we have him in our sights and is already moving to tidy up loose ends and get out of town.

Ed, you stay here and co-ordinate all the information coming in from the teams at the house.  We want a quick overview from the crime scene guys and feedback from the door-to-doors.

Someone must have seen something, vehicles coming and going etc.

“Julia, I want those phone records from the house asap.  You’ve got your warrant. Go see your contact and get the printouts back here and go over them.”

He nodded to the car five team.

You two stick with Ed.  As info comes in, he will likely have follow-up tasks as a result and he will be assigning those to us as they come in.

All of you make sure that you keep Ed up to date with anything that looks like it might be interesting.

When I get back from the media scrum, I’ll stay here with Ed to help him co-ordinate all additional investigative initiatives.

Before the end of the day, I want to know who our killer is and where he lives.  I know the answer to those two questions is out there right now just waiting for us to grasp it.

CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

- Afternoon of December 4th, 2005 -

Kenny’s earlier euphoria over the possibility of clearing out and heading for Belize had gone through a reality check and he now realized that it had to be abandoned.

He was in his private sanctuary giving Joel a shot of Rohypnol shortly after noon to keep him under and the first indicators of an impending depression were settling in.

Only a fool could still think that the police weren’t on his trail and he was no man’s fool.

They weren’t all that bright and he had been very careful.  They probably didn’t know exactly who he was yet, but it was only sensible for him to accept the likelihood that they did have at least some idea of what he had been doing.

Lacking any desire to engage further with Joel, he left the safe room and wandered around the house listlessly, thoughts going around and around in this mind, until just before five at night.

If they did know what he had been doing, then they were bound to keep digging and eventually they would manage to identify him.  Once that happened, even if they didn’t have enough evidence to charge him, they would persist in riding his ass and in so doing prevent him from continuing with his program of kills.

One thing for sure was that he was not going to give them the slightest opportunity to arrest him.

If Belize, now on the back burner as a long-range endgame, was not a viable option before that happened.

If it seemed that they were closing in on him in the interim, he needed a plan in place to ensure that any attempt at an arrest would fail.

If they came for him, they would have to come through the gate at the front of the property. As part of the fence line, he’d had the foresight to have a camera and intercom installed at the gate at the time it was built.

Other than himself, only Walter had remotes to operate the gate.  The crew-chiefs of his work units also knew the code for the touch-pads required to activate the gate and they were under strict orders to be certain it was closed after each usage.

That meant that if the cops came for him, they were going to have to announce themselves at the gate to facilitate entry.

That would give him several minutes to prepare for their arrival.

His sanctuary, the safe room, would also provide him with a certain amount of time before they could reach him, more than enough time for him to do what he had to do to prevent them from physically taking him into custody.

So, that being the case, he would be the one to decide what happened to him, not them.

His destiny would remain totally within his own control.

That thought fortified him.

Pleased, he determined to make the necessary preparatory arrangements before the day was out, to facilitate that eventuality.  In so doing, he was able to put aside his concerns about cops.

The dark cloud that had settled over him, dissipated somewhat.

Kenny realized that he hadn’t eaten in some time and was suddenly ravenously hungry.

He prepared himself a plate of eggs and sausages.  The sausages were from the most recent batch and after savouring the first couple of bites, Kenny decided he could sense just the faintest, slightly exotic, change in taste.

He considered it an improvement, was delighted and dug in with gusto.

Finished eating and feeling a little better, he was surprised to find that he felt sexual desire rekindle.

He placed the dirty dishes in the sink and then humming softly, ambled off down the hall to return to the safe room for another round of enjoying what was left of Joel.

When Dave returned from the Chief’s office, he found Ed alone in the Task Force room and on the phone.  He had a notepad in front of him and was scribbling on it as Dave dropped into a chair across from him.

Ed saw him and nodded, then cut the call off and grinned.

“Right, stuff is going well here. Before I enlighten you though, how did the media scrum go?”

Dave shrugged.

“Hard to say.  We swore them to secrecy and told them it was off the record and just a heads up.  Asked them to sit on it and after a fair bit of grumbling they agreed.  Time will tell.”

Ed nodded.

“About all you can expect.

Ok, here’s what we’ve got so far.

The crime scene guys are still at it of course, say they will be there for a couple of days at least.  But, they have already picked up a load of prints and traces of DNA.  No matches of either yet of course but looking pretty good.

The door-to-doors picked up one good lead, to be specific, it was your boy from car five and his young partner.

Old guy, lives directly across the lane, says he’s spotted a truck going in and out of the garage on several occasions.

He’s a smoker and his wife won’t let him smoke in the house, so he’s out puffing on his second-floor back deck on a regular basis, night and day.

No plate, but he seems to know his vehicles well and he describes the truck as a red Ford Lariat, five or six years old.

The older constable from five, picked up on that and remembers that, back when he was new to the job and working the same car, he checked a vehicle of that description parked on the stroll.

This is several years back.

There was a young guy in it at the time and over the initial objections of his training officer, primarily because the guy struck him as more than a little strange, he decided to put in a check card on the truck and occupant.

I sent him off to dig it out and he and his partner found it.  Completed on the night of December second of 1998.  It provides us with a licence number and a name.  They’re currently running both.

Jack went with them and decided to run the plate through our traffic system to see if he could find anything that would put it in the area near the house in the east-end.

That was him on the phone. He’s riding high.

Got a red-light camera hit that took place only a few blocks from the house on September the first of this year.  Shows the truck plate clearly and even better, a full-frontal face shot of the driver.

He’s taken it down to see if our tech boys can bring the quality of it up better than it is.

Julia has the phone printouts and is on her way in with them.

At that moment, Julia, pushing up her glasses with one hand while holding a clip of pages in her other, bustled into the office.

“I checked a few calls listed in and out to the house…three on December 1st between that address and two others stood out.  I checked with Jack by phone and they tie things together, Joel, the foster home in Richmond, and our suspect.

We’ve got him.  No doubt about it”.

Dave had what he’d asked for.

Enough evidence to prove who the killer was and where he currently lived.

Dave called upstairs and updated the Chief.

CHAPTER FORTY

- Evening of December 4th, 2005 -

Finished his session with Joel by six-thirty at night, Kenny was in his office, researching how to apply for a passport.

He’d left the kid in the saferoom, still shackled, lying face-down and limp on the blood-soaked rubber sheet.

By that time, Joel was seemingly on his last legs due to blood loss.

His pitiful pleas for help now reduced to an unintelligible level of muffled whimpering.

His shivering form was hardly recognizable as that of a human.

It was more like a blubbering animal.

At seven in the evening, with light snow falling, the members of the Task Force, in eight unmarked cars and backed up by a secondary crime scene van, search and arrest warrants in hand; made a meet with a marked R.C.M.P. Suburban, two miles west of Kenny’s property.

North Vancouver was Mountie jurisdiction.  Inclusion of one of their members in the move on the house, was a matter of profession courtesy.

Due to the seriousness of the case, they had sent a patrol supervisor to observe and assist with uniformed backup, as necessary.

It was just short of seven-twenty, when the group of ten police units, lights off, slowly approached the front of the property.  They stopped in line when Dave and Ed, in the lead car, spotted the closed, well lit, gated entrance to the compound.

Ed, behind the wheel, swiveled in his seat and turned to face Dave.

“Shit!”

Dave squinting ahead through the now steady snow, nodded.

“Yes, looks like a pretty solid gate.  Camera up on that main post on the left and what looks like a key-pad and intercom combination on the short post on the left side just before the gate.

Not going to be as easy as we thought I’m afraid.  I can’t see any house from here.

How big is this place anyway?

Ed shrugged.

“I heard something about acreage I think.  But don’t quote me.”

Dave swore again, this time under his breath.

“Well, I guess it doesn’t matter at this point.  It is what it is.

You go back and update the others.  I’ll join you in a few minutes.

Once I figure out exactly how we’re going to play this.”

Five minutes later, the marked Mountie SUV, with Ed sitting in front, riding shotgun with the sergeant, moved up to the front of the line of cars and parked with its engine running.

Dave left the others, who were now back in their vehicles, and began to walk toward the gate on his own.  He pulled up the collar of his coat and bowed his head as he moved into the glare of the floodlight at the gate, kicking his way through the several inches of accumulated snow and bent down to the intercom.

Up at the house, Kenny caught a flicker of movement in the image of the camera monitor sitting to his left on the desk, before the sound of the intercom buzzer filled his ears.

He froze momentarily, staring at the screen.  It wasn’t until the shadowy bundled up figure on the screen had buzzed for the third time that Kenny had made up his mind what to do.

He pushed the button to answer the intercom.

“Yes…”

Dave turned sideways to the camera as he answered.

“My car’s broken down.  I need to use a phone.”

Kenny stared at the screen for a few seconds.

Ya, sure and I was born yesterday and I’m going to let you in.

Dave waited for response for a minute that seemed like and hour and then he stood erect, raised his arm and stepped a few paces to his left to be well clear of the driveway.

Kenny saw the move and got up out of his chair.

Panic grabbed him as he watched the big marked police suburban surge into the frame and launch itself directly at the gate.

Kenny was on the move before the big black push-bars framing the grill of the Suburban made contact, forcing the gate open, sending it reeling aside on it hinges.

Kenny realized he had stopped breathing.  He managed to regain control of his faculties and then immediately raced down the hallway toward the saferoom.

The Suburban came to a stop and Dave hurried across to it and climbed into the back seat.

As he pulled the door closed behind him, the other units, lights back on, bulled in behind them.

Dave met the eyes of the R.C.M.P. sergeant in the rear-view mirror.

“Sorry I had to ask you to do that.  No push-bars on our unmarked units. The city will pay for any damage you’ve suffered.”

The big man grinned back at him.

“Not to worry, I’ve always wanted to do something like that.

Without further comment, he hit the gas and the parade of vehicles shot forward down the driveway.

Kenny downed the contents of the large glass in three huge gulps.  He’d mixed the booze half and half with Rohypnol.  He knew he would likely be dead in twenty minutes or so.

Tossing the glass aside, he quickly got to work.

The strong smell of gas fumes had filled the room by the time Kenny had drained the last few drops out of the ten-gallon plastic vessel.

He dropped the red container on the floor and turned back to survey the room briefly before crossing to the single chair and sitting down.

He was calm now.

The decision had been made and he was in total control.

He rested his gaze on the still squirming form on the bed in front of him.

It looked like Joel was still going to be among the living when the fire engulfed him.

Good, let the little prick suffer to his last breath.

Here we go, him getting his just desserts and me going out in a ball of fire, a blaze of glory, on my personal funeral pyre.

Kenny felt the first signs of the drug taking effect.  He pulled out his lighter, savoured the sight in front of him for a couple of seconds, then flipped the top open, lit it and gently tossed it.

He watched it sail cross the room and land in a puddle of gas to one side of the door.

There was a moment when he thought it might not ignite, but then a terrific ‘whoosh’ filled his ears and a stabbing flame flashed upward.

They had to kick in the locked front door.  Minutes later they had determined that the house was unoccupied.  Dave was standing in the mater bedroom detailing teams to check out the outbuildings and assigning inside responsibilities to the others, when Julia interrupted him.

“Inspector, do you smell smoke?  I smell smoke.”

Dave frowned and turned to face her.  Before he could respond Julia had turned and moved toward the bookshelf.

“Look here…there is smoke coming out of the wall.  Seeping out…”

She began to trace the wisps of smoke wither fingertips.

And I feel heat.”

Dave turned to the R.C.M.P. sergeant, who had been leaning against the far wall, doing his best to stay out of the way.

“Son-of-a-bitch!  Can you notify the local fire department?

The big man was already reaching for the mike on his shoulder.

Dave turned to the rest.

Ed, go and check outside.  This is an outside wall were looking at.  The fire must be outside, maybe in a lean-to or something.  We might be able to put it out ourselves.  We’ve got extinguishers in the cars.

“Right, the rest of you, out of the house, until we know what we are dealing with.

Check the out-buildings.

We need to find this guy.  With fresh snow, if he’s out there, he will have left tracks.  Look for those first.  If you find no tracks, then come back to the front of the house and we’ll wait there until we get the fire department on scene.”

Drifting back one at a time, all but Ed were gathered together in a tight circle about thirty feet from the house, staring at the roofline, expecting to see flames break thorough at any moment.

Ed, joined them seconds later.

“I looked at the back of the house and the outside.  There is no sign of a fire back there.   But the shape of the building doesn’t fit with the inside wall where we saw the traces of smoke.

I think there is another room on the other side of the bookshelf in the master bedroom.”

Dave nodded.

“Okay you guys stay here. I’ll go inside and briefly check to see if the smoke is still coming out.”

He returned a few minutes later.

“The odd little bit of smoke now and then, but less than before.  I think you’re right, the fire is not just inside the outside wall or something like that.  There must be a room behind those bookshelves.”

The sound of a wailing siren filled the silence that followed his words and he let out an impatient sigh.

“Thank Christ.”

When the two trucks, lights and sirens operating, pulled up to the front of the house, the men inside began to pour out and Dave hurried across in the direction of the guy issuing the orders.

He quickly outlined the situation and the crew went into action.

A hose line with an auxiliary pump was run from the tank truck to the dug well at the side of the property.  A second line was run from the truck to the house.

Dave led the Captain and two firemen into the house and showed them the spot where the smoke had first appeared.

The Captain turned to one of the firemen.

“Get a couple of axes.”

Then he turned to Dave.

“We’re going to have to cut our way in there.

I think we’ve probably got a room behind it, but one that’s almost hermetically sealed.

Those wisps of smoke you first saw tell us there is a fire in there, but because it hasn’t broken through the roof, my bet is that its smouldering.”

Dave frowned, and the man continued.

“If you can seal a room and the fire doesn’t cause a breach, it will eventually consume all the available oxygen and then either smoulder or go out.  If the heat breaks a window or if there is another way for oxygen to still get in it can cause a flashover or backdraft.”

Dave nodded.

“There are no windows.”

“OK, but a fire can burn slowly until a door or window is opened and then the fuel in the room that is at a high temperature, can react quickly to the resulting inrush of oxygen.

We will need to hit it hard with water the instant we break our way in.”

Dave nodded again.

“OK, do what you have to do, but try not to pour any more water in there than you need to.

We think this is a crime scene and we want to be able to work it as soon as you’ve finished.”

Fire axes took the door down in six solid blows.

Two firemen, manning a swollen hose then hit the resulting burst of flames with a solid stream of water.

It was knocked down in a mater of minutes.

EPILOGUE

Two weeks after the fire, Dave, Ed and the Chief sat down to dinner with the senior Crown Prosecutor.

It was the Crown Prosecutor who had chosen the restaurant.  One that offered a good deal of privacy and reflected the fact, by the prices it charged.

To say the least, it was a very unorthodox method of reaching a determination by the prosecution on the action to be taken, after a capital crime investigation had been completed.

That said, all the men gathered around the circular table in the private dining room had agreed it was probably for the best.

Dave had been doing most of the talking during the round of pre-meal cocktails.

The food would arrive shortly, and Dave had reached the point of capping the discussion.

“So, to capsulize; confirmed by dental records and a plethora of evidence, we have ourselves a confirmed dead serial killer.  Over the past several years he’s managed to kill somewhere between fifty and a hundred kids-all selected, from the ‘Boystown’ stroll.

Our guy followed a ritualistic process of killing these kids at his home, where he had constructed a hidden saferoom.  He processed the bodies rather uniquely, first butchering them and then using the meat to add to the pork sausage he sold commercially.

We know that from what we found in the fridge freezer in his house and the wrapped packages sitting in the large freezers in his butchering area.

The remaining tissue and bones were first fed to his pigs and then buried under wood chipping material, in several areas of his large forty-acre property.

What we are considering here is how we should handle the notifying of the public of what has taken place.

We’ve already given the media the basic facts of the case, without any mention of the sausage part.

Using DNA and trace evidence and prints recovered to date, we have positively identified twenty-three of the victims.  Their next-of-kin, where it was possible to find them, have been notified.  We have also done that in the case of approximately, its changing daily as the investigation goes on, another forty victims.

With no exceptions, the families we’ve contacted to date are satisfied with the fact that we have confirmed that the killer is dead and given them closure.

Remember, these kids were on the fringe of society, were often on their own or had been kicked out of there homes.

Unsurprisingly, they were not then and are not now, being particularly missed.

Our quandary at this point is, do we release the details of the sausage-making.  If we do, the investigation will have to continue, and it could go on for months or even years, cost a bloody fortune, and serve little purpose in the end.

Or do we halt the investigation now and let sleeping dogs lie? “

The Chief added,

“Do we let the public know that a good number of them are unwitting cannibals, or do we wrap it up now and leave well enough alone?”

Other books by Patrick Laughy

Murder Mysteries

The Little Black Book

Alumni

Kenny-The Making of a Serial Killer

-A Trilogy-

Historical Fiction

The 4th Reich series

Books 1-7

Fantasy

Atlantis-Ship of the Gods-a trilogy