Chapter Twenty-Eight – Danger
"Ouch! Goddammit. Ugh these headaches are gonna be the death of me, aren't they Chazzy buddy?"
Lincoln returned home from a long day of work at the dollhouse. He decided to leave early due to the sudden onslaught of brain-splitting headaches he'd gotten after visiting Mark Hanson's office with Boyd Langton. Lincoln attributed the headaches to the squabble he had with Hanson earlier. He didn't know what made him lash out at the mayor so violently but he wasn't sorry about it. In his mind the mayor deserved it and so much more.
The Gillette/Baker case weighted heavily on Lincoln's heart. He felt sorry for what their families had to go through. He especially thought about Kathleen Baker's 2 sons. How will they react when they learn their mother had been murdered? Lincoln could relate. Both his biological parents died in a car accident when he was only one years old. He didn't remember them much, only that they loved him very much. Lincoln was later adopted by a nice couple, the Bishops. His adopted mother, Elizabeth Bishop died when he was 17. His adopted father, Dr. Walter Bishop still lived, but is currently housed in a mental institution out in Boston. They weren't particularly close. Lincoln and his father were estranged from each other.
Lincoln picked up his dog Chaz from Mr. Vanderlee's and they both crossed the street to their house.
As soon as he stepped into their residence he made sure he turned off all communication devices; any and all telephones, cell phones and even his computers. He didn't want to be disturbed for anything.
"OK Chaz, time for dinner. You can eat outside while I take a bath OK?" Lincoln prepared some Puppy Chow from the fridge and set it alongside Chaz outside on the wooden patio in the backyard to enjoy his meal. He then walked upstairs slowly, gripping the handrail tightly to avoid stumbling. His head was throbbing like crazy. He hoped the bath would sooth his aching head.
He entered the master bathroom and slowly undressed himself. He ran the bath water in the large, deep tub that sat near the large bay window.
"This is just what I need." He thought as he fetched his luxury bath salts and bubble liquid. He inhaled deeply as the calming scent from the salts filled the tranquil room. He took out some candles from the bedroom and placed them lovingly around the bathroom. He lit them and turned off the bathroom lights. The mood was now set.
Lincoln, now fully nude gently put his right foot into the warm bath water, teasing the surface lightly with one toe to test the temperature of the bath he'd just drew.
"Perfect." He said with a light gasp. He slowly stepped into the tub and sat down in the water. He sighed deeply and closed his eyes. He could already feel his head relaxing.
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"I can't reach him." Priya said frantically as she continued to violently press numbers on her cell phone.
"Try again!"
Dave and Priya furiously drove over to Lincoln's home after hearing news from Topher that he could possibly be in danger. As Dave drove, Topher continued to talk to the over the phone, giving them more details about the possible suspect.
"Topher do we know for sure that Mark Hanson is our guy?" Priya asked as Dave continued to drive.
"Well I can't say for sure but it looks like it. He has connections to both victims Cheryl Gillette and Kathleen Baker, not to mention the fact that Lincoln visited him just today. All 3 of them had the same severe headaches, 2 of them suffering from them before being murdered. I heard he pissed the guy off badly, called him out and everything."
"It doesn't make any sense. Why would Hanson go after Linc?" Dave inquired. His focus was mainly on the road, swerving pass cars left and right, the sirens on his SUV howling in the cold, still night.
"Maybe because he just set the guy off." Topher replied.
"That could also be the motive for the other 2 murders." Priya whispered.
"Correct. Cyber Forensics sent me an e-mail earlier. They finished decrypting Cheryl Gillette's computer files. Apparently they were archived e-mails. I skimmed through them. It appears that she and Hanson had an affair. There's some pretty kinky stuff in these messages."
"Bingo." Dave said quietly as he continued to drive erratically, nearly missing a mini-van.
Priya spoke. "That makes sense. Maybe she threatened to go public with the affair so Hanson shut her up by killing her. Could Kathleen also been having an affair with him?"
"Maybe so. I'll keep looking into it here. Do you guys need backup or something? I'm sure the local police can get there faster-"
"No I can handle it." Dave clenched his fist and prepared himself. Lincoln wasn't answering his phone. He feared the worst and thought Mark had already struck. Dave quickly shook the thought out of his head and spoke.
"What about the headaches? What do they have to do with this?"
"Here's the kicker of the century; Mark Hanson, among others, was a participant in a drug trial that Kelencine did back in the 70's. It was for some kind of memory-enhancing drug. I had to get clearance from DeWitt herself to look into the sealed files. There was some awesome stuff in there, I mean wow! Anyways some of the test subjects experienced hallucinations as a side effect. The researchers who conducted the trial looked further into this and found out that they weren't hallucinations at all."
"Skip to the point Topher."
"OK OK Dave calm down. Long story short, Hanson, courtesy of Kelencine, has the ability to hack someone's vision. He is a remote viewer."
"A what?"
A remote viewer. The drugs he'd taken have given him the ability to access a person's mind and see through their eyes, as if they were there themselves. The headaches are a sign that someone is being eavesdropped on."
Priya gasped. "Oh my god. Do we have any word on where Hanson is?"
"No. Boyd sent a team to pick him up at both his house and city hall but no one knows where he is, and Lincoln still isn't answering his phone..."
"Shit!" Dave yelled. He nearly sped into a large delivery truck. He slammed his breaks and swerved out of the way. The truck driver stuck his middle finger out at Dave, angering the already fired up agent even more.
"Dave, slow down." Priya said.
"NO. I need to make sure Lincoln is OK. Hanson could be there right now..."
"Lincoln can handle himself until we get there. I'm sure of it."
"I hope you're right..."
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He stood outside the man's house. He noticed a few lights were on inside. The air was chilly. He'd worn a fleece hoodie to protect him from the frigid night, and to cover his identity.
He thought about their previous encounter. How dare that bastard confront him like that, in his own office no less. He wasn't going to let anyone get away with talking to him like that. Kathleen learned that the hard way...
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