“Huh. How about somethingonthat other case. It’s evidence now, Alex.”
I described the similarity between the body dumps of Marissa French and Vicki Saucedo, whom I left anonymous. How wondering about family protectiveness had led me to her college-student brother, also unnamed.
“He turned out to be studying math at Oberlin College in Ohio and that flashed me to the two cases Moe found. Both crime scenes were a short drive from the college so I checked out the brother’s social platform and the big surprise was Flick being his tutor in addition to Keisha’s. My gut told me it was more than coincidence but I had to be sure, maybe he just was one of L.A.’s hot math teachers. Then I found out he’d also taught Errol Moffettandone of Sterling’s college-aged twins.”
“Math and murder,” he said. “The guy has a sideline?”
“On the face of it, bizarre,” I said. “And I suppose it’s possible Flick worked with someone else who did the actual shootings. But the Ohio connection makes it more likely that it’s been his finger on the trigger. More than that, the Oberlin connection. Flick himself graduated from there and was present when the second victim, Steckel, worked as a campus custodian.”
“Some sort of run-in with a janitor so he kills him?”
“If I’m right Steckel wasn’t his first trophy. He graduated Oberlin nine years ago, making him thirty-one or -two, meaning fifteen or sixteen at the time of the first Ohio shooting—Wiebelhaus. Violentacting out often starts in adolescence. And often a sexual component is there. If we can find a connection between Flick and Wiebelhaus and Steckel, we’ve got a whole bunch of bricks for the wall.”
“Unbelievable,” he said, sitting in my desk chair and taking a long time to exhale. “I go to sleep and produce night-music, you reinvent the wheel. Okay, let’s learn more about this scholar but I need to do it by the book, don’t want to mess up the evidence chain. Ergo we use my computer, not this one. Since you’re a wizard, wanna beam me up to the station?”
Without waiting for an answer, he charged past me, through the house and out the door.
I hadn’t run this morning, settled for following his long strides.
—
He drove to Butler Avenue way too fast, had barely shut the Impala’s driver’s door before he was charging through the staff lot, continuing across the street, and flinging open the station door.
He pressed past the civilian clerk’s greetings with a wave. Cursed violently because the elevator was engaged and made rare use of the stairs, then sped toward his office where, flushed and panting, he jammed his key into his lock as if it were a lethal weapon.
Remaining on his feet, he logged in using his police I.D. and got onto NCIC. At first glance, unaware of my presence as he typed viciously.
No hits on Cameron Flick. He sank down hard enough to make his chair squeak and growled like a bear in pain.
Social Security records were more agreeable. Flick had received a card at the age of eighteen, and that led to his birthdate and birthplace.
Thirty-one years ago, Vantage, Ohio.
I said, “The town where Leonard Wiebelhaus was shot. It’s a hamlet so there’s a good chance Wiebelhaus was known to Flick. Maybe intimately, as in stepfather.”
He said, “Blended family gone to hell? Thank God it’s an unusual name.”
He pluggedWiebelhausinto the SSA records, came up with two names.
Crystal Jo Wiebelhaus, thirty-six, Akron, Ohio.
I said, “Right age for a sister.”
Felicia Sue Wiebelhaus, sixty-nine, still in Vantage, Ohio, living in a trailer park.
He said, “Right age for a mommy. Let’s see if she and Leonard ever made it formal.”
The couplehadobliged, obtaining a marriage license twenty years ago at the Lorain County Probate Court in Elyria, Ohio. Second try for both. Felicia’s previously registered surname: Flick.
Milo sat back, breathing hard. “You royal-flushed again. Screw crime control, let’s catch a flight to Vegas.” He rubbed his face. “Stepdaddy, who better to hate.”
I said, “When Felicia married Wiebelhaus, Cameron was eleven. My guess is they didn’t get along, maybe even to the point of Cameron being abused. Cameron endured it until he was fifteen then made his move. He’d be in a great position to know where and when Leonard would be hunting pheasants.”
“If Felicia suspected she never said.”
“Maternal protection. Or Wiebelhaus had been rough on her, too. Or she was scared of Cameron. In any case, we’re talking a smart kid who planned well and got away with murder at fifteen, which is pretty intoxicating.”
“He convinces himself he’s an untouchable genius.”
