Agent Weems responded, “We drove out, talked with the police on the scene. Like I told you, there were dead bodies in and around the place. It’s definitely more than arson. We found shell casings nearby. An unknown, a sniper had set himself across the street where he could pick his victims off as they came out of the burning building.”
“Check out the casings.” instructed Angelo.
"Already working on it."
“Have you finished talking to all the people in the neighborhood?”
“There’s a little more than what I was able to tell you earlier.” answered Weems. “At first the house on Cherry Lane looked as if it was some kind of gang that had attacked it. I was figuring that a couple of guys ran up to set it on fire while one of them played sniper. There were only two houses on that street. One house was vacant, the family had left town for a couple of days. There’s an old couple who lived in the house across the street from the scene. The old man said he didn’t see a thing. His wife who was inside said that she saw a lone man walking down the road and get into his car. She was looking out a window. The old man said he had a better view of the incident and said he didn’t see anyone. He said his wife was always seeing things and wasn’t well in the head. The woman seemed fine to me. I’m inclined to believe the old woman. For some reason I think the old fellow is keeping something to himself. I'd like to bring him in and talk to him some more.”
“Do it. Is that all with the Cherry Lane location?" asked Angelo.
“No. I’ll probably have more for you. It's a possibility that this was done by a lone gunman. If so, it had to have been done by a professional. The grounds are still being checked - I'll let you know what I find out.
"Okay -keep looking." Angelo turned to agent Ted Smith. “What about the Pope Street arson?”
“Gunfire too. I think it’s the same gang - or the same guy. Walking around the place I got the feeling like the killer - or killers weren’t as efficient. There were three people dead on the premises, but not clear if anyone escaped.”
“Smith, why do you say that the job wasn’t as efficient?” asked Weems.
“Well, I walked around both sites. You came by and walked around there Cherry Lane is the same kind of attack, only sloppier. It was very unlikely that anyone could have escaped the first location. Cherry Lane, just didn't seem as efficient."
Weems nodded and Smith continued.
“The Pope place looked as if a gasoline cocktail had been thrown at two sides of the building. The Cherry location had been strategically burned from all sides. The fires at the first location had been started directly beneath the windows as to limit the chance of escape by its inhabitants.”
Weems added, “I can see that. Like it was just one guy.”
Angelo looked at Smith and Weems. “Do you think that it’s just one man doing this?”
Weems shrugged. “It’s very possible.”
Angelo agreed with Weems. “We’ve all seen what just one man can do. If it is a gang, what gang? There's been no evidence of a organized group of vigilantes in our area...highly unlikely. It’s a possibility that we’ve got some unwanted help from private citizens - but I get the feeling that we are dealing with one man.”
"So Agent Forte’", Weems asked, “Who is this guy you met the other day? Did you get a look at him?”
The room filled with laughter. Forte’ rubbed the back of his head and smiled.
“I sure wish I did. I wasn’t in the position to interrogate him.”
“Or did he interrogate YOU?” another agent joked.
“Put your mind at ease fellas - I didn’t talk. He did tell me where to find Robert.”
The chuckling subsided.
“So who is this guy?”
“I wish I knew. I’m sure we’ll catch up with him. He told me that he was not with the Russians. I am inclined to believe him. He really didn’t have to tell me anything. He had the drop on me. He could have easily killed me. If he was really with the Soviets, he wouldn’t have talked like he did.”
“What did you find out about him?” asked DeMint.
“Only that he said he was not a Soviet...and that he found himself in a scenario in which he couldn’t walk out.”
“He might have been the arsonist at Clayton’s. We found bodies in there too.” said Weems.
“This John Doe said he was with Rod, saw him shot and took him away from the scene. The guy is the last one who was with Robert when he died. He is either the killer or is a civilian in the middle. If he was with Townshend, he probably had dealings with Clayton. If we could get hold of him, we might find what information Robert gave his life searching for.”
“But sir, we don’t have a name or a face. The rendering we have is a man with a bruised and bandaged face. There’s not much to go on.”
"If this John Doe isn't with the Russians, why didn't he simply come to the authorities? Why does he feel he's in the middle?" asked Weems.
"I've given it some thought and only have a hunch or two," answered Angelo. "First hunch - and he would be right in thinking it - our John Doe is the prime suspect in the killing of Special Agent Townshend. He is after all the one who told me where the body was dumped. My second hunch is that he's steering clear of the authorities because his hands are dirty in some way. Either way, we've got to get hold of him. He's got information that we don't have, because he's hitting places that we didn't know about. He's ahead of us and we need to catch up with him. We need to find out who he is and nab him as soon as possible. I don't want him dead, we need him alive. There's a chance that he was telling me the truth. If so, we might be able to work out a deal. I want this to turn around soon. I don't want to be following this man's wake!"
"So what do we do now?" asked DeMint.
“Everyone out on the streets, follow every lead. Our John Doe has left a big trail of dead bodies behind him. There's got to be more clues. Keep your eyes and ears open. Go over the information that we’ve got. While on the phone earlier with the Washington bureau, it was decided that Townshend’s acquired names were to be rounded up immediately. I wished that this had been done the night we raided the local locations. I don’t know how many across the nations have scattered to the winds by now.”
“Frustrating!” said agent Phelps.
“The good news is we’ve got J. Edgar Hoover himself behind us. I don’t think we’re going to have any more bureaucratic setbacks. This magnitude - the size of this exposed spy ring has given this case top priority. If any of you men run into any snags - just let me know.”
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