'Or maybe an employee. Somebody who was workin' here and who was also bein' treated for some kinda mental problem. Got into the files, studied Stampler… and then maybe left here - maybe got a job at Daisyland for a while…'
'And was proselytized by Stampler.' Vail finished the sentence.
'It coulda happened. Ain't much else makes any sense.'
'Is that possible, Molly?' Vail asked.
'Well, there's certainly no rule that says a patient always transfers to a doctor.'
'So what we're lookin' for here is someone who is your basic psychopath and left here…'
'Or was on vacation or leave on the days when Balfour and Lincoln were killed,' Vail added.
'You mean this person might still be here?'
'No, ma'am. We think - and once again we're guessin' - that the killer's in Chicago waitin' for Stampler-Vulpes - to get out.'
'And he gets out today, Molly.'
'We're also guessin' he's got a list of future victims.'
'A list drawn up by Vulpes.'
Vail put his briefcase on the couch beside him, opened it, and removed a large manila envelope. He took out three photographs. He handed her the photo of Linda Balfour's corpse, taken by the police. She looked at it in horror and turned her head as she handed it back to him.
'Alex Lincoln was a delivery man for UPD. He was lured to a house near St Louis and killed. This photograph was in a box that Alex Lincoln was delivering. The real residents of the house were out of town at the time.'
He handed her the Polaroid shot of Balfour. Her eyes widened as she realized it had been taken by the killer.
'My God.'
'You're a psychiatrist, Molly,' said Vail. 'How do you figure this? The same MO as Stampler's murders. Messages in blood on the backs of both heads. References to Rushman's books, which are now in a private library. And the last surviving members of the Altar Boys. That information was never brought out in the trial. How did the killer even know about them?'
'Thing is, Dr Arrington, we ain't askin' to look in no files or ask about specifics. What we need to find out is if there's a chance that a patient or an employee here coulda got a squint at those tapes, and if so, where we can locate that person now. Hell, could be a half-dozen or a dozen fits the bill. Our job'd be to narrow it down, find out if any of 'em coulda been in Gideon, Illinois, and St Louis, Missouri, on the dates those two folks was killed. We sure ain't lookin' to drag a whole buncha folks in and have 'em psychologically evaluated, if that's what you're worried about.'
'And you think this killer went from here to Daisyland?'
'Possibly,' said Vail. 'Maybe not directly from here, but ultimately managed to make contact with Stampler there.'
'When would this killer have been here?'
'Not sure, ma'am. Could go way back, but the first killin' occurred last October, so my best guess is two, three years ago.'
'How many people are on the grounds - staff and inmates?' Vail asked.
'Patients, not inmates, please.'
'Sorry.'
'Our patient list is held to three hundred fifty. There's a medical staff of twenty-two and another twenty in the kitchen, security, main office. About four hundred altogether.'
'Big turnover?'
'On staff? Not really. It's a pleasant place to work, the wages are excellent.'
'Patients?'
'I'm guessing - I would say the average stay would be two to three years. We have some long-termers and we have some who are gone in six months. Also about a third of them are children, three to twenty-one.'
'Tell you what'd help, ma'am. If we could get us a list of the staff and patients for the past three years.'
