Enter Sandman part 4

 

“Who’s the musicman?” I asked.

“He’s the man that always sings to us at bedtime. He sings to us every night, but he didn’t sing me to sleep because I was reading a book. I didn’t want to sleep.” The paramedics came in and nearly tore Camilla out of her mother’s arms. Jester and I walked into the courtyard.

 “Who’s the musicman?”I asked Jester.
 “I Ron’t know Raggy,” Jester replied ala scooby doo. “But I think we got us a clue. “I paused to think. Sing to them, sings song.

“Do we have blueprints of the complex at all?”

“I’m not sure we would have to check the dossier. What are you thinking? “We walked over to the swings. I sat down lighting another cigarette.

“What if we are sitting in the wrong spots.”

“What do you mean?” Jester said sitting beside me.

“I want you to look up.”

“Okay.”

“What do you see?”

“Apartments, Jade on the roof and people coming home from wherever.”

“In other words…”

“Traffic, witnesses.”

“This maybe the hunting ground but we aren’t looking in his special spot. Every hunter has one.”

“If we got a blueprint, we could find out where Camilla’s and her brother’s bedroom is. Then we can compare the list of victims to where the bedrooms are. “

“That sounds too easy Trin, no sucker would make their hunting style that easy to track.”

“Then what’s the harm in looking?”

“I don’t want to fail the assignment because of a hunch. We’re supposed to track and locate.”

“You’re worried about failing the assignment?”

“Well, yeah. How are we supposed to become full agents if can’t follow a simple surveillance task? They must be able to trust us. And before you even say, ‘I’ll do it myself’ if one of us fails, we all fail.”

“Then we’ve already failed. Look at the stunt Damon just pulled. After something like that do you really think they’re going to let us all out on assignment again?”

“We could explain.”

“Explain what Jester, that one agent went rogue after his partner went on a potty break?” Jester sighed and mulled over the possibility of being able to catch the vamp. “We’re screwed tonight regardless. Might as well try to get as much done before anyone realizes things have gone tits up.”

“Crap,” He exhaled. “I hate it when you’re right. So, what now?”

“The next shift will be here before we know it. We gotta work fast.”

“How do we know the sucker will strike again tonight?” He had a point there. I sized him up for a moment. I got him on the plank, now how do I get him to jump off? Too it was just a hunch to Jester, there had to be facts.

“Maybe that’s the reason the sentinels haven’t been able to catch him. They’re not thinking about all the possibilities. That’s why they have the trainees on surveillance.”

“You have a hunch, don’t you?” He said rolling his eyes. “Luckily, you caught me in a no fucks given mood.”

“Do you think Jade will rat on us?”  I eyed her post out of the corner of my eye. “She seems cool enough.”

“I mean even if she would, why does it matter now.”

“It would be helpful to have someone to cover for us or stall. Especially when Damon wakes up he’s going to be looking for revenge.” He sucked his teeth.

“Yup, yup… I would be too.”

“But you’d never be that stupid.” Jester’s familiar half smile dripped from his lips. We made our way back to the roof and the apartment complex was once again silent. I walked over to our gear set up and took out the dossier. Jester, being his charming self, convinced Jade to be our alibi.

I flipped through the files. Aside from people sleeping there wasn’t much else connecting them. Different times at night, different demographics, different schedules, and even different times. I flipped further through the files, and I found the blueprints. Jester and jade approached me from behind. I found what we’re looking for.

“I think I might be right.”

“How so,” Jade asked.

“Rupert’s bedroom is on the north side and beside his is Camilla’s.  Both rooms are facing toward another property. I was thinking about something Rupert said about the Musicman, he skipped Rupert because Rupert was reading.”

“Okay, what does that mean?” Jade said.

“Because Rupert was reading, Musicman moved on to Camilla who is east of Rupert. Meaning, if luck is with us-”

“We head west,” Jester said as he leaned over the blueprints. “There’s a chance we can catch him.”

“There’s no way,” Jade shook her head. “It’s too easy. Suckers typically leave their prey.”

“We’re in the field now,” I said sticking the blueprint in my back pocket. “This isn’t an exercise. I think it would be a good idea to check all alternatives. Since Damon has blown our chance at being back in the field anytime soon, let’s see what happens.”

“You’ll be flying blind; I won’t be able to watch you and the courtyard.” Ah, Jade.
Ever the voice of reason.

“Might work better that way. You can have deniability then.”

“I just want to go on record to say this is a bad idea.” Jade crossed her arms and pouted.

“Couldn’t be any worse than Damon’s,” I pointed to the still passed out visage.