Page 26 of Say Nothing
Women like this need to know we won't stand for injustice.They need to be made to pay, and we’ll make sure they do!
Alison looked at the man’s face, lips pulled back, teeth bared like a wild animal.His eyes were full of fury.If the photo were a video, he might erupt into a vengeful scream, and Sarah would cower from him.He looked like a man who took matters into his own hands, and he was attacking a witness and victim advocate in the photo.
Had he taken matters into his own hands?
"All right, I want to know everything there is to know about this man, and I want to know it now," Derek said."And I want him located yesterday."
"His name’s Raymond Nichols," Special Agent Loxley said."He runs a group calledBalanced Justice,which he started—"
"When his brother committed suicide after his parole hearing," Alison finished.
"You know him?"Derek asked.
"Not personally, but I remember the case," she said."His brother was up for parole, and it was denied.He killed himself in his prison cell, and there was some outrage at the time, led by Raymond.He claimed that the witness lied on the stand and emotionally manipulated the panel."
"Did they?"Derek asked.
"I’d have to look at the transcript," Alison said, "but almost all hearings are emotionally charged.Both sides appear to be emotional unless there’s discovered evidence to be submitted, in which case, emotion isn’t needed.In cases of violent crimes, the prosecution would focus on what might happen if the inmate were released, and how it would affect society.I gave some notes on the case, that’s all I remember, but afterward, I remember that the decision was a fair one, even after hearing about the suicide."
"Raymond Nicholls obviously didn't think so," Loxley said."It was after his brother’s death that he started the group, and they’ve had multiple run-ins with Sarah Livingstone over the past two years.He’s had run-ins with many witnesses, but numerous with her, after she became a victim advocate."
"He’ll believe that she’s part of what’s wrong with the system," Alison said."Do we know who testified against his brother?"
"Mary Candlemaker," Loxley said."We’ve already sent a patrol car over to her house, and she’s safe.An officer will stay outside the house for now to keep an eye on her."
"Good," Derek said."Okay, so his brother is up for parole, he has been denied, and he kills himself.Raymond can't deal with that and blames the woman who testified against him in the hearing, and starts the group, believing injustice is being done and the system needs to change.He targets women he believes are giving emotional testimonies to manipulate judges and juries, and what?"
"Lots of protesting outside courthouses," Loxley said."He confronts them when he’s able."
"When Sarah Livingstone becomes a victim advocate, she becomes enemy number one to him.So, he decides to take matters into his own hands and kill her?But before that, he kills Margaret Donovan?Does that make sense?"
"To the killer, it might," Alison said."If he's mentally unstable, maybe caused by the death of his brother, he might resort to actions he never normally would and rationalize them.I'm only going by one picture so far," she pointed to Raymond in the document Derek still held—"but that looks like the face of a man who's unhinged.He looks like a man capable of violence."
"If he has a group of people all fighting for the same cause, he has options and reach," Derek said."Maybe he convinces a few of them to fight like he’s fighting.A loss of family can drive someone to do desperate things."
Alison knew that was true.She lost her sister twenty years ago, and she’d never stopped looking.There had been times when she had come close to losing control and letting her anger take over, but she had channeled it into positivity.It would have been so easy to slip in the other direction.She didn't condone killing, but she understood how someone could get to that place.
"While we wait for Jason to provide an alibi, we chase down Raymond," Alison said."He’s definitely a person of interest."
"Do we know where he is?"Derek asked.
"He’s a hard man to find," Loxley said."After his brother’s death, he slipped off the grid, apart from his organization.We’re still looking for an address, but if we don't get that, we know he has a demonstration or rally planned outside the courthouse in two days."
"Two days," Derek said."I don't want to wait that long.I want him found long before that."
***
They did have to wait that long to find Raymond.There was no known address or place of work, and he hadn't used a credit or debit card in eighteen months.One day, he was a regular member of society, and the next, he disappeared—he was a ghost.
Derek and Alison sat in their car on the other side of the road from the courthouse, waiting for Raymond to show, both of them with the horrible feeling in the pits of their stomachs that he wouldn’t.
"The timeline from Jason Weber is extensive and detailed," Derek said."It all looks and sounds real, and the work was carried out as he said, but we don't have one shot of him on camera.Most of the work done on the systems could have been done remotely."
"If he accessed the buildings, there must be records of him accessing the alarm panels on site," Alison said.
"There is," Derek replied, "but we still have two problems."
"Which are?"
