approximately ten o’clock Sunday morning, and that she was dressed in the described fashion. She parked in front of the Seven-Eleven and bought a Washington Post from a vending machine and didn’t go inside the store or notice anybody in the area. She was upset the caller knew these details and stated he must be following her. When asked if she was aware of anybody following her at any time, she stated she was not.”
Marino turned to the second page, the confidential section of the report, and resumed: “Reed reports here Miss Madison was reluctant to divulge specific details pertaining to the actual threat communicated by the caller. When questioned at length, she finally stated the caller became
‘obscene’ and said when he imagined what she looked like with her clothes off it made him want to
‘kill’ her. At this point, Miss Madison hung up the phone, she said.”
Marino placed the photocopy on the edge of Wesley’s desk.
“What advice did Officer Reed give her?” I asked.
“The usual,” Marino said. “Advised her to start keeping a log. When she got a call, to write down the date, time and what occurred. He also advised her to keep her doors locked, her windows shut and locked, maybe to think about getting an alarm system installed. And if she noted any strange vehicles, to write down the plate numbers, call the police.”
I remembered what Mark had told me about his lunch with Beryl last February. “Did she say that this threat, the one she reported on March eleventh, was the first one she’d gotten?”
It was Wesley who replied as he reached for the report, “Apparently not.”
He flipped a page. “Reed mentions she claimed to have been receiving harassing calls since the first of the year, but didn’t notify the police until this occasion. It seems the previous calls were infrequent and not as specific as the one she received Sunday night, the night of March tenth.”
“She was certain the previous calls were made by the same man?” I asked Marino.
“She told Reed the voice sounded the same,” he replied. “A white male she described as soft-spoken and articulate. It wasn’t the voice of anyone she knew–or at least this was what she claimed.”
Marino resumed, the second report in hand: “Beryl called Officer Reed’s pager number on a Tuesday evening at seven-eighteen. She said she needed to see him, and he arrived at her house less than an hour later, at shortly after eight. Again, according to his report, she was very upset, stating she’d got another threatening call right before she’d dialed Reed’s pager number. It was the same voice, the same subject who’d called in the past, she said. In this instance his message was similar to the March tenth call.”
Marino began reading the report word for word. ” ‘I know you’ve been missing me, Beryl. I’ll be coming for you soon. I know where you live, know everything about you. You can run but you can’t hide.’ He went on to state he knew she drove a new car, a black Honda, and he’d broken off the antenna the night before while it was parked in her driveway. The complainant confirmed that
her car had been parked in her driveway the night before, and when she went out this same Tuesday morning she did notice the antenna was broken. It was still attached to the car, but bent back at an extreme angle and too damaged to be operative. This officer did go out to look at the vehicle and found the antenna to be in the condition the complainant described.”
“What action did Officer Reed take?” I asked.
Marino flipped to the second page and said, “Advised her to begin parking her car inside the garage. She stated she never used the garage, was planning to turn it into an office. He then suggested she ask her neighbors to begin watching out for strange vehicles in the area or anybody on her property at any time. He notes in this report she inquired as to whether she should get a handgun.”
“That’s all?” I asked. “What about the log Reed told her to keep. Any mention of that?”