Hour Game

"Something like that," replied the deputy nervously. "Probably more than a few people touched it. I told my friend at the paper to keep quiet, but I think she might have told some people that she thought this was serious."

Williams's big fist came down on the top of his desk so hard both King and the deputy winced. "Damn it! This is spiraling right out of control. How the hell are we going to keep this on the q.t. if we can't even control the folks in Wrightsburg?"

"Let's look at the message," King said. "We'll worry about the media spin later."

He hovered over Williams's shoulder as the lawman examined the envelope. The postmark was local, mailed four days before, with a stamp applied very exactly. It was addressed, in block letters, to Virgil Dyles of the Wrightsburg Gazette. On the lower right-hand corner of the envelope was the circle with crosshairs. There was nothing written in the return address block.

"Not much there," said Williams as he unfolded the note. "Maybe there's some expert who can tell us something from how he wrote the letters, placed the stamp and such, but I sure as hell can't."

The message was written in blurred black ink, again using block letters, and the lines were in tightly structured columns arranged both horizontally and vertically.

"The blurred part is from the ninhydrin," the deputy explained. "They use that to fume the letter for prints, you know."

"Thanks. That never would have occurred to me," Williams said testily.

All the lines were in code. Some of the characters were letters; others were merely symbols. Williams sat there for some minutes going over it carefully. He finally sighed and sat back.

"You don't happen to know how to break codes, do you?" Williams asked King.

At that instant Deputy Rogers-who served with King when he'd been a part-time Wrightsburg police officer-knocked and came in, holding some pages in his hand. "This fax just came in for Sean."

King took the pages and said to Williams, "I do now."

He carried the letter and faxed pages to a small table in the corner, sat down and began to work. Ten minutes later he glanced up. This wasn't good, he thought. In fact, this was probably worse than having someone running around copying the Zodiac killer.

"Have you deciphered it?" demanded Williams.

King nodded. "I have some experience with cryptograms from my years at the Secret Service. But I recalled that a high school teacher from Salinas originally broke the code to the San Francisco Zodiac's letters. I have a friend on the force there who's very familiar with the case. I thought he might have access to the teacher's notes. That's what he faxed to me, the key to the code. That made it pretty easy."

"So what does it say?" asked Williams, swallowing nervously.

King checked his notes. "It contains misspellings and grammatical and syntax errors, deliberate ones, I think. So did the original Zodiac."

Deputy Rogers looked at Williams. "Zodiac? What the hell's that?"

"A serial killer in California," explained Williams. "He was slaughtering people long before you were even born. He was never caught."

A look of panic appeared in Deputy Rogers's baby blues.

King began to read:."By now, you find the girl. She's all cut up, but that ain't me. Cut her up looking for clues. Ain't none. Trust me. The watch don't lie. She was numero uno. But more numbers to come. Lots of 'em. One more thing. I ain't, repeat, ain't the Zodiac. Or his second or third or fourth coming. I am me. It ain't going to be that easy don't you know. By the time I'm done you wish it be just Zodiac."

"So this isn't the end of it," said Williams slowly.

"Actually, I'm afraid it's just beginning," answered King.

CHAPTER 12

DEPUTY CLANCY WAS TALL AND well built and trying hard not to look anxious as he stared between Sylvia and Michelle.

"Are you going to be okay?" asked Sylvia as she watched him closely. "I don't need you passing out on me."

"I'm fine, Doc," he replied gamely.

Sylvia said, "Have you seen an autopsied body before?"

"Of course," he answered curtly.

"These are shotgun wounds to the head." Sylvia looked at Michelle too as she said this.

Michelle took a deep breath. "I'm ready."

"Part of the job," said Clancy, trying to project confidence. "In fact, next month Chief Williams is sending me to the Forensic Crime Scene School."

"That's a great program, you'll learn a lot. Don't let what you're about to see dissuade you from going."