happy to hear from me, her pleasure is so genuine and unconditional. Men can come and go, but your child is forever.
'Hi, honey. How are you?'
'Pretty good. Elaina and I are about to start my math lesson. Bo-ring.'
'Hey, no dissing the three R's.'
I can almost hear her eyes rolling at my attempt to speak the lingo. Dissing, indeed.
'Are you going to come and get me today? I want to see you. Besides, we're supposed to try that steak recipe thingie.'
Bonnie and I made a pact a few months ago. We agreed that the microwave, while wondrous, was a limited tool when it comes to food. We decided we would take a night a week--it didn't matter which one--and try to actually cook something. I purchased a bunch of cookbooks and we've had a good time filling the house with smoke and the smell of burning meat. We've even managed to create something edible a few times. 'I'll get the steaks before I come and pick you up, sweetheart.'
'Cool.'
'Back to math, honey. I'll see you this evening.'
A noisy sigh. I am heartened by it, as I am by any sign of normal behavior in Bonnie. When she's an official teen and starts to talk back to me, I'll probably rejoice.
'Okay. 'Bye.'
I consider giving Tommy a quick call, but decide against it. I want to talk to him just a little too much right now. I leave my office and head into the main room. We have a large dry-erase board that we use when we're brainstorming. I uncap a marker while the others look on.
'First let's go over what we know,' I say. 'We know we have two victims: Lisa Reid and Rosemary Sonnenfeld.' I write their names on the board. 'We know that they are in different geographical areas.'
'Means he travels,' Alan says. 'Question is, why?'
James nods. 'Right. Does he travel because he likes to spread his destruction over a wide area, or because he followed his victims there?'
'I think it's the latter,' I say. I tell them about my theory, the sin collector.
'Creepy,' Callie offers. 'But interesting.'
'Strip away the non-commonalities,' I say. 'One was a woman, one was a man transitioning into a woman. Lisa Reid was the daughter of a wealthy, connected family, while Rosemary was an ex-prostitute exdrug addict. Rosemary was a blonde, Lisa was a brunette. The only things they had in common were manner of death, and, perhaps, things from their past.'
'Explain that again?' James asks.
'Lisa's diary. She mentions some big secret, is about to reveal what it was, and then the pages are torn out. He leaves his little message. We already know that Rosemary led a questionable life before her conversion.'
'You're saying the only thing they have in common is that they were sinners?' Alan asks.
'Well, that narrows the victim pool,' Callie mutters.
'What about forensics?'
'I have bupkes at the moment. We have a bag of trace we vacuumed up from the plane. We have the bloody cushions, but I imagine all the blood will turn out to be Lisa's. We have smudges but no prints from the armrests. Perhaps the trace will show something, but . . .'
'Probably not,' I say. 'He's older and he's practiced. I don't see him making stupid mistakes.'
'I'm going to have the cross analyzed,' she continues. 'Metallurgy is virtually untraceable, but it is our most direct connection to the perp.'
She's right. The cross is his symbol. It's important to him. When we touch it, we are touching him.
'Good. What else?'
'You know,' James muses, 'going with the religious motivation--
which I agree with, for now--there's another 'known' that's very significant. The manner of death.'
'Stuck in the side,' Alan offers.
'Stuck in the right side,' James corrects. 'From a religious perspective, that's relevant.'
I stare at him in sudden understanding. I wonder why I hadn't thought of it myself.
'The lance, Longinus,' I say.
'Very good,' James replies.
'Sorry,' Callie says, 'but you've lost me. Can you explain it for the heathens in the room?'
'Longinus was the Roman soldier who pierced Christ's side with a lance to make sure he was dead,' James explains.
' 'But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a lance, and immediately there came out blood and water,' ' Alan intones. I look at him and raise an eyebrow.
He grins. 'Sunday school, Baptist-style. My friends and I liked Revelation and the story of the crucifixion the best. Dramatic and bloody.'
'Kind of missing the deeper meaning,' I say.
'I was ten. Sue me.'
'Yes, yes, yes,' James continues, impatient. 'The point is, it's generally agreed that Longinus pierced the right side of Christ with the lance.'
'Just like our victims,' Callie observes.
'The biggest question remains,' he continues. 'Why is he killing them?'
'Easy,' Alan offers. 'Because they're sinners.'
James shakes his head. 'But they're not if they confessed. Which, per the debrief you gave us on your interview with Father Yates, Rosemary did.'
'Whoa,' I say. 'Lot of assumptions there. Maybe he just thinks Rosemary was a sinner because she used to be a hooker. Lisa Reid was changing her sex, which I'm pretty sure is a universal abomination.'
'True,' James says, 'but that doesn't fit with his methodology. If he's outraged by their actions, why is there so little violence? The killings are neat, functional, and symbolic. They lack passion.'
'No torture either,' Callie muses. 'It's almost as if the victims were
The lack of anger continues to resonate. Sex crimes violate the victim; our victims were not violated. Rosemary was posed, but not in a degrading way. The fact of their deaths were more important to him than anything else.
'So,' James says, 'different victim types, not sexually motivated, religious theme, what does that tell us?'
'If it's not about sex,' I muse, 'then it's either about revenge or sending a message. He's either getting back at someone, or he's telling us something by killing them.'
'It's not revenge,' James says. He delivers it as a flat statement of fact.
'I agree,' I say. 'There'd be more anger.'
'So what's he telling us?' Alan asks.
'I don't know. Something important to him, though. Did anything else come up on the VICAP search for similar crimes, Alan?'
'No.'
Callie whistles. 'Wow. We're nowhere.'
I scowl at her. 'Very helpful.'
'I call it as I see it.'
My frustration is not caused by Callie so much as the truth of what she's saying. And its consequences.
'You know he's already picked his next victim,' James remarks, reading my mind. 'Maybe the one after that.'
I give him a sour look.
'You and Callie should hit the forensic bricks.'
'And us? Or me?' Alan asks.
'I need to fill in AD Jones and do a follow-up call to Rosario Reid. After that you and I are going back to see Father Yates. I want to interview anyone and everyone that knew Rosemary and had anything to do with her in the
