Chapter 6

Two days later with the FBI and local law enforcement they found the farm of J.J. Mitchell in the Bald Hills near the town of Yelm. “It turns out a Mitchell lives there and it is assumed it was a brother or John himself,” Brad told Billy and Steve.

Steve said, “How is that possible. You got me totally confused. I thought the brother was dead and then who is buried in the grave in LA?”

“Well, you must have missed something while things were going on. We think that the guy in the grave is a missing man that looks like our killer John. He faked his death and imposture his brother for the life insurance. He’d set up an address and house in San Diego and when it came time to collect, John played the part of his brother. It was easy to prove with a SS number and a driver’s license obtained some time ago. The life insurance wasn’t a large sum. He was smart to not draw attention and collected the hundred thousand plus the sale of his house in LA. It was very neat and clean. That’s an overview and the particulars are in a report if you care to review.”

Steve knew they were on the way to Olympia and left to pack his bag and call his superior. Brad called the airport and put the plane on standby while Sujin made ready their things. Billy took a quick shower and sucked down a fag in the shower with a powerful fan sucking out the smoke and steam. Clever he thought, but Brad already knew his trick.

Wendy noticed this time Brad took Sandy and left a sad looking Rocky to take care of the home base. Sandy looked out the window at Rocky and maybe in dog language she gave him the nose thumb!

It was late at night when they landed in Olympia. Steve left for Seattle for a meeting with his superior who had flown out after hearing they might have the suspect located.

They stayed at the Edgewater in Olympia and left the next morning to the east where the Bald Hills formed the side hills of the Cascade Mountain Range. The FBI had staked the farm out and when they arrived, was told all was quiet if squealing pigs indicated a quiet farm. Special agent Norm Nicks from the Olympia office led the team to the farmhouse door at eight am. A knock produced a very likeness of John Mitchell. Norm showed his FBI credentials and asked if they could come in. The man stood back and let Norm, Brad, Wendy and Mike in.

The house was a mess and it looked like the pigs lived in the house. Paul Mitchell as he said his name threw papers and old clothes in a corner to make room in a broken down sofa for them to sit. A kitchen table and four chairs were piled high with cereal boxes and god knows what all. Brad and Mike moved two kitchen chairs into the living room and Wendy had made a place on a sturdy coffee table by moving a pile of trash while Norm in his tailored suit chose to stand. Paul sat down on the sofa on top of old clothes and waited for someone to say something. Brads first impression was the guy was a little retarded, but found out later it was only a game he played.

Norm began the questions by reading him his rights and then asking him who owned this farm? Paul replied, “I do. My daddy gave it to me when he died.”

“When did he die Mr. Mitchell?”

“Oh, years ago.”

“What year Mr. Mitchell?”

“I can’t remember, he said looking up at the ceiling if the answer was stuck on the greasy looking ceiling with large water marks from a leaky roof.

“Tell us if you have recently been to California.”

“No, I don’t even know where California is”

“Can you prove your whereabouts for the last few months?”

A long time passed before he answered and rubbed his stubble on his chin and said, “The feed store in town knows me and I go there once a week for pig food in my daddy’s pickup truck.” Brad moved to Norm’s side and whispered in his ear.

“Mr. Mitchell would you mind if some of our agents look around your farm and in your house?”

He seemed to think about that and as if he didn’t know why he played the role well by looking around the room at the mess and said, “I don’t see why not. Watch out for the momma pig with little ones as she gets a little ornery if strangers come around.” Norm left to inform his agents to look for anything that was not part of a farm. Leave no pile of pig scat unturned he told them.

Brad and Mike took the yes to mean to start looking for the place one might hide costumes and make up cases or bags. Paul sat there and didn’t move for two hours while the FBI looked in or under or over the complete farm. Brad and Mike looked for underground places like an old root cellar where someone could hide or things stashed.

While they were looking, Wendy was asking him questions about his family and life here on the farm. Wendy reported later he answered all her questions like a person who lived here all his life; with nothing out of the ordinary. But, she added, that there was something not quite right about the too pat answers.

Disappointed after stopping off in Yelm at the feed store and finding Paul did come once a week and usually on a Saturday. They checked the sales receipts going back for months and sure enough he had charged his feed every Saturday like clockwork. The salesperson told them at the end of the month they send the bill to the local bank and the bank deposits the amount in their account.

Next they stopped at the bank to check the account of one Paul Mitchell. They found a six figure balance and learned from the manager when the daddy died of a farm accident he left a sizeable insurance policy to Paul the son. The lawyer set up the accounts for taxes on the farm and groceries from a local supermarket. Paul never needed to carry cash or write a check.

Back at the motel the team sat around discussing the day’s events with Norm and his assistant special agent, Mark Lee. All eyes went to Brad and he took the lead by saying, “I looked closely at this hands and fingers. They didn’t appear to look like a farmer’s hand at all. Also there wasn’t much dirt under his nails and because his shirt sleeves overlapped his wrists I could tell if a scar was there or not. My gut tells me we were with John the serial killer and I did see your agents Norm getting some evidence to determine DNA. I’m glad now we sent agent Jones to Sacramento for the books. Get a hold of him and have him follow up on the grave site DNA. Also, let’s exhume daddy J.J and check his DNA; in addition, find out the lawyer who handled the estate. Mike what do you think?”

“If it is John in real life he is one cool customer. Even if it is him all we have on the guy would be fraud of an insurance company. We don’t have a shred of evidence to tie to this bird. I’m holding out on committing who this joker is, but if it is him, how did he fool the feed store and how could he be in two places at one time?”

“Easy Mike,” Brad said. “There is a brother and he was hiding somewhere on the property. They have had years to build a hiding place and if Wendy is correct in saying the father abused the kids, maybe he dug a jail type room somewhere and stuck the kids in it for punishment of some sort.”

Wendy’s mouth fell open at the suggestion of what Brad just said. “Of course,” she blurted out, “it stands to reason. I’m a fool for not thinking about that.”

Norm spoke up and said, “I will have the army fly over with a helicopter and use infrared heat source equipment to see if we can locate an isolated heat image besides the pigs and one person in the house.” He left the room to make a call and Sujin spoke for the first time.

“Sandy never took her eyes off of him. Dogs know. ’

“I think he is gone and to parts unknown to us at this time. I know,” as he saw Norm about to tell him they had a watch on the place, “that he has an escape route and by now you will find the real brother completely baffled. Norm, I suggest you get the person who is there now his DNA. We need to look at hospital records, death certificates and so forth.”

Mike said, “I’m on the records,” as he left the room to contact Billy and research the county records and the father’s death certificate.

Meanwhile Norm was in the corner using his cell phone. First he called the agent to check on the house. Take his picture and a sample of his DNA. Next he called the office and had them find out where JJ Mitchell was buried and dig him up with a court order. In addition, as he was in agreement with Brad on John escaping, told his office to put an alert out and stop each car for a search. Fax the description to all law agencies. There was only a couple ways out of the Bald Hills by pavement. One logging road was used by a timber company but it had a locked gate at the east end. Norm took no chances and had them call the sheriff's office to have someone sit on the locked gate.

Brad looked at his watch and saw it was only about noon. He wasn’t hungry but they had missed breakfast. He thought it prudent to have something to eat and nodded at Sujin who knew what he was thinking. She took Sandy for a walk and told the restaurant to take orders from the people in the meeting room. She ordered for both Brad and her then took Sandy outside to let her do her thing. Sandy was on a leash; let the motel guests feel relaxed seeing the police dog. Sandy appeared to want to sniff the parking lot and Sujin gave her free reign. This was strange as she normally did her business and whined to go back where the action was. Sujin went on the alert and her senses became acute. Looking at a slow point to point 360 she took in what was normal and anything out of the ordinary. A few cars were coming in for lunch and no cars leaving. That was natural as it was lunch time. They passed the FBI van they had used earlier and made for the back of the parking lot. She looked at every parked car for human occupants. Nothing. Sandy, ears up, slowly moved toward a U-Haul van sitting against the back parking lot at an angle to cross ways to the parking lines. Sujin thought that normal as many people moving had similar vans and parked in the back because the vans were too big to park straight in.

Sandy was not happy about the van and Sujin tried to see if there was anyone in the driver’s seat. Cautiously they approached the driver’s door when the motor started and the van took off, but not before she caught a glimpse of what looked like the suspect from the farm. Sandy gave a bark and looked at Sujin.

Did he follow us to the motel, she thought. If so, he must have changed places with his brother very quickly. That would mean the secret room is under the house. To leave the house through the back and make his way to a hidden vehicle meant he had planned this from the beginning to find out who was looking for him. It gave her the chills thinking about it as they went back to the motel and lunch.

Sujin went to the ladies room before having lunch with the team. Of course she memorized the license plate, but she realized it would lead nowhere. The rental place would have a completely different description of him or her that what he truly looked like. This was his turf and now he had a good look at who was in charge of the case and what really was his purpose of hanging out in the parking lot? Maybe he thought he could kidnap a member or the team? She would share this new development with the others as she made her way to a small meeting room where lunch was being consumed.

She sat down next to Brad and he took one look at her and Sandy and realized something happened either in the motel or outside. He made no move to ask and waited until she was ready to tell the story. She ate her cold soup and baked trout like nothing was any different. Small talk was going around the table and that was when Steve, looking like he’d been up all night, walked in with a drawn haggard look. He took an empty chair as the waiter asked him if he would like some lunch. He told the waiter he would have whatever the lady was eating and bring him some fresh and not old coffee. The waiter saw the look in his eye and told him he would brew a fresh pot for him right away.

Brad looked at his friend and said, “Burning the midnight oil, Steve?”

Steve looked him in the eye and said, “We have to find this guy and bring this spree of killing to a halt.”

Brad told him they had found the killer and plans were in place to try and apprehend him. When he had Steve’s attention, he told him the story in detail and when he finished, Sujin took his place relating the parking lot incident.

Wendy was shocked and couldn’t believe what she heard. So brazen of him and it appeared he was teasing them; daring them to catch him and if they did, what would the charges be. This was becoming so bizarre and complicated it was making her mind change gears to keep up with the rapidly changing events of this drama.

Steve asked a few questions as Norm got up and made a phone call to his office reporting the story of Sujin encounters with the suspect. He’s been contacted earlier by the agent at the farm that indeed they took his picture and got his DNA. Other than that he reported the guy only blubbered and cried the whole time. He was acting like a ten year old kid, the agent reported. As to the escape route, the agents found a trail and a place where a vehicle had been parked on an old logging road. It had been drizzling rain most of the time and there was a dry place under some trees next to a gravel road just off the main Bald Hills road, but out of sight from anyone parked near or at the farm itself.

Brad took all this in and said, trying to ease the tension around the table. “Look, whether or not he intended us to find the farm through the pig book the fact remains we did. We found him and he held the ace in the hole by buying enough time to make good his escape. Now if the one clue was left by him, then that means more clues are waiting for us. The books will tell us his next move and I think our business here is over for now. We will leave the FBI to do their jobs finding out the DNA and following up on the death of father JJ. I think we will find out the father was murdered and most likely it was John that committed the murder of his father. Now, one more thing, this guy followed us here and I don’t want him following us to Oregon. Steve, tell the pilot to file a flight plan to Seattle and then a flight plan to Salt Lake City. Meanwhile we will drive to Portland and meet him there at the international airport next to the Columbia River.”

Before leaving Brad had a private word and left Norm a phone number committed to memory after he gathered the facts about the lawyer who drew up the document; the father’s cause of death; and the case history of Paul Mitchell, the retarded member of the family.

In case they were followed the FBI had a method of deception for just this purpose. First they drove to the shopping mall. A large eighteen wheel truck stood backed into an unloading dock next to the J.C. Penny store. At the opposite side of the store, where the follower might be waiting thinking they would just walk through the store and out the other side into waiting cars, they would in fact enter the trailer of the truck. It was custom designed in the back for on location communications and other vital needs of the FBI. Thirty minutes later they were headed down the I-5 southbound to Portland. In the first rest area a van waited for the passengers to continue down to Portland. Even Mike was impressed as he sat on a sofa next to the wall. He was quite comfortable and took a nap until the rest area.