The five o’clock news that he was recording played in the background as he sat on the couch and relived the process of police elimination that had begun last night. The likelihood that he would be discovered diminished with every hour that passed without a suspect. He was becoming more confident and prided himself on devising a sure way to throw cops off his trail, even though he was cautious by nature. As an actuary, he was accustomed to weighing the odds.
He thought back to two days prior, when he’d read the latest news on the release of Carlton Blake, a career criminal whose murder case was thrown out of court due to witness tampering. Carlton was a free man but had no idea he was being followed. Once Carlton drove away, his stalker snatched up the empty soda can he’d just tossed in the trash barrel on the side of the gas station. The prints on it would come in handy, as would the ones collected from the cigarette butts belonging to gang members from the neighborhood.
Carlton’s soda can and prints had been taken to the site of the first shooting and deliberately placed at appropriate spots in the empty factory. Finding that evidence would be up to the cops, if they ever discovered the sniper’s nest.
His attention returned to the evening news, and the latest updates were reported by Lindsay Kane, the roving reporter for Channel 7. He watched as Lindsay held the microphone to her mouth and blurted out to the viewing audience what she thought she knew.
“This is Lindsay Kane reporting live outside the taped perimeter of what appears to be a second police shooting in less than twenty-four hours. The Chicago Police Department has remained tight-lipped about the investigation and is saying ‘no comment’ to our questions. At this point, the names of the fallen officers have not been released to the public, and from all accounts, no one is in custody. Updates will follow as the investigation continues. This is Lindsay Kane reporting from Englewood in the CPD’s Seventh District, just beyond the SWAT-enforced police barricade.”
“There’s more to come,” he whispered, “and justice has to be served. I’ll make my point, even if it means the blood of others is on my hands. Maybe God will forgive me someday or maybe not, but I won’t know unless I’m dead.”
With the laptop in front of him and several tabs open, he decided which police district to hit next.