Page 34 of Devil's Hour
“True, but some of the phrases or even the sentence structure might be a start,” Jonah offered. “As you uncover evidence, I’ll plug it in, and we’ll start to see a clearer picture evolve.”
“It’s rather fascinating,” Sawyer said. “I know it’s still early, but do you have anything yet?”
“Stella thinks you’re looking at someone with at least a post-secondary degree based on vocabulary and sentence structure alone. Factoring the tidiness, you’re looking at someone who not only is OCD but thinks they’re smarter than law enforcement by cutting out the letters and gluing them on the page to dumb down the appearance. People mistakenly believe we can only analyze handwriting, but that’s not true. The person is a meticulous planner and possibly someone in management. They’re likely orchestrating these attacks but aren’t personally involved in carrying them out. Relying on others wouldn’t be easy for them, but they don’t have a choice because getting dirty is beneath them.”
Royce nodded. “That lines up with what we were thinking. What about the second letter where the writer chastises the mayor for betraying her family values. Did she mention whether the sender might be religious, or are they just calling out her hypocrisy?” A person didn’t require religion to detest hypocrites—no one likes them. In Royce’s experience, the ones claiming to stand on higher moral ground were usually the biggest charlatans of them all.
“She hasn’t completed her full analysis, but my background says you are dealing with someone who is moralistic and highly smug about it. There’s a superiority here we can’t ignore. The other thing I picked up on is the volatility. The writer demanded the mayor resign but didn’t give her a deadline. It could be a deliberate attempt to keep her guessing, or it could be subconscious. This is a person who believes that someone’s word is their oath, and if they’d given a deadline to the mayor, then they’d have to abide by it.”
“You think that’s what the countdown clock is for?” Sawyer asked Royce.
“Could be, or they might be doing a live feed or launching a complete website,” Royce said, trying to squelch the sense of urgency rising inside him. Without knowing what they needed to stop, his brain spun with all the possibilities.
“Chief Rigby said you have a flash drive containing threatening letters, emails, and voicemail messages,” St. John said.
“I do,” Royce replied, handing it to him.
“I’ll upload these to Stella, and she’ll search for phrasing similar to what The Purists put in the letters.”
“Hopefully, we’ll get a hit.”
“I may not have provided much of a profile yet, but I can give you these.” St. John handed over three sheets of paper. Each one contained a mugshot and list of crimes—suspected and convicted—as well as the contact info for the parole officers.
“These three men were paroled within the last six to ten months and meet most of the criteria. John Bennett is a former bank manager who succeeded in keeping his pyromania hidden until he was caught setting fire to properties foreclosed on by his bank. During his testimony, he claimed the bank had targeted minorities and illegally foreclosed the properties, and he was trying to diminish their chances of selling the real estate to make a profit off their misdeeds.”
“I remember that,” Sawyer said. “It triggered a massive bank investigation that ended in a class-action lawsuit and fraud convictions when Bennett’s claims turned out to be true. Each of the affected families was awarded more than a hundred thousand dollars. Bennett tried to claim a Robin Hood–type defense, but he couldn’t overcome the amount of evidence the prosecution presented at trial. When the police had finally zeroed in on him, they discovered his pyro trophy room in the attic, including photos and videos of the homes in various stages of burn. Most of what they found wasn’t even tied to the bank scandal and dated back to when he burned down his family’s shed when he was a teenager.”
“His father is a deacon, so he also has a religious background,” St. John added. “Curtis Pullman was a shift supervisor at a hardware store, so he has management experience. He targeted empty warehouses instead of residential structures and nearly killed a few squatters. I didn’t see anything about a religious background, but I included him because of his high IQ. In the notes about him, it says he routinely underperformed and just did the minimum in any task. It further states that it was a deliberate attempt to blend in and manipulate those around him. If people don’t expect much, then they won’t ask for much either. It would be wise to keep him on your radar. The final guy, Archie Grange, has neither the intelligence nor the cunning the first two have, but he’s called The Weasel because he’s willing to do anything for a buck, and he’s slippery as hell. He wasn’t on anyone’s radar as a thug for hire but fucked up by not paying his parking fines. Once they added up, they issued a warrant for his arrest. Guess what the cops found in his trunk when they pulled him over to take him in?”
“Evidence he was hired to torch the properties of those not paying their loan shark, Lonnie Alvarez,” Sawyer said, reading the paper in his hand.
“You got it.”
“This is very helpful,” Royce said. “Gives us a place to start. Thanks.”
“My pleasure. I’ll let you know if there’s anything else Stella comes up with. Give me a call if you uncover information I can input to help us paint a clearer picture of our perpetrator.”
“Will do,” Sawyer said.
They exchanged phone numbers and shook hands before showing themselves out.
“He is definitely…smart,” Royce said when they were out of earshot.
“Shut up,” Sawyer said, playfully jabbing Royce with his elbow.
He wanted to assure Sawyer he wasn’t a possessive beast, but he thought it might be a lie. Royce was in an entirely new universe where he wanted things he never dreamed possible, and each of them centered around Sawyer. It scared and thrilled him in equal parts. Instead of saying any of that, he went with “Stella is badass,” when they exited the building. “Add her capabilities to old-fashioned police work, and I like our odds.”
“It’s the future of police work. We have to stay current with the technology criminals are using,” Sawyer said absently.
Royce noticed Sawyer stiffening but didn’t say anything until they were inside the Charger. “What’s wrong?”
“Felix is parked near the right corner of the parking lot.”
“Little fucker,” Royce snarled. “If we can’t shake him, then we need to mislead him.”
“Agreed.”
Felix stayed back a few car lengths but was miraculously able to make it through all the lights with them, which gave Royce no alternative other than to flip on his lights and sirens so he could put some distance between them.