Scrabble Spells Murder
Chapter 12
12.1
Officer Fran Belding stared at the computer screen. There in front of her on one of the screens was Chief Ironside's computer home screen. She walked over to the computer and sat down in the office chair that was positioned in front of the desk.
Taking the mouse in her hand, Fran began clicking on links. She could not believe it. This guy had hacked into Headquarters' computer system. Not only did he have total access to Ironside's computer, but he had complete access to the entire police headquarters' computer system. He would know the every move that was made by anyone that accessed a computer.
Fran picked up her phone and dialed Ironside's office. She waited as the phone rang over and over. She frowned. The chief was just there moments ago. Why wasn't someone answering the phone? She finally gave up and hung up the phone.
The chief had been trying to tell her something but the phone cut off before she could hear what he had to say.
Fran tried Ironside's office again with the same results. She did not understand how they could be in the office one moment and gone the next. Maybe the chief got called away. Fran again reached for her phone. She dialed the number to Ironside's van.
Fran removed the phone from her ear as it began to squeal. She ended the connection and then tried again. The phone began to squeal again. Fran broke the connection as she had before. She looked at her phone. She did not understand. She had never had trouble with it before. Why should it act up now?
She decided to go back to the computer. She took the mouse in hand and reduced the screen to the task bar. Fran looked to see if the computer was identified by a name. She could not spot anything that would reveal the name of the Hacker. It really did not matter, for as soon as Ironside had the computer checked out, he would have the name of the Hacker.
Fran noticed an icon that looked familiar. It was an icon that she remembered seeing on one person's computer. Whose computer had she seen that icon on? Someone used that icon for entry into their computer. Fran frowned and stared at the icon. Where had she seen that icon?
The temptation became more than her curiosity would allow. She moved the mouse to the icon and clicked on it. Seconds later the icon turned into a name and requested a password. Fran stared at the screen in disbelief. Why? She did not understand. Why would he do it? He had a good job and was respected by all the officers. They all had to turn to him sooner or later.
"Hello, Officer Belding," a voice said from behind her. "Welcome to my man cave."
Fran turned abruptly to see Vincent Mortimer standing in front of the door. "Why, Vincent? You have turned the police department on its ear. Why?"
"We do not have much time, Officer Belding. Chief Ironside will be here shortly. He wasn't supposed to be but like him, you cheated. You have not even been assigned to his office and you are already acting like him."
Fran stood up from the chair she had been occupying. "Thank you. That is the nicest compliment I have been paid in a long time."
With a disgusted snort, he said, "That was not intended as a compliment. I can't stand the man."
"What's the matter, Vincent? Wasn't that huge salary you make enough? I only wish I made as much as you do."
"The money means nothing to me. I wanted to be a cop from the time I was a kid."
"Then why did you go into computers?"
"Because Ironside put an end to my police career. He came to the academy as an instructor for a day. He was supposed to test the character of each cadet."
"Oh, now I am beginning to get the picture. Somehow you failed that test and you blame Chief Ironside. Is that about right?"
"He kept after me all day until I lost my temper. We were in a setup where they popped up cardboard characters in what was supposed to be a hostage situation. You were supposed to determine within a split second whether the character was a hostage or one of the criminals holding them. I made a mistake and shot a couple hostages. Ironside was all over me for it. He would not let up. He pissed me off so bad that I started shooting the hostages on purpose."
"Oh, I bet that impressed him," Fran said sarcastically.
Vincent's calm demeanor began to show signs of cracking. "Shut up, Belding. He pushed me into it. The man is a jerk!"
"So he kicked you out, is that it?"
"You think you are so smart, Belding. You may have done the same thing if it had been you."
"You are forgetting, I took the same training. He was there for that too. I did not shoot the hostages and he was just as hard on us as he was on your class."
"No, no, not the class, just me. He targeted me... me."
"I got news for you, Mortimer, he did the same thing to me. He picks out one cadet to see how they react and to see how the other cadets react. The chief is an excellent judge of character. He learns a lot about each of the cadets.
"So he booted you at that point?"
"No, he just kept riding me. Finally, I had had enough so I took a swing at him."
Fran was taken aback. "You punched a man in a wheelchair?"
"He wasn't in a wheelchair then."
"That was really stupid. The chief is a big man. What did he do, lay you out on the pavement?"
"No, he reached up and caught my fist in his hand. He just looked at me and told me to look for another occupation."
"A very wise decision on his part. How then did you get the computer job at Police Headquarters?"
"I went back to school and went into computers. I ran into him at a bar where he was drinking with Dennis Randall. He asked me what I was doing and I told him I was going into computers. He suggested if I was still interested in police work that I might study computer crimes. So I did."
"You did not answer my question. How did you get the job?"
"Ironside recommended me for it."
Fran stared at him in disbelief. "And this is how you repay him? Obviously, he had been right about you in the first place. What is the matter with you? He saw something you were good at and he helped you get a job in that field. He did not have to help you."
"I wanted to be a cop... a detective. He took that away from me. I sit behind a desk all day when I wanted to help solve crimes."
Fran shook her head. "Did you ever think about it? You do help solve crimes, Vincent, or at least you did. Now you are going to go to prison for the rest of your life for murder."
"I don't think so, Officer Belding. I still have a Scrabble game to play. Ironside will never know as to when he is the next victim. He will be a victim, you know. I intend to kill him."
"Good luck with that. You are not smart enough. He has already beaten you every step of the way. Not one of your victims is dead or did you not notice?"
"He cheated. And so did you by the way. You were not supposed to tell Ironside and you did. Now you must pay the price for that."
Fran looked at her purse where her gun was. She began calculating in her mind whether she would be able to reach and remove it before Vincent could reach her. Fran decided the chances were not good but what choice did she have? She was not about to fall at the hands of this maniac.
She dashed for her purse but Mortimer was all over her. Fran tried to fight him off but he was too strong for her. Mortimer hit her over the head with a nearby paperweight. He caught Fran as she slumped to the floor.
Vincent laid her down on the floor and walked calmly to the computer. He could not allow Ironside to find him. He already had another setup in another place. He would operate from there.
He used the mouse over a link on the page and clicked on it. The screen began going crazy as his virus spread throughout the hard drive. He watched as it completely destroyed the entire computer system.
Mortimer pulled back the rug in the corner of the room revealing a hole that he had cut through the floor. He went back to Fran Belding, picked her up and dropped her through the opening. He then walked back and began wiping away his fingerprints from everything he had touched in and around the room. He would not leave Ironside with any means of identifying him.
He then joined Fran Belding in the hole, pulling the carpet back in place to conceal his exit.
12.2
"Mark, can't this thing go any faster?" Ironside growled.
"I am driving as fast as I dare, Chief. I could lose control if we go any faster."
"Tell that to Fran's dead body if we don't make it on time."
Mark floored the pedal in the van, praying he could maintain control.
Ironside looked out the window. He knew that Fran was in trouble. Yet, she was a talented officer who was smart. She did not know it but he had been keeping track of her. With more experience, she would become an outstanding officer.
He liked his small staff. They were the elite of the department. On occasion, he needed more manpower than what he had. Carl was always his first choice but Fran was good and could always be depended upon to do the job.
He had chosen her for this assignment because he knew if he were to get ahead of the Hacker, he needed more help than what he had. Adding Carl to help Ed and Eve was also necessary.
He only hoped he had not put Fran in over her head with this case.
12.3
Ed, Eve and Carl pulled their vehicles approximately one block from the apartment matching the address Fran had given the chief. Carl approached Ed.
"How do you want to handle this, Ed?" Carl asked.
"Me? You outrank me," Ed said looking down the street.
"I am only assigned to this office. I am not about to try to upstage you. The decision is yours," Carl told him.
"Alright, you take some men and go around to the back. Eve and I will take the rest and go in the front. Set the timer on your watch. We go in at the same time. Agreed?"
"Agreed," Carl and Eve said at the same time. The detectives set their watches to an agreed time, divided up the police officers and headed up the street.
Ed turned around as the chief's van, lights out, pulled to a stop behind Ed's car. Ed put up his hand to halt to officers as he, Carl and Eve walked back to his van.
Ed approached the passenger window. Ironside was in the back of the van. "We are ready to move in," he told his boss.
"Ed, protect Fran. I want the man alive but don't take any chances with Fran's life."
Ed nodded and left the chief and Mark behind. Eve and CarI went with him. As they reached the other police officers, they headed to the Hacker's place.
Reaching the apartment, Ed pointed towards the back. Carl nodded and motioned for the officers to follow him. Ed waited with Eve and the other officers. A woman came out of her apartment and walked toward Ed's group.
"You need to go back inside," Eve said.
"This is my apartment building. What is going on?"
"Go back inside," Ed told her. "It is for your own safety." The woman shrugged and went back into the building.
Brown entered the building followed by the rest of the police officers with him. He checked the timer on his watch and waited for it to count down. When it reached zero, he kicked in the door with one kick. He and his officers stormed into the apartment. At the same time, Lt. Reese and his men entered the apartment from the rear.
They of course met with no resistance. After making a check of the apartment, Ed determined that no one was there.
"Okay, who tells the chief?" Carl said, hoping that it would not be him.
Ed reached into his suit coat pocket and pulled out his cell phone. After dialing the number of the phone in the chief's van, he waited.
"Ironside," sounded the gruff voice of the city's most revered detective.
"Chief, she's not here and there is no sign of the Hacker either."
"Damn it!" shouted Ironside.
"We can set up a perimeter..." Ed began.
"He's long gone!" Ironside snarled. "Find out how he got out of there without being seen. We had men on the scene very quickly. He had to have a way to get past them." Ironside slammed the phone down.
Eve came walking toward Ed with a purse in her hand. Ed knew whose purse it was as Eve was already carrying one over her shoulder. He instructed Eve to check for identification anyway.
After opening it up and retrieving the wallet, Eve gave him a look of dread. "It's Fran's."
"Ed, I think you better take a look at this," Carl called out.
Eve and Ed walked over to where Carl had pulled back a section of the carpet, revealing a large hole in the floor. He called to one of the officers for a flashlight. Carl turned it on and pointed it down the hole. "Where do you suppose this leads?"
"Only one way to find out," Ed said looking at Eve as was Carl.
When Eve noticed that both men were looking at her, she complained, "You don't really expect me to crawl down there in these shoes?" She pointed at the two-inch heels she was wearing.
Carl looked at Ed. "I suggest we better get started." Carl slipped into the hole and was followed by Ed. They realized immediately they were in the sewer.
"We are going to need flashlights down here," Ed shouted up to Eve.
She gathered up two flashlights and handed them down to Ed. Ed, in turn, gave one to Carl.
Ed pointed in one direction and said, "I will go this way; you go the other way." Carl nodded and the two men split up.
12.4
Ironside watched the action from his position in the van, which was not much action at all. Ed, Eve and Carl had been gone twenty minutes and he had not heard a word from them.
Mark had been keeping a close eye on his boss and he knew that his patience was beginning to run thin. He did not expect it would be very long before the detective was going to demand some answers.
His cell phone began to chirp in his pocket. It was the default sound that the phone had been set up with. Ironside was not fond of cell phones and rarely carried one when his staff was with him.
He pulled the phone from his jacket pocket and growled, "Ironside," before noticing that it was not a phone call but rather a text message.
The detective pressed the text message icon. There was a text message from a phone number he did not recognize. He opened it and read.
"Hello, Chief. Your gal, Fran, must be taking lessons from you. She cheated too. She was not supposed to tell you about me... but she did. Her only saving grace at that time is that she could not have known who I was when she called you. But now she does. So, I am sure that you can understand why I cannot allow her to live. After all, she was my next target.
I would suggest that when I tell you not to break the rules of our little Scrabble game you pay attention. I mean what I say. Now that I have finally scored my first kill, I will send your next clue tonight. Remember, Chief. Don't cheat or another victim will not have the benefit of your brilliant deduction.
The Hacker
Ironside stared at his phone. Fran... he had known her since she was born. Could she really be dead? No, he could not accept that. He reached for the phone on the van and called Eve's cell phone and waited patiently for it to be answered.
"Yes, Chief," Eve answered when she saw the number belonged to Ironside.
"What in the blazes is going on?"
"There is no one here, Chief," Eve told him. "The equipment is still here. We found Fran's purse, indicating that she was definitely here. Ed and Carl are in the sewer."
"They are where?" Ironside exclaimed.
"Carl found a hole under the carpet. It leads to the sewer. They went down to see if they could... "
Ironside interrupted her. "I'm on the way." He slammed the phone down. "Mark, get this thing moving!"
A few minutes later, Sanger pulled the van to a stop in front of the apartment building. Ironside was already in the lift and lowering to the ground when Mark reached the other side of the van. He stepped behind his boss's chair and pushed him to the steps. An officer who obviously had been assigned to stand at the front door came forward to help Mark lift Ironside's chair up the stairs.
Mark pushed Ironside into the Hacker's apartment. The chief immediately looked at the sophisticated equipment but his attention was drawn to the hole in the floor. He wheeled his chair over to it. He had no choice but to sit there and wait until Ed and Carl came back with news of Fran's fate.
TBC…