Page 35 of No Surrender
Vic cleared his throat. “We think there might be a connection to the Slitter case. There’s a crazy fan stalking people who are involved with the trial, and we’re wondering whether Fischer’s admirer might have cut his teeth on the unsolved disappearances.”
Gordon sat back and looked them over, silent for a moment as he digested Vic’s comment. “That’s a couple of big leaps of intuition.”
Ross nodded. “Yes, sir. We know that.”
“What drew your attention to the old cases? Back in the day, the tourism types wanted to bury bad news deeper than the bodies.”
Vic grimaced, knowing that the business boosters hated any whiff of scandal. “Walt Baker saw the possible connection. For a reporter, he’s a pretty good guy. Ross and I looked into the list of names he gave us and wanted to find out more.”
“Huh,” Gordon said, shaking his head with a sad smile. “I’ve met Walt. Paths crossed on a few cases before I retired. Guessing he’s still at it? Jimmy Olsen would be proud—talk about a bulldog reporter.”
“Guess I shouldn’t be surprised the two of you knew each other,” Ross said.
“We’ve read your case reports.” Vic leaned forward. “So we know the official take on the situation. But we wondered—was there anything else that you didn’t put in the report? Maybe something you figured the powers that be wouldn’t have taken seriously?”
Gordon eyed the two men for a long moment. “Like what?”
Vic cleared his throat. “When Ross and I worked the Slitter case, we had another partner—”
“You’re the one who works with the psychic,” Gordon finished for him, then chuckled when Vic looked surprised.
“I was a detective, remember? I know how to look up someone who calls me out of the blue to talk about something that happened forty years ago.”
“Of course,” Vic replied, looking sheepish.
“So what you’re really asking is—did I see anything woo-woo? Something ghosty or weird that the bosses wouldn’t have believed?”
Ross and Vic nodded. “Or maybe something that hit a little close to the bone,” Ross added. “We all know the Strand has its power brokers. Sometimes there’s pressure to downplay issues that might be bad for business or could embarrass the wrong people.”
“Guess the game hasn’t changed much since I’ve been out of it,” Gordon said with a sigh.
“Probably not,” Vic agreed.
“Most of the time, I loved my job,” Gordon told them. “I felt like I made a difference, that in a small way the world was a better place with each creep we took off the street. One of the things I hated the most were cases where something bad happened to women, and no one believed them.”
He was silent for a moment. “That’s what got me into policing. My sister was murdered by her boyfriend. At the time, no one on the force wanted to see what was in front of them. They wouldn’t investigate and came up with cockamamie excuses why it was her fault she ended up dead.”
Even after all this time, Vic could hear the bitterness in the man’s voice.
“So I became a homicide detective, and I nailed that son of a bitch’s ass to the wall for what he did to Julie,” Gordon continued. “There’s no statute of limitations on murder.”
Vic and Ross exchanged a glance, and Vic’s estimation of the older man notched up beyond his impressive record of completed cases.
“I guess that’s why I stuck with the cases as long as I could—even after I retired,” Gordon confessed. “I had theories, but I couldn’t find enough hard evidence to lead to a conviction. In my mind, I had a solid case, but I know how these things go. A good defense attorney could have raised doubts with a jury, and that’s all it takes to dismiss a case—and then we’d lose our chance to come after the bastard forever. Only one who seemed to think the same was a reporter following the case, Ed Gallagher. I think he’s retired now, too.”
“So you had a suspect in mind?” Ross shifted forward with curiosity.
“I’ll go to my grave convinced that Eliot Thompson kidnapped those girls—young women—and killed them,” Gordon replied. “He had motive, means, and opportunity. Motive—several former girlfriends gave statements that they left him because he liked to ‘play rough.’ Rough enough to leave scars and break bones.”
“Makes sense,” Vic said.
“There were also domestic violence calls from his address, but the cases all got dropped. I think his girlfriends were scared of him or got paid off,” Gordon went on. “I believe he decided to find new ‘playmates’ who didn’t get to have opinions.”
“And no one wanted to follow up?” Vic’s fist clenched on the couch beside his hip.
Gordon shrugged. “Not many. Not enough. The way domestic violence calls are handled isn’t perfect now, but believe me—it’s a damned sight better than it used to be”
“What about means and opportunity? Ross asked.
