The Ripper Puzzle: Chapter 3

Crystal’s eyes snapped open as her cell phone rang. She sat up and looked at Eddie’s alarm clock, which displayed 4:36 A.M. across the display face. She reached forward and grabbed her cell phone, accepting the call and pressing it against her face. “Hello, this is Rio,” she said groggily.

“Crystal, get to the precinct,” said Reece from the other line. “We got another murder.”

“Alright, we’ll be there,” said Crystal as she hung up and looked at her sleeping lover. “Eddie, wake up,” she said as she pushed on his shoulder. Eddie let out a grunt as he rolled over to the side, his naked back turned against Crystal. She grumbled to herself as she stepped out of the bed and grabbed the small glass of water on the night stand and dumped it on Eddie’s head.

“What the hell?” he said sleepily as he sat up and rubbed his face with his pillow.

“Get up, lazy bones,” said Crystal as she grabbed her bra off the floor. “Reece just called. We have another murder on our hands.”
Eddie grumbled as he sat up and rubbed his neck. “Why do they always call you?” he asked as he stood up and looked for his pants.
“Maybe because I don’t sleep like I’m dead,” said Crystal as she grabbed his shirt and tossed it into his face.

Once fully dressed, Crystal and Eddie sneaked out of his parents’ house. Once outside, Crystal followed Eddie to the garage. “Eddie, how are we going to get to L.A.?” she asked as Eddie pushed the garage doors open.

“My dad has a spare truck that he wanted to give me,” said Eddie as he opened the door to a blue and white 1978 Ford F-150 pickup truck. The pickup was in good condition, despite the few dents here and there.

“Wow, that pickup looks old,” said Crystal as Eddie hopped into the driver’s seat. “Will it drive?” she asked as she opened the passenger’s side and sat down.”

“Of course it will,” said Eddie as he placed the key in the ignition and turned it. Immediately, the engine roared with power, the trunk stirring with life as Eddie grinned from ear to ear. “See? This truck is true American muscle,” said Eddie with a boyish smile and drove out of the garage.

Crystal shook her head as Eddie drove down the dirt road, yelling out of the window as he sped down the road.

An hour later, Eddie parked the Ford truck outside the precinct. Eddie and Crystal stepped out of the truck and walked towards the front door. As they walked inside, the Justin Wombat walked towards them. “About time you two showed up,” said the Chief as he escorted them to the morgue. “We got another body. I’m pretty sure that this one is another one of Jack’s,” said Justin irritably.

“Sorry, we are staying out of town,” said Crystal sheepishly as they walked down to the morgue. “So, can you fill us in?”

“Sure,” said Justin. “I don’t know much. We got a call at roughly 3:30. We were unsure if it was his kill or not, but after Reece examined the body, he said it was him,” said the Chief as he escorted them to the door of the morgue. They walked inside, which was filled with the other members of the task force.

“About damn time,” said Reece as he looked up at Eddie and Crystal. “Now that we are all here, let’s begin,” said Reece as he rubbed the back of his neck and looked at Eugene. “What can you tell us about this murder?”

“Well, at first glance, you couldn’t tell it was his kill,” said Eugene as he motioned his hands to the fresh kill on the exam table. The body was an Asian male. He had short hair, clean shaven, and beady eyes. His body lay naked with a long, clean cut to his throat that nearly decapitated him, the vertebra of the neck was exposed. He also had four deep gashes on his cheek; two horizontal cuts and two vertical cuts on each end, forming a ‘II’ on his cheek.

“While the slashed neck is a trademark of his, this was not done with his knife. This was done with piano wire or something very similar,” said Eugene as he walked around the corpse. “Seeing as the victim was found in his car, it is not entirely out of the question that he was choked from behind.”

“So how do ya know if Jack was responsible for the murders?” asked Patrick as he leaned against the wall.

“Three big clues,” said Eugene as he first pointed to the victims cheek. “At first, I thought that the mark on the victim’s chest was a letter. However, after close observation, it is now obvious that these marks are roman numerals.”

“Our second big clue was the watch we found in his jacket,” Eugene moved over to a small stand beside the exam table and picked up the watch. “After looking at this watch, I noticed that the time was stopped,” he said as he tossed the watch to Patrick.

He examined the watch before he chuckled. “Two minutes and twenty four seconds after two o’clock,” said Patrick as he tossed the watch back at Eugene.

“Correct,” said Eugene as he reached into his scrubs pocket and removed a small sheet of paper. “Remember that piece of paper that was found on Ivan Foster? Well, that may not be a detonation code. That may be a code for something else,”

“Something else?” replied Eddie. “Like some sort of clue that he mentioned in the recording?”

“Exactly,” said Eugene as he handed Eddie the slip of paper. Crystal looked over his shoulder to read the code.

198669086930963602396023046

“There’s a lot of repeating numbers…,” said Eddie to himself, walking away from the group to think to himself. “I wonder what the code really is? I don’t see a repeating sequence…”

“So, what do we know about the victim?” asked Crystal.

“Well, his name is Yasahiro Okabe,” began Eugene as he grabbed the clipboard from the end of the exam table and began to read it. “He’s twenty-nine years old…and a known member of the Yakuza mafia,” said Eugene as he cocked his brow.

“Yakuza?” said Mercedes as she stepped forward. “He’s a member of the Japanese Mafia?”

“That’s right,” said Eugene as he handed Mercedes the clipboard.

“Is there a connection between Ivan Foster and this guy?” asked Howard as he took the clipboard out of Mercedes’ hand and examined it. She punched him in the gut and took it back.

“Not that I know of,” replied Eugene as he shrugged his shoulders. “That sounds like a job for you guys,” he added as he inclined his head toward Crystal, Eddie, and Reece.

“You heard the man,” said Reece as he ruffled his jacket for his smokes. “Crystal, Eddie. You two man the smart board and see if you can find some connection between Ivan and our mafia guy. I need to call Daniel and inform him of our progress.”

“Sure,” said Crystal as Reece turned and left the morgue. Crystal and Eddie quickly departed and went upstairs. The smart board was located in a small room used mostly for debriefings and research that took up space. The smart board was a large, electronic screen that had a direct link to the FBI database. Eddie was particularly fond of the smart board, being a technology buff, and loved using it to do all his work for him whenever his laptop wasn’t enough for the job.

“I really need to buy one of these for myself,” said Eddie as he turned on the smart board and sat down in an armchair, hooking up the smart board to his laptop.

“Well, now I know what to get you for Christmas,” said Crystal as she waited for the smart board to start up. Once running, Eddie opened up the smart board program on his laptop and began to type in the new information for the victim list.

“Let’s see… Yasahiro Okabe, age twenty-nine…killed June 2nd, 2011, outside of a 24-hour pharmacy…,” mumbled Eddie as he compiled the information beside the previous victim, Leon Foster. After writing up the main details about his murder, Eddie began to search of all possible connections between Leon Foster and Yasahiro Okabe.

“Well, as I thought, there’s nothing connecting them together,” said Eddie as he finished his regular routine search. “Only thing they have in common is that they’re dead. Then again, I’m not really surprised.”

“Because most of his victims have nothing in common as well?” replied Crystal with a wide yawn.

“Yup,” said Eddie as he looked on the smart board screen, which displayed the faces of Leon and Yasahiro. “The only thing that these guys have in common is that they spent some hard time, but in different prisons and for different charges,” said Eddie as he rubbed his eyes and took out the slip of paper.

“Is that the paper with numbers on it from the first murder?” asked Crystal as she leaned over and peered over his shoulder.

“Yeah,” he replied as his eyes scanned over the paper. “There’s some reoccurring numbers here, but I don’t know how to solve it without some sort of answer key,” said Eddie as he scratched the back of his head. “I guess we’ll just have to figure it out.”

Before Crystal could comment, Justin knocked on the door and poked his head in. “Have you seen Agent Baker?” he asked.

“No, I haven’t,” replied Crystal as she turned her head. “What’s up?”

“Well, Okabe’s brother has just arrived for interrogation,” said Justin as he rubbed his eyes. “Agent Baker told me to notify him immediately when he arrived, but I can’t find him.”

“That’s alright, we can talk to him instead,” said Crystal as she and Eddie stood up, eager to interview the witness. Justin seemed hesitant, but shrugged his shoulders. “I guess that will be alright.” said Justin as he turned to walk away, but stopped. “By the way, I’ve been meaning to ask…Is that blonde chick single?”

Eddie and Crystal looked at each other with confused looks. “Well…I can’t say for sure…” said Eddie as he scratched his head.

“I don’t know myself,” said Crystal as she shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t remember her talking about her personal life…I don’t think she has a boyfriend, so I guess, go for it?”

“Awesome,” said Justin cheerfully before leaving. They shrugged their shoulders and walked to the interrogation room for questioning.

Crystal closed the door behind Eddie as they walked inside and turned towards the brother. He sat on the opposite end of the table, in the very chair that Leon Foster sat in just the day previous. He was taller than his brother, though still short. He was thin, yet muscular. The brother was bald with beady brown eyes and a dragon tattoo on his face. He wore a black suit and tie; he immediately came across as a Yokuza member.

“Hello, Mr. Okabe,” began Crystal as she took a seat on the opposite end of the table, Eddie sitting besides her. “I am Agent Rio, and this is my partner, Agent Arias. We would like to ask you a few questions about your brothers murder.”

He did not reply. Mr. Okabe simply loomed over them with a calm, cold, and collected demeanor despite his brother’s murder. If Crystal didn’t know any better, she’d think that he was the killer.

“Your brother’s body was found outside a pharmacy,” began Eddie as he shifted in his seat. “Do you know why your brother was there at in the early hours of the morning?”

“He had a cold,” he replied in a low voice. “He went to get medicine.”

“Do you know why your brother would be murdered?” asked Crystal.

Mr. Okabe shrugged his shoulders. “I am sure you know of my…ah, affiliation,” he began as he turned his head toward Crystal, his eyes peering into hers. “There are many enemies that would jump at the chance to murder my brother and I. I doubt the FBI would be interested in my brother’s murder unless you thought it was committed by someone you want dearly,” he said in a calm voice, though his eyes flared.

“That’s right,” said Eddie as he leaned forward and cupped his hands. “We believe it was the Ripper that killed your brother.”

Mr. Okabe raised an eyebrow and looked over at Eddie. “The Ripper?” he asked before chuckling softly. “He did not kill my brother. Why would a lowly, crazed serial killer target my family? I’m afraid you’re mistaken; my brother didn’t die like a child as did the others he murdered. My brother died with honor.”

Crystal furrowed her brows in confusion. “We have evidence to believe that it was the Ripper that killed your brother.”

“Well, it wasn’t,” said Mr. Okabe as he turned his head back to Crystal and glared at her. “My brother was murdered by someone else. That crazed killer has no business killing a member of the Yokuza clan,” he said calmly before leaning back into his seat, it creaking from the stress of the weight.

“You seem rather confident,” replied Eddie. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you were the one that killed your brother,”

Yakashiku Okabe glared at Eddie, clenching his knuckles until they were white. “I ensure you,” he said, saying each syllable with malice, “I did not kill my brother. Someone murdered my brother. I know for a fact that it was not the Ripper. It was someone else that is targeting my family.”

“Mr. Okabe, I’m afraid we have evidence to suggest that it was the Ripper that killed your brother,” said Crystal somberly. She reached out and grabbed Mr. Okabe’s hand, looking into his eyes with unflinching determination. “Your brother is dead. The Ripper killed him. I know you don’t want to believe it, but it’s true. Your brother died from an attack from behind. It matches his style. It matches his motive. He made a similar murder yesterday, leaving behind the same mark and clues as he said he would. I’m sorry, but that’s the truth.”

Mr. Okabe stared at her, his facial expresses twisting and churning as he attempted to hide his rage and loss. Tears rolled down his cheeks as he yanked his hand out of Crystal’s grasp. He slowly stood up and glared at Crystal. “How dare you touch me, you bitch.” he shot at her before storming out of the interrogation room.

Crystal leaned back into the chair and sighed as Eddie looked back as Mr. Okabe stormed out, his face filled with rage. “How dare he call you a bitch! I should go kick his ass for that,”

“There’s no point,” said Crystal as she stood up. “He suffered a painful loss. His brother was just murdered; I’m sure he’s in shock,” said Crystal as Eddie stood up and they left the room.

“It still doesn’t give him an excuse,” said Eddie as he held Crystal’s hand.

She returned his grasp. “I know, but don’t worry about it. We need to focus on catching Jack.”

“Yeah, you’re right,” said Eddie as they walked down the hall, passing two police officers by a water fountain.

“So, do you think it was the Ripper that killed him?” said one of the officers. He was ebony with broad shoulders and short, black hair and goatee.

“I’m not sure,” said a cold, familiar voice. “We’ll just have to figure it out.”

Eddie stopped dead in the hallway. Crystal turned to look at Eddie, surprised to see all the color faded from his face. His eyes were wide with shock as he slowly turned to the source of the voice. “Nathanial…” whispered Eddie.

“What?” said Crystal as she turned to see what he was talking about. Standing beside the ebony officer was another with his back turned against them. The officer had shoulder length, wild dark brown hair.

“Jack!” yelled Eddie as he walked toward the officer and grabbed him by the shoulder.
“Eddie!” shouted Crystal as stood momentarily frozen.

At first glance, Eddie and Crystal were looking at the man they were searching for, the murderer of three hundred and twenty five people to date; the man responsible for the horrible Seattle Massacre, the horrific month that resulted in sixty seven brutal murders in Seattle…The Ripper.

“I’ve got you!” shouted Eddie as he attempted push Nathanial down to the ground to restrain him. The officer pushed Eddie aside and created space between Eddie and the Ripper.

“The hell are you doing? That’s my partner you’re assaulting!” yelled the officer.

“That’s Jack! He’s the one we’re….after…” said Eddie as he looked closer at him.

The Ripper picked up his cap and placed it on his head and looked at Eddie. “You think I’m the Ripper?” asked the officer.

Crystal’s jaw dropped. She could see why Eddie attacked him; the officer looked exactly like Jack with one minor problem; the officer had dark brown eyes, far different from Nathanial’s cold, blue eyes.

“I’m sorry, we mistook you for someone else…,” said Crystal as she helped Eddie up.

“It’s alright,” he said as he adjusted his name tag, which displayed Officer Hyde. “None taken.”

“None taken?” said his partner, “This lunatic just assaulted you, Rick!”

“It’s quite fine, Dana,” he replied as he as he placed a hand on Dana’s shoulder. He turned his head toward Crystal and gave her a smile, which sent shivered down her spine. “There’s no damage done. It is a simple case of mistaken identity.”

“T-Thanks,” said Crystal as she grabbed Eddie by the hand and led him away from the officers. “Again, sorry for that…Have a good day.”
“You too,” said Rick as he and Dana turned and walked away.

Crystal turned toward Eddie and glared at him. “What the hell was that for?”

“I though…I could have sworn…,” said Eddie. “That was Jack…that had to be him…,”

“Well, it wasn’t,” said Crystal as she pulled him back to the smart board room. “The guy gives me the creeps, but it wasn’t him. Nathanial has blue eyes,” she said under her breath as an officer walked past them. “Rick had brown eyes.”

“I don’t know…I still think that was Nathanial,” said Eddie as he turned his head back, his stomach lurching at the memory of his first encounter with the Ripper in Portland. “I got the same chill…The same chill that I get around Daniel when he is very angry…the same chill I get from hearing that recording…from that guy.”

“Yeah, me too…,” said Crystal as she turned around and looked down the same direction as Eduardo. “I got that same feeling…of emptiness and void of humanity.” she thought as they stood beside each other, wondering if that officer truly was the Ripper.