Page 67 of Deadly Cry

‘Mission-oriented killers typically justify their acts as ridding the world of certain types of people. They’re generally not psychotic but could claim to be doing it in the name of a higher order. Normally, they seek to improve the world. They target specific groups of individuals. They are often perfectionists and highly compulsive. They’re stable, gainfully employed and long-term residents of the geographical territory in which they kill. They’re highly meticulous and they kill quickly and efficiently.

‘Joseph P. Franklin, a former member of the Ku Klux Klan, was convicted in 1980 of four homicides, including a sniper shooting of two black men jogging with a white woman. He felt that race mixing was a sin against God and that God had instructed his work.’

Stacey looked hopeful. If they knew what kind of serial killer they were dealing with, maybe Alison could form a profile and give them somewhere to start.

‘Is this our guy?’

Again, Alison shook her head. ‘The victims don’t fit. He’s targeting straight, white, heterosexual women, two with children. Victims would normally be homeless, prostitutes, black, Asian. His perception would be that he is improving the planet.’

‘Hedonistic?’ Stacey asked, losing hope.

‘Definitely not,’ Alison said. ‘Hedonistic serial killers are driven by lust, thrill or comfort. None of which are evidenced in any of the murders. There is no kind of ritual, no apparent pleasure in the act of killing itself, and the latest victim is even more unlikely, as power-driven serial killers almost always sexually abuse their victims, but not through lust, more through the need to dominate, like Ted Bundy who travelled around the United States seeking women to control.’

‘So what kind of serial killer is he?’ Stacey asked, confused.

‘None that I’ve come across before,’ Alison acknowledged, shaking her head.

‘But if he’s a serial killer, he has to fit one of those criteria,’ Stacey protested.

‘Hang on while I change decades of research to accommodate you.’

‘Yeah, thanks,’ Stacey said, feeling as though she’d learned a lot and yet it had given them nothing.

‘How much further on Noah do you want me to go?’ Penn asked, his voice showing the same level of despondency she was feeling.

‘Leave it for now,’ Alison said, moving around papers on her desk. ‘I keep reading these letters and I can’t help getting a picture of Norman Bates.’

‘From thePsychofilm?’ Penn asked.

Alison nodded. ‘This reference in the first letter to having no control, it’s like he’s absolving himself of all responsibility, as though he has no free will. What about if there’s a voice in his head, a dead mother who speaks to him or something?’

‘Like a whole other personality is doing the killing?’ Stacey asked. Seemed a bit outlandish to her but stranger things had happened.

‘Or more,’ Alison answered.

‘More than one personality?’ Penn asked.

Alison nodded. ‘There are many cases, but one that springs to mind is William Milligan. After committing several felonies, including armed robbery, he was arrested for three rapes on the campus of Ohio State University. He was diagnosed with multiple personality disorder. His lawyers pleaded insanity, claiming that two of his alternate personalities committed the crimes without Milligan being aware of it.’

‘You are kidding me?’ Stacey said.

‘He was the first person diagnosed with multiple personality disorder to raise such a defence and the first to be acquitted of a major crime for this reason. He was never imprisoned and spent a decade in mental hospitals.’

‘Bloody hell, Alison, I would hate to be knocking around in your mind with all these stand-up folks,’ Stacey said.

‘Been doing lots of research, haven’t I?’

‘Yeah, for a book I can’t wait to read if it ever gets written.’

Alison blew her a kiss.

‘So you really think our killer could have a split personality?’ Penn asked.

‘Maybe… or maybe not,’ Alison said, thoughtfully picking up her pencil.

Fifty-Four

Russell Southall shook his head for the fourth time, denying the truth of the news they’d just delivered.