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Zoom!
"The movie was posted earlier this morning and has already made San Francisco a buzzword on the Internet."
Dana King, smiling and beautiful, was talking about the posting as if it were just another news story. Ford, peering over Simonyi's shoulder, was dumbfounded. In his hand, with an increasingly tight grip, was the CD that came from MurderLibrary.com. Ford wanted to sit down, but he couldn't look away from the television. The sinking feeling that came over him was overpowering; the case was moving without him, and clues were at a premium.
"Experts are undecided whether the clip is real or not," Dana King continued. "No official statement has been made by the Police Department. However, Eyewitness News has learned that homicide detectives have been investigating a pattern of murders that may be a serial killer."
Ford was stunned. Even Lambert wasn't stupid enough to go public with a serial killer case. Everyone knew that was death to any normal investigation. He tried, but Ford couldn't think of anyone who knew about the case who would talk to the press about it.
Maybe, Ford thought to himself, the killer tipped them off. It would, after all, fit with the letter.
"A letter accompanied some copies of the movie," Dana King continued. A copy of the letter appeared on the screen in neat, white letters.
- Internet Posting
Ford tapped Simonyi on the shoulder and was looking for Jake when Captain Miller approached him. Miller had a more haggard than normal expression; Ford knew his exasperated look.
Standing next to him was a petite blonde in a business suit. Her hair was pulled neatly back, but flowed loosely on her shoulders. The suit was formal but relaxed, and Ford noticed that she wore black hiking boots with it rather than dress shoes. She wore enough makeup to be pretty, but not sexy. She was staring at Miller as if waiting for an introduction.
"Ford," Miller said, rubbing the back of his neck. "This is agent Maryanne Leslie of the FBI. She's going to be stepping in on Lambert's serial killer case."
Ford nodded his head, but kept quiet. He had expected this, but not so soon. The press leak had surely made things worse and the FBI had stepped up its time table. Ford wondered if Agent Leslie was the first choice for this assignment or if she was a last minute filler because she happened to be in San Francisco.
"Ms. Leslie is going to be looking through your files," Miller said, surprised by Ford's silence. "Anything you have open please give to her."
"Mr. Ford," the woman said, extending her hand with a patronizing smile. "I hope we can work together on this matter."
"Am I your liaison?" Ford asked.
"Well," she said, the smile faltering for a moment. "Mr. Lambert has already agreed to help me."
"That works out beautifully," Ford said, his face breaking into a cheesy grin.
"What makes you say that?" she asked, confused.
"Well, Jefferson has two last names," Ford said, smiling even brighter. "You have two first names. You can get together and swap."
"Mr. Ford," Agent Leslie said with a schoolteacher attitude. "I expect your full cooperation in this matter. Any information you get will be delivered to me clearly, concisely, and in a timely manner."
"Yubbes Mubbam," Ford said, smiling. "Clubbearly, cubboncubbiselubbee, ubband ubbin ubba tubbimelubbee mubbannubber."
"Hubbay!" Jake said behind him. "Yubboo spubbeak ubby dubby?"
"Bubbut ubbof cubbourse!" Ford said. "Dubboesn't ubbevubberubbee bubbodubbee?"
"Shubbut... I mean shut up," Miller said. "Both of you. I expect you to cooperate, Ford."
"Fine," Ford said, slapping the CD case into Agent Leslie's hand. "She can investigate the serial killer case."
"What's this?" she asked.
"It's either the movie that's on the internet or it's the next body we're going to find."
"Where did you get this?" she asked. "This is evidence!"
"Odd," Ford said, "that a homicide detective would have evidence on a murder case."
"Ford," Miller said in an irritated tone of voice.
"That was mailed to MurderLibrary.com by your serial killer," Ford said. "You'll find a copy of the Email that accompanied it in the manila folder on top of my desk. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have someplace to be."
With that, he turned on his heals and walked out the back door to the parking lot. Miller looked at Jake, who, in turn, looked to Simonyi; Fish simply shrugged his shoulders and followed. When Jake finally came out of the door, Ford had the Misery Machine running and Simonyi was climbing in the passenger side. Without asking where they were going, Jake pulled the side door open and hopped in.
"Well," Simonyi said. "I guess that means we've got two less cases on our docket."
"Not really," Ford replied.
"You have something up your sleeve," Simonyi said.
"Chris, we're off the case," Jake said from the back seat.
"We're off the serial killer case," Ford said. "We still have two murders that are unsolved on our docket. Neither of which has been declared a serial murder."
"But that's..." Jake began.
"A technicality, I know," Ford said.
"Why don't you just let her have it?" Jake asked.
"Because it's mine," Ford replied.
"We have no evidence. We don't even know where to begin looking!"
"Jake, did you read the letter that Channel 5 just showed?"
"Yeah."
"Do you know what it means when something appears in brackets in a television quote?"
"Yeah," Jake said. "It means the reporter added it for clarification."
"That's right," Ford said. "And Dana King's clarification was wrong."
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