“So, somebody who’s on medication, somebody who is a sociopath and/or psychopath, somebody who doesn’t care, and would he likely do this again?”
“Absolutely,” Dr. Willoughby said. “Think about it. If it gave him what he wanted, then he’ll repeat it. On the other hand, we could be looking at this in a way that is far too complicated. It could just be a serial killer, and that is his souvenir. Maybe he is targeting these models, and that’s the souvenir he wants to keep as a reminder of his kill.”
“Right,” Richard said, sitting back. “I wasn’t thinking along that line at all either because I had focused on the artwork.”
“Exactly. But, in this case, I’m not sure that’s something you can do because, in many cases, we know that they take a souvenir. This just happens to be a big souvenir and a very specialized one.”
“Very specialized. So, what are the other options then?”
“Well, it’s simple. You’re right back down to the psychopath who doesn’t care about anybody else’s feelings, doesn’t care about anybody else and what they want. It’s all about what he wants. And really, it doesn’t matter if it has anything to do with this individual victim. For all you know, that art piece or souvenir was literally just something that he could look at and remember his victim by.”
“That’s not helpful.”
“Nothing’s here that you don’t already know,” he said. “We’ve worked on multiple cases for well over a decade. I understand that this one is a little more disturbing.”
“Is cannibalism a potential motive?”
“Was any of the underlying flesh gone with the skin?” the psychologist countered. “Or an organ removed?”
Richard shook his head. “No, everything is intact.”
“And how clear and concise was the job?”
“Decent,” he said, “according to the coroner anyway. Not surgical precision but by someone who was decent with a knife. But he also said, that could be anyone. No training required, just practice.”
“And the woman, being a model, was presumably lean. Was the fat left on the skin or left on the torso?”
“The bulk of it was left on the torso, and there wasn’t much at all.”
“And that’s to be expected. What you really have to consider is what does he do with that skin now? It’s not something that he can keep easily.”
“So freezing is an easy answer, but it won’t keep the masterpiece intact, if that’s what he wanted.”
“Exactly.”
The shrink talked a little bit longer, but Richard didn’t gain a whole lot here. It’s not like he could ask for a profile when they didn’t have very much to go on. He’d already checked on similar cases and had come up blank. He’d also done a run on cannibalism and had come up blank. At least not in the last twenty-five years, which, as far as he was concerned, was a thank God all the way around. But now he was wondering what else to even check out.
Still musing, he pondered his way back to his desk. When he got there, Andy sat at his desk nearby, frowning.
“We didn’t find anything in her apartment,” he said, “on our first walk-through, but maybe a second is needed.”
Richard nodded. “That was the next thing on my list to go back to. We’re so short-staffed right now, it’s like we only get halfway into a case. Then we’re pulled off to a dozen other cases.”
“We did a quick search on her place but not any deeper than that. I’m not sure we need to go back honestly,” he said.
“You don’t have to come with me,” Richard said, “but I want to take another walk-through.”
Andy hesitated and said, “Honestly, I should go to Southside and take care of that gas station report. I’ve got a few more questions to ask the second attendant who came on late.”
“You do that,” Richard said, reaching for his jacket. “And I’ll head over to Elena’s apartment again.”
“Any idea what you’re looking for?”
“No, I just hope I recognize it when I see it.”
It took a little longer than he wanted to get out of the police station and over to the loft, but, as he had tons of potential witnesses to contact, her apartment could theoretically wait. Still, something nagged at him. He really wanted to take the time to sort through and make sure they didn’t miss anything this time around. As he walked into the loft, he stopped once again, amazed at the light and the airiness. “A prime piece of real estate for sure.”
He did another quick walk-through the living room, but not much was here. A coffee table, without drawers. A couple couches but the other guys had already lifted the cushions and looked underneath.
He checked the kitchen—one of those ubercontemporary everything-hidden-away-and-not-on-the-counters kitchens with chrome, gleaming glass, and white wood and walls. He opened all the drawers, but she didn’t even have a junk drawer for manuals or where you’d stick things that you didn’t know where to put otherwise. A place for all the items that just never seemed to have any regular home in a kitchen. She didn’t have a drawer like that.
Frowning, he stopped and looked at the kitchen. “It’s almost like it’s unused.” He frowned, pulling up his records to see when she’d purchased the place, which was about six months ago.
Noting that, he headed into the bathroom, and definitely items were there, but it wasn’t full of makeup. It wasn’t full of what he would have expected. He had commented on it the last time he was here. Andy had wondered if she had been away or staying with friends or if this was a secondary house.
“We didn’t find another piece of property when we did a run on assets, so, if this isn’t where she lived full-time, where did she live?” Richard asked out loud to nobody but himself. “We’ll need to keep looking at more property. If we could find
