David Baldacci - Hour Game

"Any clues?" asked Michelle.

"Not from the first killing. And we haven't identified her yet either, though we were able to fingerprint her and we're running those. We had a computerized facial composite done too, which we're circulating."

"Any reason to believe the killings are connected?" asked Michelle.

Williams shook his head. "Pembroke and Canney will probably turn out to be some love triangle thing. Kids these days will kill you in a second and think nothing of it. All the crap on TV they watch."

King and Michelle exchanged glances and then he said, "In the first killing either the murderer lured the woman into the woods or forced her to go with him. Or he killed her elsewhere and then carried her into the woods."

Michelle nodded. "If the latter, a strong man, then. With the killing of the teenagers the person might have followed them there or been waiting on the bluff."

"Well, that area is well known as a make-out place, if they still even call it that," said Williams. "Both victims were naked. That's why I'm thinking it was maybe some boy Pembroke dumped or a kid who was jealous of Canney. The Jane Doe in the woods will be the harder one to crack. That's where I'm going to need your help."

King looked thoughtful for a moment and then said, "The watch in the first murder, did you really notice it, Todd?"

"Well, it seemed a little bulky for the girl."

"Sylvia said the arm the watch was on was deliberately braced up."

"She can't know that for sure."

"I saw that the watch was set to one o'clock," continued King.

"Right, but it had stopped, or the stem was pulled out."

King glanced at Michelle. "Did you notice the make of the watch?"

Williams looked at him curiously. "Make of the watch?"

"It was a Zodiac watch: circle with a crosshairs."

Williams almost spilled his coffee. "Zodiac!"

King nodded. "It was also a man's watch. I think the killer put it on the woman."

"Zodiac," repeated Williams. "Are you saying…?"

"The original Zodiac serial killer operated in 1968 and 1969 in the Bay Area, San Fran and Vallejo," answered King. "I think that Zodiac would be a little long in the tooth. But there have been at least two Zodiac copycat killers, one in New York and another in Kobe, Japan. The San Fran Zodiac wore a black executioner's hood emblazoned with a white crosshairs in a circle, the same symbol that's on the Zodiac watch. He also left a watch on his last victim, a cabdriver, if I recall correctly, although it wasn't a Zodiac. However, the man suspected of being the Zodiac in San Francisco owned a Zodiac watch. They believe that's where he got the idea for the crosshairs-in-a-circle logo he wore that earned him his nickname. The case has never been solved."

Williams hunched forward in his chair. "Look, this is all really speculation on your part, and quite a stretch at that."

Michelle glanced at her partner. "Sean, do you really think it's a copycat killer?"

King shrugged. "If two people copied the original, who's to say a third person couldn't? The San Francisco Zodiac wrote to the newspapers in code-one that was finally broken. The coded letters revealed that the killer was motivated by a short story titled ‘The Most Dangerous Game.' It's a story about hunting humans."

"A game about hunting humans?" Michelle said slowly.

King asked, "Did either of the bodies in the car have a watch on?"

Williams frowned. "Wait a minute, Sean, like I said, they're totally different killings. Shotguns and, well, I still don't know how Jane Doe died, but it wasn't by buckshot, that's for damn sure."

"But what about the watches?"

"Okay, both the kids had watches on. So what? Is that a crime?"

"And you didn't notice if they were Zodiacs?"

"No, I didn't. But then I didn't notice it on the Jane Doe either." He paused and considered something. "Although Canney's arm was sort of leaning against the dash."

"Sort of braced up, you mean?"

"Maybe," Williams said warily. "But he got hit with a shotgun blast. No telling how that would have blown him back."

"Were both watches running?"

"No."

"What was the time on Pembroke's watch?"

"Two."

"Two exactly?"

"I think so."

"And Canney's watch?"

Williams pulled out his notebook and turned some pages until he found it. "Three," he said nervously.

"Had the watch been hit by the buckshot?"

"I'm not sure," replied Williams. "I guess Sylvia can tell us that."

"The girl's?"

"Looks like a piece of glass from the windshield hit it."

"Yet her watch read two and Canney's three," said Michelle. "If the girl's watch stopped at two when she was killed by the shotgun blast, how could the boy's have stopped at three without being struck by anything?"

Williams continued to be defensive. "Come on, except for this watch business, which isn't all that convincing, I don't see any connection at all."

Michelle shook her head stubbornly. "First killing was number one, Jennifer Pembroke's was number two and Steve Canney was victim number three. That can't be coincidental."

"You really need to see if the watches on Steve Canney and Jennifer Pembroke were Zodiacs," King told Williams with a sense of urgency in his voice.

Williams used his cell phone to make some calls. When he finished, the police chief looked confused.

"The watch found on Pembroke was hers, a Casio. Her mother confirmed it was the one her daughter wore. But Canney's father told me that his son didn't wear a watch. I checked with one of my deputies. The watch found on Canney was a Timex."

King's brow furrowed. "So no Zodiac watch, but Canney's was possibly planted by the killer, as it probably was in the first killing. As I recall, the San Fran Zodiac also committed a lovers' lane killing. Most or all of his killings were also near bodies of water or places named after water."

"The bluff Canney and Pembroke were killed on overlooks Cardinal Lake," said Williams grudgingly.

"And Jane Doe wasn't that far from the lake," said Michelle. "You just had to go over the crest of the hill she was on, and there's a cove right there."

"What I would do, Todd," said King, "is start working the Zodiac watch connection. The killer had to get the watch from somewhere."

Williams was looking down at his hands, his brow furrowed.

"What is it?" asked Michelle.

"We found a dog collar on the floorboard of Canney's car. We just assumed it belonged to Canney. But his father just told me that they don't own a dog."

"Could it have been Pembroke's?" asked King, but Williams shook his head.

They all sat there puzzling this over when the office phone rang. King went to answer it and returned with a pleased expression. "That was Harry Carrick, retired state supreme court justice, now country lawyer. He's got a client accused of some serious things, and he wants our help. He didn't say who or what."

Williams rose and cleared his throat. "Uh, that would be Junior Deaver."

"Junior Deaver?" said King.

"Yep. He was doing some work for the Battles. It's out of my jurisdiction. Junior's in the county lockup right now."

"What'd he do?" asked King.

"You'll have to ask Harry about that." He went to the door. "I'm calling the state police in too. They've got real homicide detectives."

"You might want to think about involving the FBI as well," said Michelle. "If this is a serial killer, VICAP can do a profile," she added, referring to the FBI's Violent Criminal Apprehension Program.

"Never thought I'd have to fill out a VICAP form in Wrightsburg."

"They've simplified the paperwork a lot," she added helpfully.

After the chief left, Michelle turned to King. "I feel sorry for him."

"We'll do what we can to help."