Dean Warner Intrigues - 10. Tuesday afternoon

Chapter 10 Tuesday afternoon

At half past two that afternoon, the land line phone began ringing on the nightstand next to John. It awoke them both and John reached for the phone. He said hello and listened for about five minutes and then said, “we will be there, but give us an hour” and hung up. He turned to Dean and said, “we have to go to the police station. You get your mom up and I'll go make coffee.” They both climbed out of bed, headed for the toilet and when finished went and located some clean underwear and pulled on jeans and tees. Debbie was tired too as she had pulled nearly a full shift before coming home and instead of crashing like usual at around three-thirty in the morning, it had been almost five hours later. With only about six hours sleep, they were all tired but nervous about what was ahead.

They got to the station and were immediately taken to a conference room. Detective Jack Turner looked like he had not slept for a couple of days. He got right to the point. “We need to bring you up to speed on what we have found out. There is no Mary Breen living at the address provided in Springfield, Illinois. There is no record of anyone by that name as registered in any hotel/motel in a fifty mile radius over the past seven days. The security photo taken at the car rental place shows a very non-descript, rather short, brunette with no identifying features. The photocopy of the drivers license picture does not really resemble the security photo but it also shows a very non-descript brunette with no special features to identify her. We have not ruled out that it is a man, disguised as a woman.

The car was wiped clean. Really clean. Not only were there no fingerprints, there were no hairs, skin, fingernails or even any trash in the car which could contain fingerprints. The evidence team searched the area around your house with any view of your window out to a thousand yards and found no evidence of any cartridge. The dogs that picked up a scent early this morning started at an area about 150 feet northeast of your window. Forensics was able to detect some slight concentration of gun powder in that area but nothing else. We think that is about where the shooter stood when the shot was fired.”

“Why would anyone want to murder me” Dean wondered out loud?

“We checked our records and the night of the murder of Bruno Weiss there was a visible full moon which didn't set until after seven that morning. Your room was dark, the light was off and you don't have a shade, blinds or curtains covering your window. We have the blood evidence indicating the shooter came up to your window. If you had looked out, you probably could have seen the shooter's face by the moonlight. We speculate the shooter thinks you may be able to identify him and he doesn't like loose ends and is somewhat anal about being very careful. We think this is a professional hit man.”

“Oh my god” Debbie exclaimed! “This is unbelievable.”

Dean just sat there with a stunned expression on his face.

John asked: “What's next?”

Turner replied, “theres more. The dogs searched all the way around the lake and were unable to reacquire the scent trail which could happen if the shooter stayed in the water for quite a while as eventually, he would smell like the lake. He could have waded or swam quietly for some time before leaving the lake and hiding or escaping through the woods.

Our resources are limited and we could not flood all the roads with units looking for anyone walking or hitchhiking. We did put out an news release warning people there was a shooter on the run and not to pick up strangers hitchhiking. However, people do not pay attention to warnings and we got a call around half past eleven from a man who stopped his car to come to the assistance of someone laying half on and half off the road who looked like they were unconscious. When the man knelt down to look the man over, the guy on the ground immediately punched him in the face and nearly knocked him out. A short fight ensued in which the driver named Harry Bircher lost handily. He was knocked unconscious and woke up some time later missing his cell phone, his car keys and the car as well. His wallet was laying on the ground next to him minus cash and a couple of credit cards. He had to walk a mile to get to the nearest house and phone the police. Needless to say, his credit cards and phone were cancelled and we have requests in for any credit transactions attempted or calls made from the time of the assault.”

“But the man he assaulted, this Harry Bircher saw his face” said John.

“Well about that, Mr. Bircher did tell us that in the short fight, he managed to get a hand on the assailant's face and it came away a bit and he noted he was wearing a full face mask like for Halloween with a face moulded on it. He said he should of recognized it when he approached the man, because it was the face of a young Warren Beatty.

Mr. Bircher's car was later found parked in the parking lot at the Honey Creek Mall in Terre Haute shortly before two this afternoon. Their police department is reviewing security camera footage to see if they can spot the car, when it arrived and who was in it. Unfortunately, the security camera coverage for the parking lots is somewhat spotty and has not been too helpful in the past.”

“How were they able to locate the car so quickly” asked John.

“Well it is an unusual car, a 1997 pink Cadillac. Mr. Bircher's wife is a Mary Kay cosmetic dealer and it was her big prize about 10 years ago” replied the detective. “That why we think he dumped it so fast as the color is very distinctive.”

“A pink car should be easy to spot on surveillance video” Dean noted.

“If it were color video, but it's not, the surveillance video is in black and white and doesn't write to a hard drive, but to VHS tape.”

The detective took Debbie aside and asked if she had called her insurance company to report the additional damages or make arrangements to have the window fixed and the front door. Debbie got right on that. Then he went and sat at the table with the two younger men and asked, “Dean do you think you could impose on your attorney to spend a few more nights at his house?”

Dean turned to John who nodded his head up and down once and replied “it seems so.”

“Good. Tomorrow, the house next door will have a moving van arrive and a couple of undercover police officer's will be moving in. Both have been on the force for about a year and are former snipers in the Army. They will be setting up their fields of fire and pre-positioned weapons and surveillance equipment at the side windows and back windows of 940 North Ash. They should be set-up in a day or two and we want you to spend the night at home starting on Thursday.”

Debbie heard the last part and sputtered, “you are going to use my son as bait?”

“Exactly. We plan on releasing a statement to the press in a conference at 4:45 p.m. today indicating that the shooter was apparently scared off because of the rapid and overwhelming police response to the latest incident and he appears to have left the area, probably using a get away vehicle he had stashed at the mall in Terre Haute. It will add that we will continue to protect the safety of our residents and that we believe this incident is closed. We will not indicate that we believe the shooter was the same guy who murdered Mr. Weiss. If asked we will state that to the best of our knowledge that the two incidents happening so close together and in the same area are nothing more than a coincidence. If questioned further, we will disclose that the slugs recovered are from different weapons one a hand gun another a rifle.”

“When we are asked why anyone would shoot a rifle at the Warner house, we will respond that's another reason we believe this incident is closed. Mr. Dean Warner has admitted to the police that he was on a date with his boyfriend earlier on the night of the shooting and they encountered a man on a dark street walking to their car who saw them holding hands. This person was just exiting a dark green Chevy pickup with Iowa license plates as they were walking by. He called them faggots and said they belonged in hell and uttered other expletives as well. They described the man as short and Dean also noted a gun rack on the back window of the truck. They did not get the license number. Police in Terre Haute have been alerted to look for such a truck, but so far none has been seen or reported.”

“But none of that happened and it will out me” Dean exlaimed!

“You, John and the rest of us in this room know that the harrassment issue did not happen, but the shooter doesn't. We hope he thinks we will let our guard down thinking someone else is to blame and long gone and that this will spur him to come back.”

“Dean will not be at the house on Thurday night or any time soon” replied Debbie.

“We plan to install a bullet proof polycarbonate panel across the window on the inside of John's room,” said the detective. “We need to get this guy. He is a professional and he could get to Dean some time in the future. We can't protect Dean 24/7 unless we take him into custody.”

John's cell phoned chimed and he said, “I have to take this call, that's my dad's ringtone.” He then turned and walked out into the hallway. A few minutes later he was back and said to the detective: “You have been talking to my dad! He called and told me the trust is donating the use of the Weiss house to the police department and promised to help defray the cost of the salaries of two officers until this situation is resolved. The Will has codicils authorizing expenditures from the trust for the security of the beneficiary should that become necessary. Even I have not been privy to the entire will and all of its provisions.”

Dean interrupted: “I have not agreed to be outed. This plan sucks big time!”

“Dean, John's father, John Trask Jr. told me you are leaving in a few weeks to go to school in Bloomington. Do you really think anyone at IU will care if you are out? For that matter, is there anyone here in town whose opinion you care about” replied the detective.

“What about my store manager and some of the bigots that work there?”

“Quit, you no longer need the money, the grief or have the time for that job anyway” said John.

Debbie looked on and wondered what she should say. Her instinct was to protect her son, but she understood that it would be best for him if this situation was resolved with the shooter being captured or taken out. She looked at Dean until he looked at her and said “what?”

“Let's do it and hope to hell this works. I don't want to be worried about you for the rest of my life” she said.

“Oh, alright.” Dean turned to John and said “let's get out of here. We don't want to be anywhere in the area at the time of the press release. Let's go mom” and he took both by the arm and led them to John's car.