Freddie, the poor devil who started the whole thing off by missing his cousins, got a five-year suspended sentence for burglary. One of the few plea bargains I agree with. And I know Fred. We'll probably get him for burglary again someday. He won't be able to help it.
Freddie's aunt, the mother of the murdered Colsons, came to see me. She wanted to know what the man was doing in the house, when he killed her sons. Why he was there in the first place. I finally told her that he was a burglar, too, but a much more dangerous one than her sons.
The best news, from an evidentiary point of view, was that we finally had access to the real fingerprints for Gabriel. We were able to match them as far back as an ejected rifle cartridge found at the Stritch farm where the photographer was shot. Finally closed that case.
Both Harvey and Linda Grossman told us that Gabriel had, indeed, killed the two boys at the farm. He had thought they were cops, and never changed his mind. Harvey 's in prison, doing an armed robbery stretch for the boat business, time plus fifteen years for having the handgun in his possession. He was, it turned out, a convicted felon. Federal. Volont had been onto him from the start, and made sure Gabriel was able to recruit him. Seemed kind of unfair to me. After all, he never would have been there in the first place if it weren't for Volont. Linda got a twenty-year suspended sentence. Her daughter, Carrie, was the main reason for that.
I never told anybody what Volont told me about the devices Gabriel wanted to buy. But I watch the news every night, waiting. Somebody, after all, has probably purchased them by now.
Volont said that when he was at the body of the first surveillance agent, he could hear somebody say, "He's where?" inside the shed. Turned out that Carrie was on the phone to her dad, telling everybody where we were. That's why he jumped over the snow pile. When he did, he just about landed on the second surveillance agent's dead body. Gabriel had apparently killed him just before we got there. As Volont was checking the body, Gabriel was behind him. Must have been quite a surprise.
Oh, one more thing. George told me that Volont was really mad at him. Kept making the claim that he could have gotten the gun away from Gabriel, and it wasn't necessary for George to shoot at all. Right. The thing was that, this way, we all damned well knew where Gabriel was now. For the first time.
The thing that bothered me most, though, was the hurt look on Hester's face when Carrie was yelling at her. She deserves so much better than that.
Glossary
AG: Attorney General, either State or Federal
ATF: Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, sometimes referred to as BATF, a bureau under the U.S. Department of the Treasury
CIA: Central Intelligence Agency. An agency of the U.S. Government
COMM: Police Radio call sign of the Communications Center in Nation County
DCI: Division of Criminal Investigation. A Division of the Iowa Department of Public Safety
DEA: Drug Enforcement Administration, an agency of the U.S. Government
DIA: Defense Intelligence Agency, the Intelligence analysis section of the U.S. Department of Defense
DNE: Division of Narcotics Enforcement, an agency of the State of Iowa, and an offshoot of DCI
DNR: Department of Natural Resources, an agency of the State of Iowa
FBI: Federal Bureau of Investigation, a bureau of the U.S. Department of Justice
ISP: Iowa State Patrol, the uniformed division of the Department of Public Safety
ME: Medical Examiner
NASA: National Aeronautics and Space Administration
NRO: National Reconnaissance Office
NSA: National Security Agency
SA: Special Agent, either of the Iowa DCI or the FBI
SAC: Special Agent in Charge, either of the DCI or the FBI
SO: Sheriff's Office
The so-called "ten codes" were developed in the early days of police radio communications. Many times, in those days, the first part of a transmission would be lost due to equipment vagaries, while the length of the transmissions and their clarity was improved by assigning numbers to the most common messages. Therefore, the "10" was used to alert the listener that a message number was to follow. This system has remained in use, and seems likely to do so for the foreseeable future.
10-2 Good Signal, usually used to mean simply "good"
10-4 Acknowledged, frequently used to indicate agreement
10-5 Relay
10-6 Busy (as in doing cop work), often used as a "do not disturb" sign on the radio
10-7 Temporarily Out of Service (as in lunch)
10-8 Back in Service
10-9 Repeat
10-10 Fight
10-13 Weather and Road Conditions
10-16 Domestic Case
10-20 Location
10-21 Telephone, as in "ten-twenty-one the office"
10-22 Disregard
10-23 Arrived at Scene
10-24 Assignment Completed
10-25 Report in Person to Meet, usually used simply as "meet"
10-27 Operator's License Information
10-28 Vehicle Registration Information
10-29 Check Records for Stolen, modern usage also means "warrant" or "wanted"
10-32 Suspect with Gun, also used in reference to knives and other devices
10-33 Emergency
10-46 Disabled Vehicle
10-50 Motor Vehicle Crash
10-51 Wrecker 10-52 Ambulance
10-55 DWI
10-56 Intoxicated Pedestrian
10-61 Personnel in Area, frequently used to indicate that a civilian can hear the radio
10-70 Fire
10-76 En Route
10-78 Need Assistance
10-79 Notify Medical Examiner, also used to indicate a deceased subject
10-80 High-Speed Pursuit
10-96 Mentally Disturbed Subject
As an example, if you as an officer were to suddenly encounter an armed suspect, shots were fired, you needed help, and thought somebody had been injured, you might transmit:
"ten-thirty-three, ten-thirty-two, need ten-seventy-eight, and get me a ten-fifty-two, this is ten-thirty-three!"
(Note the use of 10-33 twice, which officers tend to do when emphasizing dire straits.) An excellent dispatcher will get the whole picture, and may merely try to discover your position by saying "ten-four, ten-twenty?" As with any system, the clarity and usefulness depends entirely on the quality of the personnel involved. An excited officer may be merely garbled, and the transmissions result in a "ten-nine?" An inattentive dispatcher may "tune in" halfway through the message, and receive incomplete data. This, too, can lead to additional risk and hazard.
This is only one example of why the retention of your top-notch people is so important.
Acknowledgments
To Dr. Peter Stevens, I wish to express my great appreciation for his great knowledge of pathology, his enthusiastic advice, and his support of my efforts. I would like to express my gratitude to the Officers, Dispatchers, and Staff of the Clayton County Sheriff's Department, for their continued cooperation and assistance, and for the work they do every day and every night. I would like to thank my friends "on the boat," who explained some complex things to me. I thank my wife, Mary, without whose support and encouragement I would not be able to write; and my daughter, Erica, who provides honest and constructive criticism in the early stages of each book.
About the Author
DONALD HARSTAD is a twenty-six-year veteran of the Clayton County Sheriffs Department in northeastern Iowa, and the author of the acclaimed Eleven Days. A former deputy sheriff, Harstad lives with his wife, Mary, in Elkader, Iowa.
