Last Words

“The FBI thing, I’m going to have to sleep on. But the press conference will be called for ten tomorrow morning,” Daley told them. “I’m inviting you all to attend, if you have a mind to.”

“Might be a good idea.” Meyer nodded. “A show of force. Of solidarity.”

“Make everyone aware there could be a problem, this guy could be out there. Urge everyone to be particularly careful until we catch this killer,” Gillespie added. “Let them know we’re all working together to find him.”

“And if he’s watching, let him know that he’s got to deal with all of us now,” Daley noted. “That every police officer in this part of the bay is looking for him. Send him a message.”

Beck glanced around the table at the concerned faces, and knew they were all thinking the same thing.

Looking for this guy was one thing. Finding him was going to be something else.

5

The Wednesday morning press conference was winding down. Chief Warren Daley was still at the front of the small room, no podium being available in Ballard. The chiefs of police from the four neighboring departments were seated on folding chairs in the first row, presenting a united show of force against the threat that hung over their small communities.

“Chief Daley.” Carl Patterson from the Bay Chronicle, standing in the midst of the small group of reporters, raised his hand. “You said the victim suffocated. Can you be more specific? Was she strangled?”

“I’m not going to go into that much detail right now, Carl. The ME still has to issue her final report, so we’re just going from the preliminary. And we have to protect the privacy of the family. Until the ME has released her complete findings, I’d rather not put words in her mouth.”

“Chief, the rumor that’s going around is that the victim was found on her own front porch, all wrapped up in some kind of plastic wrap.” Rosalie Ahern from the local morning news show stood against the wall on the left side of the room, which suddenly came alive.

“Hold on, now.” Warren Daley’s face flushed dark pink and he grabbed on to the microphone. “Hold on-”

“Is that true?” asked Je

“Look, I don’t know where that story came from-” Daley began but was cut off by the reporter.

“It came from an u

Daley was clearly flustered, unsure of what to say. He definitely had not pla

Which meant, of course, that it was true.

The room exploded. Daley did his best to calm them all down.

“Chief? Are you going to comment?” Je

“I really hadn’t wanted to get into this, out of respect for the family. While this is a sensational story for all of you, you need to remember that Colleen Preston was a very real young woman with a grieving family. I want to respect their period of mourning. But that cat being out of the bag now, I can’t very well shove it back in, unless I stand up here and lie. And any of you who know me, know that’s not my style. So I’ll tell you what I know, but I won’t speculate beyond that.”

Warren Daley took a deep breath. “At ten forty-five on Sunday evening, Colleen Preston’s body was found on the front porch of her family home. She’d been totally encased in plastic and suffocation has been ruled the cause of death.” He swallowed hard. “As you know, Miss Preston had been missing since the twenty-sixth day of June.”

“Did the killer have her all this time?” someone asked.

“We believe that he did.” Daley nodded.

“Do you know where she was kept for the past two weeks?” another voice asked.

“No clue.” Daley shook his head from side to side.

“Any suspects?”

“We have no suspects, no.”

“Chief, there was another woman recently, over in Cameron-”

“Yes, Mindy Ke

“She’s been missing for longer than Colleen Preston was. Do the police think she was taken by the same person who killed Colleen Preston?”

Daley turned to Chief Meyer. “You want to take this one, Rich?”

Chief Meyer stood and turned to face the reporters. The camera was still on.

“Right now, we have no information as to the whereabouts of Mindy Ke

He returned to his seat and gestured for Daley to resume control of the conference.

“But isn’t this type of thing…wrapping up the victim…isn’t that the type of thing a serial killer does?” Je

“Je

“Then why are they”-Je

“I’ll take this one, Warren.” Beck stepped forward. “Yes, we all recognize the uniqueness of this killing. But we’re here because each of us has pledged to work together with Chief Daley until Colleen Preston’s killer has been apprehended.”

“Are you thinking the killer is someone local, Chief Beck?”

“That’s certainly a possibility. He did know where to take the victim’s body.” Someone started to ask another question, but Beck held up his hand to hold it off. “Then again, he could have seen her address on her driver’s license and gone straight to MapQuest. The point is we don’t know anything about the killer except that he’s a sadistic SOB. As Chief Daley said, this is an ongoing investigation, and it will continue until the killer is caught. The St. De

“So what you’re saying is, the small towns in this part of the bay have banded together to track down the killer.”

“You could say that.”

“You think you’ll find him before he strikes again?”

“We’ll do our best. But since we have no reason to believe he’s going to strike again, I think you should be very careful in how you present this story.” Beck sca

“Chief Beck, I was at the Harbor Festival in St. De

“The Chamber of Commerce has been very busy.” He nodded. “The town’s reputation has really started to spread over the past few years. There’s a lot there for people to see and do, lots of shopping, good places to eat. I hope you enjoyed yourself.”