I heard they done hijacked your weather and shipped it off to Chicago,’ Franklin said, subtly upping his southern accent to match Ellery’s. It was a technique they taught at Quantico called subject mirroring that implied kinship and helped promote trust, though Shepherd suspected it might be somewhat lost on the frosty Security Chief, who had probably done the same course anyway.
‘I didn’t mean just the weather,’ Ellery said without elaborating.
‘Bad day already?’
‘I’ll say. I’m running short-staffed and we’ve had to evacuate one of the research facilities because of a helium leak. You can’t mess with that stuff. Had to shut the entire building down.’ He removed a box file from an attaché case by his feet and handed it to Franklin in the back seat. ‘I dug out those documents you asked for.’
The word THREATS was written on the file in thick marker pen. Franklin opened it and slid out twelve clear plastic folders, each containing correspondence from a different month. January contained a one-page note typed on an old-fashioned typewriter that said:
Dear NASA,
Quit wasting tax dollars shooting junk up into space. The army needs equipment bad. Spend money on that you assholes or I will personally shoot the man pushing the launch button. I am deadly serious.
A Patriot
‘’Course that’s just the physical stuff,’ Ellery said. ‘We get ten times as much mail over the internet. I can show you that in my office if you want.’
Franklin sorted through the plastic folders until he found one marked May, the month Dr Kinderman had received his first card.
‘Is it true what I heard, Hubble got knocked offline?’ Ellery asked.
‘That’s classified information. And whatever you heard we would ’preciate you keeping it under your hat, sir. You know how rumours can get in the way of an investigation.’ Franklin’s accent was travelling down through Georgia and getting further south all the time.
He handed January through April to Shepherd and popped the fastener on May, carefully sliding out the contents to keep them in order. May had clearly been a bumper month for the crazies. Top of the pile was an almost illiterate letter written in crayon with some photos of astronauts stuck to it with their faces burned out by a cigarette. Below that was a photo of the Challenger shuttle exploding, with a future date and I WILL MAKE THIS HAPPEN AGEN written on it. The next item was a postcard with a Renaissance painting of the Tower of Babel on the front. Franklin showed it to Shepherd then flipped it over. On the back, in a familiar neat hand was written:
“And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name.”
‘You get any more like this?’ Franklin held up the card and Ellery’s head swivelled round to see it.
‘One a month since May, reg’lar as clockwork.’
‘Was the Professor bothered by them?’
‘Not especially.’
‘But he did see them?’
‘Sure, they were addressed to him.’
‘Did you mention them to Chief Pierce over at Goddard?’
Ellery snorted. ‘Why would I do that? Chief Pierce has his own fair share of nut-jobs to deal with I’m damn sure he don’t need any of mine.’
Franklin handed the remaining files to Shepherd leaving himself with December. ‘Did you get another one this month?’
‘No. Matter of fact we did not.’
Franklin popped the fastener. ‘Don’t tell me, you got a letter instead, one that was typed but similar in tone.’
Ellery paused. ‘How did you know that?’
Franklin didn’t answer. He had already found the twin of the A5 manila envelope that had been sent to Kinderman. It was in its own plastic folder next to the letter it had contained. Franklin held it out so Shepherd could read it. It was identical to the first one except for one small detail.
‘Least he didn’t call this one a Sodomite,’ Franklin said so only Shepherd could hear. ‘You follow this up?’ he asked Ellery.
‘Of course. We take threats seriously here, no matter how strange, vague or misguided they may appear. I sent the original up to Langley, that one there is just a copy. I sent one of the postcards too.’
‘They find anything?’
‘Who knows? These things don’t rank too high on the “hurry up” scale. Anything more important comes along – which is just about everything – stuff like this gets bumped to the bottom of the pile. Here we are, gentlemen.’
Shepherd looked up as the Explorer eased off the main road and approached the front of