He shrugged. ‘Depends what you mean.’
Joe held out a brown envelope.
‘Could you look at a few crime scene photos for me? I think the perp spent some time working on the victims’ teeth or mouths for some reason before they were murdered. These are graphic images.’
‘I’m unshockable,’ said Dr Makkar, taking them from him. He looked down, his eyes wide. ‘Or at least, I used to be. Holy crap. These are hardcore. I liked that you said “ working ” on their teeth or mouths. I work on people’s teeth. This guy… wow. Wow. My breakfast is not happy.’ He took a drink from a plastic cup.
‘I know,’ said Joe. ‘So, what do you think?’
‘I don’t know, but your guy’s got some reason for smashing these teeth in. He’s not fooling around. Do you think it’s a torture thing to get information out of someone? Or maybe the victims already gave away some information they shouldn’t have?’
Joe shrugged. ‘It could be anything.’
Makkar looked through the photos again. ‘He was definitely going for a big psychological impact. It’s a primal thing with teeth. That’s why it freaks us all out so much when we dream they’re falling out. You’ve had that dream, right? And it’s like you’re trying to imagine how your life can go on without your teeth? It’s an apocalyptic thing.’ He paused. ‘Do you know what’s so cruel about messing with people’s teeth or their mouths? It’s that if you don’t heal one hundred per cent, there are so many reminders of your assault: every time you chew, kiss, smoke, go out in the cold, whatever. It’s there all the time. Psychologically, you could have to relive the whole thing over and over.’ He looked down. ‘Although, most of your victims, well, they don’t have to.’
‘Don’t dentists have the most stressful jobs, highest rate of suicides?’ said Joe.
Dr Makkar frowned. ‘I see where you’re going. Sure. And, man, you should see all the serial killers that’ve come out of dental school over the years.’
‘OK, but do you think what we’re looking for here is a dentist?’
‘Yes, I think that’s what you’re looking for, but that doesn’t mean you’re right.’
Joe smiled. ‘Well, what do you think?’
’I don’t know.’ Makkar pointed to the photo of Preston Blake that Joe had cut from the newspaper. ‘But I’d say the reason someone like this guy wouldn’t get their teeth fixed is that he will never ever let anyone near his mouth again. Look at those eyes, even. That is the look of a damaged man.’ He turned to Joe. ‘And he’s not the only one.’
‘You’re too hard on me, Dr Mak. Anyway, look, I appreciate all this. Thanks for your help.’
‘Now,’ said Dr Makkar, holding on to the photos. ‘I’m afraid I have some good news for you. I got a call from a doctor friend of mine who has one of the most experienced surgeons in arthroscopy visiting the Facial Pain Clinic next week and has offered me a slot for a patient. I’d like that to be you.’
Joe stared at him. ‘Am I supposed to be grateful for that?’
‘You’re hurting my feelings here. What am I going to do with you? Your face looks so, just rigid. It’s crazy. You can’t look at this kind of stuff,’ he pointed to the photos, ‘you can’t live this life without getting affected. You can’t fool me. You really want to spend the rest of your life in this kind of pain?’
‘No, definitely not. But I can’t do surgery.’
‘I’m telling you, you can.’
‘What day’s it on?’
‘Friday – ten days from now.’
Joe sighed. ‘OK. Fine, put me down. But I’d like the record to show-’
‘I don’t keep records for babies,’ said Dr Makkar. ‘Or cats, scaredy cats.’
When Joe got back to the office, everyone was gathered around Danny’s desk and there was an atmosphere he couldn’t quite put his finger on until Martinez opened his mouth.
‘Ease yourself into the morning, that’s right.’
‘I was getting someone to take a look at the teeth angle,’ said Joe. ‘From 7 a.m. When you were in bed.’
Martinez nodded, but was looking away.
‘OK,’ said Rencher. ‘Mary Burig is twenty-eight, single, from Boulder, Colorado, got a degree in psychology, moved to New York just over a year ago, took an apartment in the East Village, which is possibly where she was attacked.’
‘What did she work at?’ said Joe.
‘She had a part-time job at a deli.’
‘Was she dating anyone around the time of the attack?’ said Bobby.
‘No. Not since she got to New York,’ said Joe.
‘And you said she’s got no memory of what happened,’ said Bobby.
‘No,’ said Joe. ‘And there’s nothing we can do about that for now. She does remember a teeth thing. So I’ve put the word out on the teletype and updated VICAP. But whatever happens, now we know about her, it changes everything. Female vic, late twenties, happened after William Aneto and Gary Ortis, but before Preston Blake and Ethan Lowry. So Mary was the third intended victim that we know about. And she got away. And so did Preston Blake.’ He raised his hands. ‘How did two victims get away? What did the perp do differently? What did the vics do differently? Was it a physical thing – the vic gets a surge of adrenaline and overpowers the perp? Or a psychological thing – the vic says or does something that makes the perp stop? Or maybe he was interrupted – someone calls to the door, an alarm goes off, the police show up. We need to find out what Mary Burig did and what Preston Blake did that made them the lucky ones.’
‘Yeah, real lucky,’ said Danny. ‘I’d give my left arm to be living in some rehab apartment or holed up like a recluse in a-’
‘Huge mansion,’ said Martinez.
‘Yeah, well, it doesn’t sound like Preston Blake’s going to be too happy to talk to us again one way or the other.’
‘Maybe the perp wanted them to get away,’ said Danny.
‘But Blake saw his face’ said Joe. ‘He must have been planning to kill him.’
‘I guess so. And Mary was shot in the head… I need sleep.’
Joe laughed. ‘William Aneto. Gary Ortis. Mary Burig. Preston Blake. Ethan Lowry. What is the connection? Is there a connection?’
‘Back to the getting away,’ said Rencher. ‘There’s no way from what you say about Mary Burig that she got away by overpowering the guy. He had to have been interrupted or it was something psychological.’ He paused. ‘Of course, he had shot her. He probably thought she was dead.’
‘She’s too cute to kill,’ said Danny.
‘Yeah, that’ll stop ‘em,’ said Martinez.
‘Maybe it was just the fact that she was a woman made some difference,’ said Rencher.
‘Yeah, that’ll stop ‘em,’ said Martinez.
Joe snapped his pen in half. Everyone looked at him. He shrugged. Danny smiled.
‘OK,’ said Joe. ‘Martinez and Rencher, can you look into another canvass at Mary Burig’s old apartment building in case you’re right, he was interrupted. Same goes for Blake’s street, see if anyone saw or heard anything.’
‘Blake will be on to Rufo again for that one,’ said Danny.
‘Like we give a shit,’ said Joe. ‘We will have to go back and talk to him. He’ll have to deal with it.’
‘Did Mary make a phone call the night she was attacked?’ said Bobby.
‘Cullen is on that.’
‘Maybe that’s the key,’ said Danny.
‘Maybe the people they called are linked and the vics are all guilty by association?’ said Bobby.
‘Maybe, maybe, maybe,’ said Joe. ‘So, let’s get the phone calls straight: Aneto calls his Mom to say he’s responsible for killing his brother. Gary Ortis calls his former business partner just to catch up. Mary Burig, we don’t know. Preston Blake – no phone call. Ethan Lowry – calls his ex-girlfriend to tell her he still loves her.’
‘That’s two confessions we got right there,’ said Danny. ‘Maybe that’s what this is about.’
‘Could be it’s some religious nut,’ said Joe. ‘Listens to their confessions. I mean, he’s got to be right there while they’re making the call, otherwise they could tip the person off and none of them did.’
