For those who don’t know, twenty years ago The Coded Killer shook the West Coast to its core. From 2002-2006 he killed 23 people, and then vanished without a trace. The image of his white mask with a red question mark painted on the front is still seared into all of our brains. My name is Bill Watkins, and I joined the force in 99.
No officer will ever forget the messages he sent. They never were figured out in their entirety but the ones that were haunted the force for years. Hell, some spots in the area received nicknames just because of the things he did.
He described in-depth the grotesque nature in which he would dispatch his victims. He would brag that we couldn’t do anything to stop him, and we knew it. The only time we ever got close to catching him I was shot, and my leg hasn’t been the same since.
Twenty years to the day of his first killing, we received a new message. It was nearly identical to the originals. It was also signed in blood: CK. That was followed by news of a murder in town. The woman had numerous lacerations, and had been hung upside down. By the time the body was found, she had nearly been drained of all of her blood. One of her fingers was missing.
“Watkins, do you really think he’s back?” a voice said, with a hint of excitement added. It was Carmelo Mayes, my partner. He could best be described as the young hot shot on the force. He had a perfectly trimmed fade, and was the type to wear sunglasses indoors because he thought they made him look cool. Mayes was a bright kid though, he knew when it was time to get serious.
“I guess we’ll see. Mayes, who has the message?” I asked.
“Walker does,” he replied.
“I’d like to see it. Let’s join the Captain, aye?” Mayes face lit up.
It didn’t take long to get to the station and meet up with the Captain.
“Well Captain, whatcha think?” I asked.
“Bill I hate to say this…I think it’s authentic,” he replied. Captain Walker’s face was tense. We used the same key as the first cipher from 2002 and this is what came out.
I was gone for a time but now I crave more,
I do so hope you enjoy the remains of #24.
The time has come for another to fall,
Cannot wait to display my next work to you all.
He’ll scream and yell and beg for mercy galore,
Before this adventure ends my count will tally 22 more.
If you hope to find me you better be quick,
For up my sleeve lies one last trick.
You couldn’t find me after the original 23,
I can’t wait to show you all a brand new me.
The room was silent. A whole new killing spree was on the horizon. Unless we could stop this person first.
Mayes looked onward, staring. I nudged him.
“Whatcha think?” I asked. This shook him back to reality.
“I don’t think we can rule out a copycat. The ciphers were public knowledge so anyone could use that key,” he said.
“It’s also the easiest way to get a message out and prove he’s legit. The last time around he made the messages easy to decipher, and they got more difficult as they went along. The others might not be so easy, assuming this continues,” Walker responded. Mayes nodded. “With that said, you’re correct, we can’t rule anything out. Watkins, come with me to my office, I’d like to chat.”
“Someone’s in trouble…” Mayes said, laughing. I cracked a grin, and put my hand on his shoulder.
“Get on home son. You’ll want as much sleep as possible while you can get it. This is going to be a long one,” I replied.
I followed the Captain into his office. He closed the door behind us. “Bill, we can’t let this happen. We can’t go through this again. You and I are the only ones here who went through it last time. We must catch this man at all costs. Even if we have to stretch the rules a bit. This stays between us, of course.”
I sighed. That hadn’t needed repeating. The last time this happened had shaken all of us to our core in one way or another. That same sense of anger had returned. So had the fear.
“Trust me Karl, I will find whoever this is. They won’t get away with this.”
That night I went home, and thought about what this meant. There was a genuine fear of what may come from this. Fear for Walker, and fear for Mayes. Not knowing how this would play out had me on edge.
A few days passed by with little to note. Each day the pit in my stomach grew larger.
“Tell me what we know Mayes,” I said.
“Well one of the reasons he’s been so tough to catch is he doesn’t have a known MO. Twenty-three, potentially twenty-four victims, with no known ties, and twenty-four different methods of killing. His versatility led us to believe he was ex-military but that never led anywhere. He also takes a piece from each of his victims, and eats it. He’s a cannibal.”
“Forensics come back with anything on the note?” I asked. It was a long shot but you never know.
“We should be receiving something back on that soon. Oh, speak of the devil,” he said. Ashley from forensics was rushing in.
“Traces of DNA were found. It’s Walker’s,” she said. My eyes grew wide.
“Does he know? Where is he?”
“We haven’t been able to reach him. He didn’t come in this morning.”
No. Not him. I started breathing heavy. I could not let this killer take him away.
“Let me see the message again. The killer had to have left clues in there,” I said. Taking deep breaths, I tried to remain calm. We’ll figure this out. We have to.
“Crave. Remains. Fall. Display my next work. Adventure. Up my sleeves. These could all be hints at locations. Crave could mean a restaurant. Remains is likely a cemetery. Fall? I’m not sure on that one. Display my next work seems like a gallery of some sort. Adventure, perhaps a park? Up my sleeves? A tailor?”
“Even if those are all correct, that is a minimum of six vague locations. What restaurant? What graveyard? There has to be more to it,” said Mayes.
“To start things off, I have to imagine they use tricks that were used before. Coordinates mattered once. Order mattered. Word count…word count!”
“What do you mean?”
“The line with crave has eleven words. So looks for a restaurant with eleven letters. Graveyard with ten letters. Something with eight letters, gallery with ten, park with ten, tailor with eight.”
“Alright, let’s run it,” I said, wiping sweat from my brow.
We received mixed results. The good news is there was only one cemetery with ten letters near us. Ox Cemetery. Along with only one gallery and tailor that matched up. L’hermitte and Watson’s.
However, we still had no clue what a fall could be for. Multiple parks were ten letters, and there were numerous restaurant options that were eleven letters.
“What if it’s not a park?” Mayes asked.
“What are you suggesting?”
“Amusement park?”
“None of those would have ten letters.”
“That’s true but there is only one near us, and it’s nineteen letters. If you take the line above about screaming and yelling, that could also be like riding a rollercoaster. That makes it nineteen words, not ten. The only amusement park here is Orion Adventure World. Nineteen letters.”
“Excellent job Mayes.”
We scribbled it down on a sheet of paper before us.
???, Ox Cemetery, ???, L’hermitte, Orion Adventure World, Watson’s.
“What could fall be? A mountain? Skydiving? Ziplining? There are so many options. We don’t have time,” I said. “What are the restaurant options?”
“Ovrlook Eats, Mann Theater, Haddonfield, Elm…” but I didn’t let him finish.
“I’ve got it.”
“How?” he asked.
“Look at how they are laid out on the sheet right there. Write one on top of the other. Add Haddonfield to the top. Now take the first letter of each.”
Haddonfield
Ox Cemetery
???
L’hermitte
Orion Adventure World
Watson’s.
“It’s not six locations, it’s one. The missing word starts with L. It spells out Hollow.”
The nickname of the spot where the second body was found,” Mayes said, coming to realization.
“Exactly. We need to go. Now.”
Please be okay Captain. My breathing had quickened again. Not knowing if he was alive or not was eating at me.
When we arrived at the location deemed The Hollow, it didn’t take long to find Walker. He was tied up to a tree, and stripped down to nothing. A question mark had been carved into his torso.
We moved closer, and the body began to stir. His head raised, and eyes fluttered open.
“Watkins?” he muttered.
“Yes, Captain. I’m here.” Thank god he was alive. As I went to untie him he started to nudge his head to the right. I looked over, and there sat a letter.
“Mayes, untie Captain,” I said.
I went over to the letter, and examined it closely. Could it be dangerous? No, that would ruin the fun. This person likes the chase. Slowly, I opened it up.
It was this word search.