Title: Blood Relatives
Author: Roth
Rating: T
Spoilers: I don't do spoilers
Disclaimer: I don't own Numb3rs and neither do you. We don't have a problem so please don't sue.
Summary: There is a serial murderer on the loose with a history with the FBI, but what is his agenda?
Note: Sorry it took so long, but I've been busy at work and helping my friend plan her murder mystery party. Thanx to my beta Dre. Any leftover mistakes are my own. I hope you enjoy.
Blood Relatives
Chapter Fourteen
"The other day I got out my can opener and was opening a can of worms when I thought, 'What am I doing!'" Jack Handy
David was headed back to Charlie's office after the search of Kade's room while Agent Benton went back to the office to report on what they had found. It had been both fruitless and depressing at the same time. A stack of newspaper articles about the murders was the only real evidence against Kade they had found, but a lack of weapons was something they needed to be worried about. That meant Kade kept his weapons somewhere else or he had the weapons with him.
David walked up to the door of Charlie's office and saw basically the same scene from a couple days before with only a few changes. Larry and Charlie still seemed to be completely surrounded by a sea of manilla folders, but now, the chalk boards were covered in writing, and Charlie was hurriedly adding more to it.
David opened the door and walked in startling Larry who was sitting at the desk, but Charlie was too busy working to notice.
"Have you guys made any progress?" asked David, sitting down into the only chair that didn't have any folders in it.
Charlie turned around and ran a hand through his hair leaving a bit of chalk dust behind. "I think." He took a deep breath. "I need a bit more data, but I think I can give you a good idea of who might be next."
"How?" asked David, leaning back in his chair.
"By who fits the criteria of the other victims best." Charlie saw the confused look on David's face and tried to explain. "Think of the criteria for how he is choosing his victims like one of those fill in the blank sentences you used to have to do during school. Now, if the word missing is a verb, then a noun isn't going to make sense, so you only look at words in the bank that are verbs."
"So all the family members we gave you are like the words in the bank?" said David, starting to get what he was talking about.
"Yes," replied Larry, jumping in, "but we're going a little farther than that into our analysis."
"Exactly," said Charlie. "Like, if the word that is supposed to complete the sentence is reading, then a word like jumping wouldn't make much sense at all."
"So you're kinda figuring out why the other people don't make sense?" said David.
"In a way," replied Charlie. "The example's kinda of vague, and it's not exactly the kind of answer I might be able to give you. It won't really be an exact answer at all, more like percentages for each person, their chance of being the next victim."
Charlie set the chalk down on the edge of the board and sat down at his desk. "What are you doing here anyway? You wouldn't by chance have the names of the grandmothers?"
"Nope," replied David. "We had a warrant to search Kade Hackett's dorm room."
"Did you find anything?" asked Larry; he, like Charlie, was still shocked by the fact a student at their school was most likely the killer of five different people, but the evidence against Kade was a bit too much to ignore.
"Yes and no," replied David. "We found a stack of newspaper clippings about some of the killings, but we didn't find any other real evidence. The problem is we didn't find any weapons either, so he might be keeping them somewhere else, or he has them with him. Both would be a big problem."
"Could a lack of weapons mean that he isn't the killer?" asked Larry, lacing his fingers together. "Maybe he had the articles for a different reason."
"If he was innocent, why did he run from Don and Terri and attack them?" David retorted. They were so busy talking, they didn't notice the confused look on Charlie's face when David mentioned the attack.
"What are you talking about, David?" asked Charlie.
David turned toward him. "Don't worry, Charlie. They're both fine; you saw them yesterday. Kade swung his backpack at them to get away. I thought I heard Don tell you yesterday."
Charlie nodded as he vaguely recalled the conversation with his brother. "Yeah, I remember now."
David's cellphone started ringing. "Hold on," said David as he got up and exited the room to answer it.
"I don't believe this, Charles," said Larry, shaking his head.
"Larry, I don't want to believe that one of my students could have killed all those people either, but there is a lot of evidence."
"Yes," said Larry with a nod, "but do you think he is guilty?"
Charlie didn't answer right away; he got out of his chair and began to work on the board again.
"Charles?"
"Yes," Charlie finally said. "I'm working this problem as if he was guilty. So yes, I think he is."
XVIIIIV
"Agent Eppes?" said a young woman, rushing up to him in the bullpen carrying a small piece of paper. "I got a bizarre call for you earlier."
"Who was it from?" asked Don, turning toward her.
"That's the problem," replied the woman. "I don't know. They called saying they had information on the Hackett case and wanted to speak with the agent in charge, but when I went to connect them, they hung up."
"Are you sure they hung up? Maybe the call got disconnected."
"No," said the woman. "They never called back, and my phone was still connected."
"What did they want?"
"They asked to speak with the agent in charge of the Hackett case; I told him it was you and that I was going to put him in touch with you, and they hung up."
"Was it a man or a woman?"
"Man," she replied.
"Did you happen to get a number for them?"
"Yeah." She handed the piece of paper to him. "It's a cellphone."
Don read the number on the sheet of paper, picked up the phone on his desk, and dialed the number in. He waited while it rang a few times, and a second later, it was answered by a very confused sounding man. "Hello?"
"Hello," Don said back to the man. "My name is Agent Don Eppes with the FBI; did you just call the FBI offices from this number?"
"No," replied the man suddenly sounding very nervous. "Some dude just handed me this phone and told me to keep it."
"Where are you right now?" asked Don, grabbing paper off the desk and balancing the phone between his ear and his shoulder so he could write down the man's response.
"I'm at the 19th Street cybercafe," answered the man. "It's called BetaRead. What's going on?"
"I'll explain when we get there," replied Don. "Do not go anywhere."
"Alright," said the man.
Don hung up the phone and looked at the paper in his hand again. "Who was it?" asked Terri, studying Don carefully.
"Some guy at a cybercafe," replied Don. "Someone called the FBI from that number, but the guy on the phone says it wasn't him. We're going to go talk to him." He looked toward Agent Brock. "You're in charge of finding those three women."
"I've got it," she replied; her tone may have sounded impatient and annoyed, but Don could tell that she was happy to be in charge of something.
Don and Terri grabbed a few things and left the office for the cybercafe.
XVIIIIV
BetaRead was a rundown looking place on the outside and an even smaller, rundown place on the inside. There were about eight tables all together, but only about four of them had a computer on them. A few customers sat at the tables, and they paid very little attention to the two federal agents who had just entered.
Don and Terri looked over to the counter to see a very nervous looking man watching them carefully. They walked over to him and noticed he was fiddling nervously with a cellphone.
"Are you the fed that just called?" asked the man in a near whisper as he leaned forward; he looked around uneasily at the few customers in the café.
Don nodded, and he and Terri both showed the man their badges. "Oh man," said the guy shaking his head a few times. "I have no idea what's going on. I swear."
"Calm down," said Don. "I want to ask you a few questions. Did you call the FBI from this phone?" Don picked it up to illustrate his point.
"No." The man shook his head several times.
"Is this your phone?"
"No. I was working, and some guy came in and payed to use an Internet connection. I didn't really pay any attention to him until he was leaving. He shoved that phone at me and told me to keep it; five minutes later you guys call me."
"What did this guy look like?"
"Uh...blonde hair, green eyes, maybe a bit taller than me."
Terri looked around at the few people in the café. "Do you mind if I talk to your other customers?"
The man looked at her. "No. Not at all, but the only people who were here when he was are the two sitting at the table in the middle."
Terri nodded and went to speak with them while Don stayed to talk to the man.
"Did he do anything odd while he was here?" asked Don.
"Not that I noticed, but like I said, I didn't really pay any attention to him until he gave me his phone."
"What computer in here was he using?"
"He brought in his own laptop; he just payed for a connection."
Don nodded. "What's your name?"
"Andy Jason."
"Alright, Andy. Thank you for your help. If you can think of anything else, please contact me." Andy nodded and continued to nervously fiddle with the cellphone. "Uh...we're gonna need that phone."
Andy nodded and handed the phone over. "Thank you."
"No problem," Andy replied with a shrug.
Don walked away from the counter and over to Terri who was waiting for him by the door.
"You not have any luck either?" asked Don as he pushed open the door, and they both walked out.
"Nope," replied Terri. "The two people didn't even notice him back there." She paused. "Was it Kade?"
"Yep," replied Don. "The guy up there gave me his description; it matched perfect."
"So now what are we supposed to do?"
"We're going to go back to the office and give this phone to tech support. They're going to call all the numbers he's called in the past three days."
Terri went through the history on the cellphone. "It shouldn't take them very long. It looks like Kade has only called four people in the last week."
Don sighed. "That figures."
"So after we hand this phone off to tech support, what are we gonna do?"
"We're gonna go drop those files off with Charlie. We'll see what he can do."
XVIIIIV
David's feet were propped up on Charlie's desk as he watched Larry and Charlie hurry about reading and adding more information to the chalkboards. It was both confusing and entertaining in some strange way.
"Did you know Kade Hackett vary well?" asked David.
"No," replied Charlie without even looking away from his work. "I only ever saw him in class. He was quiet, never really spoke up." Charlie paused for a second. "He did come in once or twice to ask questions, but that was about it."
"Did you ever notice who he hung around with?"
Charlie shook his head and shrugged. He was about to turn around and go back to work when Don and Terri walked into his office.
"Hey, Buddy," said Don, casting a strange glance at David who had sat up very quickly when they walked into the room.
"Hey, Don," said Charlie.
"How is everything going here?" asked Don, sitting on the corner of Charlie's desk.
"It's going," muttered Charlie, turning back to the board. "I just can't stop thinking that I'm missing something."
"What do you mean?" asked Terri, studying the chalkboards.
"I've been comparing the victims to the members of Kade's family and to the people who weren't killed," explained Charlie, "but it just isn't making sense yet."
"Maybe it's more than just the people themselves," suggested Terri.
"What do you mean?" asked Charlie; Larry had stopped working and was now listening to Terri speak.
"Maybe it's more than just the people, but more to where the people are," suggested Terri.
"You mean where the people live?"
"No," said Terri, shaking his head. "Maybe not where they are exactly; maybe it's where they are in relation to somewhere else."
Charlie nodded. "But where?"
"His house," replied Terri; Don looked up at her as she started to explain. "The way Laura Paige went on about how much Kade loved his old house made me think that he might be using it in his revenge somehow. If you could see that house, the condition it got to makes me think Kade is very angry about it."
Terri continued to explain to Larry and Charlie as Don went over to talk to David. "What did you find in Kade's room?"
"Not much," replied David. "We found a stack of articles about the murders, but nothin' else really. His computer was gone, and they're weren't any weapons in his room."
"Nothing?"
David shook his head. "He either keeps the weapons somewhere else or he has the weapons with him."
"Shit," muttered Don. "What about people he hung out with?"
David laughed bitterly. "What other people? When Kade wasn't in his dorm or in class, he was a ghost. Even his roommate can only think of two times he ever saw him outside their room."
"Great," muttered Don; he turned around and saw Charlie and Larry leaning over a map with Terri looking over both their shoulders.
"Do you have the names of the grandmothers yet?" asked Charlie, looking up from the map.
"Yeah." Don handed Charlie a stack of manilla folders. "Got them right here."
Charlie quickly opened the files and began to read through it; Larry was reading over his shoulder. Don set his hand on Terri's shoulder and pulled her off to the side while Larry and Charlie continued reading the files and discussing it.
"What do you need?" asked Terri.
"You and David can go ahead and go back to the office; see if you can help Agent Brock find those women."
"What are you gonna do?"
"I'm gonna give Charlie a lift home and then head back to the office."
Terri nodded and went to tell David as Dan walked back over to Charlie and Larry who had stopped discussing the files. Larry looked as if he were done discussing everything.
"I'm sorry, Charles, but I can no longer apply my mind to this problem tonight." He set the folder on the desk. "I'm tired. Besides, I still have a few finals to grade and a few grades to turn in."
Charlie nodded. "That's okay, Larry. Thanks for you help."
Larry nodded as he picked up his bag. "Have you made a dent in any of your finals?"
"Yeah," replied Charlie. "I have most of them graded; besides, Amita has been helping me grade."
Larry laughed. "Poor girl. I bet she didn't know she'd be grading nearly all your finals at the beginning of this semester."
Charlie glared at him. "Good-night, Larry."
"Alright, alright. I get it. I'll see you tomorrow, Charles." He turned to leave. "Good-bye, Don."
Don waved and watched Larry walk out followed a few minutes later by David and Terri; she was giving David a lift back to the office.
"When are you gonna leave, Charlie?"
Charlie looked up at Don and shrugged. "It's a little early to leave, Don; it's only eight thirty."
"Charlie, I told you earlier that I was gonna give you a ride home tonight. I still have to go back to the office. Can't you work on some of this stuff at home?"
"Don, I have my bike here; I can ride it home."
Don shook his head; he was tired and didn't want to deal with this right now. "Charlie, please. Can I just give you a ride home?"
Charlie stared at his brother about to argue, but the tired look on his brother's voice and the annoyance he had heard in Don's voice stopped him. "Okay," said Charlie throwing his hands up in defeat. "Just give me a few minutes to get some of my stuff together."
Don nodded. "Thanks, Charlie."
XVIIIIV
Kade Hackett was walking quickly down the sidewalk trying his best to stay out of the streetlights. He knew Patricia Hutter lived in an apartment somewhere around the area, but he needed to find her quickly. Her picture was burned into his brain so much that she could recognize that woman even if she had a mask on.
His bag was staring to weigh him down, and he needed to rest before too long but not until he found her. His prayers were answered a moment later when he saw Patricia Hutter walking straight toward him. He smiled as he adjusted the bag on his shoulder and walked up to the woman.
"Pardon me," he said politely as he tapped the woman on the shoulder.
Patricia jerked back startled but then returned his politeness with a smile and asked, "What can I do for you?"
"I was wondering if you could tell me what time it is," replied Kade pointing to the watch on her wrist. He hoped she wouldn't notice he was wearing a watch of his own.
"Oh. Certainly." She adjusted the purse on her arm, and while she was distracted, Kade pulled the knife from where he had been hiding it in the back of his jeans. Before the woman could even look at his watch, Kade shoved the knife into her chest. Patricia attempted to let out a strangled cry for help, but Kade quickly silenced it with another quick thrust.
"What the Hell do you think you're doing!" demanded a hysterical voice from behind him. He was quickly jerked around by a hand on his shoulder, and the knife came sliding out with the turn. Kade reacted quickly and shoved the knife into his attackers stomach three times before the man could so much as blink. The knife came sliding out smoothly, and Kade watched as the man, who seemed to be about his own age, went falling to the ground.
A quickly glance over his shoulder told Kade that there was no one else around, and he rolled the man onto his stomach and pulled the wallet out of the man's back pocket before running off into the cover of a close alleyway.
XVIIIIV
Well, I hope you all enjoyed the chapter. I know it was short, but I should have the next one up in a few days. I hope to get to chapter seventeen by the end of the summer if that gives you an idea of anything. Thanx for reading! PLEASE REVIEW!