Murdock Calavicci: Would I be so mean? - - - Well, yes. But see for yourself.
"They got the fool's prints," BA voiced his worries, when they were finally back in their van, and on the way to yet another house, in Odminton, they had found a clue to at Terrace Lane.
"Well, nothing to do about that at the moment," Hannibal answered. He knew it would be a problem in the future. But right now, they had bigger problems to deal with.
"They'll figure him out!" BA insisted angrily.
"BA..." Hannibal said softly. He knew what BA was doing: babbling. He talked just to keep the silence away, so they wouldn't have to think of what they had found in Terrace Lane, let alone speak of it.
"They won't," Face said.
"What?"
"They won't figure it out. I've... tinkered with Murdock's file a bit. A while back, I've exchanged his prints."
"With whose?" Hannibal asked, pleasantly surprised by the information, yet anticipating trouble. Face must have used somebody's prints, and there might be difficulties arising from that direction.
Surprisingly, Face smiled. "Well," he said, stretching the word. "I had to take what I had at hand..." He wiggled his fingers.
"You..." Hannibal grinned, liking the thought he thought. But then he frowned. "You used your prints?"
"Yes..." Face still smiled, if not even a little broader.
"But then... Murdock would pop up, when they're searching your prints. Why doesn't he?"
"Well, let me finish, man!" Face complained good-humouredly. "I didn't really use my prints."
Hannibal raised his eyebrows in question. Now he was confused.
Face grinned, revelling in his team mates' confusion. He just loved it when he could astonish them. "Well, I did. Mine, Murdock's, yours... and I just couldn't resist this one: a Miss H. M. Murdoch – Helen Mary, Murdoch spelled with ch, but who cares about such small details?"
Hannibal's eyebrows were still up.
"Helen Mary Murdoch?" Murdock asked with a happy grin, "There's really a lady with that name?"
"Yes, but you shouldn't get all too excited, Murdock. She's a criminal. Prostitution, thievery..." Face rolled his hand, indicating that the list went on.
"Do you mind?" Hannibal reminded Face that he still waited for an answer.
"Uhm... Well, I put the five sets of prints into the computer, merged them, and then exchanged those new prints with Murdock's real ones."
"You... merged?"
"Yes. It's really easy when you know how to do it. You put two different, but similar, pictures into the computer, and the computer merges them into one." Face tried to look cool, but he was too proud of himself.
"You're a loon!" Murdock exclaimed, a big smile on his face, before he leaned over to hug his muchacho.
"Two nuts, great," BA muttered with his usual gruffness.
But Hannibal smiled. First, it had been a nice idea Face had had there. And second, at least for the moment, peace and good mood were restored.
Kipperman finally held that wanted screenshot in his hands. It was in black and white, the face of the kid a little blurry, but unmistakable. Those blond hair, the even features, those big bright eyes, staring directly into the camera... The emotions those eyes held were an accusation to the world. Desperation and surrender were written across the boy's face. Tears in his eyes, but they didn't spill over. Perhaps just not yet.
It hurt Kipperman to just look at that picture. He didn't envy the technician, who had had to make the copy of this, not at all. The technician had seen the full picture, all the nasty details that were surrounding this small face. Kipperman's bowels churned with only the thought of it.
He wondered, why he had been so eager to get this piece of evidence. He had been sure before, even before he'd gotten Brown's - Peck's – real date of birth. Nobody could stage such emotions. Nobody would try to in the first place.
Kipperman thoughtfully wiped his fingers over the face on the photo-paper before he put it into the folder.
It was late, he'd better go home now.
Some days he hated his job.
Today was one of those days.
Decker flopped down on yet another hotel bed. This damn A-Team had made him travel the country quite a bit, which wouldn't be all that bad if they just finally let him catch them. But it once again looked like a failure. Even the Murdock-lead had turned out a failure. CCTV never showed a clear shot, neither of the Team, nor of the man in their company. The officers at the station couldn't quite remember him. Some said, "yes, that's him", others said, "uhm, I'm not sure", and a thid party just simply said "no". – One would think that cops made better witnesses, but as long as they let normal humans join the police-force...
Lt. Kipperman swore the man on the picture was the man he'd interrogated, but although he was the most reliable witness in this case, he was just one of many. And in combination with the finger prints disaster... As it was, none of the prints secured on the crime scene did fit with the ones in Captain Murdock's file. – Of course, the team could have tampered with them. But why would they only tamper with his, but not their own? Decker could come up with a few answers to this, but no judge would ever acknowledge them.
So the army would have to get a new set of Murdock's prints – once he had the good grace to return to the hospital. He had disappeared once again.
So, on the bottom line, Decker had a big bunch of indicia, but no hard evidence, which would be necessary for a sentence. He was back to square one: no team, no Captain Murdock. Another dead end.
He sighed and turned to his side. He had never been thrilled to get this job. At the beginning he had wondered why the army bothered him of all people. Him, who he was known to be one of the best men the MP had. Okay, so he had known that Lynch had chased the A-Team for over a decade without success, but then, he had also known that Lynch was a moron, who probably wouldn't find his own right foot if asked. Pretty soon, though, the hunt had become frustrating. The A-Team was good, and presumably Lynch wasn't to blame, after all. However, the longer Decker spent on this special case, the less he liked it. He didn't like giving the fool.
He sighed again, and turned to his other side. Maybe he should just give up and retire.
TBC
