Chapter 21

1:00 a.m.

"Do you have any idea of how long it could take to get a match?"

The disbelieving voice belonged to a tiny forensics expert, deep within the basement of the 19th precinct. She was cute, and predictably dressed in black, and looked like she should be attending a rave party rather than sweating over machines and ballistic reports all day.

Elisa looked at the girl's name tag. "Pamela," Elisa wheedled. "I know it would take a long time, but I have a feeling that the prints belong to one particular person. Is there any way to call up the file and do a straight comparison instead of having to search the entire database?"

Pamela tried to look a little disgruntled, but her curiosity had been tweaked. "Yeah, that I can have done in a few minutes after getting the file."

Matt nodded at her computer, which was currently in screensaver mode with a flying NYPD shield on it.

"They are in the system. I scanned them in myself when he hadn't been apprehended."

Pamela looked relieved. "O.K. I can have it for you soon. Who am I looking up?"

"The name is Jon Canmore," Matt said.

Elisa felt like a third wheel. Matt and Pamela were practically hip to hip, looking at the files on the computer. She was telling him about her new machine and how it helped to speed up the AFIS searches. Matt was hanging on her every word.

Huh, Elisa thought to herself. I wonder how long that has been going on…

It was cute, really. The Forensics Expert and the Conspiracy Theorist.

There was a police scanner in the corner, turned low. There was a constant stream of voices going, some were communicating with the dispatchers, some were from officer to officer and some were checking in with smart ass comments between friends. It was enough constant chatter that Elisa had almost tuned it out, but one report came through, loud and clear.

"Attention officers. Vandalism reported at 3-6-8 Broadway. Suspect is still present at time of report."

Elisa glanced at Matt, and saw that the report had not gone unnoticed.

"What do you think?" He asked.

Elisa sighed. "Let's go."

"I'll give you a shout when I get the results," Pamela promised.

"Thanks, Pam," Matt called over his shoulder.

Elisa had the good graces to wait until they were out of earshot before poking at her partner. "Pam, huh?"

Matt wouldn't meet her eyes, and seemed a little overly occupied concentrating on the stairs in front of him.

"Are you blushing?" Elisa was surprised. She didn't think anything ever affected Matt like that.

Matt muttered something that she couldn't quite make out, but she got the gist of it.

He didn't want to talk about it.

Elisa grinned. At least something good was coming out of this crazy shift.

1:30 a.m.

The scene was a real estate office building.

Hunter Home Equity, to be specific. It was too much of a coincidence for Elisa's taste, and firmly planted the belief that it was Jon Canmore, or something that he had orchestrated.

The print results had come in, and Pamela had contacted them on the way to the scene. Prints from both cans were from two different people, neither one of them was Jon.

That didn't really surprise Elisa. The Canmores were smart as hell. Jon had probably recruited people to do this for him. The incidents were happening too close in time together, and spaced too far apart through the city for one person to get from one place to the other.

The artwork on this building was similar to the others, with one difference. The stick figure was there, in the tube shape, but this time there was a water faucet posed above it.

Elisa had a hunch that if there was another one, what was going to happen to it.

"I don't like this," Matt said.

"Neither do I," Elisa admitted.

As with the other scenes, there was a single spray paint can there. It was tagged and collected, as the others were, and would be taken to Pamela as soon as they could get there.

"I can't shake the feeling that this is Jon," Elisa said. "We don't know what happened to him after he left the chapel, and he may still be in the area."

"But what's with the street art?"

"I have a theory," Elisa said slowly. "And I hope I'm wrong."

Matt turned to her. "O.K., let's put this together." He pulled his notebook out. "The graffiti, the Hunter references, what are we missing?"

Elisa ran her hand through her hair. "I don't know, but it feels like we are missing something big."

"We're going to figure this out," Matt tried to reassure her.

Another officer came around the corner towards them. "Hey," the officer called. "There was another one. Same M.O."

Elisa frowned. "Where?"

The officer shrugged. "Some place in the Bronx, just over the bridge. Do you guys want to go, since you've been following these?"

Elisa nodded. "Sure."

"These are some really crazy vandals," the officer muttered. "They are being really freaking random. How are we supposed to catch these guys?"

"Really random," Elisa muttered.

"What if they aren't random?" Matt asked her. "Let's look at these places. Other than the Hunter names, where have we been tonight?"

"The college at Lexington and 68th," Elisa ticked off on her fingers, "The restaurant in Brooklyn. The Realtor's Office…" She trailed off, finally making the connection. "Lexington, Broadway, Brooklyn…"

Matt caught on. "And now some place in the Bronx."

"It's the clan," Elisa said. She ran for the car and hopped in. While Matt followed up on the latest report, Elisa got on the communicator.

"Goliath, are you there?"

"Yes, Elisa." His voice came through loud and clear.

"Are you at the castle?"

"Yes."

"Is everyone still there, or have they left yet?"

"They are readying for the trip," Goliath said. "What has happened?"

"Keep everyone at the castle," Elisa urged. "Trust me on this, and stay there. I'll be there as soon as I can."

"What has happened?" Goliath asked again.

"Nothing yet, Goliath," Elisa said, navigating the streets as fast as she felt she safely could. "I just have a bad feeling, and if I'm right, you guys are safer there at the castle right now."

"We would be able to help you," He insisted.

"I'm not alone, I have Matt with me. Besides, it's not me that I'm worried about, Goliath." Elisa said. "I think Jon Canmore is back in the city. If I'm right, then he's been messing with me all night."

"Do not worry about us, Elisa," Goliath assured her. "But do not go anywhere without Matt. If Jon is planning anything, you need not put yourself in harm's way."

"I don't plan on it, Big Guy." Elisa said, as she was pulling into the address that they had been given. "Stay safe, stay indoors and I will see you soon."

Elisa cut the connection as she looked at the building that housed Hunter Ambulance and Medical Transport.

"Damn," Matt said. "Well, at least we have an idea of who is doing this."

"Yeah," Elisa said softly. She was looking at the latest spray painted art, and gave a shudder.

In the picture, the faucet had turned on, and the glass was filling up. The stickfigure was no longer touching the bottom of the glass.

"But where is he?" She wondered.

2:30 a.m.

"I'm sorry, detective," Pamela said. "I have dusted and run all of the prints that I have found on all four of the spray paint cans, but no two cans were handled by the same person, and none of them are your suspect's prints." She grimaced as she admitted, "If I had to make a guess, based on the sheer number and the degradation of the prints, I'd say that they point to the people at the store where the paint was sold. There is a powder residue on them that suggests latex gloves were used."

Elisa sighed. "Damn."

"Thank you for the speedy work, Pam," Matt said.

"No problem, detective." Pam smiled, "If you have anything else that you need help with, just let me know and I'll get on it. I feel bad that I couldn't help you with these."

Pamela walked to her bank of computers, four of which were running identification programs. "I went ahead and expanded the search in the AFIS system. If whoever used these paint cans are in the system, we should get identification in a few hours at most."

"That's great," Elisa said.

"Well…" Pamela seemed at a loss. "I will let you know when I find anything."

"Thanks again," Matt said and turned to leave.

Elisa saw the flash of disappointment in Pamela's eyes before she covered it with a bright smile. "No worries."

Elisa turned and followed Matt out. She gave him a slap to the back of the head.

"Ow," He said, rubbing the sting. "What the hell, Elisa?"

"You really are clueless sometimes," Elisa said with a laugh. "That girl likes you, Bluestone."

"Huh?"

Elisa stopped in her tracks and threw him a disgusted look. "If you don't go back in there and ask that woman out for breakfast after work, I'm going to seriously have to re-evaluate my opinion on your intelligence level."

He blinked at her.

Elisa pointed towards the lab. "Go. Ask. Her. Out."

A slow grin made its way across his face. He turned and made his way back to the lab.

Elisa continued on the the squad room. She sat at her desk and made a list.

Broadway, Brooklyn, Lexington, Bronx… She wanted to get ahead of these people, but there were only so many "Hunter" named businesses left in the Manhattan area. They were going to stay in the area, she was sure, because she wouldn't be able to go much farther out without having to deal with jurisdictional issues.

If they were really after her, then they would have to stay nearby. If they were after the clan, they were safe in that super powered, high tech and just this side of legally armed castle. There were probably a good share of illegally armed parts of the castle, but she was choosing to not ask about them.

"Hey, detective," Came a chipper female voice. Elisa looked up and spotted Marlene, the phone dispatcher. "Man, tonight is not your night."

"What's going on?" Elisa asked.

"No one told you?" Marlene frowned. "Your vandal just struck again, in a big way, I guess. Big damn building, this time."

"Where?" Elisa demanded.

Marlene blinked. "Over at the World Financial Center. The whole south side of the building is covered by this freaky image."

Elisa grabbed her keys.

She ran to the lab, but Elisa couldn't find either Matt or Pamela.

She knew that she should wait for Matt, but she also needed to go to the site and see what was going on. It fit the pattern with the Clan's names, Hudson or Goliath was up next and the terminal was on the banks of the Hudson River.

On a light traffic day, if such things existed in Manhattan, the terminal itself was almost half an hour away. She didn't want to have to wait for Matt to leave the lab, and get to the car. Let him have his time with the pretty lady, she thought. After Matt had put up with Elisa for so long, he needed to find a nice girl.

She ran out the door. She would call Matt, and have him join her there. She hopped in the car, and she was off.

She was well on her way when she did as she had promised herself. She called dispatch to tell Matt where she was going, requesting that he join her as soon as he could be located.

3:10 a.m.

Elisa came to an abrupt halt in the parking lot of the terminal. She made sure that her badge was visible on her belt as she waded through the crowd of onlookers.

This one was more detailed than the rest. It was huge, vibrant with color and it had definitely taken time to complete. The water was overflowing in the glass, and the figure, now definitely a woman with long black hair and dressed in red and black, was floating face down on the bottom of the glass.

Elisa took a deep breath, held it and let it out slow. It helped, but there was still a troubling tightness to her chest.

Elisa found a single paint can, similar to the other scenes. This time, however, there was an arrow painted on the pavement beside the can.

Elisa turned her gaze in the direction of the arrow, and her gaze landed on the construction area across the parking lot. The sign on the fencing proclaimed it a project of The Hunter Roberts Construction Group.

Elisa waded through the crowd of police that were wandering around, processing the scene. She stopped on the edge of the fenced off construction area and surveyed the scene. She wasn't even sure what she was looking for, but she had one of those gut feelings that there was something here.

Glancing behind her, she made sure that she was not being watched, and slipped through a hole that had been cut in the chain link fencing.

Looking around at the construction site, it consisted of the metal beams and framework of what looked to be an office building. The skeleton of the building appeared to be around 10 stories high already, and was high enough off of the ground to require a pair of cranes to continue the construction. It was surrounded by ground that was still more mud than anything else, with small groupings of construction vehicles scattered through the grounds. Piles of building materials and concrete pipeline were strewn about in a scene of barely organized chaos.

Elisa hesitated a moment, drew her weapon, then started picking her way through. She kept to the shadows, unsure of what… or who… was waiting for her. Construction had long since ceased for the day, and the only light was that of the waning moon and flashing police cruisers.

The flashing of the red and blue lights from the police cruisers gave the scene a surreal look. The strobing effect was wreaking havoc on her night vision, making even the inanimate objects appear to come alive and start to move.

It took her longer than she would have liked to make her way to the building, but she had made it without incident. She wound her way through the structure, using the shadows and beans to remain as hidden as she could.

She completed a tour of the building and found nothing. With a sigh, she holstered her weapon.

Damn. She'd been so sure that there would be something here. A note, a person, a clue to whatever crazy scavenger hunt that she was on.

Elisa turned and made her way back to the crime scene. She was backtracking along the fence when she heard her name being called.

"Elisa?" Matt was calling. "Elisa, are you in there?"

"Hey, Matt!" Elisa called, looking for the opening in the fence that she'd come through the first time.

"Jesus, Maza," Matt called, jogging toward the fence. "Way to wait for me."

"You were busy," Elisa said with a grin, waiting for him on her side of the fence. "So...are you guys going to meet up for breakfast after shift?"

"Wouldn't you like to know."

"Actually, I would, but that's just to keep myself from going insane."

"You're not going insane," Matt said, walking beside her along the fenceline, towards the opening.

"Then why do I feel like I'm going crazy, Matt?" Elisa said. "Honestly, I feel like…"

A piercing pain in the back of her right shoulder, causing her to cry out and stumble into the fence in surprise. In a reaction to the sudden pain, Elisa slapped a hand as far back on her shoulder as she could. Her fingers hit something small and hard, she grasped it and pulled it away from her.

She held it up to the light before she realized that she had seen this kind of object before. Often enough to know it was an injection dart, most often used in zoos and by bad guys for tranquilizers. Elisa raised her eyes and met Matt's startled gaze.

A similar dart shot out and hit him in the front of his left shoulder.

"Oh, god," Elisa muttered, trying to catch herself by grabbing the fence.

Matt turned and shouted for help before he collapsed under the influence of the tranquilizer.

Elisa stumbled, her vision swimming before her. Her body was suddenly heavy, and her fingers lost her grip on the dart.

She heard voices coming in their direction, flashlights bouncing as those who had heard Matt's call for help began running toward them, getting closer before everything went dark.

The last thing that she remembered was the sensation of falling.