CHAPTER 10

Matt and Michael made a list of all of the bars within a twenty block area of the two crime scenes and were going to interview bartenders and other employees. They had been able to borrow four other detectives after talking to the commander, and had split the list up between the three teams of two. Matt and Michael were handling ten of them.

As they rode from the third bar that they had checked out to the fourth, Matt blew out a deep breath. "I never realized there were so many bars here. Good thing we've got some help." Littlebear nodded his head.

When they went into the fourth bar, they struck pay dirt. One of the waitresses remembered seeing Patricia Coleman on the night she was murdered. "I told my boyfriend I thought that was a woman that had been in here and now that I see this I'm sure of it." She took a drag of her cigarette. "She was complaining about being kicked out of her apartment." She took another drag. "And you've heard the expression "drink like a fish"? She had any fish I've ever seen beat." She rolled her eyes.

Matt held up the picture of the hitch hiker. "Did you happen to see this guy, too?"

The woman's eyes almost popped out of her head. "Yeah! He left here with her. Told her he had a bottle of tequila at his place. I just figured he told her that to get lucky, ya know?" She looked at the picture again. "Wait a minute! That's the dude from the truck stop murder ain't it?!" Matt nodded and took down her information and gave her one of his cards, as did Michael.

On their way to the fifth bar, the pair was feeling a little more confident about the case. When they got to it, they were in luck again. The bartender remembered the man, whose name was Alex Trauber. "Yeah, that's the idiot I threw out last night – in here orderin' drinks without money to pay for 'em. Lousy sot! Why what'd he do – rob a liquor store?" When Littlebear told him he dropped the glass he was wiping out. "No kiddin'? That's the dude that got strangled in the warehouse? Damn!"

Matt had pulled his laptop out of his truck before they took off and once he was back inside Littlebear's SUV he turned it on and looked to see what hotels were in the area. Then it occurred to him that their suspect was on a budget so he checked to see if there were any hostels. "Got it!" He turned the laptop so the police detective could see. "There's a hostel four blocks from here – and two blocks from the other bar. I'll bet that's where he's staying." They headed that way.

Once they arrived, Matt and Michael found the manager and showed her the picture of the suspect. "Oh yes! That's Thad. What is his last name?" She hit keys on her computer. "Here he is. Thad Trail. Kind of a funny name, huh?" She smiled at the two men.

"Ma'am, do you know if he's here right now?" Littlebear looked around to see if anyone else had heard the conversation.

"No, he left a little earlier. I was worried when he started to leave because a storm was about to roll in, but he said he loved to watch them."

"Would you mind if we looked in his room?" Matt thought it couldn't hurt to ask. Little bear shook his head no.

"We need a warrant." He looked at Matt and could see the wheels turning.

"Ma'am, I'm a little tired. You wouldn't have anything available would you?" He looked at Michael who was trying not to look too surprised.

"Yes, as a matter of fact I do. I just need you to sign here," she passed a register to him, "and that will be $25."

Matt pulled out his wallet and gave her a $100 bill. "Keep the change." He took the key to the locker and headed up the stairs, turning to look at Littlebear. "I'll catch up with you in a little bit."

The detective turned and walked back out to his truck and kept an eye out for the man in the picture while he waited. Chuck had told him that Houston didn't always play by the rules. There had been many times over the years that Michael had wished that he didn't have to, and ordinarily he would have objected. But if they didn't catch this guy, it was guaranteed that other people would die. Ten minutes later Matt came back down and tossed the key to the manager, walked out the door and hopped into the SUV with Littlebear.

"It's him, I'm sure of it. I found a knife with blood on it."

"Anything else?"

"Yeah, a bunch of these." Matt pulled a New Testament Bible out of his pocket. "I didn't figure he would miss one." He checked the publisher's name and it was the same as all of the others that had been found. "Evidently he buys in bulk. I found an invoice for them."

"I'm going to guess that I don't want to know how you found out." Littlebear pulled out his cell phone to call the other teams.

"Probably not. Lt. Hoyt in LA usually prefers not to know." Matt grinned and chuckled.

"I'm going to get one of the other teams to sit on this place and watch for him. We and the other team will go around to the rest of the bars and ask the employees to be on the lookout for this guy."

As he pulled away from the curb, Matt looked at the list of the bars that they had left. The nearest one was three blocks away. He pointed to the address and Littlebear nodded as he told the other detectives what he needed. A couple of minutes later they pulled up across the street from it and Matt looked at a sign in the front window: "Tonight Only! Draft Beer 50 Cents!" Littlebear got off of the phone and Matt pointed to the sign. "This has got to be it – the cheapest and easiest place to get drunk."

The cop looked at the sign in amazement. "I believe you're right. Let's go take a look." They got out of the SUV and crossed the street. Matt went in first and they stood near the door to let their eyes adjust to the semi-darkness. As they started forward, Matt caught a glance at a guy at the far end of the bar. When they were fifteen feet from him, he slid off of the stool and started walking toward the back. Matt looked at Michael and jerked his head in the direction of the guy. The cop nodded. They picked up their pace and closed in on him just as he reached the men's room door.

"Hey buddy, you got change for a dollar?" Matt asked him as he started through the door.

Without turning around he muttered, "No, sure don't, man."

Matt grabbed him by the arm and spun him around. It was their guy. He reached up and punched Matt, then headed into the restroom at a run. Matt recovered and he and Littlebear piled through the door and caught the man by the legs as he started to climb out the window, pulling him down onto the floor. He squirmed around and got his left hand in his front pocket and pulled out the rope, then tried to put it around Matt's neck.

Ducking the rope, Houston hit the man with a right jab three times, knocking him senseless. Littlebear rolled him face down and cuffed him.

Later on, after making it back to the police station, Matt called CJ to let her know what was going on. "Wow! You guys caught up to him pretty fast. Not bad for an old man." She giggled.

"I'll show you an old man when I get home. How's my baby girl doing?"

"Your little boy is just fine, Matt, and so am I. When do you think you'll be home?"

"I'm not sure. Michael wants me to stay for the interrogation. I gotta tell you, after the mess I heard come out of his mouth earlier I'm inclined to think this fella is going to qualify for the insanity defense – really."

"No doubt about it, huh?" She knew if Matt believed he was really crazy then he most likely was.

"Yep. Nuttier than a squirrel fart." He knew she would love that one.

"Where in the world did you get that from?" She burst into laughter.

"Don't laugh too hard, babe, you might pop that kid out too early." He was laughing himself and was drawing stares from the detectives in the squad room. "I'll call you before I leave. Love you."

"Love you, too, sweetie. 'Bye." She hung up the phone and went back to the book that she was reading that contained over three thousand names – she needed one that would sound good with William.

The interrogation was one of the crazier ones that Matt had ever sat in on. They were still unable to get the man's name from him. He did let them know that Thad Trail was not his real name, but stopped right there. As for why he had killed so many people, he looked at Littlebear and Matt like they had lost their minds.

"I would think it was rather obvious."

"Well, I guess we're not very smart, so why don't you just spell it out for us." Littlebear looked at Matt who rolled his eyes.

"They were lowlifes – well, most of them were. The only ones who weren't were some of the drivers. There were only three of them that I didn't like so I took it easy on 'em."

Matt leaned back and put his feet on the table. "You mean by cutting their throats?"

"Yeah."

"And the other drivers that got killed in other ways – you didn't like them for some reason?" He glanced at Littlebear.

"Exactly! See it makes sense to you, too!" Thad leaned back and looked satisfied.

"Well I wouldn't go so far as to say that." Matt took a sip of coffee. "So do you know how many folks that you've killed?"

"Oh, sure. There have been eighty nine." He was really proud of himself. "That's a lot of public service, don't you think?"

Houston stared at the man for a minute then pulled out his notebook and started counting. "Are you sure it was eighty nine? I'm counting eighty eight."

"Including my dear, sweet, sainted mother there are eighty nine. She was the first you know. I got beaten by that studded belt just one too many times. And then I had to kill Angelina – that last beating from Mother was all her fault. She smiled at me – so pretty, so sweetly – and I asked her out on a date. I was so excited! And then when I told Mother, oh boy! That was when she beat me! She said that I was nothing but a child of Satan. You know she always said that? Ever since I could remember she called me that."

Littlebear was speechless for a minute, then asked, "What about your father? Did he beat you, too?"

"Oh no, I never knew my father. That's why Mother called me a child of Satan. She and my father had sinned, you see. They weren't married." It was all said so matter-of-factly that Matt sat in stunned silence for a minute.

There was a knock on the door and an officer opened it to let Littlebear know that the public defender had just arrived. She came breezing past the officer. "I need to speak to my client – alone if you don't mind, Detective."

Littlebear and Matt headed for the door, with Littlebear mumbling under his breath, "Gladly."