Four Blind Mice (novel)

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Four Blind Mice is the eight book featuring the Washington DC homicide detective and forensic psychiatrist Alex Cross written by James Patterson.

[edit] Plot summary

The book begins with the district attorney of Cumberland County, North Carolina, MARC SHERMAN giving his closing arguments. He explains to the jury that the defendant, Sergeant ELLIS COOPER murdered 3 women in cold blood using his knife. He then painted them in blue.

Sgt. Ellis rises from his seat and yells that he’s innocent. He never killed them or went inside their houses. He attacks the prosecutor as he yells that he’s innocent, and that the prosecutor is a liar. The prosecutor gets back up and turns to the jury and asks them to “put the monster down”.

The real killers attend the final day of the trial. THOMAS STARKEY, the leader and former Army Ranger [Colonel]], BROWNLEY HARRIS and WARREN GRIFFIN, nicknamed “the kid” although he was 49. The 3 had served together in the Vietnam war. The jury reached a verdict in less than 2 ½ hours. Sgt. Cooper was sentenced to execution. Once the 3 men reach their vehicle they plan to celebrate their victory. The 3 call themselves the 3 blind mice.

At 7 am the next day, Alex Cross comes down to have breakfast with his family. Alex was resigning from the Washington DC police department, where he works as a homicide detective. Cross’ best friend and partner JOHN SAMPSON comes to join them for breakfast. He tells Alex about Sgt. Cooper and asks Alex to help. Sampson says his friend is innocent and only has 3 weeks to live. Sampson tells alex he knows Ellis as well as he knows Alex.

On the trip to North Carolina, Alex asks about Cooper. Sampson tells Alex Cooper was already a drill instructor by the time John had enlisted. He was a straight shooter and loved the discipline the army provided. John hated him at first, but they grew close when they served in Vietnam. Cooper even had stopped an officer from murdering an unarmed civilian.

Sampson shares with Cross about the army and how the army had straightened him out.

Cooper is in a prison at Raleigh, North Carolina. The 2 meet with him. Cooper tells them his story. This had happened on a Friday, which was also payday. He went to a bar and had a few drinks. He calls home to talk to his girlfriend, but she wasn’t home. He drinks some more with his friends. He walks home, which is about a mile away. When he gets there he watches TV. About 11 there is a knock on the door and when he answers it was the Military Police and the CID, Captain DONALD JACOBS, who’d come to arrest him. There was evidence at his home. He tells Sampson and Cross that he was framed, but doesn’t know who would hold a grudge against him.

Starkey, Harris and Griffin were at a log cabin in the northern Smokey Mountains, in Kentucky. They did all the things that they did at home: listen to loud music, play games, smoked cigars and drank too much. They talked about their days in Vietnam. Their code name was the 3 blind mice and they were elite military assassins. Soon they watch a video that was shot by Harris showing Starkey murdering the 3 women. Then it showed Griffin bring the blue paint.

In the morning Cross and Sampson are in Fort Bragg to meet with Capt. Jacobs. Jacobs informs them he believed Cooper was innocent until the DNA testing and all the evidence led to him. The murder weapon had been found in his attic. There were also Polaroid pictures of the murdered women found next to the knife. The pictures showed the women put in sexual positions after they’d been murdered.

That afternoon, the 2 canvass the neighborhood the women had lived in. Cross and Sampson talk to a woman, whose son was wheelchair bound, and she tells him her son had seen 3 men, 1 of them with a videocamera. He tells the detectives that he told this information to the police but no one bothered interviewing him. The kid, RONALD HODGE recounted the story twice to them and the story never changed. Downstairs they talk with his mom, ANITA HODGE, tells the detectives that she believes her son. Anita tells Cross and Sampson that Capt. Jacobs had also interviewed Ronald, but no one ever called Ronald as a witness on the trial.

The FBI calls Cross early the next day. They found some irregularities with the Hertz Corporation rental car nearby during the week of the murders. Someone had used a fake credit card and fake drivers license on an SUV rental. They go to Sgt. Cooper’s home. They noticed one of the windows had been shimmied and broken. as they look thru the house the Military police arrive and were arresting them for tresspassing, but Sampson had a letter from Cooper allowing them access to the house.

The next morning, Cross and Sampson talk when Cross' cellphone rings. A woman on the other line tells her she had been with Cooper on the night of the murders but is married with children and can't come in. The 2 had been having an affair. She tells him Cooper did not murder those women.

That evening the 2 meet with General STEPHEN BOWEN, the commanding officer at Ft. Bragg, who gives them 10 minutes. Cross tells him everything they've discovered, but to no avail, the General is sure he killed those women.

The 3 blind mice are back at Ft. Bragg. They are there on official business as salesmen for the gun manufacturer of Heckler & Koch. Their sales meeting went well and the 3 decide to pick up a young prostitute. They begin yelling at her in Vietnamese, making her to a nearby swamp. The 3 dress in their ranger outfit and hunt her. Once they catch her they kill her.

Alex had returned to DC and woke up early the next morning. He notices Nana is still sleeping. Alex is concerned because she never oversleeps. He heads to the kitchen, makes coffee and breakfast. Nana still hasn’t woken up. Alex fears she’s dead and goes to her room. She is startled by him and tells him she’s under the weather. Alex stays home that day. Alex calls KEVIN CASSIDY, a friend at The Pentagon, and tells him about Sgt. Cooper. Kevin says he’ll look into it.

Once Nana feels better in 2 days, Cross and Sampson return to Ft. Bragg.

Cross and Sampson go to a neighborhood located about a ½ a mile away from the base. They knock on a door and an attractive woman comes out. The woman was attending her 4 children, when they introduce themselves. The woman, TORI SANDERS, was mentioned by Capt. Jacobs that she was a friend of Cooper. She says nothing. Cross tells her that she had called him 2 days ago and that he found out Cooper had been there that night. Tori tells Cross that she did not have an affair with Cooper, that yes he had been there that night, and so had her husband, that neither her nor her husband believed Cooper was a murderer and that her husband was the one that asked her to call Cross.

That night, Alex and John go to a local bar. They overhear about the death of the young prostitute. Soon, they are confronted by 3 soldiers and end up in a fight. The soldiers want them to leave the case alone and return home. The police arrive in a few minutes and arrest Cross and Sampson. They spend the night in jail. The whole fight had been a set up. The next morning they are released by Capt. Jacobs, who again warns them to return home.

They do return home. At his home office he receives an email from some one calling himself FOOT SOLDIER. In the email he wrote: 1) in the last 3 years, over 80 soldiers have been murdered. 2) An army pilot was convicted of killing a gay man on the base even though the pilot was not even stationed at the base until three months after the murder. His prints and DNA was on the scene. The pilot claimed innocence, even to the day he was executed. The pilot had a clean record before his conviction and was a model soldier. 3) An army barber was convicted of murdering three prostitutes, even though on the night of the murders he had been home with his wife. Prints and DNA was found on the scene. The murder weapon, a knife, was found at his garage. He claimed innocence even until the day he was executed.

Cross and Sampson meet with Lieutenant General SHELLY BORISLOW from the Army Court of Criminal Appeals. She tells them that the Army has no intention of helping Cooper and believe him guilty. After the meeting Alex is convinced the army is hiding something.

Thomas Starkey had stopped at a local strip mall to pick up some bagels and a newspaper. He’s approached by 2 individuals faking a speech impediment asking for money. He takes his gun out and tells them to never come back there again. Starkey’s daughter had been oblivious to the whole thing as she was listening to her music in the car.

Cross and Sampson return to the North Carolina prison to visist Sgt. Cooper. He was in the death watch area of death row. Cooper thanks them for trying to help him and insists he’s innocent.

The next day Sgt. Cooper is executed by lethal injection.

A few days later, Ales is at the airport to pick up SFPD Inspector JAMILLA “Jam” HUGHES , who is coming for a visit. They are nervous and excited to see each other. Nana cooks a feast for Jam. She does really well and Nana is impressed by her. Jam is staying in the guest room and the next day the 2 go to a cabin a few miles outside of town. The cabin had a jacuzzi which both share. Soon the 2 make love.

After a few days Jam returns home. Alex is excited and feeling good about this relationship.

Later at home Sampson shows up and he looks awefull. He was drunk, unshaven, unclean and had swollen eyes. He starts yelling at Alex and says if he’s so smart why couldn’t he save his friend. Alex tells him to go home and sleep it off. Soon the 2 get into a fight. Nana separates them. John apologizes to Nana and leaves.

The next morning when Alex comes down, John and Nana are having breakfast together. John apologizes to Alex. Alex takes him to his office to show him some notes. There was a murder in New Jersey and in Arizona in which the victim had been painted. Cross tells John that the army gets over 60 murders a year and have been working on a way to lower that number. He tells him about the email and how the soldier had impecable record and how the weapons were found too conviniently. In the Arizona case, there is a court transcript of 3 men being seen in the area before the murder took place. Alex is convinced that those 3 men are the real murderers.

The 3 blind mice get together with their families every Saturday night, except during highschool football when they tailgated on Friday nights. They did all the cooking and cleaning up. They genuinley loved their families and considered what they did as contract killing to simply be a job that they enjoyed and were good at. The next day the men traveled to Harpers Ferry in West Virginia. They were going to Jefferson Rock. They had their gear ready They had M16 rifles, guns, knife, camuflage sticks, poncho liners, night vision goggles, and food. They were going on a mission called “hunt and kill”, but were doing it the army way.

The 3 were assassins for hire. They were proffesional, discreet, careful and expensive. This job was the most lucrative and had involved several murders over the last 2 years. They did not know the identity of their employer and were given assignments only after each job was completed. Starkey had first watch. He thought back to Vietnam where he discovered he liked to kill and liked the feeling he got from killing. He also killed in between jobs because he wanted to and he liked it. Harris went on reconisense and looked thru the area. He spoted area where hikers and campers were staying in tents. He returns to report to the others

...to be continued.