Robert Waggoner - John - The Senior Killer

Mike with Sujin made their way to a waiting car with garment bags and her laptop. She’d asked the governor's secretary to make copies of what she had downloaded and with the documents in hand told Brad she would call him from the motel tonight on his cell phone. Billy, Rocky and Brad rode with Jake to the FBI office not so far from the capital off I-80 on Orange Grove. All was quiet on the short ride and after parking in the underground area and taking the elevator up to the seventh floor where Jake led them to his office. He picked up his messages from his secretary and she told him an agent from Hollywood was anxious to talk to him. He nodded and with his head down looking at the messages led the way to a back office. The office was fairly typical of a government office only this one had a large conference table opposite the large metal desk. The usual computer and family pictures sat waiting for someone to notice they were looking at them. The walls painted blue with an off blue green carpet made the metal desk and conference table look totally out of place. A picture of the current FBI director sat on one wall and the other wall was a bookshelf from one end to the other. Brad noticed many law books and knew Jake was a lawyer by degree. A large window sat in his back making anyone sitting in front of Jake would see only an outline of him. Two chairs sat in front of the desk and Brad and Billy both moved them to either side of the desk so they could see Jake as plain as he could see them. The movement of the chairs didn’t go unnoticed by Jake as he punched in some numbers on his phone. It must have been answered quickly as he spoke into the phone saying rather curtly to update him on what was so urgent. He listened and made some notes on a legal pad and said he would get back to him later tonight.

Brad and Billy waited patiently while he thumbed through his messages and then cast them aside. They waited for him to speak. Jake raised his head and said, “That was one of our agents reporting that he has a lead on a disgruntled employee that used to work for one of the major filmmakers. He’s tracking him down now and is sitting at the guy’s house waiting for him to come home. He says there is a wife and at least two kids in the house so he figures he will be home soon.”

Brad changed the subject by saying, “Jake we need to get a blow up map of California and overlay it with the kill sites. Billy needs access to your computer center and given a free hand to do his thing. Meanwhile I would like a place to land and go over again the ME report along with the latest on a profile of this person. I presume you have a profiler working on this person and if so, where is the report?”

Jake was taken a little aback by what he heard and quickly recovered by calling his secretary in. She popped through the door like a cork from a champagne bottle with notebook in hand. Billy rolled his eyes at the plain Jane, but as soon as she focused her eyes on Billy through thick glasses, Brad knew Billy had fallen in love again. He smiled inwardly and thought that this secretary was in for a pleasant time having Billy hanging around her desk asking off the wall questions and in general making a fool of him.

Jake gave her orders and Brad and Billy left Jake to muddle the late afternoon out by making a plan his agents could follow.

Meanwhile Brad and Jake followed Vicky down the hall to an office that was more like a broom closet than an office. She turned the light on and the only thing in the room was a small metal desk with a phone sitting looking lonely waiting for some action. One chair sat next to the desk and a desk chair creaked when Brad sat down. The desk was covered in dust and Vicky was totally embarrassed and said, “The cleaning crew will be here at ten and I will make sure they do a very good cleaning job tonight.”

Brad replied, “That would be fine and by the way have someone get me a computer and printer set up and operating by six am tomorrow morning. In addition, make sure I have a list of numbers and staff by the same time. Now I will follow Billy and you to the computer center.”

Vicky was making notes that probably didn’t need to be made, but she saw the look in Brad’s eyes and felt her knees start to buckle. God she thought, what a powerful man he must be. The way he made Jake tremble must mean this man is someone to respect. What is the dog for she also wondered. Never mind as she turned to lead them down two floors to the computer center.

Jake, after they left made a call to the assistant director of the FBI. He asked only one question and listened for two minutes and hung up. He’d foolishly asked who Brad Pratt was and got an ear full. What he did hear was this guy was well connected and if he asks for something, take care of it yourself if you don't want to retire from the FBI. Jake then made a quick call to the computer center and asked for the director. He rapid fired orders to carte blanche anything that a disheveled guy named Billy asked for and in addition to whatever a clean cut man named Brad Pratt wanted. He made it clear if he didn’t give these guys everything they wanted he would be shredding documents by the next day.

Later having dinner at a fine hotel Billy and Brad discussed the case. Brad brought him up to speed and told him what he thought was needed from the computer. Billy thought about it a little while drinking coffee and nervously reaching for a cigarette then realizing he couldn’t smoke in any restaurant. Billy suggested they hurry and finish dinner so they could go outside and smoke. Brad gave him a dirty look and said he would meet him for breakfast in the morning at six. Brad left with Rocky and went to his room where he called Sujin. He found her in her room at a hotel near the airport and said she had spent only a few hours on the phone, but two places sounded promising about a recent big sale of cosmetics. Brad told her to call him at the FBI office when she learned something and said he had some new documents from the FBI to read before bed.

Also just going to bed was the hunter going through his role for tomorrow’s play in a seedy motel located in the mountains east of Sacramento.

Standing in front of the mirror in his room at the Bishop Village Motel in Bishop, California he made ready his disguise for the lunch meeting of the local Lions Club. He’d come in late the night before wearing thick glasses a hat with a large overcoat on to check in. The girl at the desk had been sleeping and he knew she would never give a description of him that would amount to much. Now he was ready.

Walking out into the bright sun, but cold day high in the mountains of this small town of thirty five hundred, no one saw him leave the motel. He packed his bag in the car and drove downtown to the restaurant where the weekly meeting of the Lion’s club met. He’d checked the location out the day before and parked in the rear of the restaurant. At noon he walked in and showed his credentials to a man at the door who welcomed him to the lunch meeting. Two hours later he’d found his man with the name to match his game: Matt.

It didn’t take long to find out what he needed. Single, lived alone and no family in the area. Matt invited him home for a drink and before dark Matt sat with his head on his chest breathing no more. He cleaned his tool and as usual left by the front door leaving the porch light on. He limped to his car and drove away into the night.

Brad sitting with Billy in the hotel coffee shop at six is listening to what his computer expert had to say. Billy, now totally focused and showing none of the antics he was known for, said, “Boss, I burned the midnight oil and this is what I will do this morning. I will take the map of California and line up the cities where he struck and then takes the names of the people and program the computer to make sense out of nonsense.” Billy knew better than to give his boss tech talk and this was his way of telling him he was on the job and would have something for him to look at by days end.