Chapter 5: A Rhythm Begins

When Cody woke the following morning he went to the kitchen to make coffee. As it brewed he turned on the television. The local station was broadcasting from what would normally be a quiet suburb, but this morning the street was ablaze with dozens of emergency vehicles lining the street. The cameraman and reporter were a block away. A zoom lens focused on the front of a house while the reporter’s voice gave the details.

“What you are looking at is the front of the house owned by Sebastian Monarch and his wife Cheryl. From what we have learned, the couple was found dead in their bedroom this morning at approximately 7:30 when the maid arrived. As of now we have no details on the murder, including no possible motives or suspects.”

Cody stared at the TV, transfixed by the activity surrounding the house he left just over eight hours ago.

“I sure as fuck hope my coverings worked,” thought Cody as he sipped the hot coffee.

Knowing that there was nothing he could do by watching the television, Cody took a refill of coffee and his laptop and settled into a chair at the living room table. He encrypted part of the hard drive with a very long password. He opened his word processor and saved an empty document into the super-secret encrypted portion of the hard drive. Being very anal, he also added a password to the word processor file.

With the file created, Cody started to make notes on where and how he should change the focus of his kills in order avoid attention. After an hour of jotting random notes a scheme to started to emerge. Two hours later he had a plan in place to randomize his daily kill pattern.

A. Roll a die to establish distance

B. If roll for distance is the same as the past two days, roll again

C. If the die is
----- 1 or 2: Go ~20 miles
----- 3 or 4: Go ~45 miles
----- 5 or 6: Go ~60 miles

D. Roll the die for direction

E. If the direction roll is the same as the previous day, roll again

F. If the die is
----- 1: Go north
----- 2: Go northeast
----- 3: Go east
----- 4: Go south
----- 5: Go southwest (if 20 or 45) northwest (if 60)
------6: Go west

G. Roll a third time to determine which town
------Odd: Town one
------Even: Town two

In each of the eighteen combinations of distance and direction Cody identified two towns or suburbs that would serve as his target area giving him thirty-six possible target towns every day. Feeling satisfied that his simple rule set would suffice for the short term Cody took out a blank piece of paper and began rolling a die to test theory. After each roll he marked which city would be targeted on which day. After hundreds of rolls he was was confident that his heuristic would work because he was sure thirty-six different law enforcement agencies would not be sufficiently coordinated to track a pattern. He also made a note that the weapon and manner of death needed to be randomized and not the same as what was used in that city previously.

At noon he set aside the laptop and turned on the TV again. The news crew was still stationed outside of the Monarch home.

“As you can see, the coroner’s van has arrived. They have placed curtains near the garage door so we suspect they will remove the bodies by way of the garage, hidden from view.”

Cody shook his head in disgust at how the news sensationalized murder.

The reporter continued. “We have learned that the couple was shot in their bed at approximately midnight. It appears like Sebastian was shot first. Cheryl was shot second, probably to avoid any witnesses. The current assumption is that the shooting may be related to one of the cases Sebastian had prosecuted in the past few years.”

That caught Cody’s attention. At least the initial direction seemed to be away from a jealous ex-boyfriend. When he sighed in relief he realized how tightly wound he had become over the possibility of being found.

The reporter wrapped up the segment with a final word. “While several items of value were taken from the home, authorities assume that the theft was done to disguise the real motive, and everyone connected with Sebastian’s recent cases will be reviewed.”

Cody’s stomach knotted slightly. Maybe he wasn’t as clear as he assumed?

For dinner Cody ventured back to Billie’s. When he arrived a young brunette was standing behind the bar. She was wiping glasses dry and putting them into a rack.

“Hi, welcome to Billie’s!” she called when Cody entered.

Before Cody could say anything he saw Billie’s head appear in the small window to the kitchen.

“Carrie, this is Cody. He’s a regular. Pour him a beer and pass it back to the kitchen. Cody, this is Carrie. She just started. Today’s her first day. Figured it would be an easy day to learn the ropes. Come on back and talk to me while I do inventory,” she told Cody as she turned away from the window.

Cody entered the kitchen and saw the rear door was propped open.

“Oscar is taking five for a smoke,” she said. She held a clipboard and pen. “You want to count or write?”

Cody took the clipboard and sat on a nearby stool. Billie counted the various jars and cans of condiments, the boxes of cups and containers, and various cooking needs such as the fry oil. After each count she called a number to Cody.

The front door opened and a several voices filled the bar.

“Carrie, you need help?” asked Billie.

A minute later Carrie’s head popped into the window. “Nope, I’m good. Here’s the food order. She put the slip of paper on the spinning clip and twirled it.”

Oscar was back and caught the whirling paper. He read it and put burgers on the grill and fries into the oil.

“If you two are OK, we’re going to get the counts in the freezer.”

“It’s under control,” said Carrie. Oscar just gave her a look. He had been with her for years and was easily the best fry cook she had ever employed.

Billie led Cody to the freezer and opened the door. She took a parka off a hook on the wall before they slipped inside to continue the inventory. Instead of putting on the coat, she dropped it on a stack of frozen hamburger patties. Cody’s questioning look was replaced with a smirk. Billie unbuttoned her pants and dropped them and her underwear as she sat on the coat and spread her legs.

“Rain check,” she said, beckoning Cody forward.