Day 1: 1900
> Zenya handed her driver’s license over to the librarian, who placed it > on the scanner, then scanned the books. Zenya watched this, a thought > suddenly occurring to her. Kali seemed to be a very important symbol to > the killer, and if the killer developed a relationship with his victim, > he might encourage her to read up on the subject.
> "You keep records of who checks out books," Jordan said a fraction of > a second before Zenya could ask the question.
> "Of course," the librarian said. "Problem with that?"
> "No, of course not," Jordan said, pulling out his ID. "FBI. Could we > get a list of the people who have checked out these books recently?"
"Ah, sure," the librarian replied sliding the books back toward her on the counter. She punched a few keys on her keyboard and scanned the barcode on the first book on the pile. "Do you want me to print this out, or do you want to just look at it on the screen?"
"Print it, please," Jordan asked.
The librian nodded, and the printer behind her began to buzz like a supercharged mosquito. She picked up the next book and repeated the process. When all the books had been checked, she retrieved the 6 sheets of paper from the printer and handed them over to Jordan, "These records only go back 3 years because that's when we installed the computers. I'm not sure if we still have any records from before then any more."
"Three years should be fine, thanks," Jordan said taking the paper from her.
Zenya picked the books up from the counter, thanked the librarian as well, and followed Jordan toward the door. "Anything interesting?" she asked walking beside him.
"Not so far," he said scanning the first page of the print out. He held the door for her and they stepped out into the parking lot. The sun was sinking rapidly in the west and long shadows were thrown across the cars in the parking lot. Jordan unlocked the doors of their Taurus and they got in. He handed the list to Zenya and started the car.
As he drove, she began thumbing through the books. "Anything interesting?" he asked.
"Not yet."
At the hotel, he parked and they got out of the car. "I'll look over the list," jordan said, "you've got enough reading material for one evening."
Zanya handed the list over. "I'll see you at breakfast?" she asked.
"Sure, but call me if you find anything particularly interesting."
***
The shades were shut, as they often were in the evenings. Several lit
candles were positioned around the room. A bottle of wine was sitting
in a bucket full of ice on the table. The doorbell rang and he walked
from the kitchen to answer it, pausing long enough to check his hair in
the mirror in the hall.
He opened the door and Rebecca Cross stepped inside. She was wearing a tasteful black dress, and her hair cascaded across her shoulders. She closed the door behind her and threw her arms around the man inside, burrying her face against his chest.
"How was the funeral?" he asked.
"Tasteful," she replied releasing him. "Everyone was grief stricken. The FBI even showed up."
"Dad said they would. Did you talk to them."
"Yeah, an Agent Gorky. She gave me her card," Rebecca replied patting her purse.
"Well, dinner is almost ready, and I'm sure you're hungry."
"I'm starving. And you're so good with it."
"Heart is my speciality," he replied with a grin.
***
Jordan Stern sat at the desk in his hotel room with a can of coke, the
lists and a highlighter. He began looking through the lists he had
gotten from the library. Mary Ritchie's name did not appear on the list
of borrowers of any of the books, but Rebecca Cross' name did. She had
borrowed two of the books almost a year earlier.
Jordan sat for a few long minutes marveling at the coincidence.
NRPG:
Been working on this one for about a week. Hope it was worth the wait.
I'm heading to Cleveland in about an hour. See you in a few days.
Respectfully submitted,
Alton Reich
SA-4 Jordan Stern, Team Leader ZULU