An Unkindness of Ravens Read online

Where could he be? Was it possible he’d known they were coming for him? Had he planted the hair to lead them to him? It wasn’t unheard of for murderers to want to be caught, but if that was the case why was he hiding now? No, she thought, this guy didn’t want to be caught. He was enjoying what he was doing. It gave him pleasure to feel superior to those looking for him.

  Sarah was back out on the street now, and when he didn’t come to ask her what was going on, she wondered where Tyler had gotten to.

  “He already knew Ferguson wasn’t here!” she said, snapping her fingers. He’d called one of his informants on the road and knew there was a search on for the suspect. Well, she didn’t suppose it was going to be a secret for long anyway. This was a very dangerous man they were looking for, and it wasn’t safe to have him out on the street and for people to not know who he was. The sooner his face and name were in the public domain the better, she supposed.

  Her phone buzzed in her pocket and this time it was SAIC Bobrick calling.

  “Yes, Sir?” she said, not noticing that she practically stood to attention to take the call.

  “Lab from Charlottesville has come back,” Bobrick said, his voice gray and ominous.

  “What did they find?” she asked, thinking she knew already but hoping she didn’t.

  “Another whole set of prints in the car, in the back, one covered in blood. No match so far to the prints.”

  “Someone else was in with Des Roche,” she said, the lines of the goading letter coming back to her.

  “This Ferguson you’re looking for better match these prints,” he said gruffly, and it was almost like a threat to her, like she’d be held responsible if there wasn’t a match.

  “Sir,” she said swallowing a lump in her throat, “I’m still convinced there are two different killers out there, discounting Des Roche.”

  “Don’t start up with this shit again,” he barked at her. “Get Ferguson and hope to hell he’s the one we’re looking for!” The line clicked dead and she was glad she was not under her boss’s eye at that moment.

  With her phone still in her hand, Sarah decided to call Tyler and see what he was doing. He was good at his work and he might have a lead the police didn’t yet.

  “Hi,” Tyler answered.

  “Where are you?” Sarah asked.

  “I’m on my way back to Baltimore,” he said.

  “What are you going there for?”

  “That’s where my office is.”

  “I don’t mean that, I mean why didn’t you come to Woodbridge? I thought you were following me.”

  “I was until I called one of my people and found out Andrew Ferguson is on the run.”

  “He’s not on the run,” she said, “He doesn’t know we are after him.”

  “Maybe so,” Tyler said, “But it looks to me like he’s on the run.”

  “And that’s what’s going to go in the Echo?”

  “Maybe,” Tyler said, and she could hear the smile in his voice, “I don’t have final editorial control on the paper or the website.”

  “You need to get yourself a promotion then,” she said.

  “Nah, I’m happy as I am.” Sarah smiled at this and thought of how much he’d likely hate the desk job she imagined a newspaper editor would have.

  “Do you have any leads on Ferguson?” she asked hopefully.

  “Not yet,” he said, “I never heard of him until about half an hour ago. That’s what I’m going back to the office to research.”

  “OK,” she said, a little deflated by this.

  “You got anything for me?” he asked cheerily.

  Should she tell him about what the lab found in the Des Roche car? Ordinarily she wouldn’t even think about doing such a thing, but the circumstances were very far from normal at the moment. She was tied into something with Tyler and she didn’t really understand how it had come about. Deep down she knew it was about Dwight Spalding and her hope that this killer might be him, but still there had to be something more here, didn’t there? He’d shared with her and now it was her turn to share with him. He was going to find out sooner or later anyhow.

  “There’s a whole other set of prints in the car found in Shenandoah Park,” she said. “Some covered in blood.”

  “So Des wasn’t working alone,” Tyler said.

  “Seems not,” she said.

  “Don't worry, I’ll list you as an anonymous source in my story,” he said, that playfulness back in his voice.

  “Just make sure to keep me updated with anything you find out,” she said.

  “Will do, boss,” he said and this made her smile a moment.

  Now it was time to find Andrew Ferguson.

  Chapter 16

  When Tyler arrived back at the offices of ‘The Baltimore Echo’, he found it busier than usual. Davis was in his office, and four reporters - Peters, Surov, Teeling and Stone - as well as Danny, were spread about the newsroom. Tyler glanced on June’s unoccupied desk as he passed for mail but saw nothing.

  “Hey Tyler,” Anita Teeling called over, “Catch any killers on your travels?”

  “Not yet Anita, you’ll find one in your restaurant reviews before I do at this rate!” he flashed a smile at her.

  “I think there was an attempted murder at ‘Papanapolis’ a few nights ago. I couldn’t sleep all night for the cramps in my stomach!” she laughed back. Tyler knew the place and wasn’t a fan either. None of the others did more than glance up from their work and nod as Tyler went by. Danny Kircheck had turned to face Tyler and waited for him to get to his desk before addressing him.

  “Hey Danny, how’s it going?” Tyler asked.

  “Good,” Danny answered. It looked like he wanted to tell Tyler something but was waiting to be asked or something.

  “How’s the file looking now?” Tyler asked, sitting down at his computer.

  “Still growing,” Danny said, and he glanced at Tyler’s screen to see that he was opening up the file. Tyler looked and saw good progress.

  “You see anything in what you’ve put together so far? Any patterns or anomalies we might have missed?”

  “Not yet, but it does seem that everyone started to adopt your ‘John the Baptist’ name for the killer really fast after you published your story.” Tyler nodded; this didn’t mean all that much to him as he had so little respect for most of the other journalists who covered the same stories he did. “How did you come with it?” Danny asked when Tyler made no reply.

  “It was a feeling I got about the cleaning of the bodies. I felt it had some kind of purification to it, that there was something almost religious about it, at least to the killer.” Danny nodded eagerly and Tyler decided it was time to get to work. “Anyway, how about a break from the file,” he said, and Danny picked up his pen and pad and waited for to be told his new task.

  “Shoot,” he said.

  “I want you to find anything you can on a guy called Andrew Ferguson. He lives in Woodbridge, helps out in the Catholic Church there and also runs a soup kitchen.”

  “Andrew Ferguson,” Danny repeated, writing it down, but there was something in his demeanour that drew Tyler’s attention.

  “You know him?” Tyler asked.

  “No,” Danny shook his head and then glanced around the room like he didn’t want to talk in front of the people here. Tyler scrunched his eyes at Danny wondering what he wanted to say before standing up and pulling up his jacket,

  “Come on, Danny,” he said, “I haven’t had lunch yet.”

  “Another hard day’s work done, eh?” Surov quipped as they passed by.

  “Quality, not quantity,” Tyler grinned back at him.

  Tyler brought Danny to a coffee shop on the corner and they sat on high stools at a ledge by the window.

  “So what are you not telling me about Ferguson?” Tyler asked. Danny’s face grew red and he looked down into his coffee for a moment before answering meekly.

  “Is he missing?”

  “Yes, he’s missing. The poli
ce are looking for him. How did you know that?”

  “I’ve been looking into all the stuff about the murders and...” Tyler noted that Danny had not looked him in the face since they started talking.

  “You what?” Tyler pressed, trying not to sound too hard.

  “Well, I’ve been looking into ‘everything’,” Danny said.

  “What do you mean?”

  “I looked into the FBI agents on the case.” This surprised Tyler, but he didn’t show it.

  “And?” he said purposefully harder now.

  “I read all about what happened to agent Brightwater’s mother.”

  “Yes, yes, I know all of that. Get to the point, Danny.”

  “I was looking into her so I went to where she lives.”

  “Why?”

  “I don’t really know,” Danny said, still not able to look at Tyler, “But while I was there she went out with a purposeful look on her face, so I followed her.”

  “You followed an FBI agent?” Tyler clarified. Danny nodded and looked around lest anyone had heard this. “Where?” Though he was surprised by what Danny had done, he was still interested in what he’d found out.

  “She went to the soup kitchen,” Danny said, “and talked to this Ferguson guy.”

  “Were you close enough to hear them?”

  “No, but after she left, he looked scared.”

  “Like he was in trouble?” Tyler asked.

  “Yes, so I thought I better stay with him instead of following the agent anymore.” Tyler was impressed now, and nodded for Danny to go on. “He finished his shift and then locked up the place, but he was looking over his shoulder the whole time, like he was expecting the police to come for him.”

  “Where did he go next?” Tyler asked; he was more interested in the facts and the timeline right now than Danny’s interpretations of Ferguson’s mind-set.

  “He drove to a playground a few blocks away and left his car,” Danny said. “He walked for a while and then got on a bus before getting off on the other side of town, he went into a shitty looking apartment block and then all the way up on to the roof.”

  “How did you see all this? Didn’t he notice you following him?”

  “No, I was on my motorbike. If you don’t blast the engine, you don’t tend to draw attention to yourself, plus there’s the added bonus of nobody being able to recognise you through the helmet and leathers.” Tyler knew this, had often used motorbikes to get around incognito himself before.

  “What was he doing on the roof?” he asked Danny.

  “I don’t know, I couldn't go up there to check on him without fear of getting caught at it.”

  “What did you do then?”

  “I waited for about two hours, but he never came back out. Then I had to go.” Tyler nodded, he was surprised at the young man’s tenacity. There were plenty of seasoned reporters who wouldn’t wait that long if they didn’t know there was a sure fire story at the end of it. He thought about it all for a few moments.

  “Do you think he might have had a hiding place up there?” Tyler asked.

  “It’s possible,” Danny shrugged, “But I guess you’d have to go up there to be sure.”

  “Well, why don’t we do that then?” Tyler said with a grin. Danny looked at him with excitement brimming all over his face.

  “Both of us?” he said.

  “Well, you need to show me the place,” Tyler said. This was a real education Danny was getting now.

  “Fantastic!” Danny said.

  “We’ll go in my car,” Tyler said, and Danny nodded in agreement.

  As they set off for Woodbridge, Tyler thought about letting Sarah in on what he’d found out. He didn’t quite know what he’d say if she asked how he’d found this out though, so he felt it was perhaps better to let her know later, if there was something to tell.

  It disturbed him also that he had severely underestimated this new intern. Danny Kircheck was not the young naive boy Tyler had assumed him to be. He’d shown some guile and good instincts to get them to where they were now. Was the affable personality just a put-on? Was he using Tyler to get ahead in this field? It was hard to know, and of course Tyler wouldn’t begrudge him such an agenda. It was after all the best way to get ahead in this business. This lad was someone to be watched. As of yet, Tyler couldn’t be sure what he was capable of, and that was always a dangerous situation to be in. What else did Danny get up to when he wasn’t in the office?

  Chapter 17

  Tyler parked the car a few blocks away from the apartment building so as not to raise alarm if Ferguson was watching. They had driven past the building on the way and Tyler noted the neighbourhood. If Woodbridge had a wrong side of the tracks, this was it. An odd place for a church assistant to hang out if he wasn’t doing God’s work.

  “What did you think of this guy as you followed him? Did you get any impressions from him?”

  “Not really,” Danny said as they walked towards the apartments, some locals eyeing them distrustfully as they went. “He looks mean but also scared.”

  “Does he look like he could handle himself in a fight?”

  “Yes, he’s a big enough guy, a little heavy but not fat I don’t think.” Tyler nodded,

  “Well, let’s hope it doesn’t come to that. I’d rather he talked to us.” Should he tell Danny to wait downstairs? No, he might need him. “If anything happens, you run and get the police, OK?”

  “Got it,” Danny said. Tyler could tell he was geed up and ready for anything right now. It was a feeling he knew well and savoured every time he felt it.

  The door to the building was unlocked and the place didn’t seem to have any security at all. Some of the original apartment doors had been replaced with steel ones and Tyler wondered had this been by design. There was a strong smell of mixed ethnic foods all over, and though sounds emitted from behind most doors, they passed no one on their way to the roof.

  The short staircase to the roof wasn’t secure either, and anyone, a child even, could go up there. It was a grim place and not somewhere Tyler had any desire to stay long if he could avoid it. He looked to Danny and motioned for him to stay behind him. Danny nodded that he understood. They went up the short stairs to the ajar door.

  Stone slabs covered the ground of the roof, with old tar coming up through the cracks. There were two wooden structures up here. One was a pigeon house, looking long disused, and the other was like a garden shed only more rundown. Tyler listened but could hear nothing coming from either.

  “Andrew Ferguson,” he said in a neutral tone, “Are you here?” There was no answer. “We’re not the police,” Tyler went on, “I’m a journalist for ‘The Baltimore Echo.’ I just want to talk to you a little.” Still there came no answer. Tyler took a step closer to the sheds. He stopped again, and now he knew Ferguson was here. He hadn't seen anything or heard a thing, but he could feel someone there now, feel the fear that tingled in the air.

  “I know you’re there,” Tyler said taking another step closer. “You have nothing to fear from us.”

  Without warning, the wall of the pigeon coop bulged outwards momentarily before shattering and something big came at Tyler. He’d been focusing on the door to the shed, expecting someone to come from there and he was taken by surprise. Tyler was quick though, and he’d been in enough scrapes by now to be able to handle himself. He shifted a half step backwards and then let his attacker’s momentum take him by and then Tyler landed a heavy blow the back that put Ferguson - if it was him – off-balance and stumbling forwards.

  “That’s him!” Danny shouted from the door to the stairs as Ferguson somehow managed to stay on his feet. The big man stood to his full height between Tyler and Danny and looked at them both. He was over six feet and broad, and Tyler knew he would be capable of seriously hurting someone if he wanted to. Tyler also knew Danny was in the worst possible place - between Ferguson and a route to freedom.

  “We’re not here to arrest you, or anything like th
at,” Tyler said, hoping he could calm the fugitive down. It didn’t work; Ferguson lunged towards Danny who bravely didn’t get out of the way. He wrapped his arms around Ferguson as the latter tried to practically go through him to get away. Tyler lunged forward at the same time Ferguson did, and he grabbed him by the back of the shoulders and pulled him back. Ferguson put up a hand to pull Tyler's grip from him, and at that moment Danny levelled a hard kick into the man’s midsection. It didn’t affect him too much, but he did bend forward a little, and this enabled Tyler to jump up on his back and settle into a chokehold while wrapping his legs around the waist.

  Now Ferguson used both hands to try pry Tyler off, and Danny took this opportunity to pound in some punches in the ribs and stomach. Ferguson swung back and caught Danny on the cheek, but it was only grazing. It was enough to make him back off and reappraise his plan of attack, however. Tyler pulled harder and felt the first instances of Ferguson's weakening as he tried to pull him off.

  “Take it easy!” Tyler shouted at him, “How many times do I have to tell you we’re no threat to you!” Tyler heard himself and was sure it felt odd from Ferguson’s perspective for someone to say this to you while they were actively choking you. The big man dropped to his knees as the strength left him. Danny stood in what looked like a boxer’s pose waiting to see if he needed to land any more blows.

  “It’s alright, Danny,” Tyler said, “He’s not going to give us any more trouble, are you Ferguson?” He didn’t answer as he leaned over now, no longer struggling at all. Tyler knew better than to let up just yet. There was a good chance Ferguson was faking and could lash out with great power once he was loose again. “Look for something to tie him up with,” Tyler whispered to Danny, who then set about the rooftop searching. Tyler eased up but still kept his grip on Ferguson.

  Danny came back over with some lengths of old rope. They were frayed and hard, but Tyler felt they would do the trick for now. They tied his legs together and then his arms behind his back, lashed over at the wrists. The knots were good and would hold for a few hours. When they had him secure, they propped Ferguson up into as comfortable a sitting position as they could.