“I knew it wouldn’t dissuade him,” David said, “and at that stage of the conversation, I was keeping from him that we were doing our own investigation.”
“But later you did tell him. And invited him to visit our little group within the greater group.”
“Yes. You think that’s a bad idea?”
Phillip shook his head. “No. Not unless he tries to shut us down. Judging by what you say, I doubt he will — after all, his investigation is only lightly sanctioned by his superior. He can use all the help he can get.”
“That’s my take on it,” David said, nodding. “And I think he’ll loosen up about what he knows.”
Levi then shared the basic background information on Havoc that he had dug up while waiting for the others to arrive.
“I’m afraid,” Levi said, finishing up, “I couldn’t ascertain whether Havoc was in the area when the Riveras were killed, or your family, David. He appears to have been in Cleveland for the Strongsville homicides.”
“That information,” Phillip said, “is somewhere... even if it’s only on the school’s computer, or Havoc’s home one.”
David asked, “Levi, what’s the size of Havoc’s coaching staff?”
“Seven,” Levi said. “Two more are strictly office workers... I printed out all of the information available at his website.”
The two men paged through the material Levi had provided.
Phillip said, “Any one of those seven... perhaps even all nine... could be a viable suspect.”
David nodded. “Yes, but Pryor is concentrating on Havoc.”
“Why?” Phillip asked. “It strikes me as thin — that David’s daughter and Jordan took gymnastics at Havoc’s school may be a simple coincidence.”
“Pryor did mention,” David said, “that he believes the ‘predator,’ as he calls him, may have committed murders in New York and Providence, and several others out west.”
“Where out west?”
“He wasn’t specific.”
Now Phillip’s frown was definitely able to be discerned. “And he didn’t say how Havoc might be connected to any of these homicides?”
“No. Frankly, he didn’t even imply it.”
Levi said, “I think finding out the dates Havoc was out of town, and his whereabouts... where he was lecturing or judging or competing... may be vital.”
Phillip said to Levi, “If he was making public appearances, there should be plenty of mentions online.”
“Phillip,” Levi said, “Havoc is something of a minor celebrity. His name gave up over half a million hits. Sorting through them is going to take awhile.”
“Understood,” Phillip said. “But worth doing.”
Levi nodded.
“In the meantime,” Phillip said, “I’ll look into Havoc’s staff.”
“Where do I come in?” David asked.
Levi could tell David was taken aback, just a little, at the way Phillip had asserted himself — before, David was always clearly the leader.
“If I may be frank,” Phillip said, “what skills do you bring to the party?”
The question obviously irritated the writer, and Levi stepped in: “David’s Internet skills are adequate at best, but he is one badass researcher. He doesn’t let go, once he latches onto something, dog-with-a-bone kinda deal. And he has contacts, including cops and forensics experts, all over the country.”
Phillip unleashed a grotesque smile. “David, my friend, I meant no offense. May I suggest a plan of attack?”
David, just a little stiffly, said, “Certainly.”
“Those cases out west? Search online for murders, say, west of the Mississippi that may present a similar MO to our predator’s.”
“If I may be frank,” David said, “that sounds like needle-in-the-haystack stuff.”
“And time-consuming as hell,” Levi said.
Phillip shrugged. “If it were easy, the FBI would be on the trail of this madman already.”
David sighed, nodded. “No argument there.”
Over the next hour, silence prevailed, as they dug into their respective tasks at their respective laptops. Levi continued sorting through the Internet mentions of Havoc, and then ran checks on two of the family homicide cases that were on his own list of possibles by their man.
Finally, he spoke up. “Guys! Those two East Coast murders that Detective Pryor thinks Havoc is tied to? I think I have them. And something more.”
The other two were looking up from their keyboards at him expectantly.
“I’ve found gymnastics meets that put Havoc — or one of his staff — within driving distance. One in New York, one in Providence.”
“Very good, Levi,” David said, smiling.
Phillip said, “We really need a list, going back as far as possible, for the gymnastics meets Havoc and his people attended out of state, to track other crimes.”
Levi turned to David and said, “All right, David, you and I will switch tasks.”
“Why?”
“I’ve almost certainly pinpointed Pryor’s two murders out east. Now that I have the details, you go over those. You’re better qualified for that. And now that I know how to track what we’re looking for, I can tie any other murders to Havoc’s travel history.”
“But we don’t have that yet.”
“We will. Now those half-million hits don’t seem so overwhelming.”
Phillip was nodding. “No, they don’t.”
Levi went on: “Granted, this assumes Havoc goes to all or most of the big gymnastics meets, and takes his staff with him, at least some of them. If that assumption is correct, we’ll soon know where Havoc’s traveled, and I can look for crimes within, say... a hundred miles of a possible related homicide. We can broaden the search from there.”
Phillip was nodding. “Excellent work, young man. Stellar work.”
They went back to their individual tasks.
Half an hour later, Phillip raised a hand, as if stopping a unit of soldiers trudging through a jungle. “Havoc may not be our predator.”
Levi sat up, rolling his head around, rubbing sore neck muscles.
David leaned forward, squinting in interest. “Why do you say that?”
“Let’s start with the fact that Havoc’s assistant — one Stuart Carlyle — has been with the man from the very start of the school.”
“How in hell did you find that out?”
“I hacked Havoc’s payroll records,” Phillip said, as casually as if reporting the time.
David frowned in astonishment. “And you managed that how?”
Phillip shrugged. “It’s not terribly difficult with some of these small businesses. Really, their security is laughable. Figuring out the password is always the hardest part. The rest is strictly rote.”
“You figured out Havoc’s password?”
Phillip waved that off, as if batting away a bothersome gnat. “Most people who aren’t computer savvy use something they care about, something easy to remember. In Havoc’s case, it was something that applied to both gymnastics and money.”
Levi and David traded a look that said they had no idea what that might be.
“Balance,” Phillip said.
David blinked at him. “Balance?”
“Balance sheet, balance beam. Not exactly NSA-level encryption.”
Levi, impressed, immediately started searching Havoc’s travel history. Within minutes, he said, “Oh yeah.”
David and Phillip’s eyes were on him.
“In 2008 in Boston, and 2010 in Hartford, Carlyle had a room in the same hotel as Havoc. With homicides in Providence and the Bronx, easy enough transits.”
“So instead of one suspect,” David said, “there’s at least two.”