Brian Freeman - In the Dark aka The Watcher

“The other police officer said this man has done this before,” Clark said. “Is that true?”

“We think it’s the same man, yes. There have been nine reported peeping incidents on the south side of the city and in southwest Superior. The girls are all blond teenagers, like Mary.”

“You mean he chooses them?”

“We think so, yes.”

“Who is this son of a bitch?”

“That’s what we need to find out. Can you tell me if you know any of the other victims?” She rattled off the list of names from memory.

Clark shrugged. “Katie Larson. That’s Andy’s girl, right? They live in Morgan Park?”

“Yes.”

“I know Andy from church. Katie babysat for Mary a couple times. That was two or three years ago. I don’t know any of the others.”

Maggie jotted down the relationship in her notes. There had been ancillary connections among some of the other girls, too. Two of them were on the same soccer team. Two got their hair cut at the same place. Three went to the same high school. Nothing constituted a trend that tied any of the other girls together.

“Does Mary go to school?” Maggie asked.

Clark nodded. “She attends a special school in Superior for developmentally disabled children. My wife takes her there during the week.”

“You and your wife are divorced?”

“Yes, I have Mary on the weekends. Donna takes her during the week.”

His face twitched. It was a sore subject.

“May I have Donna’s address and phone number? I’ll need to talk to her.”

Clark recited them. “I haven’t called Donna to tell her what happened. She’s coming by in the morning. I want to let her know in person.”

“I won’t talk to her until you do.”

He nodded.

“I’m sure Sergeant Guppo asked you some of these things already, but please bear with me,” Maggie continued. “Have you noticed any strangers near your house recently? Have you seen any parked cars in the neighborhood that you didn’t recognize?”

“Not that I can remember.”

“Has anything unusual happened involving Mary lately? Or has your wife mentioned any problems with her during the week?”

Clark shook his head. “Nothing out of the ordinary.”

“Does Mary interact with many other girls outside school?”

“No, she’s mostly with Donna or me.”

Maggie nodded. “I’d appreciate it if you could write up a list tomorrow of the people that Mary regularly comes into contact with. Men and women. People at school. People at your workplace or your wife’s workplace, if she ever goes there. Anything like that. Because of her condition, Mary’s universe is substantially smaller than those of the other girls who have been peeped, which may make it easier for us to find an overlapping connection with the other victims.”

“I’ll get you a list,” Clark said.

“This is an awkward question, Mr. Biggs, but can you tell me more about Mary’s intelligence level? Do you think she would recognize the man who peeped her? Or could she pick him out of a lineup if she saw him?”

“She’s not stupid,” Clark snapped. “She’s just disabled.”

“I wasn’t trying to offend you. I just want to know if she could be a witness for us.”

“I don’t know whether she saw this guy’s face, but Mary remembers things. If she saw him, and you show her a bunch of pictures, she’ll pick him out. I’ll never let her inside a courtroom, though, if that’s what you’re thinking.”

“I understand. Would you mind if I had an officer bring a photo book of registered sex offenders in this region? For Mary to look through?”

“I don’t know if I want to traumatize her like that,” Clark said. “If she sees him in there, she’s going to be scared.”

“That may be the only way to find him.”

Clark sighed. “Okay. I want to be there, though.”

“Of course.” Maggie added, “I’d like to come back and talk to Mary, too, if you don’t mind.”

“She’ll be with Donna. You’ll have to clear it with her. I have to tell you, I’m not too crazy about the idea. You’re not going to get anything from her, and I don’t like her talking to strangers.”

“I promise I won’t get her upset.”

“That’s not a promise you can keep,” Clark said. “She’s a big girl, but she’s a child. She’s scared of things she doesn’t understand.”

“May I see her?” Maggie asked.

“What, now?”

“Not to talk to her. I just want to see what she looks like.”

Clark frowned. “I don’t want to wake her up.”

“I’ll be very quiet. I’d like to see her room, too.”

Clark relented and led her down the hall. For a big man, he walked quietly on the old floorboards. He inched Mary’s door open and peered inside, then let Maggie squeeze into the room in front of him. Mary was asleep and snoring gently. Her father was right-she looked like any other teenage girl that way. Other than Mary being blond, Maggie didn’t see any physical characteristics that she shared with the other victims. She was heavier than most of the other girls. Her hair was the curliest. She was lying on her stomach, with the blankets kicked halfway down her body. Her nightgown had bunched up, and her lower back was exposed. Maggie noticed a tattoo of a butterfly on her spine.

She silently checked out the windows. With the night-light shining, she wasn’t sure if Mary would have been able to see much outside. Maggie didn’t feel confident about getting any results from the photo array of local sex offenders.

She returned with Clark Biggs to the living room.

“I notice your daughter has a tattoo,” Maggie said.

“So?”

“I was just surprised.”

“Mary loves butterflies. Her mother thought she would like having a tattoo of one. They did it without telling me.”

“Would you have objected?”

Clark frowned. “No, I guess not, but I’ve got tattoos, and I know it hurts like hell to get them. Even so, Mary was thrilled with it. She likes showing it off by lifting her shirt, though. She shows it to everyone. I don’t like that.”

“What do you mean, everyone?”

“If someone drives by, and she’s in the yard, she lifts her shirt. If someone comes to the door, same thing. I can’t make her stop.”

“I understand. I think that’s all for now, Mr. Biggs.”

“I hope you nail this bastard. I’m going to sleep on the floor in Mary’s room until you do.”

“There’s really no need for that,” Maggie told him. “I know it was an awful experience for Mary, but it’s over.”

“Until the next time,” Clark said.

“I don’t think you need to worry about a next time. This peeper keeps changing targets. We’re trying to catch up to him by figuring out how he picks his victims.”

“Bullshit,” Clark snapped.

Maggie arched her head in surprise. “Excuse me?”

“I mean, he’s done this to Mary before. What’s to say he won’t come back again?”

“You’re saying this isn’t the first time Mary saw this man?”

Clark shook his head. “I think it happened last week, too.”

“Why didn’t you tell me this before? Why didn’t you report it?”

“I didn’t think there was anything to report,” Clark said. “I thought Mary had a bad dream. I thought she imagined it. But now that I think about it, the way she was shouting, ‘Him! Him!’ I think it was because the guy came back.”

The guy came back.

That was a first, as far as Maggie knew. None of the other victims had suggested that the man might have been watching them before. Of course, maybe he got lucky. Maybe they didn’t notice.

Maggie didn’t think so, though. This was new behavior. New and frightening.