cases I've worked before. It's like, I don't know, it's a…Great Crime.'
Janek stared at him. 'What does that mean, Harry? A 'Great Crime'-what the hell is that?'
'Like that big case of yours. That Switched Heads thing. A great criminal conception. A killer playing a dangerous game, taunting us while he weaves his pattern. He sees himself as an artist. to catch him, we have to understand his art. In the end that'll tell us who he is. Decipher the pattern.' Sullivan held up his hand. 'Then he's ours.' He shut his fist to stimulate a trap.
'Any way you see me fitting into this?'
Sullivan smiled. 'We stayed late, talked it over after you left.
The boys think you could be a real asset.'
'What about Aaron?'
'Not so clear. Don't misunderstand, Frank. I'm sure he's a terrific cop.'
But with him on the team I'd have an ally, and you don't want that, Janek thought.
Sullivan leaned forward. He wanted to speak in confidence.
'I know it's tough. I know how cops feel. I know we're not the most popular guys around. But we've got the expertise, Frank. On a case like this we're the only game in town. Not just because we can coordinate on a national level but because we've been studying these guys, profiling them for years. After a while you get a feel for them. This one's tough, but I know there's a soft spot. There always is. With your help I think we can find it. I'd be truly honored, Frank, if you'd agree to join my team.'
When the main courses arrived, they dropped discussion of the case. As they ate, Sullivan spoke casually of his ambition to write.
'It's what I've always wanted to do,' he said. 'Think about it-all the fiction writers out there who'd give their left ball for the kind of material we deal with every day.' He took a bite from his plate.
'Ever hear of Grey Scopetta?'
'No.'
'A film director. Does these true crime things on TV. I figured with your miniseries and all you'd have heard of him.'
'It wasn't my miniseries, Harry. I was just the police adviser.'
Sullivan winked at him. 'Don't be so modest.' He gulped some wine. 'Anyway, about Scopetta-he's been in touch with me about HF.'
Janek put down his fork. 'I thought the point was to keep it quiet.'
'From reporters, sure. But the bureau likes filmmakers. Some way, we don't know how, Scopetta heard about the case and put through a request for a briefing. So we gave him one. Nothing like what you got. The smaller, simpler version. And nothing about the weed.
Nobody knows about that, not even detectives in cities where the families were killed. Anyway, the two of us stayed in touch. So one day we're talking and he mentions I'm the guy maybe ought to write the script. I figured what the hell, why not give it a shot? So this past summer I flew out to L.A., took a crash course in screenwriting, one of those five-hundred-bucks-per weekend seminar deals. Now in my free time, evenings and weekends, I've been writing away.' Again Sullivan lowered his voice.
'Look, this is the kind of case that when it's solved, there's sure to be a movie, So I figured why shouldn't 1, the guy who's going to solve it, get a piece of the action? Somebody's gotta write it. Why not me? That way, soon as there's an indictment, the script's ready to go. Nothing wrong with what I'm doing; I checked with our ethics guys. I'm not showing my script to anyone. Just getting it ready, that's all. See, Scopetta explained it to me: Screenwriting is structure. So that's what I'm working on, the structure of the thing. And lately I've had this idea that working on the structure of the script is going to help me solve HF. Because HF's got a structure, too. Know what I mean? Solve it as a story and I may solve it as a case. Anyway, it's an idea…
Jesus, what an asshole! Janek thought.
With dessert, they resumed discussion of Happy Families. Having trusted Janek with his writing ambitions, Sullivan was finally ready to expose the most sensitive aspects of the case.
'Okay,' Sullivan said, 'you know what we've got. After a year of work, incredibly little. No prints. No fibers. No tissue cells.
No DNA. The ice picks are common, sold all over the country, and the weeds are obviously untraceable. We believe the gluings were done with a standard caulking gun, the kind you can buy in any hardware store. He rams it into them, then shoots in potent animal glue. Now there was one thing we didn't get to in the briefing. Connections between the victims. Believe me, we searched for them. We have a powerful computer program designed to make that kind of search.
So far all it's come up with is a city, Cleveland, which ties together only two of the families. The brothers in Connecticut were from there, and the old lady in Florida school there before she retired.
Coincidence? taught Probably. If it was a small town in southern Ohio, I might feet different. A serial killer fixated on Cleveland-I just don't see a story line there…
Janek cleared his throat. Time now to rattle him, he thought. 'Maybe it's not a serial case, Harry. Ever think of that?' 'You kidding? This is a classic. Of course it's a serial case.' 'I'm not so sure.'
Sullivan's pink cheeks began to redden. 'What the hell're you talking about?'
Janek shrugged. 'Call it a gut feeling.' Sullivan snorted. Then he turned sarcastic. 'What else does your 'gut' tell you?'
'Now don't act offended, Harry.' 'I am offended. You're questioning the premise of my '?' investigation. What's bugging you.
'No victimology.'
Sullivan stared at him. Then he smiled. 'Okay, you're good, you picked up on that. But see, even with the best software, the computer isn't perfect.' 'Forget the computer. I'm talking about David Chun.'
'David's upset about a couple things. But-'
'He talked about everything except what the killer found attractive, what he saw in his 'difficult victims' that made him decide to go after them. And that's the key, isn't it'? if you've got that many victims and they don't tell you why they were attacked, well, then, what have you got? Far as I can see, nothing. Except'-he sneered-''Happy Families.'' 'You're mocking that?'
'I don't mock homicide victims, Harry, But tell me, between the two of us, what was so goddamn happy about all those people?'
'Oh, come off it! That's just the name we use.
'Sure. That's how it started. Because you couldn't read the common element, But now it's like the name's defining the case. 'Happy Families'-how do you know they were happy? Because they lived in nice houses, nice neighborhoods, Dad coached Little League, Mom baked apple pies, and kids were on the honor roll? Because their friends and neighbors told you they were? See, Harry, I never worked a case where I didn't hear the victims were just the greatest people, the finest, happiest people. And half the time it turned out they were just like everybody else, happy and unhappy, capable of hurting each other, even capable of killing each other if the stress got bad enough.
I'm not saying your families weren't happy. I'm just asking how YOU know they were. Because I don't buy Happy Families. It's too vague. Show me a victim list of pretty blondes with hoop earrings or old ladies with hairy chins, then maybe I'll go along. But you don't have that. I think this goes deeper. I think these killings were victim- specific. I think there's an invisible thread connecting all these people and you and your team just haven't found it yet.'
'After a year of work we haven't found it, the best serial killer team ever assembled. But you're going to find it? Great! Maybe you'll even find it tonight!'
Janek sat back. Sullivan's sarcasm didn't bother him. it only made him want to push the needle farther in.
'Know what I think, Harry?'l think working out of Behavioral Science has got you overinvested in the seri killer idea. I think you're so wrapped up in that you can't see beyond it to anything else.
Now Sullivan was staring at him, trying to push him with a hard cop Is stare. 'Man, you've got some kind of balls,' he whispered. 'If I w ere you, I'd watch my step. Someone just might come along and cut 'em off. Know what I mean, Frank?'
Janek smiled. He'd forced Sullivan to resort to vulgar, tough guy talk. When a cop started talking about
