No, maam. Now, you posted your van on a buy-and-sell site. He responded, paid cash, and this was four months ago?
Yes.
How did he take the van away? Did he have a friend with him?
No, he had a pickup truck pulling a trailer.
Okay, good. Now, Ive got your contact information. Someones going to be in touch with you real soon.
Who?
Likely someone from the Utica police, or state police or the FBI. Theyll take a statement from you and were going to need the VIN and-
Who?
Likely someone from the Utica police, or state police or the FBI. Theyll take a statement from you and were going to need the VIN and-
The VIN?
Its the Vehicle Identification Number. Itll be on your papers. Well need your documents to verify the registration history for the vehicle. Well also want all your maintenance records, showing what kind of tires you had on the vehicle. Do you still have the records, or the name of the shop where you had your van serviced?
I do.
Do you have a recent photo of the van?
The one I used on the site.
Can you send it to me?
Yes.
Okay, someone will be in touch shortly.
Please dont give my name to the public. Im a little scared.
No, maam.
After hanging up, Brennan called Utica police, the state police, the FBI and then he alerted his lieutenant.
This ones good, Brennan told him before he began submitting details of the lead into the case data file.
Since the news conference and public appeal, the investigators had received more than one hundred tips, but most of the callers were vague: I think its my new neighbor. Hes creepy. Or, I met this guy at a bar, who said he knew a guy, who thinks he knows where Carl Nelson is, but I cant remember the bar-I was pretty loaded.
The Utica lead was different. It was solid and could be supported by official records. It held the potential to be physical evidence that would stand up in court. It also fit with the theory that Nelson had used a second vehicle to leave the area. At the scene, theyd found tire impressions that didnt come from his pickup truck or the car belonging to the teens whod discovered the fire.
It would be a major break if we could match the impressions with the Utica van. Once the information was verified, details about the van and its link to the case would be submitted to regional, state and national crime databases, like the National Crime Information Center and Violent Criminal Apprehension Program. Bulletins for the van would go to every law enforcement agency in the country.
An email arrived from Lori Koller containing photos of the van. Brennan was reviewing them when Dickson returned to the office after following up on the search warrants executed at the MRKT DataFlow Call Center.
Not much there. I talked to one coworker, Mark Rupp, who swears he saw Nelson online at work looking at real estate websites and taking notes. But the preliminary search of Nelsons computer found nothing, so that one dead-ended.
The warrants also included Nelsons personnel file, where Dickson had followed up.
We dug up his CV and its just what we figured, he said. Ten years ago when they hired him, the companys background check determined Nelson was clean. Nelson said he was from Houston. Turns out he never lived at the address he gave and we now suspect the references he gave were bogus. He likely answered the checks himself. As for activity on his credit card, banking and phone records, weve still got nothing. Ed, this guys invisible.
Maybe not for long-take a look. A woman in Utica just called. Shes certain she sold her van to Nelson a few months ago.
The detectives studied the photos on Brennans monitor. Several views of a silver Chevy 2013 Class B camper van.
Bit by bit were gaining on him, Paul. Bit by bit.
29
Rampart, New York
Magnified images of death reflected on Mortens glasses.
Staring into his twenty-four-inch monitor, the pathologist was thankful hed persuaded the town and county to buy the scanning electron microscope. The unit took up one corner of his small lab across the hall from the cooler and the autopsy room at Rampart General. He was using it to search for microscopic clues into the cause and manner of death of the third victim whose remains were found at the scene.
The deceased was a female.
Her identity was still unknown, but since the case had gained a greater profile-Field of Screams, one New York City paper called it-Compton was confident that it was only a matter of time before they had confirmation, because now he had more help.
Radiographs of the deceaseds teeth had been sent electronically to the chief forensic odontologist at the New York State Police lab in Albany. The FBI was also assisting in accelerating DNA analysis for comparison through its CODIS system with forensic DNA evidence from other criminal investigations across the country and around the world. The FBI was also comparing the deceaseds DNA with the sample provided by Kate Page.
While awaiting word on identification, Compton continued his investigation with the scanning electron microscope. It was unusual for a small jurisdiction like Rampart to have such a piece of equipment. The price tag of a new Swiss-made model was $250,000, but Compton got a second-hand version for next to nothing through a contact at MIT.
The green light to buy it was part of the agreement by the locals to convince Compton not to accept a job offer in Arizona. Hed also taken a course on how to operate the equipment. And recently, hed attended a conference in Chicago that included a workshop on how to use the technology to analyze markings of bones found at crime scenes.
The units magnification power was stunning. The image on the screen of bones looked otherworldly, but to Compton it was evidence. Hed already concluded that the deceased was approximately five feet four inches or five feet three inches in height. Twenty-three to thirty years of age. The cause, manner and time of death remained a challenge because of the condition of the remains.
When the remains were removed, the forensic investigators working on the immediate scene sifted the soil and used metal detectors to determine if bullets were fired into the body, or if a knife, or identifying jewelry, or any other evidence was present.
The body had been found in a makeshift grave in bramble, leaving much of it exposed to air, which had an impact on the rate of decomposition. Little skin was left, much of it like leather. Some of the bones were no longer enfleshed or connected by ligaments, which meant theyd been displaced. At first Compton theorized that a combination of decomposition and animal disturbance accounted for the displacement, but the scanning electron microscope pointed him to something chilling.
Further analysis revealed that the body had, in fact, been dismembered, postmortem.
Hed found marks left on the bones, marks indicating cutting.
With the higher magnification he was able to study the striations formed by the cutting teeth of the saw. The marks were unique in the push and pull strokes. This could point to a specific saw used. Compton was making notes for the report he would send to the FBI for its Firearms/Toolmarks Unit (FTU). The Bureaus analysts could compare the marks and use their expertise and tool databases to point to the model and make of the saw used.
It would be a lead.
Compton removed his glasses, rubbed his tired eyes and reflected on the case. The killer had dismembered the victim after death and placed the remains in a shallow grave like pieces of a puzzle awaiting assembly.
Field of Screams is not that far off the mark.
Weve got something evil at work.
Comptons phone rang.
Morton, Colin Hawkley in Albany.
Hey, Colin.
Got an ID on your female deceased, are you ready to take it down?
Morton, Colin Hawkley in Albany.
Hey, Colin.
Got an ID on your female deceased, are you ready to take it down?
As Compton reached for his pen he stared at his monitor. The magnified images were about to become more than bones. Soon theyd have a name; soon theyd be someones daughter or someones wife or someones sister.
Theyd be a life to be mourned.
30
New York City
A scream pierced the air.
It was followed with squeals of delight rising from crowds at the Childrens Zoo in Central Park where Kate had taken Grace.
This was one of their favorite places to go. Kate had even brought Grace here for her birthday a couple of months ago.
Now, it was after school and Kate had finished at Newslead, but she was anxious to hear back from sources and checked her phone often. There was nothing new from Goodsill in Denver on a link to Alberta and nothing from Davidson on reaching out to hackers. Looming over everything was Kates agitation while awaiting identification of the third victim at Rampart.
The fear that it could be Vanessa gnawed at her in ruthless juxtaposition to the parks calming beauty, the trees arching over the sidewalk portrait sketchers, the vendors, and the young street artists creating huge iridescent soap bubbles. And there was Graces favorite, the musical clock tower with its animal band that circled while striking a classical tune every half hour.
Sometimes the songs were seasonal, like April Showers in spring or Jingle Bells in December.
Look, Mom, theyre starting! Grace pointed.
The musicians began playing the nursery rhyme, Three Blind Mice, with the hippo on the fiddle leading the elephant, the goat and the others. As the animals danced and Grace sang along, Kates phone rang. She took the call while keeping her eyes on her daughter.
Kate, its Ed Brennan in Rampart.
Yes.
Weve confirmed the identity of the third victim.
In the moment before Brennan said another word, Kate gripped her phone and held her breath. Her world moved in slow motion-the penguin banging the drum, the bear tapping the tambourine. All sound suddenly deadened as if she was underwater, again, struggling to breathe.
Kate? Did you hear me? Brennan repeated. Its not your sister.
Yes. She took a breath, sat on the nearest bench, dug out her pen and pad, looking at Grace as the clock played on. Yes, can you give me the name and details?
Were putting out a news release within the hour.
Cant you tell me anything now?
Were playing things pretty tight.
Are you any closer to finding Nelson, any leads?
Kate.
But youre still looking for more victims, right?