Chapter 3
When the ham radio (with an intact cover) was set up on Raimy's birthday, Gordo was troubled by a strange memory, of a note to Raimy from her father that he had never delivered.
That evening, after he got his daughter down for the night, Gordo's curiosity got the better of him. He walked over to Raimy's house; there was a light on in the garage. He overheard the bizarre conversation with Frank.
"This is real," Gordo thought. "OMG."
The next day, while Raimy was at work, Gordo decided to try something.
"I used the radio years ago... or did I? One way to find out."
He got into the garage at the time he remembered using the radio, and sat down in front of the device. It turned on by itself.
"Hello, anybody there?" asked his young voice.
"Gordo, this is me, " Gordo replied. "Grown-up Gordo."
"Dad?"
"No, I'm you, twenty years in the future. This radio does weird stuff, man."
"Wow! This is so cool. What can you tell me about my life?"
"I'd better not say too much. I might mess things up. Life is good, though."
"Okay."
"One important thing you have to know. Dad will die early next year, unless you save him."
"What? How?"
"He went out in freezing winter weather, to a swamp somewhere. I'm not sure why. He got cold and wet. He started getting sick and he didn't go to a doctor in time. He died of pneumonia."
"When was this?"
"He told a nurse as he was dying that he cursed the day of January the tenth."
"He doesn't live with us anymore. He left Mom for another woman and they got divorced."
"I know, but you still see him sometimes, right? He calls and visits."
"Yeah, he does. January's a couple months away. I can warn him in time."
Gordo Senior got the message.
Little Gordo was reluctant at first to tell him how he knew, but Big Gordo was a defense attorney. He soon had all the details from his son.
Big Gordo took it seriously, because he was planning something for that exact time. He had made a decision about who it was going to be, and the time and place was settled in his mind.
Julie Sullivan was on his eventual "to-do" list anyway, and in fact she was the main reason he had moved his family to the house next door. He hadn't settled on her to be at that place on the short-term list, however, until he happened to see her at the hospital the other day.
"I'll still do it, but I'll just dress warmer and and get treated early if I get sick," Gordo Senior thought.
He also thought about the radio that could send messages through time.
"I can use this," he thought. "I'll send myself messages, and I'll be able to stay one step ahead of any investigation."
He would turn on the radio once, soon. There would be no incoming messages yet, until he lived the twenty years into the future and could call himself back. So no more kills after the January kill. He knew, from the future call, that he would not be caught for that much. Then he would resume in the new time-line, protected by foreknowledge.
His motive was sadism, the sense of power that came from what he did. His choice of a Christian theme was deliberate, because he had picked out an abusive religious man to frame for the crimes. With his new advanced knowledge he could safely plant a victim's body in the deacon's house.
"It's all going to be easy now. I'll be able to carry on as the Nightingale Killer for years."