And at last, August 22nd.
The day the man behind the Los Angeles BB Murder Cases was to be arrested... but we can say that because we have history to tell us, and like all historical events, when it was happening in real time, none of those involved knew that, and the way events unfolded was hardly smooth sailing. In fact, Naomi Misora’s day started with any number of inconsistencies and anxieties.
6:15 and fifty seconds.
They had managed to read that as the message left behind by the killer at the third crime scene, but was that 6:15 in the morning? Or in the evening? After they had solved the clock puzzle, Misora had searched the scene all night looking for anything that said “a.m.” or “p.m.” She found nothing.
“If we’ve looked this hard and found nothing, then maybe it doesn’t really matter,” Ryuzaki had suggested. “He made the victim look like an analog clock rather than a digital one, so trying to find something to indicate a.m. or p.m. might be a waste of time.”
“Yeah.” Misora nodded.
Regardless of whether this was true or not, they had to assume it was. She began to decipher the message both as 6:15:50 and 18:15:50. The first scene had pointed them to Quarter Queen, and the second scene to Glass Station, so what was the third scene pointing toward? Misora and Ryuzaki both turned their energies toward this problem, but it was Ryuzaki who first came up with something.
061550. The construction approval number for a condominium. In Pasadena
condo number was too.
“It must be her,” Misora said. All condo approval numbers began with zero, so there was no 181550. She had been worried about the am/p.m. thing, but now that they’d found the answer, she could relax. As Ryuzaki had said, with an analog clock it really didn’t matter. Misora was greatly relieved, but Ryuzaki himself did not look very cheerful. Not that he ever did, but even so, he seemed particularly down.
“Something wrong, Ryuzaki? We’ve finally figured out what the killer’s going to do, and can get ahead of him! We can lay a trap for him. Prevent the fourth murder, and if we’re lucky, catch the killer as
well. Nah—no luck about it. We will catch him, and catch him alive.”
“Misora,” Ryuzaki said. “The thing is, there was another candidate in the condo. Another B.B. A man named Blues-harp Babysplit, who lives alone in room 404.”
“Oh...”
Two people with the target initials. In a massive complex of two hundred condos, not everyone lived alone there were any number of people with families. Even if you downplayed that number there were easily four or five hundred people... and simple arithmetic suggested that one out of 676 people had the initials B.B. It was not particularly surprising that there were two of them in the complex. It was statistically reasonable.
“But,” Misora said, “no matter how you look at it, room 1313 is our target. Thirteen is a code for B, Ryuzaki. And 1313 is B.B. The fourth murder... judging from the number of dolls, the final murder... what better location could the killer ask for?”
“I suppose...”
“I’m sure of it. I mean, 404?”
Certainly, four was one plus three, which was B, but faced with a choice between 1313 and 404 the killer would undoubtedly choose the former. No matter who the killer was, Misora was sure he would choose the former. But Ryuzaki apparently wasn’t.
“Ryuzaki, do you know how rare it is for there to even be a thirteenth floor or a thirteenth room in America
“But remember, Misora. The number of days between the murders. The crossword puzzle reached the police station on July 22nd, the first murder happened nine days later on July 3 1st, the second murder four days later on August 4th, and the third murder nine days later on August 13th, and if the fourth
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