Chapel: Man in The Mirror... Part Three... Victim Zero.

 

The snow had arrived much earlier than expected, and it was a full ten days since he'd heard anything from the man he only knew as Chapel. Delmar Eckley heard his phone ring at 5:30 PM on Thursday, just before dusk, he had been napping on the sofa when he heard the phone, and as soon as he answered, he'd recognized the cold almost mechanical voice at the other end of the call almost immediately. It was Chapel. He asked Eckley to bring the folders with all the information to the Delorian Street Cathedral and to ask for Father McMillan. He caught the 6:38 bus to Keller street before getting off at Delorian and heading east to the Cathedral to where Chapel said that he would be waiting. Upon entering, Eckley was greeted by Father Michael McMillan, who held his hand out, giving him a nervous look.

"He's waiting for you, through the double doors to your right, I'll be along shortly." Father McMillan told him.

Eckley stopped halfway down the hall and turned to address the Father. 

"So, Father McMillan? Now that you've actually met your angel? what is your first impression of him?" Eckley smiled.

Father McMillan gave slight pause to the question.

"He's-  Taller than I thought he would be... Bigger too."

Eckley entered through the double doors to find Chapel with his back to him with both hands clasped behind his back, looking down at the table to where a map of the city lye, denoted on several places on the map there were several pawn chess pieces, marking specific areas of which Eckley figured to be areas of interest. Chapel informed him that the chess pawns marked each crime scene, only there weren't seven, there were twelve. Eckley drew a deep breath, carefully looking over the map of King's Harbor. his eye's kept shifting back to Chapel in nervous glances. Puzzled, he turned to face him fully but said nothing at first. Chapel's eye's never traveled from the map.

"I've been to every crime scene, from the last, working my way back to the first. and I must tell you Mr. Eckley, you were indeed right to be concerned, but what you were made aware of is only part of the story, They've been at this a lot longer than you or the police think. There aren't seven dead children... There are twelve, working my way back from your very first known site, there were five other children taken from Bettenhurst, more in particular, the homeless district between Tower Row and Beacon Hill, they were never acknowledged because the families these five children belong to are all homeless. But they were taken in the same manner as the others and left one block from where they were taken. he's been doing this for over a year."

Eckley laid the folders down on the table and began to remove the papers and pictures. they spent the next hour and a half meticulously going over every inch of every picture and every word of every document. Chapel's cold stare moved in every direction, carefully taking in every minor detail. when Father Michael McMillan appeared in the doorway with a tray, with cups and a tea pot on it. Chapel gave him a sideways glance, Father McMillan set the tray down on the table and looked at him nervously. He looked down at the tray and tried his best to offer a warm smile. his eyes slowly raised to meet the padre's.

"Hot tea?"

"I'm sorry..." He answered "It's all I had."

"I love hot tea. I usually drink chamomile with a slice of lemon. it warms nicely on a cold day." Chapel replied.

After carefully going over the evidence with Eckley he shared his suspicions from walking the crime scenes. Candyman was very familiar with each buildings' layout, he knew the surrounding areas, he meticulously studied his preys movements and carefully plotted his escape route not only for efficiency, but for the quickest getaway in the shortest amount of time. From what he saw and read from Eckleys evidence jackets, and from what he'd seen from walking the halls of each building, the Candyman had either at one point in time had lived in the buildings or at the very least-worked in the buildings in some capacity or another. The next few days the weather report was calling for snow, from Friday morning through Tuesday afternoon the following week, which would mean heavy overcast giving Chapel full reign to walk around undisturbed during the day. He and Eckley would be partnering up to interview the manager about the comings and goings of people who lived outside the buildings. He turned to face Eckley.

"The homeless district between Tower Row, and Beacon Hill is right in the middle of Wicker Park, it's under a different jurisdiction than the five blocks east of there where the Candyman's latest seven victims lived. Which is probably why the police never connected the first five with them. one is under investigation of the 53rd Precinct and the other is under the 50th."

Eckley nodded silently in agreement. When off to the left, Father Michael McMillan re-entered the room.

"There's a young man here to see you Mr. Chapel, he says someone named Sable sent him, he's waiting near the narthex. I believe he said his name is Azire Fleck."

Azire Fleck always stood out in a crowd not because he was black but because of his amazing dreadlocks, he seemed tense at first, until he saw Chapel, and then he seemed more relaxed. Chapel nodded toward the room where they had the maps laid out. Azire stood beside the table studying it carefully, he raised his eyes to study first Chapel and then Delmar Eckley, he nodded in Eckley's direction.

"Cop?" He asked.

"Concerned citizen." Eckley answered.

"Azire we need to know about the children of the homeless district, I need a few details."  Chapel asked.

"This is about the Candyman then, yeah boss, he snatched his first six kids from  Bettenhurst near Beacon Hill." He told them.

Chapel gave him a concerned look.

"Six? I thought he only took five, who was number six?" 

"Yeah, the police are still working all the angles, but they not sure the sixth kid was one of Candyman's, some of the street hustlers think different, word on the street is number six didn't fit the victim's profile because she was black, word is though she was older than the other kids, and she may have gotten killed because she may have seen Candyman's face." Azire handed Chapel a picture. "Her name was Chandra Michaels she used to hang out near Echo Park on Baker Street, she panhandled there, we think she may have been working angles of her own." Azire pulled out a small blood-red card with three over lapping triangles on it. " They call themselves The Order of Shadows, drugs, weapons, money laundering, their soldiers?  they've been known to shank pimps and take over their pros. Into some really bad shit."

"You think she was snitchin on them for the cops?" Eckley asked.

"Nah, man," Azire answered. "I think she saw the Candyman's face, and she was trying to figure out who he was, and maybe she was trying to make a connection between him and the Order."  

 

"You think Candyman is tied up with this Order of Shadows?" Eckley asked.

"Nah man, some street people were thinkin' that maybe he's a member, like maybe somebody that's into hurtin' kids, Me? I don't think so, this guy is something different, something about this, doesn't fit into the picture. He's an outsider, there's something deeper going on here." Azire told them.

Chapel studied the map.

"I agree." He said.

It was then that something in Eckley's notes caught Chapel's eye, in the notes it stated that two of the first three mothers who had children taken from buildings had had groceries delivered on the morning that both of their kids were abducted. and according to the notes, it stated that both ordered from the same market on Quarry street. Eckley told him that the police had told him that they had considered the evidence and decided that there was no significance to the grocery store angle, Chapel however, not believing in coincidences wasn't as sure. He told Eckley to make a note of it and when they returned to the first two buildings they needed to ask both of the first two mothers if they remembered who had delivered their groceries that morning and if they had given a description to the police. Bearing in mind that this Candyman was clever, calculating, not to mention careful, they had to consider every small detail. Azire Fleck would scour the streets near Beacon Hill, enlisting the aid of all of his street contacts, while Chapel and Eckley would return to the first three crime scenes to re-interview potential witnesses.

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