“Christ almighty. I’m sorry to hear that. But now that you mention it, I might have something you can use.” Ace disappeared back into his stock room. Ella heard him fumble around, then he returned with a wooden board. He spun it around to show the agents. It had around ten mugshots pinned to it.
“What’s this?” Byford asked.
“See this? These are all the guys banned from my shop. Rude people, thieves, general assholes. You name it.”
Ella skimmed the photos and didn’t recognize anyone. Some of the photos were close-up portraits while others were blurry CCTV-screened snaps. “Looks like a friendly bunch,” she said.
Ace pulled off the picture second from the right. “See this guy? This is Aleister Black. A scummy piece of work to say the least.” He passed the picture to Ella. The man in the photograph had both sides of his head shaved, with long black hair stemming from the top. He had piercing blue eyes, thin features and a scar through his lip. On the shaved parts of his head were tribal tattoos.
“What did he do?” Ella asked.
“To me personally? Not a whole lot. He’s been in my shop a few times, but he just looks around and leaves. Gives me a real creepy vibe, to be honest.”
“Is that all?” asked Byford.
“No. This guy is a collector. An obsessive one. I think he’s got some mental issues because he acts all weird like. No eye contact, twitches, you know the sort.”
It seemed a vast generalization, but Ella didn’t want to mention it. The chances of their unsub having some kind of behavioral issues was almost certain, so this Aleister Black gentleman was definitely worth checking out.
“Do you know what he collects?”
“Coins,” Ace said. He let the silence punctuate his statement. Ella’s head jerked in the direction of her partner. Byford looked as surprised as she did.
“Really? He’s a coin collector. He doesn’t look the type.”
“Like I said, he’s got problems. But there’s a coin dealer down in New Castle; apparently Aleister beat the heck out of him for not parting with one of his treasures. Jimmy had some run-ins with Aleister too as far as I know. It was Jimmy who got me this picture, actually.”
That was all Ella needed to hear. They needed to check this man out. If he’d committed assault, chances were that he was in the police database. The picture of him looked like an official mugshot photo, too.
“Thanks so much, Ace,” Ella said. “This is fantastic.”
“You’re welcome. When you catch this scumbag, give him one from me, yeah?” Ace balled up his fist and punched the air.
“We will. One last thing before we go,” said Ella. “Could you give us a list of any regular clients who buy coins from here? Ideally ones who’ve made recent purchases.”
“I only sold to one guy and the old bastard died weeks ago. Heart attack, I think. I’ll dig through my records for you though, just in case I’ve missed anyone. If you need me, I actually live upstairs here, so don’t be a stranger. Adios.”
The agents left the pawn shop and went back to the car. Ella started up and headed back to the precinct. In her pocket, she felt her phone buzz, and decided that today was the day her relationship changed for the better. The only man she had time for today was a violent, obsessive coin collector.
***
Before she tracked this man down, she needed to know everything about him. In her office, Ella found Aleister Black’s police file and went through it with surgical precision.
“Ace was right, this Aleister guy attacked a man in New Castle last year,” she said to Byford beside her.
“Did he go to prison?”
Ella continued on. “No, just community service. But it doesn’t stop there. He’s been arrested three times in the past five years. Violence, disorderly behavior. Murder is a natural progression from that.”
“Not a bad find,” said Byford. “What’s his employment record? Surely someone this unstable must be a drifter.”
Ella checked the next section. “No, actually. Looks like he worked for Quanta Services Newark.”
Byford scratched the side of his head. “Quanta? Where’ve I heard that name recently?”
Ella moved her fingers off her keyboard. “Have you? I’ve never heard of them. Who are they?”
“They’re an electrical company. Branches all over the country.” Byford went over to his pile of paperwork and rustled through. He picked up the police report from Barry Windham’s murder and leafed through. “Here, look.”
Ella took the file and felt her heart skip when she saw the words. “Holy crap. Barry Windham worked for them too.”
Byford snapped his fingers. “Bingo. We’ve got a link. I’m liking the sound of this suspect.”
Ella felt the same. Just from his picture alone, she could picture this man breaking into homes, slashing throats, and leaving behind bizarre relics. It felt like the pieces fit perfectly well.
“So we know he has links to Jimmy Loveridge and Barry Windham. I’m going to see if I can find any link to the first victim and then we need to pay this man a visit.” She thought about Alan Yates. He’d been retired for ten years but worked for JPMorgan Chase before he settled down. She devoured all of the text on the page, finding no mention of banks whatsoever. There was no more text to consume.
“Hang on,” Byford said. “Didn’t it say Aleister vandalized some buildings in town?”
Ella scrolled back, quickly catching Byford’s train of thought. “Yes, it did. Good thinking. Let me check.” Her excitement was short-lived. “No. He vandalized a pharmacy and a grocery store. Damn it.” She skimmed through the file again to see if she’d missed anything, focusing on the stand-out terms.”
“It doesn’t matter, it’s enough. Let’s get his address and…”
“Hold on a second,” Ella interrupted, landing on a word that caught her attention. “Alan Yates. The sheriff brought us the coins from all of the crime scenes, remember?”
“Yeah. What about them?”
“Do you remember what kind of coins they were?”
Byford browsed his file again. “Japanese coins. One thousand yen. Okinawa 1964 according to this file.”
There it was. Another spark. More pieces falling into place. “Look. Aleister Black lived abroad for a year. Look at the location.”
Byford leaned down to see the screen more clearly. “Well damn. Okinawa, Japan.”
“Come on,” Ella said, pushing herself up in haste. “I’ve got his address. Time to meet this man for ourselves.”
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
The address listed in the police file was a gentrified apartment building called Apollo House, perhaps at one time a warehouse or industrial building. The front had recently been stuccoed, and all four apartments in the front had leaded-glass bay windows.
Ella circled past the building and parked just out of sight. She knew the mindset of a killer, and if Aleister Black was one, he wasn’t going to answer the door to two strangers. She got out of the car, checked the mailboxes, and found that number 1 belonged to an A.B. Behind the window blinds, she saw a silhouette moving back and forth.