Chapter 20

Sometimes, after seeing the same person every day, one tends to forget the effect that they may have on other people. Ed was so used to seeing John as husband, friend, and colleague that he had stopped seeing him as others might view him. When John arrived at the cabin in the woods with Officer Dow in tow, Ed was reminded just how impressive of a figure John cut.

When John walked from the car to the front door of the cabin, Ed watched him step with a strong stride towards him. The serious look on his face and the fire in his eyes conveyed a frightening raw power. Tall with long white hair and beard, he wore the brown robe of his Druid rank, his cloak, and walking stick. Surrounded by trees, he looked like some kind of legendary figure come to life.

Officer Donald Dow, known to his friends as Danny, was a short stocky man with large strong looking hands. Despite being a strong man, he followed behind John, looking small and insignificant. Danny’s dress uniform, decorated with symbols of power and authority, was not sufficient to draw away any of the commanding authority that John possessed into his direction.

The two FBI agents stared at John with an awe that had become commonplace among agents within the FBI. If they had been intimidated by Ed, they were overwhelmed by John. His appearance, strange as it was, was taken as further proof that the stories circulating within the FBI were true. Seeing him, it was possible to believe that he had once traveled with a cougar.

Kim and Gary, had no idea what to make of John. They stared open mouthed at him. Gary, who had feared his father for most of his life, could not imagine how John had managed to make him look insignificant. The couple huddled together and moved over to Gary’s father at the first opportunity, led by Diana with Gary slightly resisting.

Ed stepped forward and hugged John. Ed smiled as he said, “It’s good to see you. It’s hard to believe that it has been a month since I came out here.”

A delighted smile broke over his face as John replied, “We’ve missed you at home. Those two women of ours are about to wear me out.”

The comment brought an easy laugh to Ed as the two men walked to the cabin. Sitting down on the chairs on the porch, they each had an iced tea. The rest of the group gathered around them like baby chicks around a hen. John looked at the young couple and said, “What do you think of their story?”

Ed took a sip of his tea and looked over that them. They were still holding each other tightly and pressing close to the policeman. Ed said, “They tell the truth for the details they know. The real question is if the details they know support the answer we’ve decided to accept as truth.”

Nodding his agreement, John said, “It feels right to me. So what do you suggest we do?”

Ed looked out over the lake and asked, “Is there sufficient evidence to convict them now?”

John looked thoughtful for a minute as he thought about the evidence. Although he thought the evidence was pretty substantial, trying to get a conviction in court could be a tricky thing. Turning to the senior FBI agent, he asked, “Kip, in your opinion is there enough evidence to assure a conviction if we pick them up now?”

The agent, startled at being asked a question by such a capable agent, recovered his composure to provide an answer. He said, “I’m not sure that the evidence is strong enough to assure a conviction. It’s a pretty good circumstantial case, though.”

Wanting to know at what point they could arrest the couple during an attempt to take another victim would provide an airtight case in court, John asked, “At what point in their normal sequence of activities would we have sufficient evidence to convict them?”

As though he was apologizing for not knowing more, Kip answered, “We don’t know the exact order of the activities, but we suspect that they use a drug to make the victims look drunk. That allows them to carry the victims away without looking suspicious.”

Sitting up straight, Ed asked, “Would the presence of such a drug in a drink be sufficient evidence to tie them much more directly to the previous cases?”

Stiffly, Officer Dow answered, “Yes, it would.”

John and Ed looked at each other and then at the people gathered in front of them. The two FBI agents reminded John of little boys happy to have a chance to tag along with the their big brothers. There was a sense of hero worship in their attitudes. Officer Dow was standing stiff like he was on dress parade. The young couple was standing close together, holding each other in mutual support. Gary kept glancing at his father as though he knew that the least little mistake would result in a tirade.

Disturbed by what he saw, John changed the subject. He said, “You’ve picked a nice place to work on your dissertation. Very different from the place where I did mine.”

Smiling, as he knew exactly where John had picked to work on his dissertation, Ed answered, “Well, I thought that I would be far enough from the action to finish it. I’ve got the first draft completed. Finished it this morning while I was waiting for you.”

“Then I take it your work is going well,” replied John. He knew how the passion could drive someone to work with the kind of dedication that was required to write a dissertation in a month. He had been driven in the same fashion when he had worked on his.

“I’m happy enough with it as a first draft. I’ll let it sit for a week and then read it over,” said Ed. He had watched John work on his dissertation and learned some tricks from him.

As the pair talked, the others were waiting impatiently to find what was going to happen next. Finally, Kip could take it no more and asked, “So what are we going to do about the case?”

“We will think,” replied Ed. The earlier change in subject, suggested to him that John had come to the same conclusions as he had about the group gathered here. This was a very poor team that would probably freeze up the moment things started to happen.

John looked out at the lake and said, “I suggest we fish while we think.”

Wayne asked, “What about us?”

Recognizing that the others needed to bond in some form or fashion, Ed said, “The five of you should spend some time getting to know each other.”

Nodding his agreement, John added, “Yes. Why don’t you go in the house and talk?”

The two men suddenly stood from their chairs. While John refilled the iced tea glasses, Ed fetched the fishing equipment. Within a few minutes the men were walking to the shore. John pointed to a place and said, “Let’s go over there. There are some cattails growing along the shore and we should be able to pull out a couple of big ones from there.”

Ed watched John cast his line a couple of times and how he worked the rod in a smooth retrieval with occasional pauses when he would jerk the pole. John made careful casts along the front of the cattails. Ed powered his line out towards the middle of the lake swinging the pole like it was a baseball bat. He caught the amused look from John and said, “Hey, I’m still learning how to do this.”

John smiled and said, “I’m sorry. I didn’t even conceive that someone could cast a lure that way.”

Between the two men, Ed was the first to catch a fish. He reeled it in and brought it to shore. He was about to bend down, when John said, “Let me get that.”

John knelt down and wet his hands. He carefully lifted the fish by grasping its lower jaw. With a simple twist, he removed the hook from the fishes mouth. He held it up for Ed to look at. The fish was at least three pounds. Ed said, “That’s a big mouth bass.”

“Large mouth Bass,” corrected John. Looking at the fish and the beautiful coloration that the Goddess had given it, it was almost a shame to eat such a work of natural beauty.

Not embarrassed at having gotten the name wrong, Ed said, “I’ve been throwing them back, but I just found out last night that they are edible.”

Smiling, John understood that Ed had probably never fished before. He said, “Bring me the stringer.”

Opening the tackle box that he had purchased as a package complete with lures and fishing gear, Ed asked, “Which of these is the stringer?”

Looking over at the tackle box, John said, “It’s the chain with those metal thingies hanging off it.”

Ed handed the stringer to John and watched as John attached it to the fish. The one end had a snap that John affixed to a stick that he forced into the ground. The fish, on the stringer, went back into the water. John looked up and said, “It will stay alive this way, at least for a while. If we want to release it later, we can.”

The men returned to fishing. John caught three fish and Ed caught one more. Together, the catch was enough to feed everyone at the cabin. As they fished, they talked about how to catch the serial killers. The best plan depended upon the young couple participating in the capture. One problem was that neither man thought the young couple was brave enough for that. The bigger problem was that the team was dysfunctional.

In the cabin, the conversation centered around John Carter and Ed Biggers. Officer Dow asked, “Agents Caler and Widdis, everyone I talked to about those two out there could hardly contain their admiration for them. What do you know about them?”

Kip described some of the cases that John and Ed had solved. It wasn’t until they started talking about the Druids’ Revenge campaign that Officer Dow realized exactly with whom he was dealing. He had participated in some of the raids held that day, and could hardly believe the kind of people that he had managed to capture. He had even received a citation for his participation in capturing one of the men that had resisted with gunfire. He held up a hand and said, “My God! I had no idea.”

Wayne, shaking his head, said, “When I heard that they were a little odd, I didn’t believe it. Now that I’ve met them, I don’t know what to think.”

Earlier in the morning, Ed had turned his back on everyone and worked on his dissertation. He didn’t provide the level of hospitality that Diana expected and he snapped at people when they tried to interrupt his work. Diana had been the most frequent recipient of his ire. She was angry that he would require them to stay there, but wouldn’t treat them as guests. Diana said, “Well, I think they are rude.”

Puzzled, Gary said, “He was totally different before the call yesterday. He was friendly and relaxed. After the call, he became ... I don’t know the proper word ... unfeeling.”

Knowing the seriousness of the situation, Officer Dow didn’t snap at his son. Instead, he explained, “I work with a bunch of detectives at the station. When they are hot on a case, they are practically unbearable. The rest of the time, they are easy going and friendly. Those two remind me of them.”

Interpreting their behavior as arrogance, Diana said, “I don’t like them.”

Officer Dow was silent as he sat there thinking about what he had heard the men discuss and realized that his son was going to be asked to go into a dangerous situation. After a while, he looked at Gary and frowned. Gary noticed and, in a defensive tone of voice, asked, “What did I do this time?”

“Nothing. You’ve done nothing wrong,” replied the man. For the moment, he didn’t feel like a cop, but like a father; a father about to send his son out to face danger and afraid that his son wasn’t up to it. Examining his son, he saw a young man that was physically strong, but he wondered if he had the moral strength to do what needed to be done. Then he realized that his son had never been in a position to prove his moral strength.

Irritated at what he perceived as years of being judged inadequate by his father, Gary said, “You’re looking at me like I’ve done something wrong. I’ve done nothing wrong, damn it!”

Looking at the floor, Donald Dow said, “I’m sure that you know that, in the past, I’ve often considered you weak. That was wrong of me and I’m sorry.”

Shocked, Gary looked at his father. For the first time in his life, the anger that he held towards his father was caught off balance. He asked, “What?”

“I’ve dealt with a lot of nasty people and a lot of good people, all of whom showed their strengths and weaknesses. The cop in me looked at their demonstration of strength and interpreted your lack of involvement in big events as a symptom of weakness. I just realized that you’ve never had the opportunity to show your true strength by facing something bigger and uglier than you.” Donald Dow was silent as he tried to figure out the next thing to say.

Looking at Diana with a worried expression, Gary had a feeling that he knew what was coming next. Diana nervously licked her lips as the intensity of his gaze upon her increased. Although nothing had been said, she felt an increased tension in the room. Gary turned to his father and asked, “What are you saying?”

Donald answered, “I don’t know what they are going to ask the two of you to do, but I will respect your decision no matter what you decide. As a father, I fear for you, and hope you say no; but as a cop, I hope you say yes.”

Listening with the ear of a psychologist, Diana realized that the father hoped that his son would say yes despite what he said. The problem was that she couldn’t figure out what he hoped Gary would agree to do. She looked at the two FBI agents as they looked out the door of the cabin. Suddenly she understood what was being discussed. She said, “They are going to ask us to be bait.”

Almost for the first time since his arrival, Wayne was thinking like an FBI agent. Until now, he had been waiting for John to layout the plan to him and then to be assigned a role in the operation. He said, “They haven’t asked that of you, yet. They may not ask that of you at all. I would if I were in charge of the case.”

Gary said, “I will do it if asked, but I won’t allow them to include Diana. They can’t ask a woman to do that.”

Diana didn’t know how she felt about being protected to the degree where she wasn’t even asked. She asked, “How bad could it be?”

All eyes turned to look at Kip as if wanting an answer from him. Kip knew the answer better than most, having arrived too late to save another person that had faced a circumstance with many of the same characteristics. After a minute of silence, Kip said, “Tell her Wayne.”

Wayne looked at them and said, “I’ll give you the broad spectrum of possible outcomes. The best is that everything goes like clockwork. The worst is that they’ll get away while taking you with them. Somewhere between those two extremes is getting shot in a shootout with them.”