A few blocks away, Cole and Ty sat in Cole’s office. Both had gone home, caught some sleep, showered, and changed. After getting home last night, Ty kissed his wife and kids as they slept, and again as he tried to leave the house quietly that morning. Cole got even less time at home and none of the soft kisses.
Ty sipped from his large Yeti cup and Cole cradled a steaming, ceramic mug of coffee. He liked the warmth and the aroma of the coffee almost as much as he liked the taste and the way it nudged him awake. He also liked the fact that the brown, earthen mug he was holding had been made for him by his ex-wife when she’d taken a pottery class on a lark back when they were first married when things were much simpler and he knew love.
“What are you thinking about?” Ty asked.
“The case. What else?” Cole shot back, shaking his head and yawning. “Do we have anything else from DC or Chicago since last night?”
“Just that the blood was from a deer.”
“Right. And I’ve been thinking about that. Who saves deer blood? The gun deer season only lasts nine days in Wisconsin and ended the weekend after Thanksgiving. Only a third of the roughly six hundred thousand hunters harvest a deer, but that would mean two hundred thousand suspects from the gun hunting season alone.
“Archers take another hundred thousand deer, and the archery season closed three weeks ago. Unless the killer’s been planning this murder for some time, then maybe we should focus on men who took deer during the last couple weeks of the archery season. Most of the deer harvested with a bow are taken during the first few weeks of the season. Our list of hunters who took a deer during the last two weeks of the season wouldn’t number more than a few hundred.”
Cole sipped his coffee and sighed. “Nothing about this feels right. We should chase it down, but the killer could be trying to throw us off his scent. He might have been planning this for a long time. Maybe he’s a poacher.”
“I guess if you’re willing to murder someone in cold blood you wouldn’t have much trouble shooting a deer out of season,” Ty conceded.
“Yeah, you can make that case, but I’m not sure our guy sees killing the abortionist as murder. It would probably bother him a lot more to kill a deer illegally than to kill a doctor whose main purpose in life is killing babies.”
“Babies?” Ty said. “You make it sound like he’s killing small children. I’ve been looking into this and ninety percent of the abortions in the U.S. take place before fourteen weeks’ gestation. Even at the end of those fourteen weeks, the fetuses are less than three and one-half inches long and weigh an ounce and a half. It’s not like they’re viable human beings yet.”
“That’s how you see it, and a lot of other people, but our killer might not differentiate between a fetus, a full-term infant, or a toddler for that matter. Every one of them is an innocent young life to him, some just younger than others. I grew up Catholic, and that’s not the only religion that preaches life begins at conception. When he looked through his scope at Dr. Smith, he didn’t see a physician who helps women at a difficult point in their lives. He saw an evil person who’s killed a lot of small children in the past, and who will kill more children in the future if he doesn’t stop him. He sees himself as righteous…on the side of the angels. But killing a deer out of season? I don’t get it. Where’s the connection?”
Cole wrapped both hands around his coffee mug, enjoying the warmth that leached through it. He was leaning forward to take in the mild-flavored smell of the roasted beans when his desk phone rang. He hit the speaker button to pick up, preferring his hands free when he talked on the phone. “Cole Huebsch,” he said.
“This is the executive assistant for Collin Jeffers, FBI Special Agent in Charge of the Chicago Field Office,” the clipped female voice said. “Please hold for SAC Jeffers.”
Ty pointed toward the door and raised an eyebrow, asking if he should leave. Cole huffed and shook his head. He might want a witness. There was a pause and he picked up his coffee and took a sip. Not piping hot, but still more than drinkable.
“Cole… This is Collin Jeffers. How are you doing?”
Cole had made his mind up to try to be civil. “Busy,” he said. “Milwaukee’s becoming an exciting little town.”
“It’s certainly grabbed a nation’s attention. That’s for sure.”
There was another pause before Jeffers continued. “Listen, Cole. I know this sucks for you. We came into the Bureau at the same time and I’m heading up the Chicago office while you’re basically in a Podunk suburb of Chicago. That’s probably not the way you mapped out your career. And now that you finally get a big case, Gene calls and tells you he’s giving it to me to run.”
Cole shook his head and rolled his eyes when Jeffers started and caught himself clenching his sturdy coffee mug so hard he thought it might break. He tried not to let Jeffers get to him but the tone of the man’s voice irked him nearly as much as his words.
“You still there?” Jeffers said.
Cole hit the phone’s mute button and screamed, “Shit! Crap!” Then he unmuted the phone and said, “Collin. I’m here and I’m fine. No need to worry about my feelings.”
“That’s good, because we don’t have the time or the luxury to worry about your feelings. I’m basically calling to tell you that. Plus, I’m calling to tell you that I want everything you get, when you get it. If you hold back anything in a desperate attempt to get your career off its dead-end path, I will fucking have you sacked. Am I clear?”
Ty’s face grew crimson as he listened and he mouthed, “What the hell?”
Cole shrugged and shook his head again. “It’s lovely of you to call,” he said, looking to rile up Jeffers now. “You’ve always been an inspiration to me and the other sorry, run-of-the-mill agents in the Bureau.”
“You want to be a smart ass now?” Jeffers said, raising his voice. “I wouldn’t advise it. You don’t have much of a career, but you do draw a paycheck. How would you like to lose it?”
“I’ll try to do better, sir,” Cole answered, with a smirk Jeffers could pick up over the phone. Cole was starting to enjoy the call.
Jeffers lowered his voice to a near whisper. “Make sure I get everything you come up with…immediately. Of course, that’s assuming you come up with anything, which isn’t all that likely.”