The last letter
Chapter 10
The mild Chicago early morning had suddenly turned chilly. Kate had already gone home and Lewicki was asleep upstairs.
It was well past midnight. Getting off the piano, Daniel went into the kitchen poured himself a glass of cranberry juice while still in the kitchen and stood in front of the sink to look outside the kitchen window. The full moon that had illuminated the grisly discovery last night was fast disappearing and the sun would be up soon in a few hours to shine down on the faculty housings.
Daniel's internal thoughts kicked in: Natalie was seen looking out the window along with Daniel, "It was a beautiful moon last night, wasn't it, Daniel? Too bad you didn't want to share it with Kate."
Daniel, too, had second thoughts about having Kate leave.
"I have a lot on my mind, Nat," he said, "one of them being that I still need to sleep."
Natalie sighed, "It was a lovely party Max threw for you,Daniel...too bad it was ruined by a stalker who turned up dead two hours later."
"Yeah," Daniel said sarcastically, "murder always puts a damper on parties."
"Since you were at the murder scene, did it give you any clues as to who could have done this?" Natalie inquired.
Daniel shrugged, "The knife went straight in. Whoever killed her had slipped that knife straight between two ribs... right into her heart."
She physically shivered, "If I weren't a hallucination, I wouldn't be able to sleep."
"For once, you're the lucky one," Daniel sighed.
"So what happens next?" Natalie asked.
"You've got any ideas?" Daniel knew full well he was just basically asking himself the question, but still, Natalie might be able to organize his thoughts better.
"How about checking Hilda Jones' rooming house tomorrow to search for clues?" Natalie suggested.
"That's not bad," Daniel said, "Kate can probably pull up Hilda Jones's address from the FBI database."
Natalie nodded, " It'll be nice working on a real case again, don't you think?"
"Yes," Daniel feeling a sense of content, "It'll be nice working with Kate again," he admitted, not realizing he had changed the wording of the what Natalie had just stated by adding Kate's name.
And with that last idea still on his mind, he trudged upstairs and fell asleep immediately.
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With only a few hours sleep, Daniel anxiously got up and dashed downstairs to the front door, wondering if he would be receiving another letter this morning.
Flinging the door opened he looked down and immediately spotted the dreaded white envelope resting innocently on the doormat. Daniel let out a quiet moan. So it wasn't Hilda Jones sending the letters, after all. Picking up the envelope and unsealing it quickly, he unfolded the paper and read the familiar letters H.Y.S.T.I.C. in different shapes and colored backgrounds.
And added to that was the letter "S" to the end, glued there with a black background.
But there was more.
Daniel's eyes scanned down.
In typed letters at the bottom of the page, he read the words "the end."
The end? What did that mean?
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Later Daniel called Kate and suggested they check the rooming house where Hilda Jones lived.
"You do realize, Daniel," Kate said over the phone, "that we are not officially on the case. The FBI is not involved in this."
"But you had stumbled upon the crime scene," Daniel reasoned, "and the crime scene had certain parameters, so therefore, doesn't this qualify as within your circle of responsibility?"
"That's quite a loose interpretation of my phrase, isn't it, Daniel?" Kate inquired.
"If that reasoning doesn't work, how about this one," he gave it another try, "when has FBI propriety everstopped you from investigating a case?"
A pause.
"I HATE when you make sense," she claimed.
It was settled then that they would continue the investigation on their own. After meeting up, they drove to HIlda Jones' residence and Daniel informed Kate about the latest letter he received spelling out HYSTICS, along with the added two words, "The end" at the bottom.
"The end?" Kate questioned, "as in the end of the letters...or the end of a life, like Hilda Jones?"
"Or," Daniel stated grimly, "could it be the person is threatening us? "
Kate could only sigh as she turned into the quiet neighborhood..
The former place of Hilda Jones wasn't quite what Daniel had expected. For some reason, he assumed Hilda Jones's residence would be a step above a cardboard shanty. But instead of a run-down shack, the house was nicely maintained. It was a simple residence, painted a pleasant shade of yellow with white trim. A small garden in front was neatly tended. Hilda Jones used to rent one of the rooms in the house.
"Looks like we have company here," Kate announced, pointing as she came up the walkway with Daniel.
There was an unoccupied police car parked in the driveway. Obviously the police were investigating the murder, too. Nevertheless Daniel and Kate stepped up to the wide porch and Kate knocked on the door.
The door opened, revealing a middle aged woman with wiry salt and pepper hair and a hooked nose. Her makeup had been garishly applied. She wiped her hands on her apron. Barely giving Kate a glance, she looked Daniel up and down.
"Yes?" she said.
"Hello, I'm FBI agent Kate Moretti," Kate identified herself, and showed her badge. She then pointed to Daniel, "and this is FBI consultant, Dr. Daniel Pierce. We've come regarding the recently deceased Hilda Jones, one of your tenants."
Daniel merely nodded. He felt uncomfortable when the woman smiled widely, showing a gold tooth at him, "More law people? Come on in, you two...I suppose the more the merrier..." she opened the door wider, and Kate couldn't notice how when Daniel tried to entered, the woman stepped closer to him, causing him to compact himself and squeeze in to get inside.
It was obvious the landlord held an attraction to Daniel. When Daniel gestured that he wanted to leave, Kate whispered at the corner of her mouth, "Play along for now Daniel."
He leaned in and quietly retorted back, "Sometimes I hate reality."
They walked into the living room, and sure enough, Detective Stone was there, with his ever present note pad.
Stone scowled at the two new visitors, "What are you two doing here?"
The lady, who introduced herself as Beverly, spoke, "So, you three know each other already? Why so many law people for this murder? Was Hilda actually someone important?"
"You needn't bother with those two," Stone waved them away, "they are not officially part of this investigation."
Beverly lifted her eyebrow at Kate, "Is that so?" She then looked over at Daniel, "Not even you?"
Daniel stepped closer to Kate, almost hiding behind her, "I'm with her."
"We are very much part of this investigation," Kate assured Beverly, " on the night Ms. Jones was murdered, she had been a party guest at Dr. Pierce's house and she has also been spending an inordinate amount of time near his house. In addition, there's the matter of the knife that killed her. That, too, belonged to Dr. Pierce."
Beverly leaned in to elbow Daniel, "Ooooo, you're a party goer and you carry a knife? You've got a leather jacket, too? I've always had a liking to bad boys!"
"Can we just see her bedroom?" Daniel bluntly asked.
"Oh sure, Honey, I'll show you the bedroom, alright," she replied with an obvious wink.
As they started to walk, Daniel leaned into Kate and spoke in a low voice.
"I'd rather bungee jump off a skyscraper without the bungee cord than go anywhere with her," he whispered as Kate worked to keep her face impassive.
Beverly led the detective, Daniel and Kate upstairs.
When they got up to the room, Beverly had left them to their investigation. The detective looked none too happy with Daniel and Kate as he removed some gloves from his pocket and put them on.
"Stay out of my way and don't touch a thing," Detective Stone warned.
The room Hilda Jones rented was relatively neat. Of course, it could be that she owned very little. The bed was made and no clothing was visible.
Detective Stone opened the closet, in which the few pieces of clothing Hilda Jones owned were neatly arranged. Kate went to the table next to her bed. On it was a silver framed picture. She took a napkin from her pocket and proceeded to pick it up to examine it and right away the detective was by her side.
"Hey!" the detective rudely came over and grabbed the picture away from Kate and placed it in his evidence bag, "lay off the stuff and stay out of the way, alright?"
Still, Daniel and Kate could see that it was a picture of Hilda standing with another man with red hair like hers. The resemblance was uncanny; they were obviously related. They were standing in front of a bar with a sign that read, "Skydeck Pub."
Careful to keep away from the detective, Daniel peered into the wastepaper basket. The only thing in there was an old newspaper. He started to reach in.
"Hey!" Stone yelled out at Daniel, "I mean you, pal! Don't touch a thing!"
From its awkward angle in the trash, Daniel could make out that the newspaper was at least a week old.
The detective had now traveled to the small writing desk. He pulled out the one drawer and took out all of its contents. On top of the pile was a menu, its edges frayed. At the bottom was the address and printed phone number, the area code beginning with 617.
He discarded it in the pile with some other papers. Kate and Daniel stepped up to take a better look, careful not to touch it. After looking through everything, he took the stack of papers and placed them in an evidence bag.
"I'm done so we will ALL need to leave together," the detective indicated, making it plain that he would not leave them behind.
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Afterwards, as Daniel and Kate walked away from the house towards the car, Kate turned to Daniel.
"Well, I don't know how much we got out of that visit," stated Kate, "it's hard to get anything accomplished when Detective Idiot gets in the way.."
"It wasn't a complete waste of time," Daniel stated.
"I suppose there's some truth to that," Kate teased, "I think Beverly the landlord just found her dream man."
Daniel gave her "the look".
Kate stifled a grin, "So tell me, Daniel, what did you get out of the search?"
They had reached the car and each had opened their respective car doors, yet neither got in just yet.
"I think Boston is the key," Daniel said, as he spoke across the top roof of the car.
Kate didn't look surprised as she responded, "I also noticed on the menu Stone had discarded that it had a 617 area code, too, but I didn't know offhand it was a Boston area code."
"I didn't, either," Daniel said.
"Then how did you..." began Kate.
"Easy," Daniel explained, "It was that old newspaper in the wastepaper basket. It was a Boston Globe newspaper. The date was pretty old and there would be no reason for HIlda Jones to keep it that long unless the newspaper meant something to her."
Kate was pleased she had brought Daniel along. His mind really did see things others would overlook.
"I'm thinking that when we get there, we' need to investigate a place called the Skydeck Pub," Kate explained, "Back at Hilda Jones's residence, there was that photo of her posing in front of it, and the menu found on her desk was of the same name."
They got into the car and shut the door. However, she hadn't started the car yet as Daniel turned questionably at her.
"...when we get there?" Daniel repeated her words, "You mean, we're going to Boston?"
Kate knew that part of her job was to go where the investigation led her, so going to Boston was no big thing. Yet, as she mulled over the idea just now, the thought of traveling alone with Daniel -anywhere- excited her. She just didn't understand Daniel's hesitant reaction.
"Of course, we are going there, Daniel. After all, Boston can't come to us and I have a feeling we'll find some answers regarding Hilda Jones."
Surprisingly, Daniel didn't answer immediately. He looked out the window a few seconds before looking back at her.
"I can't go to Boston. I think you may have to investigate this one on your own."
She scowled, "What?"
"I..." he began, "I... have a lot of schoolwork to do..."
Daniel averted Kate's eyes, a sure sign that he was lying.
" Daniel...look at me!" she ordered and when he did, she felt the familiar stirrings, "are you making up an excuse not to go? Is it because...you don't want to spend time with me...possibly because things are awkward between us?"
She held her breath.
"No, no Kate, that's not it at all," he shook his head.
Yet, he did not elaborate further, puzzling Kate further. Could it be there is something about Boston itself that discouraged him or was he not being truthful about their situation?
"Then what is it, Daniel?"
"I'm...I'm embarrassed to say..."
"Daniel..." she reached over and placed her hand over his. It was meant to reassure him, but it created a different reaction. A warmth seem to radiate from their hands and the confined space in the car became curiously heavy and electric.
Kate swallowed hard, bracing herself for his explanation, "Daniel, please tell me."
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