Putting it all together
Brenda's viewpoint
It had been a busy 24 hours, we'd called the squad back into the office and assigned everyone to chasing down leads on our new suspect, Charlotte Weaver. I'd sat in my office as each bit of the puzzle came in, trying to fit it all together.
Anastasia had been a particular help, pulling in assistance from other FBI offices interstate and from the Federal Government to get us information. Finally, after a discussion with her lasting almost an hour, I'd sent everyone out for lunch with instructions to be back at 2 pm sharp for a meeting.
I called Pope's office and asked Belinda to have him here, as he had been catching flak from the Mayor's office on this case, as he'd explained to me, at considerable length, several times, so he deserved to hear what we had learned. I also requested Captain Collins from Tactical Response sit in, as he was probably going to have to deal with Weaver when we found her.
After a moment's reflection, I rang Sharon and asked her to be here too. I could think of a few reasons she should be there, but it was really because I wanted to have her here. It was the first time I would be near her since I had worked out what she was doing and I wanted to prove that I could deal with her presence, no matter what was happening outside of work.
That done, I walked out and headed to that macrobiotic café Maura had taken me to and enjoyed a delicious lunch, while I sat and thought my way through the upcoming presentation.
I wandered back in the door at a quarter of 2, to find most of the team was there, with the rest filing in in the next few minutes. As the clock reached 2, I stepped up and asked everyone to take a seat. The hum died down as everyone took their places.
I smiled inwardly as I saw Maura perch elegantly on Jane's desk with a smile to her partner. Pope stood rather imperiously in the middle of the room with his arms crossed while Collins leaned up against a filing cabinet.
A small man, Peter was easy to overlook, but he'd been a decorated Special Forces soldier before taking up a career in law enforcement, just as importantly his team would follow him into hell, because he wouldn't let any of his people go somewhere he wouldn't go first. I had to admire that. Sharon took up a spot next to him and they exchanged nods.
Natalie looked around for a moment, before smiling at Provenza and bending down to whisper something to him. The old charmer smiled and made a 'please do' gesture which saw her sit on his desk next to him and cross her legs neatly, with her hands resting casually in her lap. I saw a few askance looks from some of the others including Flynn and Gabriel; no one sat on Provenza's desk, no one. Looked like there was an exception now; the sly old dog.
Swallowing a smile I looked to Anastasia, who was standing off to one side, ready to add her parts to the briefing.
"Thank you for coming everyone. I realise it's short notice but we have some important information which we can finally bring together and share with you"
"A quick recap for everyone, but especially our visitors, Chief Pope, Commander Raydor and Captain Collins" I nodded at each of them and stepped up to the murder board.
"Major Crimes have been called to six shootings, each one taking place early on a Tuesday morning" I gestured to the six pictures and names on the murder board. "Each victim has been an attractive woman, in their twenties or thirties"
"The same MO, in each case the victim has been shot with a large calibre rifle, identified as a Barrett 50 calibre anti material rifle, more commonly used by the military for damaging an opponent's equipment but more than effective against a human target" I could see Collins nodding from where he stood.
"Each victim was shot from a significant distance, usually in excess of a mile in range, indicating someone with a high degree of skill, most likely acquired in the military"
"It also made finding the shooter problematic, from that distance there could be a multitude of firing places. Thanks to some excellent work by Doctor Isles, we were able to start narrowing down the shooters positions, making it possible to find their firing points" I shrugged. "Unfortunately, by the time we located their positions the shooter was long gone and we had found nothing beyond the firing location, no other physical evidence, no spent shells, nothing"
I looked around, seeing the squad shifting slightly, this was all old news to them, but our visitors were listening raptly. I pressed on.
"Once we ascertained the weapon being used, we conducted an extensive search of owners of a Barrett, plus checked all military trained snipers qualified on the Barrett in California. Both searches came up cold"
"We continued to search, however we were getting nowhere, when we had a break. Last Tuesday morning, when checking a potential firing point for our latest shooting, Lieutenant Flynn discovered a muddy boot print" I placed a photo of the print on the murder board with a magnet.
"Special Agent Romanov identified the print as coming from a US military desert combat boot" I nodded towards where Anastasia stood. "A female, size 6, left foot as it turned out"
"Thanks to some excellent work by Doctor Isles and the crime lab, they were able to ascertain that the wearer walked with a limp, favouring their left leg"
"So we had a likely female sniper, walking with a limp, with a grudge against attractive women" I shrugged. "It was a start but not much more"
"We were looking for some areas of crossover between our victims, when, thanks to an inspired guess by Ms Dearing, we started looking at the sort of services used by professionally attractive women" I nodded to where Michael was sitting. "Some good computer work by Lieutenant Tao narrowed it down to several establishments common to several of our victims"
"Aphrodite's Ladies Health Centre turned out to be the connection. All of our victims had been members there in the last four years and all had been advised by the same personal trainer, this woman. Charlotte Weaver" I placed an Oregon licence photo on the board, showing a very attractive dark haired woman.
"Ms Weaver had been a personal trainer at Aphrodite's up until just over two years ago. At which time she had departed as she was required to accompany her National Guard unit to Iraq. It turns out Ms Weaver was a member of an infantry unit and held a marksman's badge" I looked over to Natalie and nodded, as she stepped forward to continue the briefing.
"Thanks Chief, there were two reason Ms Weaver didn't turn up in our searches. The first was that she was not a trained sniper. She was assigned to provide support and protection to a combat engineering unit, who used the Barrett AMR as a weapon to detonate suspected Improvised Explosive Devices from a safe distance. It turns out that she did a lot of the shooting while in Iraq" Natalie shrugged. "It would be a waste to not use someone with her marksmanship for the job, so she was very familiar with the Barrett"
"The second reason she didn't show up was that her unit was part of the Oregon National Guard. She was an Oregon native and hadn't bothered transferring to the California National Guard when she relocated here about four years ago. She had always turned up for exercises and the like so no one questioned where she was actually living. Her address as far as the army's concerned is actually her parents place in Oregon" She nodded to me as I stepped up. I could see everyone was fascinated, hanging on our words. I saw Sharon smile encouragingly and nodded quickly back at her in thanks.
"So Charlotte Weaver left her job and headed off to Iraq with her unit. Unfortunately while there, Corporal Weaver was caught in a roadside bomb, which left her badly wounded. She was evacuated, first to Germany and then eventually to the US. Her injuries were pretty extensive, resulting in a lot of reconstructive surgery. The doctors did their best but they couldn't restore her to the way she'd been"
I placed another photo on the board, this time showing a woman with dark hair, but her features were twisted and distorted into a mockery of her original appearance" Stepping back I could see the winces as everyone saw the two photos side by side and realised the extent of her injuries. The wreckage was quite disturbing.
"Not visible here is the other major injuries, including the rebuilding of her left leg; it's now over two inches shorter than the right, resulting in a chronic limp" I could see nods as people realised the connection.
"Ms Weaver discharged herself from Walter Reed Army hospital about three months back and made her way to Oregon, however her parents have stated that her personality had undergone a radical change. She was no longer the person she had once been"
I stopped to take a quick drink of water, as my mouth was drying out.
"Weaver told her parents she was heading back to hospital; her parents hoped that it included psychological help as her personality was very depressed and dark. Unfortunately she did not return to hospital, instead making her way to Los Angeles. We tracked down her former boyfriend, who was contacted by Weaver by phone. They hadn't seen each other in over three years and the boyfriend, Patrick Sanderson, stated that she was pretty agitated when she called. He told her that he had moved on, it had been three years since they had split and they both needed to live their own lives"
"Needless to say, he was surprised when she accosted him in the street several days later. He was out with his fiancé, something Weaver didn't take well. She eventually left before police were called, but not without making some fairly unpleasant statements about being dumped for a pretty woman and how she would make them all pay"
I looked around at the room, many of the people in there knew some of the story, but only Anastasia and I knew all of it. Anastasia stepped forward again.
"Approximately two days later Weaver turned up at her old unit and announced she was happy to go back to work, that she couldn't find a job in her current condition" Natalie spread her hands in a 'what can they do' gesture. "Her unit wasn't going to turn her away, so they gave her work in administration. Two weeks later, she stated that she had been called back for additional treatment at Walter Reed Army Hospital and left, Needless to say, Walter Reed had not contacted Weaver and never saw her"
"When the FBI contacted her old unit, I got them to check their records of what she had been doing. It seems she had been responsible for getting worn out gear repaired or returned to stores. That included a Barrett AMR, which she marked as unserviceable and needing parts. She then placed it in the back of the armoury where it would sit until the parts, which were never ordered, arrived. When that gun case was checked, it was found to be full of padding and pipes, approximating the correct weight. Basically she had played the system and somehow got the weapon out, probably in small pieces each night"
I stepped forward again.
"Charlotte Weaver, while at Aphrodite's Ladies Health Centre, had access to their computer systems, which included the names and personal details of all their customers, including phone numbers and addresses. All of the victims were her clients, so she knew exactly what they looked like, and seems to have selected the most attractive of them" I looked around the room at all of them.
"It would appear that Weaver intended to kill as many of them as she could. All of the victims were her clients, even though some of them had since left the gym, which made it hard for us to pick up the connections there. We have the rest of her client list and will be relocating them into hotels next Monday, hopefully depriving Weaver of a target while we try and track her down"
"After this meeting we'll be issuing a BOLO to all California agencies for Weaver. Her appearance is such that we don't think she can go unnoticed for too long. We will also request a court order to freeze her bank accounts, cutting off her finances, which should help drive her out into the open" I took a deep breath. "Are there any questions?"
There was silence for about 20 seconds as everyone took it all in. Finally Andy spoke up.
"When Weaver finds she doesn't have a target, what do you think she'll do then?" I shrugged.
"Hopefully by the time she works out her next vic isn't home it'll be too late to go after someone else, buying us some more time to find her" Michael raised his hand.
"Lieutenant Tao?"
"You may want to move both the ex and his fiancé into a hotel, she might go after them" I smiled.
"Excellent idea, we'll do that"
"What's so special about Tuesday mornings?" It was Julio. Anastasia handled that one.
"The IED attack that destroyed her previous life happened at 2.47 on a Tuesday morning in Iraq"
I saw Peter Collins lever himself off the filing cabinet and nod at me. "Captain Collins?"
"While I appreciate the briefing Chief; why exactly am I here?" I looked at Anastasia.
"Agent Romanov?"
"Captain, I spoke with the clinical psychologist handling her case at Walter Reed, she stated that it is her view that Weaver is not going to allow herself to be arrested and that we should expect that she will go out shooting, trying to take as many people with her as possible. Secondly, it's my understanding that Weaver is experienced in the creation and emplacement of IEDs, so we must expect booby traps wherever she has holed up"
I nodded to Ana.
"Basically Captain, if we can find her, your team is the best ones to try and take her down. The reason Captain Raydor is here is so that she can understand the situation your men will be in and to be completely aware of the order I am going to give you"
"What order?" It was Will Pope; I'd actually been surprised that he'd stayed silent so long.
I looked at him and then back to Collins.
"Captain, your team is to not attempt to capture Charlotte Weaver, to do so would require you and your people to place themselves in a situation where the risk to your safety is too high" I paused, seeing Sharon's eyebrows lift and Pope's jaw drop. Collins just nodded slowly.
"Weaver is armed with a weapon that will blow straight through any body armour you may wear; it will even go straight through a tactical helmet. Our information is that at least 50 rounds of ammunition were missing from the National Guard armoury, so she won't be sparing the ammunition"
I could see everyone in the room considering the risks, Collins most of all. He nodded slowly, realising what I was going to say.
"If you get a chance Captain, shoot to kill, because she won't hesitate to do the same"