Double Cross

“That’s right.” Bree was inscrutable. And the truth was, none of us wanted to miss this interview. “You’re an important guy.”

Chapter 52

“BRADY, IS EVERYTHING OKAY?” a high-pitched female voice asked Thompson from behind us.

“It’s fine, Ms. Blanco. I don’t need any help. Thank you, Barbara.” He motioned for us to come inside. “Close the door, please.”

As soon as we were alone with him, his voice went up a step too. “What are you people doing? This is my place of business.”

“Do you know why we’re here?” Bree asked.

“I know exactly why you’re here. Because I exercised my First Amendment rights. I didn’t break any laws, and I’d like you to leave. Now. You all remember the way to the door?”

Sampson stepped forward. “Brady, is it?” He looked over the things on Thompson’s desk as he continued. “I was just wondering how your bosses here might feel about that creepy little Web site of yours. You think they’ll be cool with it?”

Thompson pointed an index finger at him. “I haven’t done anything illegal. I’m well within my rights.”

“Yeah,” Sampson said. “That really wasn’t my question, though. I just wondered how your employer might feel about SerialTimes.net.”

“You have no right to use that information if I haven’t broken the law.”

“In fact, we do,” I put in. “But we’re assuming we won’t have to, because we’re assuming you’re going to tell us where that message came from.”

“First of all, Detective, I couldn’t tell you if I wanted to. DCAK’s not an idiot, okay? Haven’t you figured that out for yourselves by now? And second, I’m not fifteen years old. You’ll have to do better than you’re doing. A lot better.”

“Do you mean like a subpoena for your home system?” Bree asked. “We can do that.”

Thompson adjusted his glasses and sat back now, begi

He looked up at us, calm as could be now. “You obviously don’t know much about information transfer.”

“Do you know what the hell is going on out there in the real world?” I finally said. “Do you have any interest in seeing someone like that murderer stopped?”

“Of course I do,” he snapped back. “Stop insulting my intelligence and think about it for a second. The big picture? Constitutional rights-your rights, my rights-hinge on exactly this kind of thing. I have the right to do everything I did, and I don’t just mean that morally. It’s your job to uphold the Constitution, Detectives, and it’s our job, as citizens, to make sure that you do. See how it works?”

“See how this works?” Sampson lunged, but we caught him in time. Everything on one side of Thompson’s desk went flying.

Brady stood up, a bit brazen even, as Sampson stared at him. “I think we’re done here,” he said.

But Sampson wasn’t. “You know what -”

“Yes,” Bree said. “We’re done, Brady. For the moment, anyway. We’re leaving.”

As we turned to go, Thompson spoke again, more conciliatory than before. “Detectives? You obviously think my little posting is real or you wouldn’t be here. Will you just tell me if it has something to do with the iconography?” This guy was a true fan, a real freak. He couldn’t help himself, could he?

Bree couldn’t help herself either. With the door halfway open and a small crowd of office workers gathered behind her, she turned to face Braden Thompson.

“I can’t comment on that, sir. Not at this time. But let me reassure you that we won’t mention your Web site, SerialTimes.net, anywhere outside this office unless it’s absolutely necessary.”

Bree smiled at Braden Thompson, then lowered her voice. “Keep on living, fucker.”

Chapter 53

PISSED OFF AT THE WORLD in general, and at Braden Thompson in particular, the three of us showed up at the Daly Building. We didn’t get very far before Superintendent Davies headed us off. “Over here,” he barked, then turned and walked back to his office. “The three of you, now.”

We looked at one another, not liking the vibe.

“Why do I feel like I’m about to get detention and miss football practice?” Sampson muttered.

“Yeah,” Bree said, “and cheerleading practice too. Oh, wait, I wasn’t ever a cheerleader.”

Bree and I wiped the smirks off our faces before we went in.

“Can you explain this?” Davies flipped a newspaper around on his desk.

There was a story above the fold in the Post’s metro section, “Audience Killer Copycat Theory Surfaces.”

I wasn’t surprised by the headline so much as reminded about how fast these stories can spread and get out to the press.

Bree answered for the group. “We just learned about it this morning ourselves. Even right now we’re coming from -”

“Don’t give me a lot of explanations, Detective Stone. In my book, that’s only a step up from an excuse. Just do something about it.” He twisted his neck a few times, as if he were trying to undo the pain we’d put there.

“Excuse me, sir,” Bree said. “This isn’t the kind of information we can control. Not once it’s been -”

Davies cut her off again. “I don’t need a lesson in damage control. I need you to take care of the mess. This is Major Case Squad. Your superiors aren’t a safety net. You need to respond to the problems before I ask you to respond to them. Do you understand me?”

“Of course I understand you,” Bree said. “I don’t need a lesson in damage control either. Apparently, neither does DCAK.”

Suddenly, Davies smiled, and it was totally unexpected. “You see why I like her?” he asked Sampson and me.

Yeah, I was pretty sure that I did.

Chapter 54

THERE WAS NO NEW PART for DCAK to play today, no gruesome murder pla

The message boards on the Internet were full of chatter about DCAK! True, much of it was tabloid or fantasy stuff, but that didn’t matter. The point was, they were talking.

SerialTimes didn’t have anything new. Neither did Sicknet or SKcentral. That made sense. His fans were waiting for his next move.

Finally he clicked into a couple of the chats. It was good to be among “his people” at the end of a long day. He even used a first name here, as a “gift” to them. Not that anyone would know that he did, but the contact felt more personal. Besides, he was into dropping clues.

In his honor, of course.

AARON_AARON: What’s up, DCAK lovers?

GINSOAKED: Copycat, duh. Where you been?

AARON_AARON: No shit, duh. What else? Anybody? Anything?

REDRUM5: Been quiet. Busy weekend. He deserves some rest, right? Any day now, bet. Watch his smoke!!!!

DCAK-FAN: How do you know so much?

REDRUM5: I don’t. Just a theory of mine. Just my opinion. Okay with you?

AARON_AARON: Maybe he’s been busy already today.

DCAK-FAN: Busy, like what?

The killer sipped the white wine he’d poured for himself, a nice chardo