The Night Stalker

Eighty-Nine

Hunter thought about driving to Healdsburg, but even with zero traffic it would’ve taken him at least seven hours to cover the four hundred and fifty miles. Spending over fifteen hours on the road was simply out of the question.

So Hunter caught the 6:30 a.m. nonstop flight from LA’s LAX to Healdsburg municipal airport. The flight was on time, and by 8:10 a.m. Hunter was driving his rental Chrysler Sebring out of the relatively empty Hertz forecourt.

Even without a map or an in-car navigation system, it took Hunter no longer than fifteen minutes to get from the airport to the Healdsburg Police Department in Center Street.

Chief Suarez was in his late fifties, stocky, intimidating, with a presence that projected itself without him having to speak. He looked like a man who had spent way too much time in the same job. As he’d told Hunter over the phone, he’d never heard of the Harper case. It had happened eleven years before he was transferred to Healdsburg. But Chief Suarez was also a very thorough and inquisitive man, and overnight he researched what he could.

‘One of the first people I met when I moved here was a guy named Ted Jenkins,’ the chief told Hunter after showing him into his office. ‘Coffee?’ he gestured towards an aluminum thermal flask on his desk.

Hunter shook his head. ‘I’m OK, Chief, thanks. I grabbed one as I was leaving the airport.’

Chief Suarez laughed. ‘Yeah, and I bet it tasted like cat piss.’

Hunter conceded. ‘Probably just a step above it.’

‘No, no. You’ve gotta try this.’ He grabbed a mug from a tray on top of the metal filing cabinet by the window and poured Hunter a cup. ‘No one makes coffee like my Louise. She’s got a gift. Like a family secret. How do you take it?’

Hunter had to admit that even from that distance, the coffee smelled incredible. ‘Black is great.’

‘I like you already. That’s how coffee is meant to be drunk.’ The chief handed Hunter the cup.

‘You were telling me about Ted Jenkins,’ he said before having a sip. ‘Wow.’ His eyes widened.

Chief Suarez smiled. ‘Good, isn’t it? I’ll ask Louise to make you a flask before you leave.’

Hunter nodded his thanks.

‘OK. Ted Jenkins. He’s the editor for the Healdsburg Tribune. Back then he was just a reporter. I had a drink with him last night after I got off the phone with you. He certainly remembers what happened. A terrible case where a cheated husband lost his head and killed his wife, his kid, the wife’s lover and then blew his own head off with a shotgun. Huge for a place like Healdsburg, but for an LA cop. .?’ Chief Suarez leaned forward, placed both hands on his desk and interlaced his fingers. ‘One of the reasons I made chief of police is because I’m a very curious man, Detective. And your phone call yesterday got my curiosity steaming.’ He paused and took a sip of his coffee. ‘I looked you up. Had a quick chat with your captain this morning too.’

Hunter said nothing.

The chief reached for his reading glasses and his eyes moved to a notepad on his desk. ‘Los Angeles Police Department — Homicide Special Section. Your specialty — ultra-violent crimes. Now that’s something us folks over here only see in movies.’ His eyes returned to Hunter over his spectacles. ‘Your captain told me you’re the best there is. And that got my old brain thinking. Everyone knows Los Angeles is a crazy town, Detective. Gangs, drugs, drive-by shoot-outs, serial killers, mass murderers, killing sprees, and worse. Why would a murder case that happened twenty years ago in a small town like Healdsburg interest the Homicide Special Section in LA?’

Hunter sipped his coffee.

‘So late last night I went down to our archives room to look for the case files. Turns out that anything older than ten years was stuck under piles and piles of junk inside unmarked cardboard boxes at the back of a smelly and cobweb-filled room. It took me and an officer nearly five hours to find them.’ He tapped a very old-looking paper folder next to his desktop PC.

Hunter moved to the edge of his seat.

‘Imagine my surprise when I saw the pictures and read the reports of what had really happened.’ He handed the file to Hunter.

Hunter flipped it open and the first photograph he saw made his heart skip a beat.