11:55 am
FBI Headquarters
Nikki found the report on Richard Whitmore’s single car accident without too much looking. The vehicle was recovered from a canal in the New Orleans outskirts. Damage to the vehicle was consistent with the impact into the canal and no body was recovered. Techs on site noted several gators in the area and the body was presumed eaten.
Nikki turned her attention to the body they found in Montgomery, AL from the email Simon received from Philip Bernard. They found the body of a 34-year-old part time construction worker. He was killed with several spears from a spear gun. They found the anti-Simon logo from the last several murder scenes at the crime scene. Background on the victim showed a drunk & disorderly 2 years ago and spotty work history, but otherwise he had no criminal record. This killer was just randomly picking individuals, there is no method to his victim selection. That’s even worse, Nikki thought, both for them not being able to track or anticipate his moves, but also for the innocent people out there in harm’s way for no reason.
The Jaws theme started playing on Nikki’s phone and her stomach flipped over several times and she began blushing. After kicking her door shut so no one could witness her ridiculousness, she anxiously returned to the email:
“Dearest Butterfly,
I miss you! I hope you are feeling better and not trying to be superwoman, even though you would look awesome in some blue tights and a cape….sorry, the road is tough on a man. I can’t stop thinking about you. I thought about how much you use your computer and laptop and know that typing with the loss of a finger has got to be overwhelming. You can always use speech to text software, but if you would rather keyboard or need the privacy, I created an algorithm that can predict with pretty high certainty the correct spelling of a word missing one of the left pinkie characters. You can type like you normally do and the program will fill in the missing letter for you and highlight the word so you can review to make sure it is correct. I hope this helps, I attached the program.
I am close to Bernard now, you may want to have McShay check out the Savannah area, I hear it’s nice this time of year. Tell him to make sure the cell he found is charged.
Bernard’s latest email, I received it about an hour ago: “I see you have finally accepted my challenge Simon, I welcome the competition. I have been honoring your kill style out of respect but I am my own man and you can now follow me’ There are just so many other avenues I am looking to explore. I hope you enjoy hearing all about them.” I have also attached the coordinates of the computer he used to email me. You shouldn’t have trouble finding the body, I am sure he is making some kind of statement with it.
Take care of yourself and be safe. I love you.
Simon”
Nikki leaned back and closed her eyes and went to that night in her mind for just a second. A shudder went through her body and she opened her eyes back up, leaned forward and got back to work.