Chapter 5

It was a circus when Fred and Daphne arrived.

Police had cordoned off the area around city hall.

Fred and Daphne walked through the building with Captain Silverman.

'Tell me what happened again?' Daphne asked.

Silverman had been in such urgency to get them to city hall that he rushed over the details of the latest murder.

'The cleaner goes into the office thinking that the first deputy mayor has left, but when she opens the door, she finds him slumped over the desk and blood everywhere.' Silverman explained, 'She called the police immediately.'

As they got closer to the office, the Mayor stood in the hall with multiple officers and there was police tape across the door.

Daphne and Fred turned to the office and saw Jeremy Erikson lying across the desk. Blood covered the desk and dripped over the edges onto the clean floor. Daphne took note of that – once again there had been a murderer who had left no footprints.

She and Fred entered the office, both pulling on a pair of latex gloves before they began their examination.

'Doctor Green is on his way.' Silverman commented.

There was some discussion with the Mayor before the officers convinced him to go with them to another room for his own safety.

'How could a killer get in?' Fred muttered, he looked at the windows – none were broken, and the door was intact.

'Someone who knows how to get in.' Daphne replied.

'Again, there is no footprints or visible fingerprints.' Fred spoke.

'Hang on, what's this?' Daphne asked. Something had stuck out to her, something odd. If his body had bled all over the desk, then surely it would have covered the paperwork beneath him? But Daphne had found a clean file – not a drop of blood on it.

'Where was it?' Fred asked.

'Right there under the desk.' Daphne couldn't believe it was just there. She opened the file, and then she looked back up at Fred.

'What is it?' He asked.

'Evidence against Erikson.' She spoke, 'Evidence.'

'Evidence?' Fred asked.

'Remember a few years ago when those fires occurred in that neighbourhood downtown?' Daphne asked.

'Please don't tell me he did it.' Silverman spoke.

Daphne looked at him.

'Christ.' Silverman hissed.

'That's not all.' Daphne spoke, 'This also looks like he agreed to build a mall in place of the houses, and that most of the houses that were demolished were unaffected by the fire.' She turned a few pages, 'He also set up a "charity" to help those who were affected by the fire, but they didn't get any of the money – the construction of the mall was built from the charity funds. Those people got nothing.'

Fred stumbled over his words, before he finally said, 'Did a killer leave this for us to find?'

'Please don't tell me we've got a fricking vigilante on our hands?' Silverman asked, 'The last thing this city needs is fuckin' Batman.'

'Not Batman, Captain.' Daphne spoke, 'The doll man.'

Fred gasped when he saw it. This time the killer hadn't done so well at hiding it, but the little plush doll was sticking out of Erikson's side. The little thing was creepier covered in blood, and Fred hoped that Doctor Green would get here soon and remove it.

'And you're positive that you saw nobody?' Fred asked.

'I saw no one.'

Fred sat opposite the woman who had found Erikson's body. She was shaking and the officers had offered her coffee and something to eat, but she insisted that she would not be able to stomach anything.

'I don't think the mayor had anything to do with this.' Garrett spoke.

Daphne shook her head, 'No he couldn't have. Not without anyone noticing him.'

'And the guy has too big a heart.' Garrett added, 'Last year he splashed the cash at FAO Schwartz and dressed up as Santa to deliver toys to the kids at the orphanage. Remember what he did in April? He dressed up as the Easter bunny and went to the children's hospital and the old people's home.'

'I know, I know.' Daphne ran her hand through her hair. She was tired and just wanted to go home, she was hungry too.

But her mind was racing – how could someone get into the building, kill the first deputy mayor, then leave without being spotted?

She and Garrett had checked out the security cameras, but they had been turned off – whoever this was, they knew what they were doing.

'Detectives!' Officer Winters exclaimed. He ran to Daphne and Garrett with a laptop in his hands.

'What is it?' Daphne asked.

'I thought I'd go over the security cameras again in case we missed something. The cameras near the office were turned off, but I found this on the camera in the lobby.'

He showed Daphne and Garrett the laptop. They watched people walking around the lobby and entering and leaving through the main doors, they had seen this footage.

Winters stopped Daphne before she could speak, 'Look at this.' He said, and he pulled up another security video and pointed at someone in the video. It looked like a man, but they couldn't make out his face because the footage was blurry.

'I've seen him multiples times on this footage, and this was only two days ago.' Winters spoke.

'That would make it the day before Chester's murder.' Daphne commented.

'It's possible that he had a plan for Chester and then was scoping out his next location.' Garrett added.

'I dunno, the day before? Most killers want to be prepared for the murder they're about to commit.' Daphne spoke.

'Unless you're skilled or you've done it before.' Garrett spoke.

'Ok, so let's say this guy is planning to murder two people within a day of each other, I think that narrows our search down to unemployed men.' Daphne suggested.

Garrett sighed, 'I dunno.' He admitted.

'So, she saw nobody.' Fred said as he came over to them.

'We found something, well Winters found something.' Daphne said, and Officer Winters showed Fred the footage.

'You think this is him?' Fred asked.

'It's possible.'

'Hello, Jane Brock here?'

'Yes, through the corridor, she's the third door on the right.'

'Thank you.'

Daphne walked through the corridor of CBS station, she had a meeting with Jane Brock.

After Doctor Green had taken Erikson's body to the morgue - and successfully removed the creepy doll - Daphne and Fred presented Silverman with a theory regarding the man in the lobby.

He didn't dismiss it, but he agreed that it is a small possibility that he could be the killer.

Daphne and Fred managed to get two hours of sleep and a slice of toast each before they headed back to work.

She left Fred at the police station and decided to speak to Jane Brock on her own.

Her name was engraved on a plaque on the door. Daphne knocked and she heard a voice on the other side say 'Come in.'

She pushed the door open and introduced herself – showing Brock her badge – before she stepped inside.

'Well, I can say my career has picked up drastically, last year I was reporting on awful snowstorms and this year I have reported on your father's imprisonment and now this murder.'

Daphne had been in the room less than a minute, and she already hated Jane Brock.

'So, what can I help you with, detective?' Jane smiled as if she were about to say imagine their faces at FOX news when they discover Jane Brock has gotten case info from the mouth of NYC's best detective.

'I want to know who the caller was who gave you the information regarding Peter Chester.' Daphne spoke.

Jane shrugged, 'I dunno, he called and said he was keeping his name anonymous because he didn't want the police on his back.'

'What did he say? How long did you speak to him for?'

'What's in it for me detective?' Jane Brock asked.

Daphne – unclenching her fist – smiled quickly before she said, 'If you don't tell I'll have to take you to station and charge you for withholding evidence to a case. And who will be reporting that?'

'How about I tell you what you want to know if you tell me what I want to know?'

'And that would be?'

'Why did your father steal from all those people?'

'Forget it. I'll find someone else.' Daphne stood up and made for the door.

'Nobody else spoke to him.' Jane spoke.

'Well, then you can be responsible for the next murder unless you tell me what the hell he said to you!' By now her blood was boiling, nothing was ever simple.

'Why would you want to stop a vigilante?' Jane asked.

'He's murdering people.'

'He's doing the job the police won't do.' Jane added.

'I don't kill people and nobody I have ever worked with has killed anyone either.'

'How do you know?' Jane asked.

'You didn't know the failed marriage between your parents, or that your father was stealing from all his employees. How can you know that your own colleagues aren't killing people?'

Daphne and her sister had been bombarded with news reports following the arrest of her father, but one thing that was never mentioned in any of the reports was their marital problems, 'How did you know about their marriage?'

She was going to tell her at some point. She's a reporter, she was going to withhold this information until Daphne gave her what she wanted to hear, but why drag this out? The detective is about to leave anyway.

'I've been seeing him.'

'What?'

'I've been seeing him.' Jane repeated, 'George Blake, your father.'

Daphne stepped closer to the reporter, and it was then that Jane Brock realised she fucked up.

She sunk deeper into her chair as Daphne place both her hands on the desk and leaned closer to Jane, 'Why then fuck have you done that?'

Daphne glared at her, her eyes burning into Jane's before the latter's flashed to a sheet of paper on top of a file.

Jane quickly went to grab it, but Daphne was too fast.

She read it George Blake and the Life That Led Him to Prison

'What the hell is this?' Daphne asked.

Jane gulped.

'Did he call you or did you call him?' Daphne asked.

'I-I called h-him.' Jane stuttered.

Daphne narrowed her eyes, 'You're writing a book, about my dad?'

Trembling, Jane nodded.

'Why?' Daphne asked, 'Why? For fucking rating? If you publish this, you are going to fuck a lot of people over, including myself and family.'

The file which had been underneath the paper caught Daphne's eye – GEORGE WESLEY BLAKE

Daphne took it off the table and she gave one last look at Jane before left, slamming the door behind her.