“Secret chamber? The bunker?” George pointed at the word on the whiteboard.
“Yes. He didn’t dig the chamber where he buried the bodies, and I’m afraid who did it is going to stay a secret. Perhaps somebody who wanted to take over the bunker and then thought better of it? We’ll probably never know.” She shrugged. “It’s the least interesting part of the story anyway. Shireen checked, and on the day TJ vanished, Zane visited him. It was six hours before TJ was last seen in House Cusabo. Zane came back through a hole in the fence. He met TJ outside, gave him a soda laced with diazepam, and transported him to the bunker. There he cut off his pinkie toe as ‘proof for the bee queen,’ choked TJ with a belt he found at Goodwill, and buried him in the chamber. After that, the entries in his diary are a mixture of guilt and elation, showing clearly how he slips into killer mode.”
“TJ was his trigger.”
“Yes, his first kill. It took him till September to come to the conclusion that killing the people ‘walking the edge’ was his mission in life. Then he took Celia, offed her the same way he did TJ but left the belt with her because it was ‘too clumsy.’ There’s several entries describing how he finally settled on the manila rope and also how he found his next victim.”
“What about the beekeeper suit?” Andi really wanted to know if it had been part of Werner’s delusion, or if it had been calculation.
“As it turns out, both you and Luke were right. Werner described it as his armor, given to him by the bee queen, but also describes explicitly how the armor prevents him from leaving evidence behind.”
“He was off his rocker and present at the same time. Fascinating.” George tapped his thigh in a lazy rhythm.
“Yeah. As for Izzy Whitewall, Werner writes about her that she’s a danger to his mission because she ‘sees the bees for what they are.’ Tina was right. Her sister had found something out, which made her the next victim. Kesha found something out as well. Werner rants about her poking her nose in his business and that he couldn’t get a hold of her.”
“How did he manage in the end?” Again George, his upper body slightly bent forward to not miss a thing.
“He stole the keys to LeClerk’s apartment during one of his shifts, made a copy and then broke into LeClerk’s apartment when both he and Kesha were gone, laced the water he knew she preferred with tranquilizer, and waited till she came home and drank it. It was risky, considering she was living with LeClerk, but he did it anyway to be able to carry on with his mission. Werner does mention how he checked LeClerk’s schedule to be sure Kesha would be alone.” Geena sighed. “According to his diaries, she was too close to finding him out.”
They all were silent for a moment, thinking of the woman who almost caught the madman.
“Anyway, after he killed Marco Flores, he started writing that he should kill at least six people this year. He realized the bunker had been found three days after you searched for Tyler. And we were right about that as well. He never went inside the bunker in between kills, but he hiked there often to be close to the souls he had ‘freed.’ After it was obvious he couldn’t stash his victims there anymore, the entries get frenzied. He was looking for a new place, mentioning the bunker he took Tyler to, but dismissing it as too small. Not appropriate. Then it was revealed that Tyler had found the bodies, and he became obsessed with him. Wrote that the boy was like Izzy, seeing through the veil, whatever that meant. His conclusion was that when he killed Tyler, he could go on with his mission, like it had been after he ended Izzy.”
“And he might have been successful.” George groaned.
“He wasn’t, though. He made a mistake and you caught him. Killed him. Same difference.” Geena smiled with a hint of sorrow in her eyes. “There’s twenty-six victims we couldn’t save, but if he hadn’t been stopped, how many more would have died?”
“Thankfully, we’ll never find out.” George stared at the whiteboard. “It all makes a horrific kind of sense, in hindsight. I’m just glad it’s over.”
Andi stroked his back. The conclusion of a case always opened up a sense of limbo. As stressed as they had been with this one, the feeling was even stronger. Like falling after the rope you’ve been clutching too tightly crumbles and vanishes beneath your fingers. Luckily, Andi knew what would bring back a sense of balance.
“Let’s write our reports.”
They all groaned in unison. “I hate you, Hayes.” Sandra hit him on his upper arm. It hurt because that woman didn’t pull her punches. “After all the paperwork Tobias and I had to wade through for this case, I’d say it’s only fair if you wrote our reports as well.”
Tobias perked up. “I second that. Very strongly.”
“Forget it.” George pushed the two detectives in the general direction of their desks. “See it as the fitting conclusion of your truly remarkable work.” He turned serious. “Really, thank you. Without you two, we wouldn’t have been able to pull this off.”
“You could show your appreciation by buying us another round of donuts.” Tobias winked. “Believe a seasoned detective, sugar goes a long way toward making report-writing bearable.”
“I’ll keep that in mind. Now get on with the writing.” George made a shooing motion, and Sandra and Tobias went off to their desks.
Andi watched their retreating backs for a moment, felt their contentment about a case they could close. It was a sentiment Andi shared fully.
IN THEafternoon, they drove out to Fenwick Hills to visit Tyler. Chief Norris had asked them to do so after they had finished their reports, saying they could take the rest of the day off. Geena had to finish some additional writing for the FBI, and they agreed to meet later for celebratory pizza at Da Tosto’s with the entire team, including the two beat officers who had done a lot of the leg work.
Tyler’s father greeted them happily. He couldn’t stop expressing his gratitude until Tyler told him he wanted to talk to Andi and George alone. Aloys Norris winked at Andi conspiratorially before he went back to his studio. Andi and George followed Tyler to the front yard and out onto the street. After a ten-minute walk, Tyler stopped at the small hill from where they had first seen the copse. Andi put a hand on the boy’s shoulder.
“How are you, Tyler?”
“I’m good. Mom told me about Grandpa.”
Andi felt George tensing beside him. “Was it bad?” his partner asked.
Tyler shook his head. “It wasn’t pleasant, but it explains a lot. She knows but doesn’t want to. I’m just not sure if that’s better than what Dad does, not knowing and trying to humor me, or worse or the same.”
“You will see. I’m sure there’ll be times when you prefer your mother’s take on things and others when you’ll turn to your father.” Andi wasn’t sure if his words were true. His own father had never tried to understand Andi. He didn’t want to discourage the boy. There was enough of that in his future, as Andi well knew.
