Adoption Page 17

  “What to do?” he said out loud. “What to do?” he repeated.

  “You KNOW what you have to do.” A voice said responding to his question. “You know exactly what you have to do. There is no question here to be answered. You do not vary or change your course one bit when it comes to the adoption process. This is something you already know, and yet, here you sit wasting god-damned time blubbering all over yourself, trying to convince yourself that someone would actually want to be part of your family. YOUR fucking family!”

  Christopher turned in his chair to face the doorway looking for the source of the voice.

  “Why do you have to come now?” he asked, looking into the shadows of the hallway just outside of the room’s entrance. “Why now?” he repeated.

  “You know why, Christopher.” was the response from the hall. “Why do you question me? You are the one sitting here in your fantasy land wishing for things that cannot be. You are the one changing the rules mid-stream. Changes which will get your ass caught and sent off to be executed in some state, fucking prison. It’s a good thing I did come along otherwise you would be suckling up to this girl like a newborn to its mother’s tits! Think man! Think! What the hell are you doing?”

  “But, Marty is sincere. She really does want to be part of the family. She has said…”

  “She has said! SHE HAS SAID! Who gives a rat’s ass what she has said! She just wants out of here any friggin’ way she can! She is not an idiot. You abducted her, drugged her, tied her up and brought her here. What the fuck! Do you REALLY think she wants to be part of your family? For someone who is supposedly brilliant, you sure are pretty god-damned stupid at times. You do not have a choice, Christopher. She gets adopted just like the rest of the children, and if you don’t do it accordingly, I will! There is no discussion here! You know I mean business.”

  “I know, but I was hoping….”

  “Jesus Christ man! What do I have to do or say to make you see the light? This firl is playing you for a sucker! She is playing with your mind and will kill you in a split second if you trust her and give her a millisecond of an opportunity to do so. She is good, I’ll give her that much. Only captive for a few days and she is already inside of your head playing mind-games with your thoughts. I’m surprised you even had enough self-control to kill that Bickford guy and the doc this afternoon: Which, by the way, you did a nice job with.”

  “All right! All right! I’ll get ready for the adoption. I just wish for once I could do what I want to do. Just once! You’re always sticking your nose in and ruining it for me. I do not understand why it always has to be YOUR way!”

  This time there was no response from the hallway. Only shadows and darkness remained along with the silence. Christopher stood up from his chair and walked into the hall looking both ways, but no one was there. He knew as he stood alone in the gray shadows, that he had no choice. He would prepare to complete Marty’s adoption immediately. Tonight, Marty would become one of his children. She would remain with him forever just like the children before her. Christopher still did not want Marty to be just one of his children. He knew she was special and wanted her to be the big sister for the family. He wanted her to sit next to him and share the immense pleasure of the family. However, his opinion had been overruled and he could not refuse to obey the voice in the shadows.

  46

  I stayed to have a cup of coffee with Ken in his office. We talked more about the probability that the same killer was responsible for Jerry and Doc’s attacks as well as the deaths of the five young women from Meadow Pond. The oddity was the purchase of the three monkeys. For some reason it just did not fit. Why would a killer who was so meticulous with every detail of each crime try to purchase the monkeys in the area where he had buried his victims? Did he really believe that he was that invincible? Was he that confident that he would not be caught and exposed? After beating our heads against the wall for a while, I excused myself and headed home for a shower and a few hours of sleep. It was night time again, and I wanted to spend an hour or so with Peggy before she went to sleep. My drive home was filled with thoughts of Doc and Jerry. I heard myself sighing deeply, recalling the last few days and the time I spent time with both of them at the hospital. Both were good men: One of them, a very good friend and confidant.

  “I want a piece of this bastard,” I thought as the headlights of my Explorer reflected off the street sign to my house. Within a few minutes I was closing the front door to my house, and immediately felt the warmth of the pellet stove as I started to take off my jacket.

  Peggy, hearing the door open and close shouted down from upstairs, “Is that you?”

  “Who the heck is you?” I replied.

  “I see the day has not ruined your sense of humor, sweetheart,” she said, starting to laugh as she came down the stairway. “I’m glad you decided to come home for a while. You need to unplug and get some rest. Besides, your wife misses you and needs to snuggle on the couch with her hubby.”

  Peggy, wrapping her arms around me and burying her head into my chest, suddenly pulled away and said, “Snuggling will come after you take a shower, my love. You have a lot of mileage on that shirt you’re wearing.” Laughing and holding her nose, she turned and said, “I’ll get you a towel while you jump in the shower. If you’d like, I could get two towels?”

  “A two towel shower it is,” I responded. I’ve always lived by the old saying, “Never look-a-gift-horse in the mouth.” Tonight was no exception.

  After a long shower, Peggy and I each ate a dish of ice cream sitting on the couch next to the pellet stove, enjoying the small fire and its warmth. It was already about ten-thirty when my cell phone rang. Peggy rolled her eyes at the interruption.

  “Chief, Kosciak.” I said shrugging my shoulders apologetically at Peggy.

  “Ron, Ken Garber.”

  “Hey, Ken. Didn’t get enough of me today?” I said, as Peggy raised her right hand shooting me the bird with a big smile on her face.

  “Well, actually, I was just looking at the second composite of our perp. It definitely matches the first sketch, but, I think this one has much more facial detail around the eyes and mouth. I wanted to let you know that I’m faxing it over to your office so you’d have it first thing in the morning.”

  “I tell ya what, Ken. Why don’t you fax it over to my house? I’m sitting here with Peggy. I’ll give you the number.”

  I rattled off the number, and within a couple of minutes. I heard the electronic bleeping sound all fax machines make when they are transmitting. I stood fidgeting over the fax machine watching the pencil-lined face materialized on the plastic tray. Patience is not one of my strong points, and I found myself tapping my foot on the hardwood floor as if it would help to speed up the process. Picking up the sheet, I looked at the man’s face staring back at me, and experienced the same feeling of semi-recognition that I had experienced after looking at the first drawing earlier in the evening. The man’s features were strangely familiar, but I could not place him. Yes, there was more detail from the second composite, but still not enough for me to recognize him. “Shit!” I blurted out.

  “What is it hon.” Peggy asked, walking over to rub my arm.

  “I keep looking at these drawings but I can’t place where I’ve seen this guy before. It’s probably because he looks similar to a hundred guys I’ve seen over the years. Maybe it’s just me being impatient and wanting to recognize him. Ken said the same thing. It’s like we are supposed to know who this guy is. Frustrating as hell!”

  Peggy looking over my shoulder at the drawing was shocked at the composite of the man’s face on the fax paper. I felt her hand drop off of my arm down to her side. I heard her inhale sharply, filling her lungs without exhaling right away. Turning to look at her, I saw an expression of realization and disbelief on her face.

  “What is it Peg?” I asked very slowly. “Do you know this guy? Seri
ously, do you know him?”

  Peggy did not say a word nor did she utter a syllable. She slowly nodded her head up and down indicating recognition of the man in the drawing. She put her hand up to her mouth, as if to prevent the words of recognition from coming out. I knew she did not want to believe she knew this person looking back at her from the fax.

  “Honey, you’ve got to tell me who this is,” I said, putting my hand on her shoulder giving her a squeeze of assurance. “Come on, baby, who is it?”

  Finally Peggy gasped, “That’s Christopher Bradford, my masseur. You remember him. He just gave me a massage yesterday.”

  “Are you sure? I mean, are you absolutely positive that it’s him?

  “Honey, I’m telling you without a shadow of a doubt that that is a sketch of Christopher Bradford. You met him once about a year and a half ago at the mall. Don’t you remember? You said he had dark, penetrating eyes.”

  “A year and a half is a long time.” I replied. “I don’t remember meeting him, but, that’s probably why I thought I should have recognized him when I first saw the sketch. Holy shit, hon, you may have just solved this case. I’ve got to get dressed and get over to the station. This can’t wait until morning. I’ve got to call Ken Garber right now and get him moving too. We have to try and nail this son-of-a-bitch tonight. Marty McMaster may still be alive. Every minute I sit on my butt is one minute less she may have to live, and besides, this monster had his slimy hands all over you. This gets more personal every minute. Real personal.

  Peggy looked up into my face, held it in both of her hands and said, “You be careful. This guy doesn’t care who he hurts. He’s killed five women that you know of, abducted another girl, taken out Doc Cavanaugh and murdered Jerry Bickford. He will not hesitate to kill you the instant he lays eyes on you. Promise me you will be extra careful tonight. Don’t be a freakin hero and go barging in there by yourself. You go by the book and follow the proper procedures. Promise me!”

  Looking into her eyes, I reassured her, “Yes.” After going upstairs to get dressed, I came back down to find Peggy waiting by the door with a hot cup of coffee to go.

  “Thought you might need a -pick me up- coffee. I’ll take a rain-check on the snuggling.”

  “I love you too, baby,” I said kissing her as the door closed, not knowing what the rest of the night would bring.

  47

  “Kosciak to Larson, come in Derek.” The radio at the police station echoed into the quiet of the night filling every room on the first floor with its reverberating clang. Derek was in the back room making a cup of coffee to help him cope with the long, lonely night-time shift when he heard me calling. Picking up the mike in the break room, he answered: “Larson here, Chief. Go ahead.”

  “Derek, I need you to call the Assistant District Attorney and have her call me right away. I’m on my way to the station, but, I need to talk with her ASAP and right now every second counts. I will fill you in when I get there. Just make sure she calls me now. It is extremely important. Make sure she understands the urgency of her response when you speak with her.”

  “Understood Chief, I’m on it right now.”

  I closed my cell phone and opened it immediately to dial Ken Garber’s number. Listening to the ring of his phone, I felt an excitement in my stomach I had not felt since I was a sergeant in the army stationed in Viet-Nam. I used to get this high-energy feeling each, time we took off to fly a mission and every time I was involved in prisoner interrogations. Almost every day of my tour was dangerous, but, there were certain days when the stakes were raised to a higher level and could cost you everything - everything being your life. It had been over forty years since the adrenalin pumped this fiercely through my veins. I felt the electricity of anticipation preparing me for what might happen tonight if Christopher Bradford did turn out to be our killer. Remembering what Peggy said to me before leaving home, I thought. “By the book Kosciak, by the book.”

  “Hello, Ken. Ron Kosciak. Sorry to bother you, but I need you to meet me at the station in Sutton right away.”

  “Not a problem, Ron. Give me twenty minutes. What’s going on?”

  “I was at home and Peggy saw the fax you sent with the composite of our killer. As soon as she looked at it she said she knew the guy. I almost fell on the friggin’ floor. She says his name is Christopher Bradford, a masseur over here in Sutton. She just went to him for a massage yesterday. My skin’s crawling just thinking about that bastard touching her. I’m on my way to the station right now. One of my officers is calling the assistant District Attorney. We’ll need a search warrant mucho, pronto. She should be calling me any second. I’ll see you at the station in a few.”

  “Okay, Ron. I’m puttin’ my ass in high gear. Be right there.”

  As Ken hung up, my phone was already ringing.

  “Chief Kosciak,” I said steering to the left, barely missing a raccoon sauntering across the street dragging a piece of garbage rummaged from a nearby dumpster. It never gave me a second glance, tripping over its nocturnal meal with its front feet, as my Explorer cut one way and then back onto the right side of the street. “Furry little shit,” I thought hearing the district attorney’s voice on the other end of the line.

  “Ron, Cindy Littleton. Officer Larson said there is some sort of emergency you need to talk to me about?”

  “Sorry to bother you this late at night, Cindy, but we have a significant lead on the murders of the five girls who were found at Meadow pond the other day. We have a suspect whom we have identified from two composite sketches drawn by the State Police artist with the help of two different witnesses. I need a search warrant immediately, so we can go over to the Baker Building where this individual lives to interrogate him and search his property at the same time. He owns the building and his personal residence is also located on the premises. I just want to make sure the search warrant covers the entire building to include business and personal. How long would it take you to secure a search warrant for me? Captain Garber from the Auburn State Police is going to meet me at my station here in Sutton within the half hour. I figure it will take about one hour to get the necessary people together and be ready to search that building. We believe another young woman is also being held captive in the building, so every minute is crucial to her survival.”

  “Okay, Chief. I understand what you’re saying. I need the individual’s name and the address of this Baker Building you just mentioned.”

  As I gave Cindy the information, my mind was racing at a hundred miles per hour. I thought about Marty McMaster and getting to her before this idiot could abuse her any more than he already had. Remembering those young girls with their disfigured and torn faces, I was almost sick thinking about what might be happening to Marty. I could only hope that if Christopher was our killer, and was the same person who killed Jerry and attacked Doc, that he had been too busy to spend much time torturing Marty. I needed Christopher Bradford to be the serial killer, and I needed Marty McMaster to be alive and not tortured to the point where she would never recover from the emotional and physical damages sure to be her legacy as a result of this ordeal.

  “Chief,” Cindy continued. “It will take me time to wake up the judge and get him to write up the warrant. It may take more than an hour, but I will explain to him the critical circumstances and try to move him along as quickly as I can. I will call you when I have the warrant. You go ahead with your people to the building. I will meet you there with the paper, and then you can go ahead with the search. Stay back a block or so away from the Baker Building, on Rivulet Street. I am driving a black, BMW convertible. I’ll park and wait for you or vice-versa. Do not jump the gun here, Chief. If this is our guy, we want it done by the book. Understood?”

  “How many people are going to tell me that tonight?” I thought answering Cindy in a most respectful way. “You bet your ass I’ll go by the book. I don’t want this monster to get away o
n some technicality. I wasn’t born yesterday, Cindy.”

  Having to wait for the warrant was driving me crazy. Every part of me wanted to storm into that building immediately. But, with only two sketches, and no physical evidence to implicate Bradford, we were forced to follow the letter of the law. I knew instantly my emotions had overtaken my common sense. Before she could reply I said, “Cindy, I’m sorry. This case has me on edge and I don’t want this bastard to get away.”

  “Ron, don’t worry about it. I understand completely and I didn’t take offense to anything you just said. Besides, I know Peggy, and if she can put up with you, so can I,” she replied laughing as she hung up the phone.

  “Oh. Great,” I thought. “Another freakin’ comedienne!”

  All I could do now was assemble the team and get them ready for the unknown. Being night time, this mission would be much more difficult to run because of the darkened and shadowed areas within and around the building. The team would need to study the schematic of the building that Derek had spread out on a desk top in our center office before entering and beginning our search. These old buildings were like a rat maze in a laboratory – one wrong turn and you would be lost for valuable minutes trying to find your way out again. Those few minutes could very well cost someone their life. It would be imperative that the teams be made up of at least two officers. Two members per team would reduce the chance of getting disoriented and would help the officers cover each other’s backs during the search. It is never good procedure to send only one officer into any situation of this type. Too many police officers and first responders are buried in cemeteries because their hearts overrode their heads. It is difficult for a police officer or EMT to stand back during an emergency situation waiting for back-up when the situation mandates the need for a partner.

  I walked impatiently into my office to get my Kevlar vest and helmet. There was no choice but to wait for Ken Garber and the remainder of our group before driving over to the Baker Building to meet Cindy with our search warrant. I hoped Christopher was not there when we arrived so we could initiate our search for Marty before dealing with him. However, if we had to deal with him first, then so be it. He would be handled with any and all force required. There was a voice inside my head repeating over and over: “I hope he resists arrest.”