there are two butchers on the loose.'
'How dare you talk to me like that! How dare…'
'Molly, someone you treated or worked with may be a serial killer taking orders from Stampler. Think about it - both of them could be
'You would, if they were your clients,' she snapped back.
Vail hesitated for a moment. Suddenly he became calm, speaking just above a whisper. 'Stampler
She did not answer. Instead she got up and slunk back into the shadows of the room, becoming a fragile silhouette in the corner. St Claire shifted uneasily in his chair, astounded by Vail's attack on Molly Arrington. He needed a chew. The silence in the room was unsettling. Then as suddenly as his temper had erupted, Vail became quiet. His shoulders sagged and he shook his head. The silent stalemate lasted a full five minutes. It was Molly who finally spoke.
'It's all supposition, anyway,' she said feebly.
'I would have to disagree, ma'am,' St Claire said softly, finally breaking his silence. 'I believe in my heart that the copycat killer came from here, just like I believe Stampler's makin' a fool of you like he's makin' a fool of us. I don't pretend't'understand why, I reckon you're the only one in this room could even make a stab at figgerin' that out. But there ain't any doubt in m'mind that he's a genuine, full-blown monster. He don't deserve an ounce of pity or sympathy or compassion. And whoever it is - doin' his biddin'? - is just as bad.'
'How would you know?' she asked from the safety of her dark penumbra. 'I mean, even if I gave you names, how would you know if one of them…' She let the sentence trail off.
'You'd just have't'trust us on that. Have to be somebody had access to your tapes. Somebody who may have even come here lookin' for 'em, who looked on Stampler as a hero.'
'Somebody who was in a position to kill Linda Balfour and Alex Lincoln on the days they were murdered,' Vail said.
'And you think Aaron Stampler turned this person into a serial killer?'
'Not at all. I think the potential was there, all Stampler did was capitalize on it. I think maybe, somehow, transference played a key role in this.'
Molly stepped back out of the shadows and sat down on the rocker facing St Claire and Vail. She said, 'You keep bringing up transference.'
'It's something Woodward said.' Vail, who had taken notes of the audiotape, took out his notebook and flipped through the pages. 'Here it is. He was talking about the downside of transference, how it creates a subconscious fear that old injuries and insults will be repeated. He said it's a double-edged sword, that the fear of re-experiencing all past injuries can turn the patient against the therapist. And then he said, and this is a quote, 'Abhorrent behaviour patterns can be mirrored only to individuals who would normally accept the transference.' '
'That's true,' she said. 'Nobody can transmit abnormal moral standards to another unless the receiver is capable of such behaviour to begin with.'
'See, ma'am, what we think happened, and understand this here's a rank amateur talking, what we think is that this copycat killer was in therapy and reacted adversely to re-experiencing. So that person sought out Stampler for assurance, and Stampler was brilliant enough to become the killer's mentor.'
'The killer transferred to Stampler?'
'Yes. And Stampler capitalized on the killer's instability,' said Vail.
'We ain't sure just how the killer contacted Stampler, Doctor, we don't know at this point how that was accomplished, but that seems the likely scenario since Stampler wasn't in any position to contact anyone on the outside. What I mean, somebody came to him, he didn't go't'them.'
'Why do you think that person was here?'
' 'Cause of the tapes. The tapes are the one place the copycat coulda learned about Rushman and the Altar Boys. And about Linda.' St Claire paused for a minute, then said, 'I just had a thought. S'posin' this person wasn't a full-time patient - '
'An outpatient?' Molly interrupted.
