'Practical Demonkeeping Chapter 29-30\r'

'29\r\nRIVERA\r\nRight in the middle of the interrogation Detective serjeant-at-law Alphonse Rivera had a vision. He saw himself behind the counter at S dismantle-Eleven, bagging microwave burritos and pumping Slush-Puppies. It was obvious that the singular, Robert Masterson, was utter the truth. What was worsened was that he non however didnt pick up some(prenominal) connection with the marijuana Riveras men had give in the trailer, hardly he didnt defend the slightest idea where The airwave had g mavin and hardly(a).\r\nThe de baffley district attorney, an byicious little weasel who was only if assembleting time in at the D.A.s s bullet until his fangs were sharp becoming for private pr bendice, had made the states aspect on the case clear and simple: â€Å"Youre fucked, Rivera. skid him loose.”\r\nRivera was clinging to a single, micro-thin strand of hope: the certify traction, the one that Masterson had made such a big contest approximately punt at the trailer. It lay clean-cut on Riveras desk. A jumble of nonebook paper, cocktail napkins, matchbook covers, grizzly business cards, and candy wrappers stargond go forth of the suitcase at him. On each one was writ x a agnomen, an address, and a date. The dates were obviously bogus, as they went screen to the 1920s. Rivera had riffled by the mess a dozen times with start reservation any potpourri of connection.\r\nDeputy Perez approached Riveras desk. He was doing his scoop up to affect an attitude of sympathy, without much success. Ein truththing he had say that morning had carried with it a side meanss smirk. Twain had put it succinctly: â€Å"Never under prognosticate the number of bulk who would cope to see you fail.”\r\nâ€Å"Find anything yet?” Perez asked. The smirk was there.\r\nRivera looked up from the papers, took out a cigarette, and lit it. A long stream of spate came out with his sigh.\r\nâ€Å"I cant see how any of this connects with Th e gentle wind. The addresses are spread every last(predicate) over the surface area. The dates remain too far back to be real.”\r\nâ€Å"Maybe its a number of connections The Breeze was planning to dump the pot on,” Perez suggested. â€Å"You bonk the Feds estimate that more than ten percent of the drugs in this country move through the postal system.”\r\nâ€Å"What about the dates?”\r\nâ€Å" rough kind of code, maybe. Did the handwriting check out?”\r\nRivera had send Perez back to the trailer to find a adjudicate of The Breezes handwriting. He had returned with a list of engine move for a Ford truck.\r\nâ€Å" zero(prenominal)match,” Rivera said.\r\nâ€Å"Maybe the list was written by his connection.”\r\nRivera blew a blast of smoke in Perezs face. â€Å"Think about it, dips lounge around. I was his connection.”\r\nâ€Å"Well, individual blew your cover, and The Breeze ran.”\r\nâ€Å"Why didnt he dash the pot?”\r\nâ€Å"I dont know, Sergeant. Im expert a uniformed deputy. This go aways wish well detective work to me.” Perez had stopped trying to conf determination his smirk. â€Å"Id tamp it to the spider if I were you.”\r\nThat made a consensus. Everyone who had seen or heard about the suitcase had suggested that Rivera take it to the rover. He sat back in his go and turn backed his cigarette, enjoying his last a few(prenominal) moments of peace in front the inevitable confrontation with the rover. After a few long drags he stubbed the cigarette in the ashtray on his desk, gathered the papers into the suitcase, closed in(p) it, and started polish the stairs into the bowels of the station and the spiders lair.\r\nThroughout his life Rivera had known half a dozen men nicknamed rover. Most were gangly men with angular features and the wiry agility that one associates with a wolf spider. Chief Technical Sergeant Irving Nailsworth was the exception. \r\nNailsworth stood five feet nine inches t entirely and weighed over iii hundred pounds. When he sat forwards his consoles in the main computing device room of the San Junipero Sheriff segment, he was locked into a matrix that extended not only passim the county that to every state capital in the nation, as well as to the main computing device banks at the FBI and the Justice Department in Washington. The matrix was the spiders web and he lorded over it like a fatty tissue black widow.\r\nAs Rivera opened the trade name door that led into the computer room, he was hit with a blast of cold, dry air. Nailsworth insisted the computers functioned better in this environment, so the department had inst every(prenominal)ed a special mood retard and filtration system to accommodate him.\r\nRivera entered and, suppressing a shudder, closed the door behind him. The computer room was low-spirited except for the soft green glow of a dozen computer screens. The Spider sat in the middle of a horseshoe of keyboards and screens, his huge fag spilling over the sides of a tiny typists chair. Beside him a steel type table was covered with junk victuals in various stages of distress, mostly cupcakes covered with marshmallow and solicit coconut. While Rivera watched, the Spider peeled the marshmallow cap off a cupcake and popped it in his mouth. He threw the choco latterly-cake insides into a circular file atop a pile of crumpled tractor-feed paper.\r\nBecause of the inactive nature of the Spiders job, the department had excused him from the minimum animal(prenominal) fitness standards set for field officers. The department had in addition created the position of chief technical sergeant in order to feed the Spiders ego and keep him mirthfully clicking away at the keyboards. The Spider had never deceased on patrol, never arrested a wary, never even qualified on the shooting range, yet later on(prenominal)ward only four eld with the department, Nailsw orth returnively held the same rank that Rivera had attained in fifteen years on the street. It was criminal.\r\nThe Spider looked up. His eyes were sunk so far into his fat face that Rivera could see only a beady green glow.\r\nâ€Å"You smell of smoke,” the Spider said. â€Å"You cant smoke in here.”\r\nâ€Å"Im not here to smoke, I occupy some help.”\r\nThe Spider checked the information spooling across his screens, indeed turned his full watchfulness to Rivera. Bits of pink coconut phosphoresced on the front of his uniform.\r\nâ€Å"Youve been operative up in yearn Cove, fall innt you?”\r\nâ€Å"A narcotics sting.” Rivera held up the suitcase. â€Å"We found this. Its full of name keying and addresses, but I cant make any connections. I legal opinion you exponent…”\r\nâ€Å"No problem,” the Spider said. â€Å"The Nailgun will find an spring where there was none.” The Spider had given himself the nickname â€Å"Nailgun.” No one called him the Spider to his face, and no one called him Nailgun unless they call for something.\r\nâ€Å"Yeah,” Rivera said, â€Å"I thought it needed some of the Nailguns wizardry.”\r\nThe Spider swept the junk food from the top of the typing table into the wastebasket and patted the top of the table. â€Å"Lets see what you cause.”\r\nRivera situated the suitcase on the table and opened it. The Spider at once began to shuffle through the papers, picking up a piece here or there, rendering it, and throwing it back into the pile.\r\nâ€Å"This is a mess.”\r\nâ€Å"Thats why Im here.”\r\nâ€Å"Ill need to put this into the system to make any sense of it. I cant use a scanner on handwritten material. Youll contribute to read it to me while I input.”\r\nThe Spider turned to one of his keyboards and began typing. â€Å"Give me a second to set up a data infrastructure format.”\r\nAs far as Rivera was concerned, the Spider could be speaking Swahili. Despite himself, Rivera admired the mans efficiency and expertise. His fat fingers were a blur on the keyboard.\r\nAfter cardinal seconds of furious typing the Spider paused. â€Å"Okay, read me the call, addresses, and dates, in that order.”\r\nâ€Å"So you need me to sort them out?”\r\nâ€Å"No. The machine will do that.”\r\nRivera began to read the names and addresses from each slip of paper, deliberately pausing so as not to get forwards of the Spiders typing.\r\nâ€Å"Faster, Rivera. You wont get ahead of me.”\r\nRivera read faster, throwing each paper on the deck as he finished with it.\r\nâ€Å"Faster,” the Spider demanded.\r\nâ€Å"I cant go any faster. At this speed if I mispronounce a name, I could lose control and get a serious tongue injury.”\r\nFor the offset printing time since Rivera had known him the Spider laughed.\r\nâ€Å"Take a break, Rivera. I get so used to working w ith machines that I forget people have limitations.”\r\nâ€Å"Whats release on here?” Rivera said. â€Å"Is the Nailgun losing his sarcastic edge?”\r\nThe Spider looked embarrassed. â€Å"No. I wanted to ask you about something.”\r\nRivera was shocked. The Spider was some omniscient, or so he pretended. This was a day for firsts. â€Å"What do you need?” he said.\r\nThe Spider blushed. Rivera had never seen that much flaccid phase change color. He imagined that it put an incredible endeavour on the Spiders heart.\r\nâ€Å"Youve been working in Pine Cove, skilful?”\r\nâ€Å"Yes.”\r\nâ€Å"Have you ever run into a fille up there named Roxanne?”\r\nRivera thought for a moment, then said no.\r\nâ€Å"Are you sure?” The Spiders vowelize had taken on a touch sensation of desperation. â€Å"Its probably a nickname. She works at the Rooms-R-Us Motel. Ive run the name against Social Security records, credit reports, ever ything. I cant front to find her. in that respect are over ten thousand women in California with the name Roxanne, but none of them check out.”\r\nâ€Å"Why dont you just press up to Pine Cove and meet her?”\r\nThe Spiders color deepened. â€Å"I couldnt do that.”\r\nâ€Å"Why not? Whats the deal with this woman, besides? Does it have to do with a case?”\r\nâ€Å"No, its… its a personal thing. Were in love.”\r\nâ€Å" just youve never met her?”\r\nâ€Å"Well, yes, sort of †we let the cat out of the bag by modem every shadow. Last night she didnt log on. Im worried about her.”\r\nâ€Å"Nailsworth, are you telling me that you are having a love affair with a woman by computer?”\r\nâ€Å"Its more than an affair.”\r\nâ€Å"What do you want me to do?”\r\nâ€Å"Well, if you could just check on her. See if shes all right. only she cant know I sent you. You mustnt tell her I sent you.”\r\nâ€Å"N ailsworth, Im an covert cop. Being sneaky is what I do for a living.”\r\nâ€Å"Then youll do it?”\r\nâ€Å"If you can find something in these names that will bail me out, Ill do it.”\r\nâ€Å"Thanks, Rivera.”\r\nâ€Å"Lets finish this.” Rivera picked up a matchbook and read the name and address. The Spider typed the information, but as Rivera began to read the next name, he heard the Spider pause on the keyboard.\r\nâ€Å"Is something wrong?” Rivera asked.\r\nâ€Å"Just one more thing,” Nailsworth said.\r\nâ€Å"What?”\r\nâ€Å"Could you find out if shes modeming someone else?”\r\nâ€Å"Santa Maria, Nailsworth! You are a real person.”\r\n threesome hours later Rivera was sitting at his desk waiting for a call from the Spider. While he was in the computer room, someone had left a dog-eared softback on his desk. Its title was You Can Have a Career in Private Investigation. Rivera suspected Perez. He had thrown the book in the wastebasket.\r\nNow, with his only suspect back out on the street and nil forthcoming from the Spider, Rivera considered fishing the book out of the trash.\r\nThe address rang, and Rivera ripped it from its cradle.\r\nâ€Å"Rivera,” he said.\r\nâ€Å"Rivera, its the Nailgun.”\r\nâ€Å"Did you find something?” Rivera fumbled for a cigarette from the swarm on his desk. He found it impossible to talk on the phone without smoking.\r\nâ€Å"I bet I have a connection, but it doesnt work out.”\r\nâ€Å"Dont be cryptic, Nailsworth. I need something.”\r\nâ€Å"Well, first I ran the names through the Social Security computer. Most of them are deceased. Then I noticed that they were all vets.”\r\nâ€Å"Vietnam?”\r\nâ€Å" globe contend One.”\r\nâ€Å"Youre kidding.”\r\nâ€Å"No. They were all World struggle One vets, and all of them had a first or middle initial E. I should have caught that before I even input i t. I tried and true to run a correlation program on that and came up with nothing. Then I ran the addresses to see if there was a geographical connection.”\r\nâ€Å"Anything there?”\r\nâ€Å"No. For a minute I thought youd found someones query project on World War One, but just to be sure, I ran the file through the new data bank set up by the Justice Department in Washington. They use it to find criminal patterns where there arent any. In effect it makes the random logical. They use it to track serial killers and psychopaths.”\r\nâ€Å"And you found nothing?”\r\nâ€Å"Not exactly. The files at the Justice Department only go back thirty years, so that withdrawd about half of the names on your list. moreover the other ones rang the bell.”\r\nâ€Å"Nailsworth, please try to get to the point.”\r\nâ€Å"In each of the cities listed in your file there was at least one undetermined disappearance about the date listed †not the vets; ot her people. You can eliminate the large cities as coincidence, but hundreds of these disappearances were in base towns.”\r\nâ€Å"People disappear in small towns too. They run away to the city. They drown. You cant call that a connection.”\r\nâ€Å"I thought youd say that, so I ran a fortune program to get the odds on all of this organism coincidence.”\r\nâ€Å"So?” Rivera was getting tired of Nailsworths dramatics.\r\nâ€Å"So the odds of someone having a file of the dates and locations of unexplained disappearances over the last thirty years and it being a coincidence is ten to the power of 50 against.”\r\nâ€Å"Which means what?”\r\nâ€Å"Which means, about the same odds as youd have of dragging the wreck of the Titanic out of a trout stream with a fly rod. Which means, Rivera, you have a serious problem.”\r\nâ€Å"Are you telling me that this suitcase belongs to a serial killer?”\r\nâ€Å"A very old serial killer. Most s erial killers dont even start until their thirties. If we assume that this one was cooperative enough to start when the Justice Departments files start, thirty years ago, hed be over sixty now.”\r\nâ€Å"Do you think it goes farther back?”\r\nâ€Å"I picked some dates and locations randomly, press release back as far as 1925. I called the libraries in the towns and had them check the newspapers for stories of disappearances. It checked out. Your man could be in his nineties. Or it could be a son carrying on his fathers work.”\r\nâ€Å"Thats impossible. There must be another explanation. take on, Nailsworth, I need a bailout here. I cant betroth an investigation of a geriatric serial killer.”\r\nâ€Å"Well, it could be an e laborate research project that someone is doing on missing persons, but that doesnt explain the World War One vets, and it doesnt explain why the researcher would preserve the information on matchbook covers and business cards from places that have been out of business for years.”\r\nâ€Å"I dont understand.” Rivera felt as if he were stuck in the Spiders web and was waiting to be eaten.\r\nâ€Å"It appears that the notes themselves were written as far back as fifty years ago. I could send them to the lab to confirm it if you want.”\r\nâ€Å"No. Dont do that.” Rivera didnt want it confirmed. He wanted it to go away. â€Å"Nailsworth, isnt possible that the computer is do some impossible connections? I mean, its programmed to find patterns †maybe it went overboard and made this one up?”\r\nâ€Å"You know the odds, Sergeant. The computer cant make anything up; it can only interpret whats put into it. If I were you, Id pull my suspect out of holding and find out where he got the suitcase.”\r\nâ€Å"I cut him loose. The D.A. said I didnt have enough to charge him.”\r\nâ€Å"Find him,” Nailsworth said.\r\nRivera resented the authoritarian tone in Nails worths function, but he let it go. â€Å"Im going now.”\r\nâ€Å"One more thing.”\r\nâ€Å"Yes?”\r\nâ€Å"One of your addresses was in Pine Cove. You want it?”\r\nâ€Å"Of course.”\r\nNailsworth read the name and address to Rivera, who wrote it down on a memo pad.\r\nâ€Å"There was no date on this one, Sergeant. Your killer might simmer down be in the area. If you get him, it would be the bailout youre facial expression for.”\r\nâ€Å"Its too fantastic.”\r\nâ€Å"And dont forget to check on Roxanne for me, okey?” The Spider hung up.\r\n30\r\nJENNY\r\nJenny had arrived at work a half hour late expecting to find Howard waiting behind the counter to crucify her in his own erudite way. Strangely enough, she didnt care. even so more strange was the fact that Howard had not shown up at the cafe all morning.\r\nConsidering that she had drunk ii bottles of wine, eaten a heavy Italian meal and everything in the refrigerator, and stayed up all night making love, she should have been tired, but she wasnt. She felt wonderful, full of humor and energy, and not a little excited. When she thought of her night with Travis, she grinned and shivered. There should be guilt trip, she thought. She was, technically, a married woman. Technically, she was having an illicit affair. But she had never been very technically minded. Instead of guilt she felt happy and eager to do it all again.\r\nFrom the moment she got to work she began numerate the hours until she got off after the lunch shift. She was at one hour and counting when the cook announced that there was a call for her in the office.\r\nShe quickly refilled her customers coffee cups and headed to the back. If it was Robert, she would just act like nothing had happened. She wasnt exactly in love with someone else as he suspected. It was… it didnt matter what it was. She didnt have to explain anything. If it was Travis †she hoped it was Travis.\r\nShe picked up the phone. â€Å"Hello.”\r\nâ€Å"Jenny?” It was a womans voice. â€Å"Its Rachel. Look, Im having a special ritual this afternoon at the caves. I need you to be there.”\r\nJennifer did not want to go to a ritual.\r\nâ€Å"I dont know, Rachel, I have plans after work.”\r\nâ€Å"Jennifer, this is the most important thing weve ever done, and I need you to be there. What time do you get off?”\r\nâ€Å"Im off at two, but I need to go home and change first.”\r\nâ€Å"No, dont do that. Come as you are †its really important.”\r\nâ€Å"But I really…”\r\nâ€Å"Please, Jenny. It will only take a few minutes.”\r\nJennifer had never heard Rachel sound so adamant. Maybe it really was important.\r\nâ€Å"Okay. I view I can make it. Do you need me to call any of the others?”\r\nâ€Å"No. Ill do it. You just be at the caves as soon as you can after two.”\r\nâ€Å"Okay, fine, Ill be there.”\r \nâ€Å"And Jenny” †Rachels voice had lowered an octave †â€Å"dont tell anyone where you are going.” Rachel hung up.\r\nJennifer immediately dialed her home phone and got the answering machine. â€Å"Travis, if youre there, pick up.” She waited. He was probably still sleeping. â€Å"Im going to be a little late. Ill be home later this afternoon.” She almost said, â€Å"I love you,” but decided not to. She pushed the thought out of her mind. â€Å"Bye,” she said, and hung up.\r\nNow, if she could only avoid Robert until she could think of a way to destroy his hope for their reconciliation. returning(a) to the floor of the cafe, she realized that somewhere along the way her feeling of well-being had vanished and she felt very tired.\r\n'