A Fall of Woodcocks (The Birdwatcher Series Book 5) Read online

  As soon as he read the message, he knew there was no way he was going to get the full number without Sarah’s help. He didn’t think this would be forthcoming, but he had to try. The only way he knew how was to state his part of the number on the site where he knew she would find it. He thought about his ring boxes, the new temporary place they were housed that was nothing like the lovely treetops he’d once kept them. He intended at some point they would be placed at some other beautiful spot but that would have to wait for a while.

  Tyler was surprised when Spalding gave Megan’s number and even more surprised when a little while later Sarah posted the whole phone number. Tyler dialled in at once, getting an engaged tone. He wasn’t fast enough. God knew how many people from the FBI or just fans of the site would be calling that number right now. He tried again and again but each time was getting the same engaged tone. Finally on his one hundred and seventh attempt— what else could he do but keep trying— he heard the magic tone he was waiting for.

  “Hello?” a voice that had become familiar to him by now came to him.

  “It’s Tyler,” he said.

  “Ah Tyler, how are you?”

  “I’m a lot better than you intended me to be,” Tyler said.

  “I think we both know how that would have ended had it not been for your little concubines interference.” Spalding sad, his tone effusive and filled with mirth.

  “You should know better than anyone you don’t leave things to chance. It was your own failing to take care of the situation that ended up with you getting tazered by a kid!” Tyler laughed, hoping to goad Spalding to anger. Instead, the immediate response was simply a booming laugh.

  “That’s the difference between you and I, Tyler,” he said at length. “You see everything in this cold scientific light when it comes to our shared trade. I, on the other hand, like to see the variations and serendipity of things. Did you know for example, against all the odds, Anna was one of the people who called this number and got through to me!” Tyler was taken aback by this and suddenly worried about her fate. He’d though leaving her behind earlier was the best thing for her, but now it seemed she had tried to get herself involved again.

  “Oh yeah, what did she want to talk to you about?” he asked doing his best to sound breezy.

  “She wanted to know who had hacked into her site for one thing,” Spalding laughed. “She’s a tenacious one.”

  “What else?” Tyler asked.

  “She wanted to know who I was. I told her. And then I told her the truth about you.” There was a mean tone to his voice as he said this, as though he hoped it would hurt Tyler. It didn’t but it did mean Anna would now be devastated and understand how lucky she was to be alive. It would change her entire life, but there was nothing Tyler could do about that. That was always going to be the case. She is clever girl; she was always going to find out the truth sooner or later.

  “I see you didn’t list her in the game,” Tyler commented.

  “No, she missed the cut, too much a minor player. There is nothing at stake for her now that she knows who you really are.”

  “You don’t want revenge for what she did to you?”

  “Not at all, petty revenge is not my thing. In fact on five separate occasions in my career I have let people live who tried to hurt me while protecting those they love. You wouldn’t understand that, I suppose?” Tyler knew what he was getting at but didn’t think it an avenue worth talking about just now.

  “So, what is it you want to talk to us about? Those of us still in the game?”

  “Oh, it’s nothing much. I just wanted to let you all know the game ends in one week. I will be spending time by the relaxing water while I wait to kill you all. I’m not going to spoil it by telling you what order the murder will come in,” he sounded like a merry uncle telling his nephew about a great secret Christmas present he would be delivering soon.

  “You won’t get near any of us,” Tyler said. “Not now.”

  “You have always underestimated people my poor Tyler. That is why when the history books are written you will go down as a footnote in all the books about me!”

  “How could the man who killed you simply be a footnote?” Tyler rejoindered.

  “Ha ha,” Spalding laughed, “a nice comeback. I’m going to miss you Tyler. Yours would have been a career to watch and enjoy I think if out paths had never had to cross.”

  “Well, if you don’t get killed you can watch my career from your prison cell while you await the electric chair.”

  “I like the confidence Tyler, but it is misplaced. Now, if you’ll excuse me I have lots of missed calls here and I want to see if any of them might be something to amuse me. Goodbye for now.” Spalding hung up before Tyler could say anything else.

  Tyler put his phone down and did a quick recap of the conversation in his min. The only clue mentioned was that Spalding was going to be resting by water as he got ready to kill them all. Where could that be? He didn’t think it would be in any of the places near where Tyler had been able to trace Spalding too before, but he supposed it would have to be somewhere in easy reach of all of his victims. That narrowed it down, but only to about a thousand places he might be talking about. It was not much to go on at all.

  Chapter 26

  “Oh, that’s odd,” Melissa Stanver said as she looked at her phone.

  “What’s odd?” Megan asked looking at her. At this Melissa looked surprised at the fact she must have said what she did out loud. She tried to cover it up by putting her phone down and shaking her head,

  “Oh it’s nothing,” she said.

  “Don’t hold out on me mom,” Megan said. “This new life for us can’t start off with secrets.” She wasn’t being fully serious but in way she did feel like that.

  “I got a message from a number I don’t know. They say they are Agent Brightwater, and they want you to see something.”

  “Sarah messaged you for me?” Megan said thinking this was strange. Then, Sarah most likely didn’t have Megan’s new number.

  “Well, someone claiming to be. There is a link in the message.”

  “Show me,” Megan said going over. Melissa took up her phone and brought the message back to the screen.

  “We shouldn’t click the link,” Megan said. “Who knows where that will lead.”

  “We should just ignore it,” Melissa said, “and I need to change my number too.”

  “Let me call the number,” Megan said taking the phone.

  “What? No Megan, don’t,” Melissa protested. But it was too late, and Megan held the phone to her ear as a dialling tone came.

  “Mrs Stanver,” cane the breathless voice of Sarah. “Thanks for calling.”

  “Sarah, it’s me,” Megan said. It was nice to hear Sarah’s voice. It had been a while since they’d spoken.

  “Don’t talk to her, Megan,” Melissa said trying to wrestle the phone from her daughter’s hand.

  “Megan!” Sarah exclaimed, but then her tone changed, and she was all business. “Click on the link in the message. Spalding has put up a list of people he considers to be still part of his game. You are on it. Is there any way; any way at all he might know where you are?”

  “I don’t think so,” Megan said, as she pulled away from her mother who had stopped trying to get the phone but had left a hand on her wrist as she heard Sarah speaking.

  “Call your FBI liaison, I’m sure they already know, but just be sure they are aware of the link I sent you. They’ll make sure you’re safe.”

  “What does he say?” Megan asked managing to hide the tremble in her voice.

  “Not much, but we just have to be sure we are all safe,” Sarah replied.

  “Okay, I’ll call them,” Megan said.

  “Just be safe Megan, this will all be over very soon,” Sarah said, and she hung up without a word more. Megan and Melissa looked at one another for a moment before Melissa said,

  “Call Gary.” Gary was the person they’d been told to ca
ll if they had any trouble I their new life or thought it was possible their whereabouts had been discovered.

  “You call Gary,” Megan replied handing her mother Megan’s own phone. “I’m going to see what’s on this link.” Before hr mother could do anything to stop her, Megan pressed on the link and was brought to the website.

  “This is a fan site for Tyler Ford?” Megan said a little confused. She went to the recent posts section and saw what Sarah had been talking about. Then she saw the exchange of numbers down below and tried to figure out which of them was how many times she’d spoken to Spalding. She wouldn’t have known the answer, only a ballpark guess. She’d been under so much pressure when held captive that and lot the days and events ran into mixed memories. She couldn’t really be sure of a lot of things.

  Melissa had left the room and Megan could hear she was on the phone to Gary from the FBI. As she looked at the website Megan suddenly realised that on the page before her was a number that if she called would enable her to talk to Spalding one to one. The prospect terrified her but at the same time she wondered about the possibility of getting some information from him, something that could be used against him. She shook her head; it was very unlikely and even if he did say something she couldn’t know it was true. There was also the problem that with his electronics expertise and skill with phones, Spalding might be able to find out her location if she called him. It just wasn’t worth the risk.

  “Gary will be here in a half hour to go over things with us,” Melissa said coming back into the room. “All of this was supposed to be behind us!” she said angrily.

  “It’s never going to be over until Spalding is caught,” Megan said and then thinking on it added. “I think I have a way we can lead the FBI to him. Can you help me?” Melissa was taken aback by what her daughter had said. Not only that she might have a way of catching Spalding, but the very idea that she would ask her for help stunned her.

  “How?” she said, “I’m not going to agree to anything that puts you in danger.”

  “It won’t be dangerous,” Megan replied. “We can do it without ever leaving the house.”

  “Tell me,” Melissa said looking interested more than scared for the moment.

  Megan ran through her idea of trying to find the waterfall Spalding had told her about. She agreed with her mother that it was a very long shot but also that she felt if she saw an image of the place she might recognise it. Megan felt her mother didn’t think it would work but saw it as a chance to keep Megan busy in a safe way and was happy to go along with it for this reason. Melissa surprised her however, by saying,

  “We could end this. There can’t be that many waterfalls in the area we’re talking about.”

  They started off at once, doing image searches on line. From there they would go onto people’s Facebook pages, Instagram accounts and any other places they thought people would share their images from hikes they’d done. It was a long shot, but in this day and age not as long as it might have been.

  Chapter 27

  The call she expected came later in the day than she thought it would, but Sarah knew it was going to be Tyler’s voice on the line when she answered.

  “You got close to me today,” Tyler said.

  “Not close enough,” Sarah replied. It was hard talking to him. “What do you want?”

  “First, I want to ask how you are?”

  “How I am!” Sarah shouted incredulous. “How the hell do you think I am! After what you’ve done to me! I’m on the run now too, do you know that. I can’t legally do my job right now because of you!”

  “I’m sorry Sarah. I didn’t intend for any of this to happen. Do you think I wanted my secret out in the open? I’ve worked very hard to keep my life under wraps from the world,” he said.

  “Is that supposed to make me feel better?” Sarah spat derisively. “No one was supposed to find out you were a killer!”

  “No, it won’t make you feel better I know that. Nothing will, but I just wanted to say I would never have hurt you if Spalding didn’t tell you who I was.” She could feel sincerity in his voice, and it made her feel ill. Was he in love with her? Before she knew who he was, it probably wouldn’t have been all that long before she would have fallen in love with him. How duplicitous he’d been. How good and manipulating her.

  “Seeing you behind bars for your crimes will make me feel better,” she said, hoping in some way to hurt him. She was close to tears.

  “Or dead?” he asked and now tears did fall from her eyes. She didn’t answer him, but she knew the answer was no. She didn’t want to see him dead though she was unsure why.

  “Did you talk to Spalding?” she asked him after a long pause.

  “Yes, he said the game will be over in one week. Is that he told you?”

  “Yeah,” she answered. “Was it him who tried to kill you last night?”

  “Yes,” Tyler replied, and she could hear humor in his voice. “Anna saved me. She hit him with a taser, and we made an escape.”

  “You had a chance to kill him?” Sarah asked, curious about this point.

  “No, I was out of it. He was about to kill me. I didn’t know what was happening until Anna was dragging me towards the car and then I passed out.”

  “You were lucky she was there,” Sarah said. “But you’ve ruined her life too in this, you know that don’t you?”

  “Yes, Spalding spoke to her too. He told her who he was and who I really was,” Tyler said.

  “She thought you were innocent,” Sarah said shaking her head in disgust. “Why was Anna talking to Spalding?”

  “She rang the number you left on her site,” Tyler said. He spoke to her, but he says she is not part of the game because she had so little to do with everything.”

  “That’s big of him,” Sarah said with contempt. Tyler didn’t respond to this. “What are your plans for Spalding?” she asked.

  “Well, that’s what I wanted to talk to you about. Do you still want him alive or does dead suit you now?”

  “I want him tried for what he’s done. I don’t want him to have an easy out,” she replied.

  “There’s no doubting all he’s done, Sarah,” Tyler said. Will having a trial make any difference? Plus all the time he’s alive you know he’s going to be working on an escape plan. If anyone could pull that off it would be him.”

  “He wouldn't be given the chance,” Sarah said. “What difference does it make to you if he’s dead or alive once this is all over anyway?” she asked him.

  “He ruined my life,” Tyler said. “Took everything I had away from me.” And then he added more softly, “He took you away from me.” So he did have feelings for her, she thought.

  “Revenge,” she said, “that’s it?”

  “It’s not just that Sarah. I don’t believe any prison could hold him and I feel if he ever got out you wouldn’t be safe.”

  “Am I safe from you?” Sarah asked coldly.

  “I told you, I won’t ever do anything to hurt you...”

  “More than you already have?” she interrupted him.

  “Possibly,” he said though his voice was low and contrite. “The point is as long as he’s alive you’re going to be in danger.”

  “I’ll take my chances,” Sarah said. “Then it will be you who I’m coming after,” she added.

  “What if you could get us both at the same time?” Tyler asked and it took her by surprise.

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean we make a deal. We work together to get Spalding. Once he’s dead I’ll turn myself to you.”

  “You’d give your freedom just like that?” Sarah scoffed.

  “My freedom is already gone,” Tyler said. “I get my win which is getting my revenge and you get your win by catching two killers.”

  “I can’t give you leave to kill anyone,” she said, “even if it is Spalding.”

  “I’m going to do my best to kill him anyway. I imagine he will come for me before he comes for you.�
��

  “This is the end of his game; I don’t think we can expect anything to go as we think it will.”

  “Think about it Sarah. My way, if we can do it, is the only way you’ll ever be able to sleep well again.”

  “Won’t you be planning to escape from prison too?” she asked him.

  “I don’t know. Maybe it might be good for me,” he said, and he didn’t sound like he was being facetious. “Anyway, I told you, if I did get out somehow, you would have nothing to worry about.”

  “A few weeks ago I would have believed most things you told me, Tyler. But now that I know who you are, I don’t believe a single word you have to say.”

  “That’s a pity Sarah. I’ve done my very best not to lie to you the whole time when it could be avoided. I have nothing to lose any more so you can be assured that anything I tell you now is the truth.” Sarah sighed wishing she could believe this.

  “I have to go now; I have two serial killers to catch.”

  “Fine,” Tyler said. “Just so you know, Spalding said he’d going to be relaxing by water this week if that mean’s anything to you?”

  “It doesn’t,” Sarah said, and she hung up.

  Chapter 28

  The meeting with Gary hadn’t been all that productive; he just said they would be monitored more closely for the time being and that was pretty much it. When he was gone however, Megan and her mother started in again on their project to find Spalding’s water fall. In the short time before Gary came, they’d been looking up images on-line but afterwards her mother suggested a new tactic. They pulled up a couple of maps of the United States and focused on the area centered around Virginia and then used a geographic relief map to show the lakes that were sources of water for some of the lesser-known rivers. The made a list of all the places that could have been a spot where a waterfall was likely and then moved on to the next one. It took a while, but they felt it would take less time in the end to do it this way than to search each one as they found it and then move on the next one.