Rebus thought about this. `It's' possible,' he conceded, `but there's something else.' I visited a dental pathologist today. From the marks made by the teeth, he said he couldn't rule out the possibility that the Wolfman is a woman.'
`Really?' Her eyes opened wide. `That's very interesting. I'd never even considered it.'
`Neither had we.' He scooped more rice into his bowl. `So tell me why does he, or she, bite the victims?'
`I've given that a lot of thought.' She flipped to her final card. `The bite is always on the stomach, the female stomach, carrier of life. Maybe the Wolfman has lost a child, or maybe he was abandoned and consequently adopted and resents the fact. I don't know. A lot of serial killers have fragmented upbringings.!
'Mmm. I read all about it in those books you gave me.'
`Really? You read them?'
`Last night.'
`And what did you think?'
`I thought they were clever, sometimes ingenious.'
`But do you think the theories are valid?'
Rebus shrugged. `I'll tell you if and when we catch the Wolfman.'
She toyed with her food. again, but ate nothing. The meat in her bowl had a cold, gelatinous look. `What about the anal attacks, John. Do you have any theories there?'
Rebus considered this. `No,' he said finally, `but I know what a psychiatrist might say.'
`Yes, but you're not with a psychiatrist, remember. I'm a psychologist.'
`How can I forget? You said in your essay that there are thirty known serial killers active in the USA. Is that true?'
'I wrote that essay over a year ago. By now, there are probably more. Frightening, isn't it?''
He shrugged, the shrug disguising a shiver. `How's the food?' he asked.
`What?' She looked at her bowl. `Oh, I'm not really very hungry. To tell you the truth, I feel a little bit . . . deflated, I suppose. I was so excited at what I thought I'd managed to piece together, but in telling it all to you, I see that really there's not very much there at, all.' She was thumbing through the index cards.
`There's plenty there,' said Rebus. `I'm impressed, honest. Every little bit helps. Arid you stick to the known facts, I like that. I was expecting more jargon.' He remembered the terms from one of her books, the one by MacNaughtie. `Latent psychomania, Oedipal urgings, gobbledygook.'
`I could give you plenty of that stuff,' she said, `but I doubt it would help.'
`Exactly.'
'Besides, that's more in line with psychiatry. Psycholo?gists prefer drive theories, social learning theory,' multipha?sic personalities.' Rebus had clamped his hands over his ears.
She laughed again. He could make her laugh so easily. Once upon a time he'd made Rhona laugh too, and after Rhona a certain Liaison Officer back in Edinburgh. 'So what about policemen?' he asked, closing off the memory. `What can psychologists tell about us?'
`Well,' she said, relaxing, into her seat, 'you're extrovert, tough-minded, conservative.'
`Conservative?'
`With a small c’
'I read last night that serial killers are conservative, too.'
She nodded, still smiling. 'Oh yes,' she said, `you're alike in a lot of ways. But by conservative I mean specifically that you don't like anything that changes the status, quo. That's why you're reticent about the use of psychology. It interferes with the strict guidelines you've set yourselves. Isn't that so?'
`Well, I suppose I could argue, but I won't. So what happens now you've studied the Wolfman?'
`Oh, all I've done so far is scratch the surface.' Her hands were still on the index cards. `There are other tests to, be done, character analyses and so on. It'll take time.' She paused. `What about you?'
`Well, we'll plod along, checking, examining, taking it—'
`Step by step,' she interrupted.
`That's right, step by step. Whether I'll be on the case much longer or not. I can't say. They may send me ? HYPERLINK “http://back.to/”??back to? Edinburgh at the end of the week.'
`Why did they bring you to London in the first place?'
The waiter had come to clear away their dishes. Rebus sat back, wiping his lips with the serviette.
'Any coffees or liqueurs, sir?'
Rebus looked to Lisa. `I think I'll have a Grand Marnier,' she said.
`Just coffee for me,' said Rebus. 'No, hold on, what the hell, I'll have the same.' The waiter bowed and moved off, his arms heavy with crockery.
`You didn't answer my question, John.'
`Oh, it's simple enough. They thought I might be able to help. I worked on a previous serial killing, up in Edinburgh.'
