12th Precinct, Present Time
To Serve and Protect
Chapter Four - Outside The Box
The investigative team had made a glaring mistake. They missed it during the interview with the Francisco's. The Francisco's had indicated their daughter had been treated at a different hospital than was reported to the 12th. It turns out the Francisco's had given the wrong hospital having been confused with that of another relatives' covid treatment in NYC. This relative also treated around the same time but at a different hospital than their daughter's. The 12th team had rushed the interview before reviewing all the reports completely. In their haste to get leads, they had succumbed to the pressure from the media and public for a quick ending to the serial killings. It is a rookie mistake, one they should not have made.
The mistake had taken some time to correct detracting away from the main investigation as Kate now had to re-brief officials, like the mayor, PC, city council and the like. Sworn statements had to be corrected, redone, signatures once again obtained, and the corrected statements recertified for court trial purposes. The ADA involved was not happy they had to rework all the statements. Never enough time to do it right once, but always time to do it over.
Kate had to do damage control and shield her team from the political criticism and hype generated by the case. But this was the climate now a days for Police. People looking over their shoulder and dictating desirable results however unrealistic. So they had lost some time correcting their mistake and that took time that could have been spent for advancing forward their on-going case. Kate blamed herself for not catching it during the interview. Still her two senior alpha teams members on the interview with her had also missed it . If she had caught it then she would have asked for a correction immediately to the initial statement.
Fortunately the miscue had gone mostly unnoticed by the press. They did not need to back track with the main stream media who would make it appear that the 12th had bungled the interview and were sloppy in their interrogations far worst then it actually had happened. The press would have blown their mis-step out of proportions to create more animosity for them. Mistakes such as these, in these current times, just gave the press more ammo to hit the NYPD and bolster the contention that social programs were more effective in keeping our youth from turning into criminals. More police with better toys was not the answer they would say. No, the 12th didn't need to stir the pot with more bad press than they were already getting.
The lesson learn for all this bruhaha was that Alpha had to work the case like they normally did. They had to be methodical, meticulous, and effective. They had to work at their own game and pace and not let press and public opinion get them off track. Kate needed to ensure her team is shielded from all the nit-picking and undue hype so the team can do their jobs undistracted by the nonsense stirring around them. The eyes looking over their shoulders needed to be re-directed to actual concerns of the case.
Despite the setback, the Team did manage the interviews with gym members of Francisco's Health Club and of Francisco's co-workers, but none had not produce any good leads. However, one of Francisco's military associates, also female and was also on a ROTC scholarship while at Boston College, had given them a possible lead when they interviewed her. Vanessa Gibson had met Erlinda while at BC , formed a friendship, and had kept close ever since. They were in touch with each other on a regular basis outside of their Guard reserve drills. They would ocassionally do 'Girl's Night Out' dinners as Gibson was also from the greater NYC metro area.
It seems that Erlinda, in one of her talks with Gibson, had revealed that she had felt like someone was watching her. The vic had noticed on several instances a dark-haired tall man looking her way. One or two instances of this happening did not raise her alarm bells. It was when Francisco noticed however nearly every time she was out in town, the man would show up on her home outside security camera. He was watching her house from the street.
Francisco had a Siri based system and could view her home on her Apple cell phone. She often checked home by cell when out of town for work or on National Guard Reserve duty. That is when she noticed the man on her security cam apparently surveilling her home.
"I told her it might just be her imagination. She had no male companionship since she broke up with her boyfriend. I joked her that it was her subconscious telling her to start dating again. All joking aside though, I told her to get some more positive evidence of the man stalking her. The phone pixs she had taken were never of his face, only his body features. Those pixs had date stamps and were good recorded evidence of his presence on several occasions.
"Do you know if she got any better pixs of the stalker? Also, how long ago did this happen?", asked Ryan.
"I don't know if she got a better shot of her possible stalker, but this happened weeks before she went missing."
Based on this interview, Capt. Castle called the NYPD Evidence Storage Facility and asked if the personal affects of Franciso kept as evidence included her cell phone. When Storage had answered yes, Kate asked Alpha to pickup the cell phone. For some reason, the pixs were not found on the phone when initially looked at for evidence by Tori Ellis and Ryan. Yet another mis-step by Alpha. Ellis and Ryan had both missed the picture files, but to their credit, they did not know of the pictures, so had not looked too deeply.
The tech division on re-examining the cell phone found a hidden photo file that Ellis and Ryan had both missed. It had been well concealed deep in several subdirectories four deep from the main directory and was also pass code protected. It took a while for the tech division to break the password. The file contained 7 pixs of a dark haired man with date stamps a week before Francisco was reported missing. The photo's at best were not enough to get a good facsimile of the man's image, but it did reveal he had dark brown hair and a height of about or over six feet. Tech had photo enhanced the pix and were able to get a good side view image of the man, which was still not enough to ID him.
Still, this was a lead, however tenuous it appeared to be. They tried photo recognition programs, but always got an "Insufficient Data" response from the program. What the photo's showed, however, was Erlinda had been stalked before her abduction and then murdered. It was likely that the perp had also surveilled his other victims. The Alpha team had suspected as much, but the Francisco photos now confirmed that the perp had indeed observed his other vics for a time before committing the murders.
Then came a break on victim number three. They got the identity of victim three, one Joanne Synder. She was found on the NYPD database for being arrested on the possession of a controlled substance, marijuana. The police had raided a night club where the aroma of the substance was so thick, it just invited the club to be raided. The group, she was with, had all pleaded guilty to possession and were given community service for their pleas. Synder had to lecture at local high schools during seminars on the illegal use of marijuana and other drugs and their effects on the person and the larger community.
Joanne's day job was as a waitress but she was also finishing a degree in Dental Technology at NYCC, hoping one day to be a Dental Assistant. She had been reported missing by one of her room mates, also an NYCC student, who shared a two bedroom off campus apartment with her and three other NYCC students. Like the other victims, Synder had tested positive for Covid anti-bodies. This was the one common physical evidence from all the victims that stood out and still could not be accounted for. Alpha was still pondering if this one piece of evidence was coincidental or part of the pattern for the serial killer's MO, but it was looking more that it was a selection pattern for the perp.
Synder was treated for her covid at the NYU Longone Hospital - Brooklyn. She was placed in isolation for a 10 day period upon which she was cured and released. Her body was discovered after being missing for a month. Evidence at the crime scene supported her as the another vic of the now 'covid' serial killer, the name the press had given to him.
"Well if this is not a coincidence and the perp is deliberately choosing victims who have had covid, how does the perp know this?", asked Ryan.
"Well who has knowledge of this unless they treated them?", asks Espo
"Or in a situation to know of that treatment.", replies Ryan.
"A doctor, or nurse, maybe?", is Ellis' response.
"Or someone on the medical staff of the facility", Anne suggests.
"But two were treated in different hospitals! One was not, but had home quarantine and was being seen by a health professional. So the killer had to be someone who was at two different treatment sites and also at a home isolation site. That's a stretch", remarks Espo.
"The one vic who did get home treatment, makes it even more puzzling", Ryan contributes.
"But that one home treated patient had different care givers monitoring her at home", reminds Witaker to her team.
Seemingly at a dead-end, the Alpha team members now look to their Consulting Investigator, Rick Castle, for a possible theory that has escaped them.
Rick is in deep thought. The team gives him some time to ponder.
"What's your take Castle?"
Finally Rick speaks, "Assuming the perp did not treat all the victims then the medical information on the vics had to be somewhere that could be easily accessed by a person or persons who are not an attending care professional. Who or what would have such info?"
"A computer database?", poses Expo.
"But what kind of database? It would have to be a database that held all the victim's medical info", Castle says challenging the supposition, "and that info might also be covered by Doctor-patient confidentiality. What kind of medical databases not protected by Doctor-Patient confidentiality are there?"
"Maybe something that indirectly might gives information about a covid treatment. Info that is not confidential but can give a clue to a treatment. Maybe like a list of drugs prescribed that are used in treatment. Like maybe a list of those of accessed the vaccines."
"But all these vics caught covid before vaccination and cured naturally by their immune system. We have victims at different treatment sites, some hospital quarantined, one home cared. All are treated by different doctors and nurses. So it may involve several data bases, but makes sense that all their data is on one database easily accessed by our prep.", replies Rick.
"That database would need to collect data from different sources, so what does that mean?"
"Maybe some third party contractor processing such data?"
"That may provide a list of potential victims. How does the perp know the person fits his physical profile, blonde, young, and so forth?", asks Ellis.
"That's why he stalks them, once he knows they have covid anti-bodies. The info is just a check off list, gives him targets of opportunities, so to speak", Ryan adds to the conversation.
"Whitaker and Ellis, find out what kind of medical or medical related data bases might provide info for our prep", Espo says to them as lead detective.
"Here's another thing you could look into, all must have some form of medical insurance. With medical costs now a days, medical insurance is almost certain. What if all the vics had the same medical insurance company? They would be all on one database, regardless of how and where they got the treatment. Their health insurance would pay for their treatment and provide statements to their clients.", again Castle says thinking out loud.
"But a lot of covid treatment was free and government funded, so no need for health insurance. That might rule out the insurance database. Want to run with that one Castle?", Espo asks.
"On it!" is the reply.
"Probably the best source for insurance info might be the families", Ryan tells Castle.
"Except some of vic parents were deceased. Maybe a roommate might know", Castle shoots back at Ryan.
"Castle check on the vics that had room mates. So let's get leads before we get another vic."
"Wait, one other thing", says Ellis, "The vic treated at home was treated by temp workers who worked as needed with any organization requiring them. Could our prep be a temp worker?"
"Good point, I take that one", Espo says.
All head out to complete their assignments given by Espo.
Office of 'The Scroll'
Alexis Castle is pondering the next Editorial comment for her online newspaper. She had decided she would write this one since their guest writers had not wanted to give an opinion piece on this hot button issue . Alexis wanted to talk about the impacts of the "Defund" trend on the neighborhoods that had rising crime due to reduced funding of police presence. It would be a series of Editorials to raise awareness on this issue.
The "Defund" problem had started as a well intentioned effort to cut the fat from the police budget and use that for other social programs, particularly those that would educate the public to support anti-crime efforts. Unfortunately what had actually happened was that police budget cuts had been to the bone and not just the fat. There were real disturbing events that had occurred due to reduced funding and lower police presence in neighborhoods. More violent robberies and murders had happened as a result of the Defund program.
Alexis wanted to give attention to these incidents and let the public decide if the Defund program was working. One particularly sad incident in NYC was the robbery of an apartment where the 12 yr child of the home was a latch key kid. She would return home after school dismissed at 3pm and lock herself in till one of her parents arrived around 5pm. Not only had the household been robbed but the child had been traumatized. She was now under psychiatric attention for her trauma. The neighborhood once had a regular neighborhood police patrol, but with police presence being lost due to budget cuts, the patrol hours had been cut back. As bad luck would have had it, the robbery was committed during a down time for the patrol.
Alexis had many of these kind of incidents gathered during her research on the issue. Alexis wanted now to shine a light on them. If concern from readers were raised on these types of crimes, maybe it could create a counterforce to combat the growing trend of defunding police. With her small staff, Alexis decided she would take this project on and not task it to her people.
Alexis had a small ten man crew for her on-line paper. With such a small staff, all of them did multiple duties, in addition to their reporter duties, editing, and the like. Unlike the bigger hard copy newspapers that had many staffers, her paper was small so everyone of them took on other tasks. They did their tasks with tireless and dedicated purpose to report accurate news. Thus providing significant coverage to foster readership awareness on important issues of the times to the reading public.
The Scroll tried to keep overhead costs to a minimum so the office shared their facility with Martha Rodgers' Drama School. The building had been purchased by Rick Castle for them, but Alexis and Martha had paid for the alterations it took to convert the former neighborhood grocery store to a two office facility. At one time their building had housed a mom and pop grocery store with the family living above the grocery. Alexis and her grandmother now lived on that second floor of their building which had a three bedroom home. So the office building did double duty. Alexis and Martha were fortunate in that Rick had found and purchased a former neighborhood store site for them.
The cost for maintaining and operating the building containing the two business were low as each business split the costs. This kept overhead for the two business to a minimum. The low overhead costs allowed each business to spend in other areas, such as high end equipment like computers, camera's, and the like. For The Scroll it also provide a modest payment to visiting guest writers for their opinion pieces.
The on-line newspaper got revenues from paid subscriptions and advertisements. With over six and a half million subscribers internet wide, who paid the annual fee, it was enough to pay for staff salaries and their operations. The advertisers added the cherry on top for the paper's income. Although Alexis did not make the muti-million writing income of her father, Alexis was doing well for her work. Financially she was self-sufficient.
Then a piece of intel came into The Scoll that would have Alexis re-assign her defund police project to one of her people. On good information from a reliable source, there was an event happening on the Ukraine border that was being kept from the public. It seemed that there was a significant troop buildup of Russian forces on the Ukraine border being ignored by the main stream press. Talk had it that Russia was set to invade the Ukraine. Years back, Russia had invaded Crimea, which resulted in much protest from different nations, U.S. included, but that was all. After weeks of protest from other Nations, the issue faded away, and Russia now held Crimea. Was the current troop build up on the Ukrainian border but part of an overall plan to once again re-establish the lost territories of the old collapsed USSR ? This intel had caught Alexis' attention.
"So what do you think of this info, should we run an article on it?", asked the assistant editor.
"Not without vetting our source, we need to corroborate with at least one or more other sources", was Alexis' reply to her assistant editor.
"There is total radio silence on this one, and my pentagon source was hesitant to bring it up."
"That in itself should tell you something?"
"So you think Russia will invade Ukraine like they did with Crimea years back."
"Based on this one intel, I give you even odds, but find me another source, and the odds go up. Two additional sources will definitely tell us to run with the story. Get me those two sources!"
"Rodger that!"
When her assistant editor leaves to find her other sources, Lex pulls out a burner phone from the locked drawer of her desk and speed dials a number.
"Hello sweetie, to what do I owe the pleasure of your call?", Lexy hears from her burner cell.
"Grandpa Jack, I wish I could say this is just my usual catch me up call, but it is business."
"Well your granddad has been retired for a while from the business, but I still have contacts I can depend on."
"I was banking on that. What do you know of a Russian troop build up on the Ukrainian border?"
"Not much but I assume I will get to know more soon so I can pass it on to you."
"Thanks grand pa."
"Anytime, give your sister and brothers a kiss for me and tell them it is from Grandpa Jackson. Also tell that Dad of yours to call, he has somehow missed his last couple regular calls."
"Can do, but know that Dad is working a tough case with momma Kate."
"So back on active duty is he?"
"Yeah he is."
"This wouldn't be the covid killer case that is making the rounds across the media spectrum to include the online community?"
"That's the one grandpa. Kate's under a lot of pressure from the public and the NYC officials to catch the serial killer. Dad's doing double duty as the CI on the case and as Mr. Mom to the kids. I played big sis over the weekend taking the kids out for fun so dad and Kate could get some relief."
"Good girl, you are a great daughter and big sister, and an awesome grand daughter. Just tell your parents to call me when they can then."
"Ok, love you grandpa Jack."
"As I you, stay safe sweetie."
Alexis ends her talk with her grandfather.