Robert Waggoner - John - The Senior Killer

His hands were the first thing Brad noticed and after introducing the two of them and showing them their official status he asked Alex a few questions. ‘Tell me Mr. Windslow what led you take this trip and where are you going?” Alex is sitting on the small bunk with Brad and Wendy standing against the wall he told them where he was from and said, “I’m going to see the flowers in Butchart Gardens on Victoria Island. You see I’m a flower lover and go each year to see the spring bloom of the Gardens.”

“I see you are wearing gloves. Do you have circulation problems?”

“Yes do, but how does that concern you, he said with a little too much force in his voice.

“Well as you know we are looking for a killer who preys on old people and if you don’t mind I would like to see your hands.”

John slipped a glove off and as his hand was shaking, he held it out for them to look at. What Brad and Wendy saw were not the hands of what they had seen and the old timer in Bishop had described to them. The guys hand had long fingernails and even though he was bald, his fingers had long black hairs growing on the tops of his hands and fingers.

Brad said, while passing his passport back, “We will have additional questions later Mr. Windslow and be careful as this crazy killer preys on people just your age. Someone like him with a twisted mind thinks he is doing the world a favor and he also thinks of killing off seniors he is making room for others to take their place.” Brad was totally focused on how Alex would react to such a strong statement about the killer's mind profile. However, later when they discussed Alex Windslow the guy never batted an eye.

Wendy added at a table discussion that this Alex guy never asked us to repeat a question even though the ferry vibrated with some noise so why did the guy have hearing aids in his glasses?

Back on land at the ferry terminal Nancy and Steve were having a sit down after both had talked to Brad. He had told Steve and Nancy he was sure John was on the ferry and the interviews were taking place now. After all the interviews he would call and report on about their findings.

Steve had called Washington DC and informed his boss what the situation was and filled him in on another senior murdered and that they had him trapped on a ferry headed for Canada. His boss cautioned Steve about the fact Canada was a foreign country and laws had to be followed when they arrived in Canada. Of course it was not forgotten, he informed Steve, that we could turn the ferry around and bring it back to Anacortes and quarantine the ferry on some pretense of disease or a bomb from a terrorist. However, if the killer somehow wasn’t on board and couldn’t be apprehended, they all hell would break loose from the over three hundred passengers taking a trip to Canada. It was decided at the highest levels, as the ferry steamed towards Victoria, to proceed and when it docked in Canada, officials from both countries would be on hand to discuss what to do.

Steve called Brad and informed him of what the decision was and that is to continue to investigate and interview eliminating all of the obvious and focus on the suspects that he felt were in need of investigating further, especially finger prints.

Brad relayed the orders and decided to try and obtain fingerprints off each of their prime suspects including Alex Windslow. Brad had narrowed it down to two guys: Alex Windslow and another guy by the name of Ted Swift. Both from Seattle and both single with Brad and Wendy both agreeing some further questions needed asking.

First they started with Ted, who readily agreed to be fingerprinted and seem to have an alibi for Aberdeen. They would check his alibi and after taking his prints by another agent, they moved back to interview Alex. They found Alex taking a rest and looked sleepy when a knock on the door took a few minutes to wake the guy up. Maybe his ears are hard of hearing, Brad thought.

Alex invited them in and Brad noticed no gloves were on. It seemed now that Alex was in a foul mood and answered with short quick sentences. He gladly said he would offer his finger prints up knowing that they were nowhere to be found in any database. A long time ago he had lifted the fingerprints off a glass in the studio of a nobody and pasted those fingerprints onto his fingers while waiting for the FBI to come back and ask for his prints; now he rolled his fingers onto the card from an agent. They would play hell, he thought trying to match those fingerprints to John. How stupid they were. This is the twenty first century and film companies were nothing but high tech. So easy, he thought to put on over on them. His confidence rose as they left his cabin.

“Shit,” said Brad and Wendy had never heard him swear before. They walked back to the snack area where the rest of his team and other agents sat and waited for him. He said to them, “Well, unless we catch a break on the prints, they had faxed the prints via satellite to the van trailer in Anacortes, “we are out of luck. I’ve had the ferry going at half speed to delay our arrival and we are close to docking time now. We will be met by some officials and regardless I want both of those last two guys we interviewed followed.”

Brad called Steve on his cell and reported what had come of the interview and the fingerprints. Steve told him that neither one of those guys he sent prints on matched the John Mitchell prints. Steve told him to put a tail on both and Brad reported he’d already had that in place. He also told Brad to work with the Canadian law enforcement people and at the highest levels they had been informed of the events leading to the serial killer on the ferry. The last thing Canadians wanted was a serial killer in their midst.

The ferry docked and the passengers debarked for lodging or staying with friends or relatives. If Brad was right, Alex was their man. They had two agents on him and the Canadian authorities authorized the tail. The agents followed Alex to a hotel in Victoria where he rented a room for two days. Steve sent the helicopter over to the island and picked up the team.

Their heads hung low as they sat in the van trailer and talked about how they almost had the guy. Steve told them all to take a rest and they would all meet tomorrow at Denny’s for breakfast. That night Brad called Sujin and reported the day’s events. She told him he did his best and no one could have done it better. It was a small lift knowing he did do his best, but maybe his best wasn’t good enough. He laid in bed thinking how close he came to catching the guy in the act of murder. Only a few minute differences were like horseshoes: close but no points. For hours he lay there going over the plan and what developed after the chase was on. The net was effective, but a shade late. What could have I done differently, he thought. He flashed back to seeing the bike early that morning. He couldn’t fault himself for not connecting the bike to the killer. There must have been twenty or more cars and vans in the parking lot and why would he think that particular bike was the method he was using for getting around and his escape, not to mention his disguise.

His wake up call came at six am. He packed his bag after a long hot shower looking at a much aged man in the mirror when he shaved. Dark circles and some new lines around the eyes made him look like he felt: old.

At eight all the team plus Steve, including Nancy sat at a large round table in the restaurant. Brad opened the table up for discussion and no one had much to say. Steve piped up saying, “You did your best. No one can fault the plan and it was only the results that foiled us. This guy is good and maybe too good for us. Our prep is enjoying his flower walk in the Garden as we speak. He knows we have a tail on him, but it appears he doesn’t care. We found his residence in Seattle and like you reported it is an old house south of the airport. We got a court order and agents report no finger prints anywhere in the house. They are still looking for any evidence as we speak, but it is doubtful anything of value will show up. Brad, we are called to Washington and a special jet is waiting for us at Whidbey Air base to fly us to DC. Let me add something here, we are not giving up and Brad send your team to Oregon and let’s regroup there after we return in a day or two.”