Anchorage, Alaska
Annie and Stone stood in the post office waiting at the counter for the postmaster. A man as tall as he was round appeared from a side door and approached them. Stone made the necessary introductions.
“How can I help you?” Mr. Hillsboro asked.
“Yes, sir, we were interested in a man who owns a box here, a Thomas Finkle?” Stone asked.
“What do you need to know?” Hillsboro said.
“His physical address, box number, I don’t know.” Stone turned toward her. “Annie?”
“Is there any way to know when he used the box last?” she asked.
“I’m sorry, but there’s no way for us to know when he last accessed the box,” Hillsboro stated.
“Then give us what you can,” Stone said.
“Don’t I need a warrant before I give out personal information?” The man looked to Stone, then Annie.
“Not necessarily,” Stone supplied.
“We understand your trepidation, we do, but time is of the essence. We truly need to get in touch with this man immediately. It’s a matter of life or death.” Annie crossed her fingers while he deliberated.
Hillsboro focused on Annie as he scratched his chin. “A matter of life or death, you say?”
“Yes, sir,” Annie answered.
Hillsboro glanced around to see if anyone was paying attention. “I’ll be right back.”
Fifteen minutes later, he slipped them a note. “You didn’t get this from me.” Then he disappeared.
“What a funny little man,” Stone whispered.
“You can say that again.” She grabbed Stone’s hand. “Let’s go.”
Once in the vehicle, she read the note. “Willow?”
“That’s not far from Wasilla,” he supplied. “Roughly thirty miles. The bad news is the cutoff to your cabin is about halfway between Wasilla and Willow.”
A chill ran the length of her body. “So it could be the killer stalking me, but I don’t fit his MO. My hair is not straight and my eyes are blue.”
“Maybe he’s willing to make an exception in your case.” Stone started the engine and backed out. “Let’s see who lives at this address.”
Almost two hours later, Stone turned down a long road. When he came to the end, their spirits took a nose dive. The house had been abandoned years ago. The windows were boarded up and the roof had collapsed on one side. “Well, shit. That got us nowhere.”
Annie’s cell phone rang and she read the screen. “Hey Tony, what have you got for me?”
“Some weird shit for sure,” Tony supplied.
“I’m here with Detective Wooshkeetaan, can I put you on speaker?”
“Sure,” Tony agreed.
“Okay, go ahead,” Annie announced.
“Allen Amundson was born in Anchorage and raised by a single mother who moved around a lot depending on where she could get work. When Allen was eight, she married Thomas Finkle and they settled in Willow. With both parents at work, Allen had a babysitter named Diane Holmsted. Four years later when Allen was twelve, Judith Finkle came home early one day and found her son and the babysitter out in the freezing shed engaging in lewd sex acts.
“She was fired and charges were brought against her. But before the trial, fearing she’d be labeled a pedophile and a registered sexual offender, Diane hung herself on her nineteenth birthday, New Year’s Eve. But the saga doesn’t end there. Days after her funeral, her corpse was dug up and stolen.
“It wasn’t found until the following spring when an offensive odor coming from their shed was brought to the Finkles’ attention. There they found Diane’s rotting corpse. Evidently, young Allen had been having intercourse with it. Fun stuff, huh?
“So then the question was, what to do with young Allen? He was sent to a juvenile psychiatric facility. When first admitted, he was inconsolable. He claimed he was in love with Diane. He blamed his parents for her death and promised to kill them. But when he turned eighteen, he was deemed cured and released.
“Allen went directly into the Army, where he’s had a stellar career and became a model citizen. Mom and step-daddy didn’t fare so well. Within a year of Allen’s release, they were found dead in their home. Autopsy revealed they’d died of strychnine poisoning.
“A search of the residence revealed that someone had put rat poison in their coffee. But with no evidence of anyone else ever being in the home, the case went unsolved. And before you ask, Allen had a solid alibi. He was stationed at Fort Carson in Colorado at the time.”
“But he could have poisoned the coffee at any time,” Annie said.
“True,” Stone added. “In Alaska we stock up on non-perishable items. They could have had several containers of ground coffee. He only needed to poison one. That way when they died, he would be long gone and therefore have an alibi.”
“He must have gone home before he entered the Army. He was an eighteen year old kid with no money, where else would he go?” Annie stated.
“If he did, he covered his tracks well. They found no other prints or DNA other than Mr. and Mrs. Finkle’s. Not one witness could place him in town, let alone at the house. Even people who worked with the Finkles said that neither of them mentioned he’d been home for a visit,” Tony said.
“Chances are they never knew he was there,” Annie said.
“Wait a minute.” The sound of keys clacking in the background filled the room. “There was a break-in at the Finkles’ address earlier in the year. I wonder why this wasn’t mentioned in the investigation into their deaths?” Tony asked.
“Maybe the death was handled by Homicide in Wasilla and the break-in by the state troopers. I for one can tell you that there have been times when I’ve had so many open cases I felt overwhelmed. The detective could have just forgotten to run the names or address, or maybe he did, but that case was still open so he failed to mention it in his report.”
“What was taken?” Annie asked.
“Small things, cash and jewelry.”
“Sounds like our guy. He grabbed what he could carry in his pockets, then poisoned the coffee stash and was on his way,” Annie said.
“Does he own any property in Alaska?”
“There are no records in his name, but let me check something.” They listened while Tony’s fingers flew over the keys. “That’s what I thought. Neither Thomas nor Judith Finkle left a Will, so Allen inherited their home as next of kin.”
“Let me guess, mile marker 680 in Willow?” Stone said.
“How’d you know?” Tony asked.
“We’re sitting in front of their abandoned shack as we speak,” Stone informed him.
“It says here that he’s stationed in Anchorage. Do you need the address?” Tony asked.
“No, but can you tell us where he was stationed prior to Alaska?” Annie asked.
“Fort McCoy, Wisconsin,” Tony said without hesitation.
“I knew it!” Annie fist pumped the air.
“What?” Tony asked.
“Never mind. Thanks for the report, Tony, can you send it to my email address?” she asked.
“Sure, Annie,” Tony said. “Hey, when are you heading back our way?”
Annie glanced at Stone before answering, “Not sure at this time.”
“Then whenever you get here, first round’s on you,” Tony said.
She chuckled. “You got it. Thanks again, Tony. The information you uncovered is invaluable.”
“No worries. Take care.”
“You too.” She ended the call and sat back.
“Now what?” Stone asked.
“Hell, I don’t know. I was so certain this would give us our next lead.”
Hopes dashed. They sat in silence facing the dilapidated building. “At least your friend, Tony, answered a lot of questions for us. Like how this wackjob became sick and twisted in the first place. Diddling the babysitter in a freezing shed, then screwing her frozen corpse. We’re talking serious issues.”
“That girl should have been drawn and quartered for stealing the innocence of that poor child. No doubt this happened to her, but that’s no excuse. Many adults overcome the abuse of childhood to grow up to be outstanding human beings. The cycle has to stop somewhere.”
Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Stone turn toward her. She looked back. “Oh, sorry, I didn’t mean to–”
He interrupted her. “No. You’re right.”
“You’re a good example of someone who went in the opposite direction of his upbringing,” Annie offered.
“One thing I’ve had to do is fight the urge to be an alcoholic. I could easily have gone that way, but made a conscious effort not to overindulge,” Stone added.
“That’s understandable, it’s in your DNA and just proves my point.” She jerked her head forward. “Did you see that?”
He followed her gaze. “What?”
“I thought I saw movement out of the corner of my eye.”
Stone turned off the headlights while they silently watched the old ruins. After several minutes she said, “Probably just my imagination. Let’s go. Amundson can’t be on R&R forever, we can pick him when he returns.”
“Unless we’re wrong and he’s kidnapped another woman,” Stone added.
“New Year’s Eve is the night Diane died. Last year he kept to that timeline.”
“Rules are meant to be broken. What if he’s thrown out his old rulebook and is continuing to kill just for shits and giggles?”
“As in he’s so far gone, he won’t stop until he’s stopped?” Annie asked.
“Yup. According to you, this guy can’t have normal sex. What else is he going to do? The ground’s too hard to dig up graves. I guess he could steal corpses from funeral homes,” Stone said.
“That might be a lead.” She grabbed her phone off the dash. “Let me get Tony on it.”
“Fine.” He stayed her hand. “But for now, I say we check out this dump. I have a lot more confidence in your gut than you do.”
“What if it was just an animal?”
“Annie, we’re already here. What’s the harm?”