‘‘He’ll have to change the profile again, after this. You realize we have two victims now with diamonds that they shouldn’t have been able to afford.’’
‘‘So you don’t buy the backyard deal?’’ said Garnett with a tired smile.
‘‘Of course not.’’
‘‘Where did they get them?’’ He sat down again across from Diane and crossed his legs.
‘‘The choices are: he bought them, he stole them, he found them, they were given to him,’’ said Diane. ‘‘It seems unlikely that he bought them. He may have stolen them, but he didn’t have theft in his background.’’
‘‘A lot of money adds up to a lot of temptation.’’
‘‘Yes, it does. Perhaps Raymond Waller, Chris Ed wards and Steven Mayberry worked together,’’ said Diane. ‘‘They got hold of the diamonds, had a fallingout and killed each other. Perhaps Steven Mayberry is the last man standing.’’
‘‘For the first time, we’re getting somewhere.’’ Garnett unfolded his legs and leaned forward, his fore arms on his knees.
mind was racing
another thing Chris
through possibilities. and Raymond had in
Diane’s ‘‘There’s common afford—a victims.’’
‘‘Coincidence,’’ argument.
‘‘Maybe. Let’s were found hanging. That is a very uncommon way to murder someone. They were all dressed alike in clothes that didn’t fit. In fact, all the clothes were the same size—extra-large coveralls.’’
‘‘Were they?’’
‘‘It was in the report.’’
‘‘That’s right.’’
besides having diamonds they couldn’t direct connection to the Cobber’s Wood
Garnett offered, as a counter
look at them for a moment. They ‘‘That could have been to conceal their identities too,’’ said Diane. ‘‘He wanted to get rid of their clothes, but he didn’t want them naked.’’ She shrugged.
Garnett pulled up his chair and leaned on Diane’s desk. ‘‘And the tips of their fingers were cut off. That was either to thwart identification, or to collect a trophy.’’
‘‘I can see why the profiler thinks it’s a serial killer,’’ said Diane. ‘‘That’s what it looks like. The guy who was calling me certainly sounded
would peg him as a candidate for
like a nutcase. I a serial killer—I
mean, the flowers, then attacking me.’’
‘‘But he also suggested he was angry about some in bullying—he talked justice. What was it—gossip,
about?’’
‘‘Yes, he did. Let’s look at
way,’’ said Diane. ‘‘He said he is not a murderer. He
seems obsessed with justice—and injustice. If he com
mitted the Cobber’s Wood murders, perhaps he
hanged them for their real or imagined crimes, what
ever they might have been. He dressed them up like
prisoners. Perhaps he really believes himself to be
their executioner for just cause, not their murderer.
Their fingers were cut off to avoid them being identi
fied if they were found.’’
‘‘What if they’d been found before their faces rot
ted? They could have been identified that way.’’ Diane frowned for a moment. ‘‘Maybe there is a
reason the fingerprints are a greater threat to identifi
cation than their faces or their teeth.’’
‘‘How’s that?’’ asked Garnett.
‘‘They grew up in the northeast, not here. Maybe
that’s where they lived, and he thought being far away
from home would delay identification.’’
the killings another ‘‘They grew up in the northeast? How do you
know that?’’
‘‘We got back the chemical analysis on the bones.
