The Esther Code Read online

  Jamie turns around at the end of Spriggs Road and returns to the synagogue. She looks with curiosity at the sign and wonders when Purim starts this year. She is shocked to see that it has actually already passed, that it was this past Sunday. Jamie almost stops mid-stride. This past Sunday was also when Fred Schmidt was murdered in Harwood Heights, Illinois. Coincidence?

  She wonders why she had not noticed the date of the celebration before. She checks both sides of the banner noting that they are exactly the same. She starts back into her run again, away from the synagogue and toward her apartment. She had not seen any Jewish holidays listed on Wikipedia. She now contemplates what else she might have missed. Maybe this past Sunday was another holiday or special day in another religion or country. Maybe it was a special day in Islam or Buddhism? Maybe she should research it again. The return run to her apartment goes by faster than ever as Jamie is lost in her thoughts.

  Despite the smell of sweat, Jamie skips the usual post-run shower and instead retrieves her tablet from where it lies on the desk in her room.

  Within seconds, she has Google running again and searching for March 20th. The results include the usual holidays, International Day of Happiness, World Sparrow Day, and U.N. French Language Day. Jamie tries a different tack, putting both dates in March and adding the word “calendar.” The first result is a snowfall report from a ski resort in Idaho. The second result is titled, “Jewish Holidays 2001-2020.”

  “Huh?” Jamie responds aloud.

  She clicks on the link, and a chart appears with the years going down the right column and the various holidays across the top. She notices that her two dates in March are each on the Jewish holiday of Purim.

  The Jewish calendar does not coincide with the Gregorian calendar. Therefore Jewish holidays are always on the same Hebrew date, but they appear on different days in the regular calendar. For example, Purim is always on the fourteenth of the Jewish month Adar, and Passover is always on the fifteenth of Nissan.

  Interesting, so does that mean that the perp waited until Purim? Is that why he did not act during an earlier visit? Yet what does Purim have to do with murdering old men? Jamie starts to think about each victim. Fred Schmidt was not Jewish, was he? Were any of the victims?

  Jamie looks up each victim’s religious affiliations. Two of them were Catholics, two were Protestant, and one had no stated affiliation. If the murders were intended to be on Purim, did the date matter to the killer or to the victims? Maybe both. Hopefully they can tell her something.

  Jamie turns back to her desk and searches for Purim. She finds some useful websites and discovers that Purim is mentioned in the Book of Esther. It commemorates the day that a plot by Haman to annihilate the Jewish people was foiled and the Jews were saved.

  To celebrate the holiday, costumes are worn in honor of Esther, who hid her Jewish background. Traditionally the costumes are based on characters from the book of Esther, but, over the years, they have become anything, from Batman to fairies.

  Jamie wonders about the other dates. She searches for the murder dates in October. They also both coincide with a Jewish holiday! September 29th and October 19th are on the chart as Hoshana Raba. Whatever that is.

  She then searches for an online Jewish calendar. Several are available. She finds Hoshana Raba to be the last day of the holiday of Tabernacles. Interesting. Jamie starts a new search for Hoshana Raba. Clicking on the first reliable-looking source, Jamie finds a jackpot of information.

  Hoshana Raba is also known as the Day of Final Judgment. Maybe the murderer has been making his judgment final for old white men. She discovers that, in the Jewish religion, Hoshana Raba is the last of the Days of Judgment that begin on Rosh Hashana and also include Yom Kippur.

  Could the killer be Jewish? That is a big matzo ball to swallow. On the bright side, she is finally getting a possible lead. She has three murders occurring on Purim and two on Hoshana Raba.

  Someone is killing old men on Jewish holidays!

  Chapter 17

  Although she was raised Jewish, Jamie can remember hardly anything about Purim. Why celebrate a holiday of people trying to kill Jews? Her father used to tell her that all Jewish holidays are the same. Someone tried to kill us. God miraculously saved us. We eat!

  Miraculously saved.

  Jamie turns to the tall, cherry bookshelf, which sits against the wall. Her eyes peruse the volumes on the shelves. Jamie kept all of her books from college, including A Casebook of Forensic Detection, Criminalistics: An Introduction to Forensic Science, The Forensic Psychology of Criminal Minds, Handbook of Forensic Neuropsychology, and others. After reading through a few more titles, she moves to the next shelf.

  Jamie spots her copy of Crime and Punishment and feels a burst of affection. Maybe, when this case is over, she will read it again. But right now it is not what she is looking for. This shelf does not have what she needs. On the next shelf, hidden between a Spanish textbook and a European History book sits the Jewish Bible. Jamie’s aunt Cheryl gave it to her right after Jamie graduated from high school.

  Aunt Cheryl was much more connected to Jewish things and was very active in her own synagogue. She gave Jamie the Bible because she was certain that Jamie’s college roommate would be a born-again Christian set on conversion. Jamie should be armed with her own Bible, if the need arose.

  “I think I’ll be fine. Where do you come up with these things anyway?” Jamie remembers saying to her aunt.

  “I’m just saying, you are going to a big school, and you never know who your roommate will be,” Aunt Cheryl insisted. She probably would have pursued the subject, but Jamie's mom chimed in and put it to rest.

  “She’ll take it with her, thank you. Won’t you, Jamie?”

  “Of course, thanks.”

  As promised, she took the large volume with her to college. She never opened it. She thinks now about her aunt’s warnings and smiles. Jamie begins flipping through the Jewish Bible until she finally sees the book of Esther. To Jamie’s surprise, it is short. Only ten small chapters.

  Esther is a complex story. The King of Persia wants to show off his trophy wife, and the Queen refuses. The King deposes her and is then in need of a new wife. All of the young virgins are forcibly taken to the King, and among them is Esther, an orphan. Esther is Jewish, but she hides that fact at the suggestion of her cousin, Mordechai. She is picked by the King and becomes the new queen.

  Right after Esther becomes queen, Mordechai overhears two courtiers planning to assassinate the King. He exposes their plot; the conspirators are caught and hanged. Mordechai’s actions are recorded in the chronicles of the King. Not long after, Haman, the villain of the story, receives appointment to viceroy, second only to the King himself. But, because of his religion, Mordechai refuses to bow to Haman when commanded to do so. Men haven’t changed a bit. Jamie smiles to herself.

  Haman discovers that Mordechai is Jewish. To punish Mordechai for his disrespect, Haman convinces the King to agree to a day on which they can massacre all of the Jews and seize their property. The decree is sent out, and Mordechai, along with his people, begins to mourn and fast.

  Mordechai tells Esther about the decree, and he begs her to appeal to the King. She is hesitant to approach the King without a summons, as it could lead to her death. After fasting and praying for three days and having her people do the same, Esther comes to the King without being summoned. He acknowledges her with his scepter, which saves her life. The queen invites the King and Haman to a feast. At the feast, Esther requests their presence again at a feast the next night.

  Haman returns home from the feast, once again offended that Mordechai refused to bow to him. He builds a gallows in hopes of seeing Mordechai hang there. Then he goes back to the King’s palace to ask the King if he can hang Mordechai. The King is having his chronicles read to him because he cannot sleep. Right before Haman approaches him, the King hears again how Mordechai saved his life. The King asks Haman how to honor a man for services rendere
d. Haman thinks the King is referring to himself, so he tells him to put that man in the King’s clothes, on the King’s horse, and to proclaim through the city how the King rewards his loyal people.

  The King instructs Haman to do so unto Mordechai! Haman is enraged that he has to parade his enemy around town. Then Haman attends the second feast hosted by Esther. There at the feast, Esther tells the King that she is Jewish and that the decree made by Haman will kill her people…and herself. The King is outraged by this information and leaves the feast. Haman panics and begs Esther to save him. He becomes hysterical in his pleas, and the King returns to see Haman falling on the Queen. The King quickly orders Haman to be hanged on the gallows that were built for Mordechai. Unfortunately, the King cannot repeal the decree to exterminate the Jews, so he amends the law to allow the Jews to defend themselves.

  The appointed day comes, and five hundred attackers, as well as Haman’s ten sons, are killed by Jews.

  Jamie bolts upright, her body pumping with adrenaline. There, in the middle of chapter nine, are the names of Haman’s sons: Parshandatha, Dalphon, Aspatha, Poratha, Aridatha, Parmashta, Arisai, Aridai and Vaizatha.

  Jamie grabs for the nearest case folder off of her desk. She checks the note found with the victim. “pars hon dota.” Parshandatha is the first name listed in the book of Esther. She looks back at the other notes.

  “dol fon” - “dolfon” - Dalphon!

  “a spat a” - “aspata” - Aspatha!

  “por ot ha” - “porota” - Poratha!

  “parmo sh ta” - “parmoshta” - Parmashta!

  Her brain is racing forward with this new finding. She notes the variant spellings of the names. Was the killer trying to make it difficult to draw a connection using the internet?

  Where are Adalia and Aridatha? He has gone in order of the biblical list, so why would he skip those names? Or did he? Maybe there are more murders.

  What is the connection with Purim? Purim takes place in Persia, now Iran. Could the killer be Iranian? Is he taking revenge against the Persians killed 2,500 years ago in the Purim story? No, the October dates were on the little known Jewish holiday of Hoshana Raba. He used the Jewish calendar. The killer must be Jewish.

  Why Purim? The victims do not seem to have any connection to Purim or Persia.

  Most serial killers prey on their own race. Most are males in their twenties or thirties. Serial killers have a typical “cooling off” period until the demons come back. Serials fantasize about the crime for a long time before committing it, which is why most serial killers start close to home, with someone familiar. Schenectady, New York, was first, and the victim was lured away from his home. Maybe the perp had been fantasizing about killing him for some time.

  Maybe the murderer actually knew him….

  Chapter 18

  Jamie wakes up on Monday feeling ready to head to Schenectady. She had to take a Benadryl the night before to help her get to sleep because her mind was racing from her new discovery. Jamie had assumed that the killer had to be Jewish, but after some rest, she realizes she may have jumped to conclusions.

  Esther is not only in the Jewish Bible, but in the Christian Bible as well. The only conclusion she can safely draw is that the killer is religious, possibly some sort of zealot.

  After she lands at Albany International Airport, she rents a car, and, using her portable GPS system, she drives to the Schenectady Police station.

  Detective Hunt informs her that he has no leads and no idea why Henning was driven almost fifty miles from his house. There were no signs of forced entry. She does not mention that she is dealing with a serial killer. Jamie will thoroughly investigate all of his neighbors. It is possible that he knew the killer, which would explain why there was no forced entry. Henning may have gotten into the killer’s car willingly. Detective Hunt tells Jamie that Lacy Henning-Smith, the deceased’s daughter, still calls every Monday, asking if there are any new leads. Jamie hates to put fuel on the fire, but she has to call the daughter and ask her if her father had any Jewish connections. Now the daughter will probably call Jamie every Monday as well. Jamie asks her the same questions she will ask all family members: Did he ever mention anyone that you never met? Was there anything unique about him? Something uncommon? Any clubs or affiliations? Was he a churchgoer? Any secrets? Any involvement with the Jewish community? Any suspicious neighbors? She gets nothing from Lacy but a barrage of questions about why the FBI has been brought in and what is Jamie not telling her. Jamie remains polite and leaves Schenectady with full confidence that she will be hearing a lot from Lacy Henning-Smith.

  She traverses the low, rolling hills and farmhouses and arrives forty-five minutes later in the quaint historic town of Salem. She passes the Revolutionary War Cemetery that dates back to 1762 and the school that has been in use since 1780. The Sheriff’s Department is located south of the village. Sheriff Richard Foster is a small man in his fifties who reminds Jamie of Barney Fife from The Andy Griffith Show. He drives Jamie to the hamlet of Shushan, where the body was found propped up against the Shushan Post Office building. An awkward silence passes, but Jamie imagines it is probably much more awkward for her than for him. The police radio is silent. The hum of the car engine is the only noise that fills the calm. Jamie looks back out the window again, watching the unfamiliar countryside. They drive along the beautiful Battenkill River and pass theShushan Covered Bridge,constructed in 1858, which is now a museum.

  The post office is a red brick A-frame building that used to be a train depot. On the side of the building, there is a small strip of grass right next to the wall and some handicapped-parking spaces.

  Jamie compares what she is seeing to the picture from her file. Henning’s body was found on the side of the Post Office, in the strip of grass, centered right below the two white-framed windows. Directly over the body the lettering on the side of the building reads: United States Post Office, Shushan, NY 12873.

  The name Shushan sounds familiar to Jamie. She thinks for a moment and then remembers. Shushan is the capital city of the Persian Empire and the setting for the book of Esther. No wonder it sounded familiar, for she had just read about it. Another link to the book of Esther! Statistically speaking, most criminals get caught trying to hide their crimes, not while committing them. This guy wanted us to find out about his crime and intentionally placed the body under the name “Shushan”. He went to a lot of trouble…and considerable risk.

  Foster reiterates his theory that the perp made a ramp out of some two-by-sixes and used it to place the body against the post office. It was raining when Foster found the body, around 8:30 a.m. He has essentially handed the case to the folks in Schenectady. Jamie surveys the surrounding area. Route 64 runs behind the post office. She can make out a few houses on the other side of Route 64, but they are not close enough to have heard anything in the middle of the night.

  Her only success in this journey is finding another tie to the book of Esther. What it all means is still a mystery.

  She spends the night in a hotel near the Albany airport and eats some Chinese take-out while watching Clint Eastwood in Escape from Alcatraz.

  Chapter 19

  Simon relaxes as the limo driver pulls up at the small municipal airport. He glances at his watch as the driver parks close to a private Cessna Citation Mustang. 5:50 a.m. Perfect timing. The driver exits the limo and opens Simon’s door.

  “Shall I get your bags, sir?” The limo driver offers courteously.

  “No, thanks, I can handle them.” Simon steps out of the car. He reaches in and pulls out the rolling bag and a big cardboard box. With a wave to the limo driver, Simon approaches the private plane.

  “Hey! I assume you’re Mr. Maddox.” A short, stocky man looks Simon over. “My name is Brad, and I’ll be your pilot for today. Here, let me take the box for you!”

  “No thank you,” Simon dismisses him, “It’s fragile. But you can take my bag.” Simon holds out handle on the rolling bag.

  B
rad takes the bag and falls into step with Simon. “Everything is in order. We will be in the air shortly.”

  “Great! Thanks.”

  They board the plane, and Simon makes his way to the back seats. Brad puts the rollaway bag on the ledge behind the cockpit and secures it there, then secures the cardboard box behind the last row of seats. Simon watches Brad slide into his pilot’s chair and prepare the plane for takeoff. About five minutes later, the plane is taxiing on the runway.

  Simon watches the clouds zoom by. He has an hour and forty-five minutes before they arrive at Peachtree DeKalb Airport in Chamblee, Georgia, which is a suburb just ten minutes north of Atlanta. The cost of this entire mission will be around $8,000. It may seem like a lot, but it is really a drop in the bucket. Money is no object when it comes to achieving his goals.

  He begins to play out in his mind over and over again exactly how it will all happen. The thrill of the kill has all but left him. The first kill was something Simon will never forget. He remembers the cushy life the old codger was living and the anger linked to that knowledge. He is going to get the deed done today, but he no longer savors it and wishes that someone else would take over the task.

  But there is no one else.

  Simon is proud of his achievements, though. His progress has been amazing, and fulfilling his promise has been much easier than he imagined. Swift. Simple. Righteous.

  Brad starts to radio the air traffic controller, waking Simon from his reverie. He looks out the window and sees the small world beneath him. How little do people know that their lives are infested with vermin. He will act as exterminator. Simon looks to the cockpit, as Brad receives the okay to land the plane.

  Simon stares out the window as the small jet makes a smooth landing. Brad deftly slows the plane and turns it off the runway and onto a taxiway. As the plane turns it shows Simon the limo that awaits him. In minutes, Brad helps Simon disembark and transfers the rolling bag to the limo.