Chapter 16

 

 

At a few minutes past nine the next morning as I’m about to telephone Don Ericson, Janet rushes into my office out of breath and asks, “Did you call Ericson yet?”

 

“I was just about to call him.”

 

“I hope you don’t mind me barging in here like this, but the suspense of not knowing what the FBI is going to say this morning just wouldn’t allow me to concentrate on anything else and all I was doing was staring at the walls waiting for you to call me. I had to do something or go berserk, so I decided to come here at the risk of driving you nuts. I would have been here twenty minutes ago if the traffic wasn’t so snarled up.”

 

“Calm down, sit down and catch your breath. I told you this call is just a formality. We both agree Piedmont is a glory hound, but you knocked him back on his heels yesterday and he strikes me as someone not willing to take risks with his career if he can avoid them. Besides, our way he’ll at least be able to share in some of the glory if things go as planned. Something is better than nothing.”

 

“How can you be so sure?” Again with the unsettling look. Is it one of curiosity or one of suspicion? I’m going to have to be more careful about what I say and how I say it around her. She’s too damn good at what she does for me to get away with pulling the wool over her eyes without serious thought.

 

“It’s just experience talking, Janet. I’ve seen a lot of people buckle under pressure and Piedmont threw off all the signs of someone who lost the battle and knew it.”

 

“Okay, let’s get the show on the road so I can get back to more normal worries like what outfit and shoes to wear when I receive the Pulitzer Prize for my journalism feats in the identification, tracking down and capture of the Crusader.”

 

Seeing the quizzical look on my face she smiles and adds, “Hey, it could happen. A girl can dream can’t she?”

 

“As she should. Someone once said, ‘Having a dream you don’t pursue is like having an ice cream cone and watching it melt all over your hand.’”

 

“Wow! Chet Dawson waxing philosophically. Whodda thunk?”

 

“Now listen up you Horace Greely wannabe. Just because I look like a thug, doesn’t mean I have the mentality of one. I can even read a book without moving my lips.”

 

This gets her laughing and relaxing and while she’s doing that I call Don.

 

He picks up on the first ring. “Ericson.”

 

“Good morning, Don.”

 

“Hey, Chet, before you say anything else let me apologize for what happened yesterday in Piedmont’s office. I had no idea what he was going to say as I was hauled into his office only a couple of minutes before you and Janet arrived and the only words out of his mouth up until then were those he used to introduce Nora Sinclair to me.”

 

“No need to apologize to me, Don. I figured you were blindsided just like we were. What’s the decision from on high?”

 

“You and Janet are in. The two of you will continue to work with me and we’ll be the architects for the entire shebang, media blitz, trap and finding the stand-in. We can call in anyone we need from the Bureau to help us put everything together. As far as Piedmont is concerned, all he wants is to be kept in the loop and notified about developments as they occur ASAP and be in on the take down of the Crusader.”

 

“Okay, I’ll pass this news on to Janet. She’s here with me in my office. I suggest we work out of your office as you have a lot more room and privacy as well as resources at your fingertips there that we don’t have.”

 

“I agree. When can you and Janet get over here?”

 

“We’ll head over now. It shouldn’t take us more than thirty minutes.”

 

“In the meantime, I’ll arrange for a conference room we can work out of undisturbed. Bye,”

 

Looking at Janet whose face is going to split if her smile gets any wider I say, “It’s a go starting right now. Whose car do you want to take?”

 

“Yours. My mind is already in overdrive thinking about the quickest and most effective way to put together and launch a media blitz. I’d like to concentrate on that and let you concentrate on driving.”

 

“Okay, let’s do it.”

 

It takes us the better part of an hour to get to Don’s office as the traffic is still tied up due to some construction work going on. When we arrive, a receptionist directs us to a conference room at the end of one of the corridors leading from the reception area. When we walk in, Don is on the phone saying, “Please email it to me at my office immediately, Julie, and thanks.”

 

Hanging up and looking at us with a smile on his face he says, “We’ve now got a picture of Aldrich. We would have had it a lot sooner if Maryland DMV wasn’t updating their database and having trouble with some of their software. I’ll be receiving a copy of his driver license in a couple of minutes via email.

 

“As you can see, I have everything I think we’ll need set up for us, telephones with access to six outside lines, computers and a printer to which all of our computers are connected. Stationery supplies are over on that table by the door next to the coffee maker and fixings. There’s a sink and a water cooler over in that little alcove along with a small fridge. Next to each monitor is an interoffice directory if needed.”

 

All of the chairs that were normally situated around the conference table, except for the three we’ll be using, are lined up against the walls, so there is ample space for pacing if anyone is so inclined.

 

Looking at Don I say, “Okay, Don, this is your show. Where do you want to start?”

 

“Let’s first make a list of what has to be done to make the media blitz a reality. Then we can prioritize each step and determine what has to be done to implement each one and guesstimate how long it will take to do that. This will give me something concrete I can pass on to Piedmont so he’ll stay out of our hair. If the Crusader stays true to form and there are other names on his hit list, we don’t have a lot of time to put a monkey wrench in his plans. Hopefully, the media blitz will put enough pressure on him, make him desperate enough to put those names on the back burner and have a go at the President.

 

“Step two will be to devise a trap as alluring and fool proof as we can make it and then the final step will be to find a stand-in for the President whose looks and bearing would fool his wife and mother. We don’t have a hell of lot to time to do this either.”

 

Janet asks, “How much time do you think we have to put all of this together?”

 

“Don’t ask me why. It’s just a gut feeling. No more than 72 hours, probably less. He’s been getting away with murder on a fast track. Why should he change his MO now?”

 

“72 hours? We’ll never get this in place in that time frame. Impossible!”

 

I decide to jump in with my two cents worth of wisdom and say, “Janet, the only way something’s impossible is if no one is willing to try to make it a reality. World War Two Seabees had a motto that they proved over and over again. ‘The difficult we do right away, the impossible takes a little longer.’ It may take some doing and a lot of luck, but I think we can do this. It certainly isn’t going to happen if we give up before we even start.”

 

“I know. I know. But 72 hours? We’ll be lucky to contact everyone we need to recruit to bring this off in that amount of time.”

 

“Well, let’s got a move on then. We’re wasting time talking about how high the odds are stacked against us.”

 

We settle in and get to work and surprise ourselves at how much we get done in the next four hours. The first thing we do is draw up an agenda and set a time frame goal for each step. Don relays this to Piedmont to keep him mollified and then we get down to the nitty-gritty.

Janet calls her boss and fills him in on what we’re going to do and gets the final okay from him to get the Washington Times involved and then starts drafting the first BOLO. Don contacts CNN, MSNBC and the other major TV networks and after talking with dozens of decision makers gets them all on board. Janet will be the hub, the liaison between all of the participants and will write all the copy for the first BOLO and those to follow. The BOLOs along with the DMV picture of Aldrich will be broadcast on every news program during prime time and once every fifteen minutes on an alert basis during non-prime time.

 

Initially, since we’re flying by the seat of our pants on this, the BOLOs will be broadcast for a week and then we’ll evaluate the results. If the word is getting out and decent leads are being generated, we’ll stay with it a while longer. That will be a good sign that the pressure has got to be building up on the Crusader. If not, it’ll be back to the drawing board.

 

While Don and Janet are busy setting the media blitz in motion, I’m focusing on trying to contact Aldrich’s relatives using the information Felicity dug up and through them his friends to see if they know anything about his whereabouts. I would also like to know if his wife is involved in her husband’s crusade and if not how he’s keeping everything from her. Soon after I sit down to set all my ducks in a row to get a more detailed family history on the Crusader Don receives the email from the Maryland DMV and I now have more of a personal description to work with; Henry Clarence Aldridge, DOB: 03-10-1965, Height: 6’1”, Weight: 205 lbs. Eyes: gray, Hair: black, Address: former address in Frederick.

 

I thought I might get lucky and Aldrich would have submitted a change of address to the DMV, but I should have known better. This guy is just too cautious to commit a blunder like that after he suddenly quits his job, sells his house and moves away without giving anybody a reason for doing this. It’s obvious this guy wanted to disappear without a trace.

 

Doing a mental recap of everything I now know about Aldrich, I decide to contact his siblings first, then student registration and the alumni association at Penn State and then his classmates and neighbors in Perth Amboy, NJ. This should keep me busy for a while.

 

Around two o’clock we take a break to wolf down some pizza and soft drinks which somebody ordered and had delivered and brief each other on how we’re doing. All of the TV networks and local radio stations are on board. The Washington Times will be sharing the ink with the other local newspapers and posters and signs will be plastered all over D. C, including bill boards, buses and train stations. The BOLO and the picture of the Crusader will start going out over the airwaves at six tomorrow morning and the newspapers will be carrying the story on the front pages in their first additions beginning tomorrow as well. It’s going to take a couple of days to get the posters and signs made up and in place, but that has to be some kind of record.

 

I’ve called Aldrich’s brother and sister, but had to leave voice mail messages. I contacted the alumni association at Penn State and they’ve agreed, after I dropped the FBI’s name a couple of times, to give me a list of the students graduating the same year Aldrich did. There may be friends or former friends on the list that can give us some information that will help us find him. I’m holding off on going the Perth Amboy route as that appears to be the longest shot on getting anything useful.

As I’m putting the finishing touches on making the last piece of pizza disappear by licking my lips and fingers and wiping them on a paper napkin that’s seen better wipes I ask Don, “Aldrich needs money to live on. He’s either using funds in his checking, savings or investment account or he’s using plastic to cover his needs. He might even have found another job. Now that you have his identity, have you located any of his accounts and if so are they being monitored?”

 

“We have and they are, but there has been no activity since we began monitoring them, at least that we’ve observed. You’ve got to remember, this guy is a computer whiz. There are probably a number of ways he can gain access to someone else’s money without being detected for a while and he knows how to cover his electronic tracks, so if and when a withdrawal is discovered, there’s no trail to follow. However, knowing this we still have to cover all bases. This guy is human and he may be in a hurry for funds and take a chance on using his own. If he does, we’ll be watching.”

 

Soon after our lunch break I received the list of Aldrich’s fellow students in his graduating class from Penn State and confirmation that Aldrich is a member of the alumni association, but no list of association members. An accompanying comment gave the reason for that, stating the alumni association has thousands of members, too many to contact in a timely fashion. As it is, the list of students in Aldrich’s graduating class contains hundreds of names.

 

Another hurdle embedded in this approach is the contact information the university has is probably outdated, so attempts at phone, email or snail mail contact using this info will most likely be a waste of precious time, leading to nothing but dead ends.

 

The more I think about going down this road the more I’m convinced that it and the Perth Amboy route are going to be impossible to accomplish within a very limited time frame without a lot of bodies to help which we don’t have. Hopefully, Aldrich’s siblings will have some helpful information. They may even know some of the people that are on the list Penn State sent or heard their brother mention some of the names.

 

Janet asks, “Don, are we going to have any help with manning the phones when calls start coming in and will these six lines be enough?”

 

“The phones will be covered from six in the morning until ten at night every day the media blitz is up and running. There will be four shifts of four hours each and four three man teams to staff those shifts. We’ll be one of those teams. The phone lines have hold and roll over features, so when someone phones in the call is forwarded to the next open line in sequence. If all the lines are occupied, the call will go to voice mail and a light on all of the phones will indicate that there are messages. If we need more phones and bodies to man them, we’ll get them from the resources here in this building. It won’t be a problem. I’ve been assured of that. There will also be a response team waiting in the wings if we get a sighting in progress.”

 

Late in the afternoon I get a call back from the Crusader’s brother Nathan the civil engineer.

 

“Thank you for returning my call Mr. Aldrich. I’m trying to track down your brother in connection with an investigation I’m conducting regarding the recent killings by the Crusader. Do you know how I might contact him? Do you know where he’s staying? He’s quit his job at Sub Rosa Electronics and moved from his house in Frederick, Maryland and didn’t leave a forwarding address at the post office or tell anyone where he was going or why he was pulling up stakes.”

 

“What could my brother possibly know about these killings? He’s a computer geek and has never hurt a fly in his life. I wasn’t aware my brother quit his job and moved away? Although we’ve drifted apart over the years, we still stay in touch by phone a few times a year. I’m surprised he never told me about what he was planning to do.”

 

“When was the last time you talked with your brother?”

 

“It’s been a good six months since we last talked. We both have busy lives and don’t really have too much in common anymore. When we do talk, it’s not for very long. If we lived closer, things might be different, but who knows. Is my brother in some kind of trouble?”

 

“I’m not going to lie to you, Mr. Aldrich. You’ll know soon enough why we want to talk to him anyway. Your brother is in very serious trouble. He’s our prime suspect in the recent Crusader killings. We have good reason to believe that the loss of his son in Iraq has affected his mental stability to the point where he’s taking his revenge out on the people he thinks are responsible for his son’s death. If you hear from him, please try to find out where he and his wife are staying without mentioning this conversation. The less he knows about what we know about him the easier it might be for us to stop him from killing anyone else.”

 

“Boy, I’m sure glad my mom and dad aren’t around to hear this. I’ll do as you ask. I’ll call you if I hear from him. If what you say is true, I doubt he’ll be calling me though. We weren’t ever confidants. If he calls anyone, it’ll be our sister Samantha. They were very close and may still be. My sister and I talk around the Christmas holiday to get caught up with how our kids are doing and what’s going on in our lives, but Hank seldom comes up in our conversation so I don’t know what kind of relationship they have now.”

 

“Okay, Mr. Aldrich. Thanks again for returning my call and for your input.”

 

Instead of continuing to wait to receive a return call from Dr. Samantha Rutledge nee Aldrich I decide to try to reach her again. Doctors as a rule have long hours, so I’ve left messages on both her office and home phones just to make sure she is aware that I am trying to reach her. When I spoke to her office manager earlier, I was told that Doctor Rutledge was in surgery and probably wouldn’t be returning to the office until tomorrow.

 

I dial her home number and luck out, sort of. She answers on the first ring, slightly out of breath. When she finds out who is calling and it’s not a medical emergency she says, “I’ll have to call you back, Mr. Dawson. My new puppy that I was told was house broken isn’t and I’ve got a mess to clean up.”

 

Without giving me a chance to respond, she hangs up to clean up, probably with poor little Fido. I doubt that she’s going to get back to me today and since I have no more brilliant ideas to pursue I suggest to Janet that we call it a day. She says, “I’m ready. Besides, I have a few things

I have to wrap up back at the office.”

 

“What time do you want us here tomorrow, Don?”

 

“I’m thinking the three of us should take the first four hour shift when the curtain goes up on the media blitz since we’re the ones that are putting all of this in motion. Be here at six tomorrow morning. I’ll have pastries, bagels, juices and coffee brought in to charge our batteries for what I’m afraid is going to be a telephonic tsunami when the public learns the who, what and why surrounding the Crusader and hears our plea for help. We can change shifts if we want to later. Does that work for you two?”

 

Janet and I both nod and Janet asks, “When are our bodyguards going to show up?”

 

“The first team will be here when you show up tomorrow and somebody will be watching your backs from then on until this whole nightmare is over.”

 

“Let’s hope that won’t be very long.” Pausing and then turning to me she adds, “I could use some liquid courage, Dawson. How about you drop me off at my office and then meet me at Brennan’s over on Courtland? My treat. You’re invited too, Don.”

 

I accept and Don declines, saying he has to have a final briefing with Piedmont and that will put him in a mood that won’t make for pleasant company. “Janet, you’re not one of his favorite people. As you’ve probably guessed by now, his most favorite person is himself. I’ll have to listen to him bitch about what a bitch you are for who knows how long and then he’ll subject me to a third degree like I was a rookie still wet behind the ears. From the way he’s been talking, it’s apparent to me that he’s hoping the Crusader collar or demise will give him a big boost up the Bureau hierarchy ladder and is going to be a big thorn in my ass until this is a done deal. ”

 

“Don, Piedmont isn’t Mr. Personality. His attitude is going to have him stepping on toes that shouldn’t be stepped on and he’ll find himself moving the wrong way on that hierarchy ladder. Just hang in there.”

 

Janet chimed in with, “I agree and if he doesn’t behave himself I’ll give him a little nudge in that direction with some very bad press.”

 

“Thank you for your support. Now get out of here and have a drink for me.”

 

We split and when we pulled out of the underground garage the traffic situation had gotten much worse with the added cars of people just getting off work and heading for home. “Janet, there’s got to be some place close by we can hang out until this lightens up some.”

 

“The only place I know of around here is Denny’s Den over on Churchill Avenue. I haven’t been there in a while. It used to be a great place to grab a bite to eat and wash it down with your choice from a full service bar. They had a limited menu, but the food was good. It had a neighborhood sports bar ambience with TV monitors all over the place for all the games of the season, pools for all the major sports, pinball machines and a pool table.

 

“That sounds like my kind of hangout. Let’s hang out there for an hour or so, okay?”

 

“Sure. We might as well sit there as in traffic. I’m going to have to limit myself to one glass of wine though because I still have to clean up a few things at the office.”

 

“How long will that take you?”

 

“An hour or so.”

 

Looking at my watch I say, “It’s a quarter after five. If we hang out at Denny’s Den until say six thirty, the traffic should have thinned out quite a bit by then. I should be dropping you off at your office by seven and you should be on your way home by eight. That’ll give you enough time to get a decent night’s sleep, so you’ll be raring to go at six tomorrow morning.”

 

“So what are you waiting for? Time’s a wasting.”