Tell My Dad (14 page)

He pulled the Rubbermaid plastic storage bin out to the porcelain-tiled floor. Human bones were stacked neatly in the bin. Harrison jarred his teeth. “That’s what I thought. Do you have more bins in these cabinets?” He waved his gun at the other two cabinets under the sinks.

George nodded.

The next second, George felt pain in his stomach and heard the shot. Then, there was one more shot. He clutched his stomach and fell on the tiled floor. Then, he smelled Harrison’s boot, which gave the lethal blow to his nose.

Harrison shoved his gun behind his back. He knelt down, removed the phone from George’s pants, and placed it on the countertop. Then he lifted George from the floor, using his gloved hands, and threw him inside the tub as if throwing a piece of dirt into the garbage can.

He ran to the living room, grabbed the Mark III camera, rushed back to the bathroom, and took multiple snapshots of George lying in the bathtub. He placed the camera on the bathroom countertop. Then, he quickly walked to the walk-in closet next door and strapped the gas mask on before grabbing two bottles of sulfuric acid. The mask smelled like cow dung. He wiped the dirty goggles before entering the bathroom.

He stared at the man inside the bathtub for a second and shook his head as if he just remembered something. He bent down, removed George’s clothes, and threw them on the porcelain floor. Then, he slowly poured the acid into the tub as if he were pouring beer into a tall glass. He took more snapshots of George as the bubbles started penetrating his body. He let the camera sit on the countertop and pulled out the bone-filled bins from under the sinks. He grabbed the phone lying on the countertop, switched off the lights, and closed the bathroom door behind him.

The girl slept like a baby without understanding what was going on around her. The stench of sulfuric acid would soon occupy the bedroom. He removed the bed sheet and wrapped it around the girl. Then, he lifted her and carried her to the couch in the living room. He slowly let the girl down to rest on the couch before removing the gas mask. He walked across the living room and opened the large glass door facing the San Pablo Bay.

He took a deep breath and stared at the blue sky for a minute. Then, he called 911.

He threw the phone on the dining table and walked toward the front door. He stopped and shook his head as he looked at the gas mask lying on the carpet. Leaving DNA at the crime scene was the last thing he wanted to do. He grabbed the gas mask, opened the front door, and rushed out.

Harrison drove a few blocks down and waited at the corner of Stinger Lane. It took six minutes to hear the police sirens. He sighed and drove toward the Route 101 South freeway ramp. He had saved a beautiful jasmine garland from a sadistic monkey. His mind was peaceful now.

T
heaker looked
at Samantha who was covering her nose. “Is this toxic?” she asked.

“The odor? Maybe. Sulfuric acid can be really nasty. Why don’t you wait in the living room? I will be there in a few minutes.” He grabbed the camera from the bathroom countertop and handed it to Samantha. “See what you can find in this. The killer purposely exhibited all these things for us to see,” he pointed at the bones neatly stacked in the plastic storage bins arranged on the floor.

An acidic burn inched up in Samantha's throat. She sighed, exited the bathroom, and turned left toward the kitchen. She sat on the chair next to the dining table, pushed the menu button on the camera, and viewed the pictures one by one.
Horrible
. She felt like she was going to throw up. She placed the camera on the table and walked toward the red couch placed in the middle of the living room.

Large mirrors mounted on the wall and the bright lights mounted above the mirrors made the living room appear much bigger than it was.

She knelt down and ran her gloved fingers through the fabric of the cream linen couch. The fabric felt like velvet. She spotted yellow stains at the edge of the couch and a plastic cup on the carpet. She grabbed the plastic cup and turned to see Agent Theaker on her left.

“I think we should send it to forensic. The killer’s fingerprints may be here.” She pointed at the cup.

“Good point... This is your first crime scene. You don’t seem very nervous. That’s good!”

“The girl is alive and the bad guy is dead. I’m glad it turned out ok. Are we going to interview the girl? Can I come with you?”

Theaker noticed the rush of curiosity on her face. “Okay. The girl had a really bad day. I talked to Novato Chief. The girl doesn’t remember anything about what happened after she had drunk the orange juice. Possibly a drug dose.”

“Was the girl conscious when the cops arrived here?”

“No. She was deeply asleep and was covered by a bed sheet.”

Samantha listened to the sound of wind coming through the balcony door. “I think the killer covered her with the bed sheet before calling 911.”

Theaker raised his eyebrows. “You think he’s some kind of savior. Right?”

Samantha shook her head. “I don’t know. I’m just thinking,” she pointed at the wall of the bedroom. “Mattress in the bedroom is missing the bed sheet. I suspect that the killer covered the girl with the bed sheet and moved her from the bedroom to the couch. We may get some clues from the bed sheet. His fingerprints may be there. Think about this... When you carry a girl from the bedroom to the living room, say for about thirty feet, your dress will rub with the girl’s dress and her hair.” She held her elbows as if she was carrying a toddler. “Is it possible that the fabric fiber loosened from your dress would be found on the bed sheet? Is it possible that you would leave some evidence without even knowing it?”

“Possible. But, it’s a long shot. We may find the cotton fiber only if the victim struggled. Based on your theory, I don’t think that happened here.”

Samantha stared at the couch for a moment before speaking. “How about the pool of blood on the carpet in the bedroom? It looks like there was a fight. The killer might have lost some blood as well, right? We can get the DNA from the blood, right?” Her eyes widened.

Theaker nodded. “We will try that. Did you find anything useful in the camera?”

“Yes. I did,” she said as she grabbed the camera from the dining table. “I think you should see this.”

She pushed the menu button and scrolled through pictures. A pretty girl smiled. She lost the smile in the next picture. She lost her life in the following picture. The pattern was repeated for five more girls.

Theaker shook his head in disbelief. “It’s a souvenir for the pervert.” He took a deep breath. “We have a hard job of calling the parents of these girls with a bad news. At least now, they will have closure.”

“There is really no closure when you lose your child.” Samantha stared at the LCD screen of the camera.

“Say that again?”

“Sorry, did I say something wrong?”

“No, no. Just repeat what you said before.”

“There is really no closure when you lose your child?”

“Yes. That one.” Theaker nodded. “If we work on a theory that someone, who lost his child, is doing all these killings... is it for closure or is it for something else? If I lose my child to a kidnapper and if I really lose my mind, I will go after the kidnapper. Maybe his family. But, why would I chase and kill all the pedophiles? Do I want to be a hero? or is it because I’m insane?”

“None of the above.” Samantha looked at his eyes. “Like I said before, I think that the killer wants to send a message to all the pedophiles. It’s a warning.
I am coming after you
.”

“Talking about warnings... I don’t see
stay away from little girls
here? Well, the pervert is dissolved in sulfuric acid anyway.” Theaker answered his own question.

“Agent Theaker!” Theaker looked up and saw an officer waving at him. “We have a witness here. Alejandro Salazar.” The officer pointed at a man standing next to the main door. “He saw someone leaving the building few minutes before we arrived. Chief had already talked to him. I thought you may be interested in talking to him.”

Theaker looked at the man. He was big, about six feet, dressed casually in an open-necked shirt and uniform short. He looked about thirty or forty. “What kind of smell it is? Is it a meth lab or something?” He covered his nose.

“You don’t want to know. Let’s go downstairs.” Theaker signaled Samantha to follow him.

Samantha gently placed the camera on the dining table and walked fast to catch up with Theaker.

As they descended the wooden staircase to the ground level, Theaker introduced himself and Samantha to the man.

Alejandro stood still for a second and stared at the FBI badge on Theaker’s coat. “I saw a weird guy leaving this building around five o’clock. Ten minutes later, I saw the cops coming in.”

“Why did you say the guy was weird?”

“Well, he wore a long gown. Kinda funny. Looked like my wife’s bathrobe!”

Theaker stood on the curb and scanned the road. He felt the light breeze waft across his face.

Samantha’s eyes were fixated on Alejandro who crossed his hands over the chest and leaned against the cream colored wall. “You mentioned a bathrobe. Was he fully covered with that dress? Top to bottom?”

“Yeah, something like that.”

“What color was it?”

“The dress? It was red. It went down to his ankle.”

“Was he barefooted?”

“No. The guy had a black hat, long red gown, small shoes, and a helmet.” He grinned.

“Helmet?” Theaker asked.

“Yeah. The guy carried the helmet in his hand before jumping into his SUV. Who needs a helmet when you drive a car?” Alejandro shook his head as he smiled.

“Are you sure it was a helmet? motorcycle helmet? or a bike helmet?” Samantha asked.

Alejandro shrugged. “I don’t know. It was black. It looked a little different than a motorcycle helmet.”

Samantha thought for a moment. She pulled up her iPhone and searched for an image. When the images had shown up, she showed the phone screen to Alejandro. “Did the helmet look like that?”

“Maybe... Yeah, it looked like that.” He shifted his legs uneasily.

Samantha turned her gaze at Theaker. “It’s a gas mask.”

Theaker looked at Alejandro. “The car he was driving? You did say SUV, right?”

“Yes, sir. It was Honda SUV. Dark color. Black or dark blue. I was unloading boxes from the truck there.” He pointed at the Safeway warehouse on the other side of the road. “I could not see the model.”

“Did you see his face?”

“Not much. I saw his face from the side. He looked like an Asian.”

Theaker walked over to Alejandro and shook his hand. “Thank you, Mr. Salazar. We will contact you if we need more information.”

Samantha waited until Alejandro disappeared from her view. She looked at Theaker. “I think we’re looking for a monk.”

“Huh? A
Monk
?”

Samantha nodded. “Based on the description from the witness, it looks like it. The killer is methodical. I won’t be surprised if he is a monk.”

Theaker stared at the street light. “We’re looking for a monk with a gun?”

“And a mission.”

A
lameda de las Pulgas
, often referred to as “The Alameda,” ran from Menlo Park to San Mateo in California and covered two high schools and three elementary schools on its path. The drive on the road was full of surprises for the visitors. Blind curves and abrupt change in the number of lanes caused a good amount of stress. Students jamming the road right after school at three o’clock added more stress for the drivers.

However, there was no stress for Marco and Hector, who were trolling the street in their Ford Escape. For them, it was fun, pleasurable, hunting time.

Marco slowly drove the vehicle on Alameda as Hector scanned the crowd and looked for the perfect prey. Their vehicle inched closer to Carlmont High School.

Sara, Liam, and Divya came out of the school campus and jumped onto the pedestrian path to cross the street as soon as the walk signal lit up. Sara tried to adjust her backpack to reduce the pain on her back. It didn’t work; the bag was heavy. The pillow-sized physics book on the left hand, and the laptop on the right hand didn’t help much. Divya turned to her right and smiled at Sara. “Do you want me to hold your book?”

Sara shook her head. “No, thanks. I’m going to get a rolling suitcase to carry all these things!”

Just then, she heard a loud creaking noise. A big fat silver metallic SUV stopped just a few inches from her. Her heart started pounding. The driver mouthed an apology. Divya grabbed her hand and walked fast to cross the street.

“Oh my God! Oh my God! I died there for a second, you know?” Sara shook her head in disbelief.

“These guys are assholes. No one respects the speed limit and traffic lights.” Liam walked slowly along with the girls. “I am glad you are okay.”

Divya nodded. “This happened a couple of times already. We should be careful next time. That stupid SUV looked so big at close range. That was evil.”

Sara smiled nervously. “Someday, I will buy a bigger evil and crash that damned thing.”

They giggled and turned left onto Carmelita Avenue. Liam waved good-bye and entered the third house on the right. “Stay safe, Sara!” He winked before disappearing into his house.

Sara slowly walked along with Divya. “Are you free tomorrow? Can we go to Stanford Mall?”

Divya narrowly avoided stepping in dog shit. “I can’t look up straight in this street. These dogs mess it up all the time. The owners don’t clean it up; the city doesn’t clean it up.”

Sara giggled. “You are OCD!”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever!”

“Okay. Answer my question. Stanford Mall? Tomorrow?”

“Stanford Mall sounds good. I’ll need to sweet-talk my mom to get her to drop us there. It’s so boring waiting for Caltrain.” Divya referred to the Amtrak train service in California.

“Caltrain is boring? I see cute boys on the train all the time.” Sara finally seemed to relax.

“They are serial killers; don’t go near them.” Divya’s eyes widened as she presented her findings.

Sara laughed hard.

“Why are you laughing? Those boys are serial killers. They don’t kill you physically but mentally.” Divya looked serious.

“Whatever!” Sara dismissed her. They stopped at the stop sign, scanned the oncoming traffic, waited for the cars to stop, and then crossed the street. As they climbed up the street, which was slightly uphill, Divya turned to Sara. “Did you see that?”

“See what?”

“I saw that SUV, same color, on our left when we crossed, the one that almost hit you.”

“Well, those people may be living here. All SUVs look the same anyway.”

Divya shook her head. “Something is wrong.”

“Oh man, you’re scaring me, Divya. Let’s move before I have another heart attack!”

They started walking fast and turned right onto Huntington Lane. The big sign said “Welcome to Huntington Heights.” Beautiful houses lined both sides of Huntington Lane. Divya stopped in front of a house on the right. “Call me tomorrow, okay?”

Sara nodded. “Bye.”

“Hey, what’s wrong?”

Sara shook her head. “Nah, nothing. I’m still in shock.”

“Because of that freak? Don’t worry. You want me to walk with you?”

“Nope. Bye!”

Divya stood there and watched Sara walking slowly uphill. She turned to the barking of her dog, Alex.

“Hey, did you miss me?” She grabbed the Maltese and entered the house.

* * *

S
ara liked climbing uphill
. Going against gravity felt good. Her house was in a cul-de-sac. Her mother insisted on buying that house in spite of the obscene price tag. The evening breeze gently moved her hair. She shook her head slightly to move the hair out of her view. The street was quiet except for the sound of chirping.

When she was one hundred feet away from her house, she heard a loud creak on her left. Her heart thumped.

She turned to see the big fat silver metallic Ford Escape SUV with the backdoor slid open and a young man sitting in the backseat. He quickly grabbed her left hand and pulled her inside. Her heart started pounding hard. Instinctively, she dropped the book in her left hand and pushed him. Pushing him using her non-dominant hand did not work. The man slapped her face, grabbed her hair, kicked her in the stomach, and pulled her in. Just before she realized what was going on and shouted for help, he closed the door. He slapped her again before wrapping duct tape across her mouth.

He tapped on the driver’s seat and shouted, “Go! Go!”

He looked at Sara. Her eyes begged for mercy. He put his head down for a second and then placed duct tape over her eyes.

A few seconds later, the driver yelled at him, “Take her bag and throw it out there.”

“Why? Why do you want to do that?”

“Damn it, just do it.”

Hector pushed her head down, removed the backpack, opened the door quickly, and threw the bag out. Then, the Ford Escape sped up.

* * *

D
ivya heard
Alex barking while she was gulping Sprite from the refrigerator.

“You mad dog! What now?” Divya marched toward the front door. Just then, she heard the creaking sound of the vehicle and looked through the window.
That SUV.

She ran to the window on the right and looked to the left to get a glimpse of the vehicle. It was gone already, sputtering smoke. Then, she saw the pink backpack thrown on the front porch.

“Mom!” she screamed at the top of her lungs.

A middle-aged woman ran down from the kitchen. “Why are you shouting like that?” Then, she saw the horror on Divya’s face. “What happened? What’s wrong?”

“Sara…Sara’s bag is there…out there. I just saw that van—”

“What van—”

“Mom, I’m scared. Hold on; let me call Sara.” Divya punched the numbers and waited. Then, she heard the “Slow Down” ringtone coming from the other side of the door.

“Oh my God! Oh my God! Mom, call 911! Call Dad!” Divya walked back and forth. Her brown face darkened.

“Calm down, Divya. What happened?”

“Calm down?” She struggled to breathe before composing herself. Then, she dialed 911.