Dead Cold Mysteries Box Set #1: Books 1-4 (A Dead Cold Box Set), Blake Banner [classic children's novels txt] 📗

nothing while she stared at the ceiling. I stole a glance to see what she was staring at. All I could see were the shadows of the raindrops on the windows. “Having said that,” she said again, “I am having trouble reconciling your suspect Zak with the arms. Zak is by definition chaotic and opportunistic. He actually sees himself as a wolf, roaming through a forest, waiting to see what life will bring him.” She smiled, like she was about to indulge in some harmless flippancy. “You know the song from Easy Rider, ‘Born to be Wild’? Well, Zak is looking for adventure and, crucially for me, whatever comes his way.”

Dehan sighed. We glanced at each other, and her face told me that what Agent Fenninger was saying made perfect sense to her. Fenninger went on.

“So, either we fit the careful placing of the arms in the lockup into an opportunistic, chaotic behavior pattern, or we dismiss Zak as a prime suspect.” She looked up at the ceiling again, and I realized she had her list of suspects pinned up there. “Hank, if you have him as a suspect, would simply not fall into the category of a serial killer. Serial killers do not kill their partners. Almost, I would say, by definition.” She sat blinking at the table a moment and added, almost impatiently, “I would say that is true of Zak as well, to some extent. In both Hank and Zak’s case, you are looking at killings driven by a motive. Which would put them outside the definition of serial killer.”

Dehan interrupted, “That doesn’t mean we discard them as suspects. It just means they have a motive, right?” She glanced at me. I nodded. Fenninger went on as though she hadn’t spoken.

“Peter, who owns the lockup, could certainly fit into the profile of an organized serial killer. Clearly he has issues with women and seeks to humiliate and control them. Such a need for control often speaks to a profound, volcanic rage against women that cannot be suppressed. Women who are perceived as flirty, promiscuous, careless, thoughtless—who step outside of what the man considers appropriate or acceptable behavior—can trigger a profound, destructive rage.

“We also see a pleasure in taking control in a cold, methodical way. This feeds his ego and would be very much present in the aftermath of the killing. If you look into his past, you are typically going to find a mother who humiliated him, perhaps in public, and a cruel father, or perhaps no father at all. Either way, the father has abandoned him and left him to cope with the humiliation of his mother on his own, so that the only outlet for his rage becomes physical violence. But not against her! He dare not! It must be against an unknown woman, a blank canvas if you will, against which he can project the nightmare image of his mother that he has created in his mind and which he must destroy. So! Your question: does Peter fit the profile? Prima facie, yes, but I would urge you to look into his childhood. You know…” She laughed suddenly. “He may be just a harmless prick!”

We smiled and she went on. “Dave, certainly, from what you have outlined, would fit the profile. He seems to have a tendency toward obsessive, compulsive behavior. Again, he displays a need to control his environment. His inability to relate may be due to a physical condition like severe dyspraxia or autism, but that inability to relate is a common feature of the organized serial killer. When it is, it is generally the result of a loveless and often violent home life as a child. The obsession with pornography, especially child pornography, is also a common feature. As before, it speaks to a need to control the love object, a fear that if he loses control of her, something bad will happen. She will hurt him in some way. He will lose her love.

“So love is organized and controlled in a way where there is no risk of humiliation or rejection. You can see,” she said, as though it were obvious, “how this can lead to narcissism, where love is directed toward himself, instead of toward the object of love. In the end, where masturbation is the only source of loving consolation, he becomes the object of love, controlling his environment and the women in it. I say women, but of course they are not real women, but simply two-dimensional images.”

Dehan said, “So any woman who upsets that two-dimensional relationship…”

“Could trigger very violent rage indeed.”

Dehan stared down at the table, chewing her lip. Special Agent Fenninger leaned back and stared up at the ceiling again, consulting her list, and I stared out at November. It had started to rain again. The naked trees looked like boney hands that had been trying to claw their way out of their graves but had changed their minds because the weather was so awful.

Fenninger was talking again. “Now, the note and the message on your mirror. These tell me a couple of things. First, and most important for you, he is close to you. He knows you have reopened the investigation. Second, it is possible that he has been inactive since the arms. Both messages: ‘It took you long enough,’ and especially, ‘You’d have done better to leave me sleeping,’ suggest very strongly that he had hoped for a reaction, some official response, back when he killed his victim, but has not killed since. Sometimes serial killers do lose the urge to kill. But now he is telling you that your sudden interest in the case has provoked him and reawakened his hunger.”

“Great.”

She stared hard at me. “It is not your fault, Detective Stone.”

I nodded. “Dave’s interest in the case at the time…”

“Is suggestive, but far from conclusive. I can tell you that two of your suspects, Peter and