If Angels Fall

SIXTY-ONE

One cherry had tumbled into place.

Two more and they had a jackpot.

Sydowski loosened his tie as everyone settled aroundthe conference table in Room 400 at the hall. Most had to stand. Gonzaleswheeled a new chalkboard into place, in front of its predecessor bearing theblown-up faces of Tanita Marie Donner, Danny Becker and Gabrielle Nunn, and themap with its color locator pins. The new board had enlarged color photos of theFord pickup, the boat, and trailer.

They were on the bad guy’s trail.

The next cherry would be his identity.

And the next would be finding him with the kids.Sydowski sipped his coffee, bit into his chicken sandwich. He and the othershad returned from Calaveras in time to grab stale food from the cafeteriabefore the meeting. The pickup truck lead kicked it all into overdrive. Morepeople had been brought in.

“We’ve got new information, so listen up, we’ll behanding out assignments.” Gonzales stood at the new board, examining the newmaterial in his file folder. “The IDENT team left behind in Calaveras justlifted two latents from the new bills left over in the buy of the suspectpickup. They match the single latent we found on the wrapping of the hamburgerused to lure Gabrielle Nunn’s dog. We pumped them through the system. Zilch.”

“We are also checking all prints of anyone who hasever been bonded in the state — private investigators, armored car guards,state and federal workers, just to make sure we’ve covered everything.”

Adam McCurdy, chief of Investigations, interjected.“The chief will hold a press conference this afternoon to make a public appealfor information on the pickup and the boat and trailer, reiterating the reward.He will say that we believe Virgil Lee Shook is responsible for the murder ofTanita Marie Donner, but that we have nothing linking him to the abduction ofBecker and Nunn. He will state that the suspect in those kidnappings is stillat large. We’ll add whatever new information is pertinent.”

Gonzales nodded.

“We’re sending out alerts on the truck and the boat,targeting marinas.” Gonzales flipped through his file. “Treasury’s stillworking on the serial numbers of the new bills to determine point ofcirculation. So far they have narrowed it to a San Francisco bank. And, on thehamburger…” Gonzales found another data sheet. “A brick wall. Because thelabel was damaged, we could only confirm it as a purchase in the city. And, onthe boat and trailer: same as the pickup, no change in registration. Stillcomes up to Urlich.”

As Gonzales summarized the case, Sydowski finished hissandwich, slipped on his glasses, and made notes, his theories and hunchespercolating, extracting the essence of a vital angle he knew he had overlooked.It tried to surface during the chopper flight back from West Point, flailing inhis subconscious as the patchwork of vineyards, pastureland, orchards, towns,and urban sprawl rolled below. It was difficult to converse through thehelicopter’s intercom, leaving each person alone with his thoughts as theythundered back to San Francisco. Now, sitting in Room 400, Sydowski replayedthem, trying again to catch the key, hidden aspect that had been gnawing athim.

It had been so long since he talked with hisdaughters. He was consumed with the case. It was national news. The girlscalled him regularly, the red message light blinking at him from his machinealmost everything night when he got home. “Saw you on TV, Dad, hope you’retaking care of yourself.” Geneva, his firstborn daughter, sounded like hermother.

Then came his second daughter, Irene, forever the babyof the family. “Hey, Pop, I know you’re busy, call us when you get a chance.Oh, Louise wants to leave a message, go ahead, honey.”

“Hi, Grandpa! I saw you on TV, I love you.”

It was always too late for him to call back. He rarelyhad a free moment to check on his old man. And he was likely going to miss theSeattle bird show.

Sydowski glimpsed Turgeon taking notes intensely. Shewas wearing a powder-blue pullover sports shirt, navy Dockers, and glasses. Herhair was up in a bun, accentuating her pretty face, her youth. She could passfor a Berkeley grad at a lecture. But she was a veteran cop, a goodinvestigator with good instincts, and although he hadn’t known her very long,he was glad she was his partner. He found a degree of paternal comfort in herpresence.

Sydowski chided himself for drifting, the key aspectescaping him stemmed from the Donner file … a common denominator with Donner …Christ, it was at the forefront of his memory, sitting there slightly out of focus.Something Angela Donner had told him.

Gonzales moved the review along. “Now I’ll turn itover to Bob Hill of the FBI’s Behavioral Science Unit in Quantico, Virginia. Heflew in this morning. Bob.”

A self-conscious smile of acknowledgement flashed acrossthe long face of the lanky soft-spoken supervisory agent. Hill was in his lateforties and had a gently cerebral air about him.

“As you know, I’ve been assisting on the profile inthis case since Danny Becker’s abduction, when the unit was contacted. I’d liketo caution you about putting all your eggs in one psychological basket. Theprofile is only a tool, as you know.” Hill was acutely aware many case-hardenedinvestigators view psychological profiling as mumbo jumbo. “But eachdevelopment helps us to sharpen it. May I use the board, Lieutenant?”

Gonzales helped reposition the board so everyone couldsee. Then Hill took a finger of chalk, and summarized the profile.

“Based on our reading of everything so far, you have aprofoundly wounded Caucasian, late forties, early fifties, traumatized by somehorrible life-altering event involving children. He either caused it, witnessedit, or was close enough to it to be affected. We could assume it involved hischildren. And given his age and the ages of the kidnap victims, it likelyhappened twenty to twenty-five years ago. He has likely sought some kind oftherapy, or help which failed to ease whatever psychological pain he hassuffered.”

A detective had a question. “Could this guy have beensexually abused as a child, and is grabbing the children as a form of payback?”

“Traditionally, that is the case inabduction-sexual-homicides with children. In fact, based on what we know of theDonner-Shook matter, I would say that’s what happened there. Predatory pedophilesusually seize their prey when no one is watching. Tanita Donner was stolen fromher home when nobody was around to see. But what you have with Becker and Nunnis rare, bold daylight abductions of young children from their parents incrowded, public places. Your guy is on a mission, he feels protected. He’s sofar gone in his fantasy that he thinks nothing can touch him. Andrei Chikatilo,the Russian serial killer who murdered fifty-three boys, girls, and young womenbetween 1978–1980, told police after his arrest that during his killing spree,he felt at times that ‘he was concealed from other people by a black hood.’Well, I believe our guy here is similar in that he thinks he is on a righteousmission.”

“What kind of mission?” someone asked.

“A religious one.”

“What makes you think so?”

“A couple of things. What we heard today from the manwho sold him the pickup and boat.” Hill glanced at his file folder of notes.“Mr. Urlich described the buyer as a ‘holy man’ who muttered about it being‘destiny’ that he found the boat, and rambled about ‘life, death andresurrection.’ That he needed the boat to ‘find his children.’”

The room fell quiet.

“And there is one other element that may or may not beanother indicator of your guy being driven by a religious fantasy and that’sfound in the full legal names of the children.” Hill printed them on thechalkboard: Daniel Raphael Becker and Gabrielle Michelle Nunn. “Raphael andGabrielle, if spelled this way” — Hill printed “Gabriel” on the board — “arethe names of angels.”

“Angels?” someone repeated.

Hill heard the comment as he placed the chalk in thetray.

“In Christian theology, angels are supernaturalintercessors for God. Our guy may think the children are angels of some sort. Ibelieve he looked for these children because they have ‘angel’ names, that hismission is directly connected to his personal tragedy, which he has eitherrelived or plans to relive with Becker and Nunn.”

Hill brushed chalk dust from his hand.

“If you find out who this guy is and learn hisbackground, you have a shot at learning what he has done, or plans to do.”

At that moment the elusive lead hit Sydowski fullforce.

You know, Inspector, I’ve been participating in theuniversity bereavement group.

Reed wrote about it in the Star. And Reed cameto him after the press conference on Gabrielle’s abduction, after seeing theblurry video!

Walt what if I recognize this guy? He looks likesomeone I met.

Reed had met Angela Donner’s study group, but no onein the task force had thought to investigate those people — people who hadsuffered traumatic psychological pain involving children!