Page 21 of Devoted in Death

“I need more data,” Mira began, “but if the victim was specifically targeted, you’d look for someone who wanted to humiliate and terrorize, while having complete control. If Dorian Kuper was chosen randomly, and this is where I lean with the current data, you would still look for a sadist, one who uses both the symbolic sadism of cutting off the hair, as well as the infliction of pain while the victim is bound and helpless.”

“The heart changes it. The signature changes it,” Eve insisted.

“Perhaps. If this is a couple then it’s highly likely they are sexual sadists who use this humiliation, this control, this infliction of pain as sexual stimulus—which they use for each other rather than the victim. There’s no piquerism,” she murmured. “No stabbing of the breasts, the buttocks, no mutilation of genitals, no rape. The variance in wounds, in tools...”

She broke off and, as Eve often did, circled around the board, the office. “Most usually you’d expect a dominant and a submissive. One to inflict the pain, one to watch. Or one to order the submission to inflict the pain. But, at this preliminary stage, it may be they are a true couple, a team of equal power and authority.”

“It has to be planned out—not impulse. Had to have the place—private place to torture this vic for two days. The transportation, the tools.”

“Predatory psychopath—or psychopaths—who plan, even rehearse. Sadists who enjoy and are stimulated by inflicting pain. Lust murder perhaps. The death and dying he or they cause brings intense pleasure. The heart symbolizes love, unity. They believe themselves in love, and the victim is a gift to each other.”

“I don’t know if Kuper’s the first—we’re running like crimes—but he won’t be the last. Predators have to hunt. Sadists need victims. And lovers, if we’re dealing with that, need that sexual rush.”

“Agreed. It is possible that, while the heart is a signature, a symbol, the killer romanticizes his kill, the victim. It may be a single predator, lacking the sexual drive and component. A romantic. I’m sorry I can’t be more definitive.”

“No, I’ve got clear avenues to pursue. And we’ll have more data once we pull in friends, coworkers. We’ll know more when we get something from IRCCA. I’ll send you a report once I have enough to put together. Thanks for the time.”

“Paid in full by the coffee.” She handed Eve the empty cup, then smiled. “You look well rested. I can’t say that often.”

“I had days to do pretty much nothing but lie around.”

“You earned it. None of us will forget how we spent the last day of the year anytime soon. Keep me in the loop,” she added, with another glance at the board before she left. “I very much want to profile this one.”

Alone, Eve sat to write up her preliminary report, to start the murder book, to refine the board. She added Morris’s report when it came through, then glanced up when she heard the clomp of Peabody’s fuzzy-topped boots.

“I’ve got the first of the interviews coming in,” she reported. “I staggered them by thirty minutes. I was able to pull in Chamberlin. He talked the vic’s mother into taking a tranq, and activated Maeve the droid to stay with her. He’s pretty anxious to talk to you, so I put him first.”

“Good. Always good to talk to the top guy. Now if they’d just send me— Finally,” she said when her computer signaled incoming. “IRCCA results. Computer, on screen.”

Peabody edged in as the data began to scroll.

“Holy shit, Dallas, that’s a lot of like crimes.”

“Computer, remove any closed cases. Remove any result that includes sexual assault, mutilation or rape.”

Leaning back, Eve lifted her eyebrows. “That takes it down. Computer, highlight all results with the element of a heart carved or burned into the body.”

Those brows lowered and knit when twenty highlighted.

“Results with the initials D and E carved or burned into the body.”

“I repeat, Dallas. Holy shit.”

“Twenty,” Eve stated. “Twenty from Tennessee to New Jersey. Males, females, an assortment of races, ages. No specific type. First one’s last September. It averages about one a week, but...”

“Some gaps,” Peabody commented. “A couple weeks between some, or ten days, then see how it escalates in Ohio, Pennsylvania to two a week, then it drops off again.”

“Because there’s more than twenty.”

“More?”

“A predator like this? Once they get a taste they need more, and like a junkie they start to need faster. Destroyed some of the bodies?” Eve speculated. “Concealed them, buried them? Maybe tried something different so it doesn’t pop here, but it’s more likely they concealed, destroyed. Killed a few nobody’s looking for. A vagrant, an itinerant worker, a sidewalk sleeper.”

“The D doesn’t apply to the vic after all.”

“No. E and D, just a couple of crazy kids in love. Computer, display route pattern by victim, chronologically.”

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