Chapters Twenty to Twenty Five

Chapter Twenty

Monday morning after Thanksgiving Janet gets in early, not even quite seven o'clock, Louise is already in. What is Louise up? She thinks Louise has been working at home on the weekends and spent a lot of time late at work. She is working something on the side.

Louise looks up Janet is in her doorway, "what is it boss, I want in on what ever it is you are working."

"Working? Just paperwork, you know how this place can be."

Janet sits down at the table puts her coffee cup down, "damn it Louise, I know you are working something. I want in, okay. I know you, if you are spending this much time, it must be important, even if its not a formal case ."

Louise sits back biting her lower lip, "its inactive but open."

Janet sits up, "the drug dealers, you are still working that, do you have something new?"

Louise shakes her head, "No, just a theory, I don't have any new evidence, not really."

"Come on Louise, I can help, I want to help."

Louise walks over and sits down, "okay, I have a theory about what these killings are really about, and it seems to be holding up so far." Louise walks through the theory, and attempt to stop the drugs flowing into small rural towns in Appalachia, she found the timing it works. A killing of a big distributor in Charlotte just before the Clear Creek murders, the same in Pittsburgh before Flat Top Gap. It looks like the same distributor in Pittsburgh covered Potters Peak.

Janet takes a sip of coffee, ""I get it cut off the supply chain, what about Bristol Tennessee?"

"Too big and we always knew that one was a bit different."

"You are still thinking Andy Baker, that he is involved?"

"Yeah, he was near Potter's Peak this past summer, I had seen that at the beginning of the summer that he was near Winchester, just wondering if it would happen again. When it did, I knew I needed to keep digging. All three towns, three consecutive summers."

"But there has to be another piece, he needs a partner. It's not Bachman or Clay, they don't have the time."

"Yeah, that's just what I was getting started on, he has to have a partner, I guess it could be two people but things start to get a bit crowded. I am guessing one person, someone with real skills who can devote time. You are right not Bachman or Clay, not just the time, I don't really see them with the skills to kill these distributors, especially in these urban areas. His partner must pick up from Baker in the late summer, Baker hands off the surveillance and leaves. The partner does some additional surveillance to confirm the targets and plan the killing."

"Why don't you make the case active Louise, Stan and I can help on this piece."

"We don't have enough, not yet."

"Okay I will help, you must be thinking of his army contacts, people like Peter Clay, officers under his command, that's a lot of people."

"Yes, it is, this afternoon we can split the work up."

                   *******

Late in the day, after almost everyone has gone home Janet and Stan are at Louise's office door. She looks up from her computer, "what do you two have?"

Janet gestures to Stan, "he wants in to, help look for a partner for Andrew Baker."

Louise chuckles, "okay, but this is still off the books."

                   *******

Janet has gotten to know Louise pretty well, working together now for almost ten years. Louise does not have a temper, rather she does not blow up or lose her temper. Janet is shocked when Louise throws the coffee cup against the wall of her office, "damn it!"

Louise gets up, walks over and picks up the pieces, "sorry, I just cannot believe it, we have been looking at this for nearly a month of work on this and we cannot find a partner and he is not connected to Sheriff Tubbs in Potters Peak. Tubbs isn't connected to any of them, not Clay or Bachman."

Stan looks at Janet, "sorry Louise, we can do some more work."

Louise tosses the pieces into her trash shaking her head, "I am not angry at you two, you looked at everything, there is no one that we can place in those three locations at the same time as Baker and you ran everyone down that could be a partner. If he is working with someone, they are a ghost."

Louise has never been this frustrated, "okay we need a break from this case, Christmas is less than a week away, let's just drop this for a while."

Janet looks at Stan, he shrugs, she looks at Louise, "you sure Louise?"

Louise smiles, "yeah, you want me to throw another cup?"




Chapter Twenty One

Dan comes by Louise's office a few days later, "Louise Christmas is this Saturday, you know it's always a standing invitation. Christmas eve dinner this Friday with the Popp extended family. We would love to have you."

Dan is one of the few people with whom Louise has shared some of her personal life. He knows she doesn't have any living family, having been adopted growing up in suburban Chicago. Wonderful adoptive parents, killed in a car crash when she was in college. Louise sits back, "thanks Dan, I will definitely be there this year."

On Christmas day Sunday, Louise is alone in her townhouse. So much different than the Popp home from the previous night, with Christmas decorations and full of life. Her townhouse is comfortable, nicely decorated but Louise knows it's a bit sterile, not many pictures of friends and family. She goes into the guest bedroom, that rarely has guests its more of a study. She powers up the lap top, checks her email. She thinks about Andrew Baker, there can be coincidences. Maybe I just need to drop this, my New Year's Resolution. She looks at some of Baker's pictures on the agency that represents him. She sees some from West Virginia.

Hmm, she thinks back to the search they had done when they first started working this case in the hotel room in Flat Top Gap, nearly eighteen months ago now. She connects to the FBI server, and brings up the summary file from the Charleston case she had looked at, the killing from nearly six years ago. Charleston is a big city, could this somehow be connected, Louise decides she will dig until New Year's Day, if there is nothing there, then her New Year's Day resolution will be to drop this and she will move on.

Monday morning Louise is in early, Janet has gone out of town to be with family and is out for the week and Stan is with his family at home for the week. Its quiet, few people at work, she starts the coffee, okay let's do some digging. She is looking for links, she is using a computer tool, developed specifically for these kinds of searches, allowing her to create linkage charts. Hoping to find connections, not apparent and not on the surface. She starts looking for links to the dealer and distributor in Charleston West Virginia, to the killings in the other towns and somehow connected to Baker.

Its nearly time to leave for the day, she comes across a local newspaper article about a pharmacist technician killed in Charleston late fall before the dealer and distributor were killed, Susan Lawton. Suspected to have been killed by a local drug dealer late at night, stealing prescription opioids and cash just minutes before the store closed. Charges were dropped insufficient evidence, no witnesses, security camera images were very poor. Louise finds other articles about the victim a picture from the funeral, her daughter, husband and brother. Louise scans down reading about them brother Clay Buck, war veteran a decorated war hero. She opens the server, and searches for what the Bureau has on the Susan Lawton homicide. She finds a connection, the dealer suspected of killing Lawton is the one killed later that winter along with the distributor.

Louise goes into the link software, connecting Susan Lawton to the dealer and distributor and Clay Buck to Susan, she clicks on the lines connecting them, she clicks on options the line between Buck and the dead dealer turns yellow, link weak needs research. There is a weak link between Clay Buck and this dead drug dealer and distributor in Charleston. The dashed line on the screen between the Charleston and the other killings or Baker is red, no link to Clay Buck.

Louise turns the lights off and heads home for the night.

                   *******

Dan is working late on a Friday, working on the end of first quarter section report. "Dan, you have some time?"

"Yeah, Louise come in just finished these first quarter reports, something not bureaucratic would be a nice change."

Louise sits down in the chair in front of his desk, "it's about the drug killings, in rural Virginia."

He nods his lips pressed together, "Yeah, I noticed you kept it open, but inactive. I know you guys have been doing some side work on it, what do you have?"

Louise leans forward, "You sure you aren't busy it will take more than a few minutes; I would really like your opinion." Louise respects Dan and when it comes to understanding the various psychologies of the criminals they chase, she thinks Dan is better than anyone. From the most twisted sadistic killers some of the other teams chase to the delusional mission-based people her team is most focused on.

"Yeah sure." He takes off his glasses laying them on his desk.

Louise works through how she got to the idea of Andrew Baker working with a partner, Dan knew they had worked on that angle.

"I heard about the partner search, not often that Louise Spalding throws a coffee cup in the BAU, I figured it was a dead end."

Louise winces thinking of that day, "It was we stopped working it as a team, I have been working on someone I came across on my own. You have real insights into the psychopathy of these people Dan, more than anyone else in the BAU. I am interested in your views on Baker and a man named Clay Buck, possibly working together on this. I haven't brought Stan and Janet in on this, I have nagging doubts."

Dan sits back as Louise summarizes everything she has gotten about Clay Buck; she stops looking for Dan's reaction. Dan slowly nods his head, "okay, so Army Ranger and Delta Force operator, working closely with the CIA the last several years before he gets out, where did you get all of this?"

"Called in some favors in Langley and national security division here in HQ. You have consulted with the spooks before, right?"

"Yeah, years ago I worked with Langley. Whatever you have about Buck and Langley has got to be heavily redacted. You are thinking involvement in assassinations, right? Not what they would call it, but that's what you are thinking."

Louise nods, "my Langley contact obviously could not say that, but yeah."

"Okay, you said two silver stars in Afghanistan, along with a string of commendations, honorable discharge. Where is this super solider and intelligence operator now?"

"That is where the story gets strange, well stranger. After the killings of the dealer and distributor in Charleston, he is gone he disappears. Like he hunted down his sisters killers and just evaporated."

Dans eyes narrow, "What do you mean gone?"

"The last trace I kind find of Buck is a flight from Washington Dulles to Rome Italy about a month later, he stays one week in a hotel in Italy. That's it there is no trace of him leaving Europe or coming back into the United States. He has never used his passport again, no registered cell phone, never used a credit card and never filed taxes. He is a ghost."

Dan leans forward arms crossed on this desk, "Louise where are you going with this? I don't see where this leads."

"Hear me out Dan okay, his parents are dead his one sibling is dead. I think he financed his disappearance with money from the distributor in Charleston, left some money at the scene there but took maybe fifty thousand. He has connections from his time working with Langley, he gets a new identity somewhere in Europe, stays a few months and comes back into the US. Probably flew into either Canada or Mexico and snuck across the border."

"Okay, yes that could all be true, its conceivable. He has the skills to pull something off like that, but the connection to Andrew Baker and these killings in Virginia. He wasn't in the military CID, where is the connection?"

"I found that in the official file I was able to get from DOD, when he was in Afghanistan he was brought up on charges, that he had murdered two local tribal leaders. Turns out he was framed by some private military contractors who had killed them, framed him up pretty well."

Dan suppresses a smile, Louise is smart. "Andy Baker was involved in the investigation, and cleared Clay Buck."

"That's right he was in charge of the investigation, went to great lengths and put his career at risk. Received a commendation for the case from his command and Delta Force commanders."
"You think Buck hears about Baker's daughter dying of a drug overdose and works with Baker to kill the people responsible. They decide to team up for this series of public service murders, starting in Clear Creek Virginia. How does he stay a ghost? That is expensive, travel, live, eat, a place to stay."

"He steals from these big distributors that he kills, Charlotte and Pittsburgh so far, I checked with my contacts in DEA, he easily could have walked away with more than one hundred thousand from both cities. He has the skills to stay a ghost, with a new name and identification."

Dan sits back, "well you are right about that, he would." Dan realizes there isn't a hole in this, it is possible. He knows how thorough Louise is, she has researched this in depth. "You said you wanted my opinion, something specific?"

"I know this is a stretch Dan, sounds like something out of a crime novel, but it's possible. Would two people, like Andy Baker and Clay Buck does this? They are both decorated heroes, they have been on the right side of the law their whole lives."

Dan sits back thinking, his hands folded on his stomach, "okay, hmm." He sits up, "Buck has been a solider most of his adult life, not just a soldier but an elite special forces operator and working the last part of his time in Delta working with Langley on black work. He has killed people, following orders from the chain of command. But operator's like Buck aren't given evidence or court orders to justify killing their targets. The victims are in the wrong uniform or on a list from the government, he carries out his orders. Sometimes he might be skeptical, why these targets, but that is his duty and professional duty. A sworn oath to carry out his orders, he can kill outside the justice system, he has been doing it his whole life."

Louise nods listening as Dan continues, "Baker is known in Bristol for crushing drugs, he is probably a practical person, he knows the weaknesses in the criminal justice system. Someone like that can see the means justifying the ends, without being delusional if he believes the evidence implicating the victims is strong. I can see Baker doing the research and initial surveillance to identify the targets, in these small towns where young people have died from drugs. As you say he chooses places where they can make a difference, stop the flow of drugs. I would have to say yes, not as a final position and not as a profile, but I can imagine how two people like this would do what you theorize Louise."

Louise smiles, Dan shakes his head, "I said I can imagine how, that is a long way from saying that these two people would do this, I have never met these men. This is thin Louise you know how thin this is, it's just a theory. Buck may not even be in the United States, there is no evidence he has been to these three small towns in Virginia. It is a brilliant theory, Louise; I am not sure it reflects reality. You have told me that they could also be related to an aggressive Mexican drug supplier, why do you keep chasing this?"

Dan holds a hand up gesturing to her, " You are more than just a colleague to me, we have worked together a long time, you might need to drop this one. You can keep it open inactive I will not make an issue out of that, wait until you can find something concrete, some real evidence. Maybe circulate pictures of Clay Buck to other agencies." Dan stops before he finishes his thought.

Louise sits back in the chair a puzzled look, "what? You were going to say something else, what? I trust you to be honest with me."

"Just think about why you are clinging to this so hard, is it really your investigative instincts? We do not solve them all Louise, the effort is based on a lot of factors, you know I field dozens of requests every week, most cases we cannot even work. Even if your theory is correct, can we prove it? There are far worse offenders out there, and victims more deserving justice."

Louise's eyes open wider, "I can't believe you said that, just public service murders, let's not chase them down."

"That's not what I said, I said we have to balance our resources weighed against the greater good."

"Would you just walk away from this? What would you do if you found Clay Buck?"

"I don't know Louise, but if I all I had was this theory and a circumstantial case with no forensics or hard evidence, I might just walk away from him. Like you say he is an American hero, they have never killed an innocent. I don't know what I would do, you need to ask yourself if you chasing this for the greater good, or to satisfy yourself that you have been clever enough to connect the dots?"

Louise bites her lower lip and stands up, "have a good weekend, thanks for the honesty."

Dan can't stop her before she walks out of his office, he wanted to apologize. Crap, I didn't say that right. He could see the hurt look, Louise is not arrogant, persistent as hell but not arrogant. Dan sighs exhaling, I will fix it up with Louise next week, let her calm down a bit.


Chapter Twenty Two

The first week of June Dan sees the request for annual leave, what the hell?

He walks down the hall to Louise's office, "Louise I was surprised to see your leave request, what's the deal? You didn't say anything about this."

"You are always pestering me to use my time, I have nearly four months of annual leave and comp time in the bank now." She shrugs, "I thought I would take a month, what's the big deal."

"Louise what is really going on, you have never taken more than a week at a time ever, now out of the blue you take off the last week of June and three weeks of July. What is going on?" Dan steps into her office, "Is this about Baker and Buck, are you planning on trying to find them on your own?"

Louise does not answer and turns her attention back to her computer, "are you going to approve the leave request?"

Dan sighs "yes I will approve it." He walks back to his office; she isn't going to tell him what is going on, things haven't been the same since they talked about Baker and Buck. He tried to apologize several times, but he could see he had hurt her, he was hoping it would get better with time. He sits down at his desk, he approves the leave request on the computer, hope this is not about Baker and Buck.

                   *******

Louise has rented a small home on the north side of town, Marsh Creek Pennsylvania, Andrew Baker has been here for nearly three weeks going by post from the agency that represents him. Louise picks up the keys at the realtor downtown, she wants to keep a low profile. She avoids small talk with the realtor, she guesses the woman probably thinks she is a rude bitch from DC. Louise sits in the car, looking at the small map of the town the woman gave her, there is a grocery and hardware shop not far from the small home on the north side of town. Louise gets out at the Old Town Market, to get some groceries.

She parks her car in the drive next to the house it looks nice, there is a deck in the back right on the edge of the woods. Right on the edge of the hills, the Appalachian trail is less than a mile from the back of the house. She unloads the groceries, starts a kettle of hot water for tea, and sits down to chart out her first several days. She is guessing that Baker is in the campground to the north about three miles out of town not far off the AT, it's the closest one that offers a bit of seclusion. I will check it out this evening, she has the license plate number for the RV that he travels in for the summer. Louise takes a drink of tea; you are breaking all of your own rules Louise. She always tells the new FBI graduating classes, investigation is a team effort, never go it alone. She blows a slow sigh, maybe Dan was right I just want to prove I am right.

She shakes her head; well, I am here. She thinks through her plan once she finds Baker, start shadowing him, she has a pretty good idea of his routine, morning and evening nature pictures. During the day and late in some evenings he will do surveillance tracking down who is dealing and the local distributor in town. Then sometime in the next two weeks, Clay Buck will be here, she figures Buck will pick up on the surveillance here and make a surveillance trip to Philadelphia, for a drug buy to confirm the big distributor. When Buck shows up, she is going to call Dan and see if he will send Janet over, she is pretty sure he will, if I find Clay Buck Dan will give me some help. That will be the concrete evidence he told me to find.

Louise puts her gear into the backpack and puts on a hat and heads out. She finds the trail head on the edge of the woods near the small church and cemetery; the spur trail eventually connects to the AT. She chuckles as she heads up the side of the hill along the switchbacks, never spent any time in the mountains or trails growing up. Ever since the case in Shenandoah years ago, she seems to be in the mountains and wilderness all the time.

Its getting dark, Louise puts on the small head lamp, in another twenty minutes she sees the lights and campfires in the small campground. People sitting around small campfires and tents, she can hear the muffled conversations. She finds the loop path around the campground, she knows the campground has an RV section and tent section, with toilets, showers and a small shack office in the middle. She heads along the loop path it's on the edge of the woods, she is in the RV area now, she is scanning looking for Baker. She comes to an abrupt stop, moves back into the woods a few steps just off the trail. That's Baker, sitting in a camp chair, next to a fire ring, with a small campfire, a lantern on a picnic table. She watches him for several minutes; okay Baker is here. I will watch for him tomorrow morning he has to come down the trail coming out near the cemetery, same way she got here. She is pretty sure she can watch it from a side window of the house with the high powered binoculars.

                   *******

Louise is sitting in the small second bedroom the morning looking out the window, she is drinking coffee. The large binoculars set up on a tripod, she looks through anytime she sees some movement near where the trail head is near the church cemetery. Around ten she sees come through the forest down from the trail, she looks through the binoculars, its Baker he is heading toward the road leading into the center of town.

She gets her back pack puts the camera and small binoculars inside and puts on the hat and sunglasses. She moves down the gravel road, she sees him and tracks him on a parallel route. She thinks she knows where he is headed, the small park and lake on the south side of town. Louise watches as Baker finds a spot across the street from the small park, he is using the telephoto lens to take pictures, she is looking through her small binoculars to see who he is tracking.

The pattern continues for the next several days, Louise has a pretty good idea of who the dealers are and it looks like the local distributor is the owner of a small sports shop, with sporting goods and lots of hunting and fishing gear. Baker isn't taking as many pictures as she expected, but he had been here a long time before she arrived, most of May and June before she got here. Surely Buck will be here soon, probably next week, she wants to catch the hand-off, they must meet face to face. She is guessing a meeting in the campground in the evening, but that is just a guess. Next week she will focus on Baker's campsite in the evenings, to see if she can catch the meeting.

The end of the first week in July and Buck still has not shown up, she isn't worried, two more weeks. If I need to, I can call Dan and ask for another week. Louise is sitting in the small kitchen in the rental house she has just gotten back from watching Baker at his RV. She takes a sip of water; she has been chasing this more than two years now. She sighs shaking her head, keep it together Louise, Buck will be here.

She does not see Baker come down the next day, its nearly one in the afternoon, the only days he has not been down were big storms with lighting and wind, today it is clear. She sits back looking out the window, what if I missed the meeting, maybe Buck is here they met somewhere else or another time of the day. Buck could be staying somewhere else, there are two other close campgrounds, one toward the west and another toward the east. Lots of wooded areas if he is staying outside of a developed campground, but that would be difficult to do for an extended time, he would get pretty ripe without bathroom facilities. Difficult to move around unnoticed in a small town in that state.

She waits another hour, she heads out up the trail, just to make sure Baker is still there. She comes around the bend of the loop trail, crap he's gone. She walks all the way around the camp, looking for his RV, Andrew Baker is gone. She mutters, "I missed the hand off what do I now?"

Louise is pacing in the family room of the rental house; okay Buck must be here. I know what he looks like, I will look for him at one of the three campgrounds, at night and around town in the morning and the days. I can still make this work without the hand-off, Buck will do some surveillance of the locals, I know where they are and he will do a run to Philadelphia.

Early the next morning, she is eating cereal and toast and surfing the net. She sees the update on the website for the literary agency that represents Andrew Baker, Andrew is done in the Appalachians for the season headed back to Colorado to get the fall colors in the Rockies. Yeah, thanks for the heads up. Four days later she is starting to get worried, she cannot find Clay Buck in town or at any of the nearby campgrounds. Don't panic Louise, keep working the surveillance.

                   *******

Louise hands in the keys, "how was your stay Ms. Spalding was everything okay with the house?"

"Fine, it was fine."

The woman watches her walk out, she whispers to herself, "snooty DC bitch."

Louise pulls the car onto the highway; she has never felt so low about anything in her professional career. No sign of Clay Buck, she is pretty sure that Andy Baker was doing surveillance like she expected but now she is doubting even that, maybe he was just taking pictures of life in a small town as a hobby. Maybe Buck was there in the shadows, was that possible? Could be, special forces ninja I just didn't find him. Louise turns off the radio, the only way she will know is if dealers and a local distributor turn up dead in Marsh Creek in the next several weeks. There wasn't, she checked the state bulletins every day for months and the local online newspaper in Gettysburg. There were no killings in Marsh Creek that summer or early fall, she knows she had been wrong.

                   *******

In October on a Friday Louise is catching up the case status reports, she looks at the case file number for the drug killings in Virginia, open but inactive. She sighs, just close it, Dan will not care, Janet and Stan haven't thought about it for a long time, there was no killing this summer. Probably a supplier cleaning house to send a message about turf or not paying on time or in full, the last few years. Am I keeping it open just because of my arrogance? To prove how clever, I am.

That's what Dan said, he tried to apologize the following week and several times, but the words still stung, Dan is like a second father to Louise. She has never told him that, she always tells colleagues she likes to keep proper boundaries, but colleagues are not the same as family. Only problem is she doesn't have any family and few people outside of work, that she could call friends. She stares at the screen, why don't you just close it?

                   *******

Dan sees Louise at his door the Monday after New Year's Day, "Happy New Year, we missed you for Christmas this year, Louise did you do anything for New Years? I hope you didn't just stay home alone."

Louise closes the door, "Dan we need to talk, I need to do something, I need a change of scenery."


Chapter Twenty Three

Janet is in early the weather is starting to warm up, she likes spring, things coming back to life. She is the first one in the office, Louise has not been in early since last summer. Janet starts the coffee, I hope she is not sick, never seen her so sullen.

Janet is drinking her coffee sitting at her desk, looking through the bulletins from over the weekend. She sees Louise goes by and head into her office, turns on the light and puts her brief case down and turns on her computer. Janet frown, hmm, not even hello, or good morning, what is going on with her?

Louise goes into the break room pours a cup of coffee and heads back to her office. She nods at Janet, "morning Janet."

Janet smiles, trying to get more than morning Janet from her, "morning Louise how was your weekend?"

"Fine just fine, ten o'clock for case updates, my office." Louise keeps walking to her office.

Janet watches as Louise sits back down at her desk, mumbling to herself, "great weekend Janet how about you?"

Janet gets up to get another cup of coffee, she sees Stan coming in, she pours him a cup and heads to his desk. "Hey how was your weekend."

"Fine, went to a softball tournament for the kids. Bringing me coffee, what's the occasion?"

"Nothin, just thought I would." She sits on the corner of Stan's desk. "What is going on with Louise, you have known her longer than me, she has been like an automaton since last summer. I thought taking a long vacation would charge her up, but its like she has no real drive, not like Louise Spalding."

Stan takes a drink of coffee, he shrugs "yeah, I know, tried to talk to her around the holidays, she shut me out. You now how she is about her personal life, she just doesn't share. I am guessing something with her personal life. You are right ever since she came back from that long vacation, she has been different. She will not even say where she went, the only one who might know is Dan and they don't seem to be getting along so well. We shouldn't push it, we are getting the work done, she is doing her job and she is doing it well."

Janet sighs looking at Louise sitting at her desk, "not by her standards, but okay."

Janet and Stan see Louise in the conference room ready for the case updates, Louise looks up, "let's get started."

They sit down, they start with the requests for new cases, talking about the merits of each one. Louise nods at Stan, "Stan you make the call, which ones do we take?"

Stan looks at Janet, then at Louise, "that's always your call, we give you our input, you make your call and then you talk it over with Dan, he gives final approval."

"I'm telling you to make the call, and then you will see if you can sell it to Dan."

Stan sighs shifting in his chair, "Louise is there some problem with you and Dan? Please work it out. I don't want to get in the middle."

Louise points her index finger at Stan, "I am giving you an instruction, make the call on the cases and meet with the section chief, let's move on to the status and lead of active cases."

They wrap up the discussion on active cases, Louise nods, "so the priorities and assignments are clear, we know who has the lead on each of these."

Janet wants to say something, usually Louise has the lead on a few herself, but now they are all assigned to either Stan or herself. Some of the team leaders do it that way, but never Louise. She decides to keep quiet.

Louise takes a sip of coffee, she bites her lower lip, "okay status of open inactive cases." She hands them the list with handwritten red markups on the three cases they have in that category.

Stan sees it right away, "you're closing the Virginia killings, the drug dealers. We didn't talk about closing that one, I know we haven't had a lead and there was no killing last year. Louise, we talk about closing a major case like that as a team, we have always talked about those as a team."

Louise shakes her head, "I talked to Dan already, its not up for discussion it is closed. There is something else we need to talk about."

Louise gets up and closes the door, she sits back down, avoiding eye contact. "The first week of May I will be starting a temporary duty assignment overseas."

Janet interrupts, "TDY overseas! That's just two weeks away Louise, what the hell! What is going on? For how long?"

Stan is quiet, watching Louise. He sees her clench her jaw, she keeps looking down at her notebook avoiding eye contact.

Louise continues in an even tone, "I will be working with INTERPOL, consulting with them across western Europe on our methods associated with pattern analysis and mission-based serial killers and offenders. They have made requests for several years, so now I am taking it up. Its open ended for now, it could be for an extended time."

Janet slams her fist on the table, "you aren't coming back! That is what you are telling us, this is how you tell us Louise." Janet stands up, "I know we don't share personal details of our lives; you have always told me not to confuse personal friendship with close working relationships, but this is cold. We have been together as a team for a long time."

Janet walks to the door and opens it, "Dan will not approve this, no way!"

Louise gets up to leave, "he already has, there will be a temporary duty agent assigned to the team, Stan will be acting team leader. Stan you should start getting ready, Dan will have resumes for the temporary duty assignments."

Louise walks past Janet, walks into her office and closes the door. Janet looks at Stan, Louise never closes the door, not unless there is a need for a private conversation, Stan sighs "looks like it is a done deal."

                   *******

The second week of May, Janet is in running a little late, the new agent is already in and she has the coffee going. Stan is at his desk, he told Dan he would not work in Louise's office, there was an open desk for the new agent, he would keep his desk. Janet heard the discussion between Dan and Stan, Dan said there is no guarantee that Louise will be back, this could be permanent.
Janet gets a coffee and sits down at her desk checking through the bulletins from over the weekend. She clicks on the website of INTERPOL Paris, she sees the picture of Louise with a short story below it, SSA Louise Spalding FBI BAU to consult with agencies across Western Europe. Life moves on, that is what her sister told her, she feels hurt by the way that Louise had walked away from their team. She has a feeling; Louise isn't coming back.




Chapter Twenty Four

It's late on a Friday afternoon, Ray Jeffrey wants to get home, they are going over to Gameday Diner for dinner. He parks the patrol vehicle outside the realty office; Adrian is a good mayor but she is pushy and can never take no for an answer. He gets out and heads for the door of Keystone Realty, mayor Waddington's day job. Ray sees the light on in the small conference room , "sorry running a little late."

Adrian Waddington sighs, "fine no problem sheriff, have a seat. We all want to get home."

She looks at Vince Rosetti, "so any word on the funding, we were supposed to hear from the state two weeks ago?"

Rosetti shakes his head, "I checked again today, Adrian, they say no final decision has been made yet, but it does not look promising. I would not count on getting state or federal money to clean up that old hospital. I told you it was a long shot."

She is tapping her finger on the table top, "place is a serious eye sore, not to mention drug dealing inside, right Ray?"

"Yeah, they deal in there when the weather is bad or in the cold weather."

Rosetti nods in agreement, "I understand Adrian, but getting the state or the feds to fund a cleanup, we would be better looking for some private development money."

She frowns, "Yeah right, on that crap side of town, rundown old homes and trailer parks."

Ray chuckles, "They are citizens of Cliffside, Ms. Mayor."

"Yeah right, how about you Ray, is the force ready for the summer, school is out, you going to have enhanced patrols in the park and around the pool and sports fields, especially the shelters and picnic areas."

"We will do what we can, we are going to try some night patrols this year, rotate on and off see how that works. I told you Adrian its hard to get them selling."

"You still think the drugs are coming in from Harrisburg, these dealers drive over there and buy the stuff. Run back and forth every week."

"That is what we think, the alternative is someone here in town goes to Philadelphian and makes major buys, that would require some money. Anyone in Cliffside you want to point the finger at for that?"

"No. I just don't want a repeat of last summer. Just back from Penn State, Sean Brady and Tony Quinn, their parents still will not talk to me, its like they blame me. "

Ray nods, "yeah, they will not talk to me or Wendy, Brady's parents walk right past us at church with a cold stare. Losing a child to drugs, I cannot imagine how it must feel."

Adrian sighs, "well do the best you can, I realize you are a small force."

                   *******

Wendy sees the patrol vehicle come up the drive way head for the garage in back of the house, "Matt, Julie daddy is home, he will want to get a shower, then we are going out to eat tonight."

Ray comes in through the front door, "hey sweetie Gameday tonight, right?" He gives Wendy a kiss on the cheek.

She shakes her head with a smirk, "Yes, setting a bad example, you just like to watch the ball games on the big screen, not exactly family time."

Ray chuckles, "it's a fifteen-minute walk, fresh air good time for us all to talk." He heads to the bedroom, to lock up his weapon in the closet, get a shower and get changed.

"Yeah right, walk instead of drive so you can have two beers." Wendy actually likes the place its only been in town for two years, a kind of family restaurant and sports bar rolled into one. It is usually crowded especially on Friday nights, they have good food, a lot more than just burger plates.

                   *******

They come in the front door of the diner; Ray sees that one of his favorite booths is open. One of the owners is working as the hostess, Ray points toward the booth, "Connie, can we get that one over there."

"Sure, thing Ray. How you doing Wendy?"

Wendy holds Rays arm walking alongside him; the kids following behind. She knows which seat Ray wants in the booth the perfect view of the big screen. "Doing good Connie, thanks."

Wendy squeezes Rays arm, "I heard they were getting divorced." She nods towards a couple sitting alone in a small booth.

Ray looks over at Graham Moore, sitting across from his wife Caroline, "hmm, yeah well you know people like to talk. People said his shop and shooting range, was going out of business but they seem to be doing fine." Ray notices that the couple is not talking, not even looking at each other and they do not look happy, not his business.


Chapter Twenty Five

Bob Martin parks the patrol vehicle on the side of Mountain Highway, on the south edge of town. Martin keys the radio, "dispatch patrol two we are ten twenty, southside across from the old ceramic factory."

They hear Hazel respond, "roger that patrol two."

Linda Glover picks up the binoculars, looking across the open fields towards the trailer park, the both can hear the pop....pop in the distance. "Hmm, its not hunters target shooting, its Nick Shirley."

"Crap, he has a gun. Is that crazy girl friend of his with him?"

Linda looks back behind Shirley, yeah and Chris Tower of course, I hope he doesn't let that idiot shoot. Too late, he is letting him have a turn."

Martin hears the rapid fire in the distance, pop...pop....pop. "Nine millimeter semi-auto is he even aiming."

"Yeah nine mil, looks like Shirley is cussing him for not aiming. Should we roust them?"

"Nah, better them shooting old signs and tin cans, time they aren't selling junk. What do you think about these night patrols? Ed is really bitching about it."

Linda shakes her head, "I did my first week, all I could do to keep from falling asleep. I understand why Ray is trying it, the two college kids last year late at night like that, not sure we will get anything from it. Those two really worry me, Shirley and Wray, he has a violent streak, got kicked out of high school for beating some kid up in Mechanicsburg, beat him with a tire iron. Anne Wray, is mean as him. Those two with a gun, not a good mix."

"Yeah, and their street handles, Bonnie and Clyde, hope they don't intend on going out the same way the real ones.

Martin puts the patrol vehicle in gear, "dispatch patrol two we are on rolling patrol."

"Roger that patrol two."

                   *******

Nick takes the gun back from Chris Tower, "damn it, Rocko! You got to aim, ammo costs money you fool."

Tower chuckles, "man that was fun, I see them on TV, they do it just like that, no aiming. Why didn't Hunter give me a gun, why just you?"

Anne Wray gets up off the log she has been sitting on, "who is the leader Rocko, it's not you, it's Nick. You don't need a gun."

Nick puts the gun into the large pocket of his jacket, "lets get back to work, Rocko you got the park, we will cover the old bus stop across from the old hospital, that corner."

Nick and Anne are back at their trailer around five, she opens up the frozen pizza and tosses it in the oven. "Back out around seven?"

Nick nods his head, "yeah, Rocko has the shelters tonight, he already called it, we can hit the places down walnut street on the southside, near the post office and over on forest road across from the shooting range."

Anne finishes eating pizza and opens a bag of chips, "Nick why do you need the gun? You didn't take it instead of cash, did you? Did Hunter give it to you instead of money he owes us?"

He flushes with anger, "no I told you he gave it to me, ya say I'm lying?"

"No but he aint ever doing anything nice for anyone."

"I guess he thought I might need it for business."

"We never had no problems with anyone, you don't need a gun, a metal pipe and you can beat the crap out of anyone that might come at us."

"Maybe another kind of problem, someone with a gun. Martin, Glover or Kinch or the sheriff."

"You would shoot one of them, that's crazy Nick, all kinds of trouble would come down on our head."

He takes a drink of beer, "we said we were gonna get out of this crappy little town, be something. Be famous like Bonnie and Clyde, take down a cop and you are famous. Take their weapons, steal a nice car and hit the road, head west."

Anne sighs, "you can do something smarter; we don't have enough money to go on the run like that. We need to start with something smart."

"Like what?"

"Make it look like Hunter killed one of the deputies, I hate him, I hate him more than those deputies, something where we make it looked like he killed one of them and we can get his money, his stash. We take over the business in town after the heat dies down. We get enough money, then we can be Bonnie and Clyde."