Leroux walks into the conference room with Wren following close behind. Everyone is buzzing. The air feels thick with equal parts adrenaline and nervous energy. The lieutenant’s booming voice cuts through it like a machete.
“Here it is,” the lieutenant declares, slapping the jazz festival flyer onto the bulletin board that has been wheeled in front of the room. He stabs a tack into it and turns to face the group. “This is where the killer responsible for the Seven Sisters Swamp and Twelve Mile Limit murder scenes will likely be tonight. If his own breadcrumbs are to be believed, he plans to ruin more innocent people’s lives. Leroux and Broussard, get up here.”
Leroux and Will exchange an anxious look but follow the orders of their superior. The room has started to dissolve into chaos as the news washes over everyone at once. Leroux hates standing in front of a room. Wren can already see the red splotches appear on his collarbone. He, like she, prefers the solitude of research and individual legwork to the immense pressure of sharing vital information with a large group. Leroux clears his throat and gestures somewhat broadly to the flyer stuck to the bulletin board.
“So, we have found a pretty definitive match for the piece of paper found on the last victim’s body. It is from this flyer for the jazz festival downtown today. Based on what we have discovered to be an emerging pattern across these crime scenes, it is extremely likely that there will be a body drop at the festival or somewhere around it.”
A young patrolman raises a finger in the air and lets his elbow drop on the arm of his chair with a clear sense of skepticism. “How the hell is this guy going to even consider dropping a dead body at a huge festival? So far, he has been doing his drops at night. Are we supposed to believe he has suddenly escalated to this level of confidence?” he asks as his face twists into a look of exasperation.
Will pipes right up before Leroux can.
“Listen, no one is saying that we know exactly what his plan will be. If we knew that, we would already have our own television show, and no one else would die,” he jokes.
The room snickers and the heckler turns his head to the side in a snarl. Leroux grins, too, but quickly returns his focus to the situation in front of him. Wren can see that he wants to say more. She wishes he would.
“All we know is that all signs point to something big happening at the festival. Now, whether it is a false alarm or a prank is not really pertinent here. We can’t take the risk, and I don’t think anyone will fault us for acting in a massive way here,” Leroux confirms.
The room seems to agree that overreacting is highly preferable to possibly risking more lives. The lieutenant uses a deep, stern voice to silence the mumbling. “This is priority number one now. Everyone is to have their eyes open and their radar up at this event. If I see a phone in one of your hands tonight, I’ll make you eat it,” he warns.
Snickers fill the room again, followed by anxious chatter as Leroux and Will begin to explain the plan of attack. Will smooths out a map of the festival site and tacks it up on the board.
“There are three stages set up out there now. One main guy and two smaller ones,” Will explains, pointing to the three sections on the map. “Obviously, most of the crowd will gather around these areas, as well as the spots where food is sold. People love to eat, and they love to listen to loud local music up close. We will station most of you around these high-traffic zones and then stagger the coverage throughout the rest of the festival grounds.”
Leroux nods along in approval, clasping his hands together and bringing them to his chin. “Every single entrance and exit has to be covered and then covered some more. No one gets in and no one gets out without us knowing about it,” he adds.
Wren can see the skepticism on some of the faces in the room and knows Leroux sees it too. Even she can’t help the questions forming in her own mind. Is the killer really this brazen? Is he really this stupid? His confidence level has always seemed higher than most, even from his first body dump. It isn’t entirely out of the realm of possibility that he is capable of escalating to this grand show of power. But she also wonders if Leroux’s plan and legions of officers will actually help today. This killer is the type of guy who blends in. He doesn’t make civilians cross the street to avoid him or clasp their purses tighter as they pass by. He doesn’t wear his evil on his sleeve or even his face. Based on his profile, she believes he was able to convince most of his victims to leave with him willingly. He didn’t forcibly abduct them. He is interested in causing chaos from afar, not becoming entrenched in it himself.