name.”
“I didn’t know that.”
“No reason ever to think about it. It’s only an actor’s problem. But what D’Amico did that was significant was to take his mother’s maiden name, Jensen. Do you know Mick’s mother’s maiden name?”
“Her maiden name? That’s Gloria’s brother’s wife, Julie, and she came from Hartford and they’d already been married for about ten years before I even met Gloria-I don’t know. I can find out.”
“It’s Peterssen.”
“Right. That sounds kind of familiar. I think I met her father in Hartford once. So, it’s Peterson. So what?”
“No flash of insight? No light bulb over your head?”
“Give me a break, John. If I had flashes of insight, would I stand here and let you insult my stupidity?”
“They are both Scandinavian names. They are all Scandinavian names.”
Becker pushed another key and eight names came up on the screen.
“Eight of them,” he continued. “Eight of them with mothers with Scandinavian names. Not their own names. Their mothers. Only two of them had Scandinavian names themselves.”
“Wait a minute. Peterson could be English, couldn’t it?”
“If you say it aloud, yes. The s-e-n ending and the s-o-n ending sound the same. You have to see it written to know the difference. And s-e-n is Scandinavian. Primarily Danish or Norwegian, although it could be Swedish as well. With two esses it could also be Icelandic.”
“Icelandic?”
“Look at the names. Tee. Peterssen, Jensen, Cederquist, Nordhohn, Dahl, Lmd, Hedstrom, Nilsson.
Each of those is definitely Scandinavian. Not maybe, not could also be German or Dutch or English. Definitely Scandinavian.”
“How do you know this crap?”
“I have a library card.”
“So what’s going on? There’s some secret meeting of Danes and everyone is sneaking out to it, or what?”
“They’re not going on their own. Someone’s taking them.”
“How do you know that?”
“I don’t believe in cabals. Tee. I don’t believe in secret summonses or mysterious inheritances or a gathering of the trolls or aliens. I don’t look for fancy explanations. Maybe it’s just a predisposition because of my training, but this stinks all over the place. If they have anything else in common, I can’t find out what it is. They range in age from twenty-five to thirty-six, they’re male, they live around here, and that’s it.”
“Except for their mothers.”
“Except for their mothers’ names. The mothers don’t have much in common, either, although I need to look at that further. It’s not as if they just got off the boat from Copenhagen. Most of the families have been here for many generations. Their only link to Scandinavia is the surname.”
“Who would care if they had Scandinavian names? What difference does it make?”
“I have no idea.”
“And who would even know the surnames?”
“Bingo, Tee. No wonder you’re the chief. Who would know the names? You didn’t know your nephew’s mother’s maiden name. And not only know the names, but know them correctly, by spelling. Someone with access to records, obviously. And what kind of records have women’s maiden names?”
“Marriage records.”
“Correct, but marriage licenses don’t tell you if the woman has or had or will have a child.”
“Hospitals, birth certificates.”
“Which will tell you a child was born, but not if he’s still alive at least twenty-five years later, or if he lives around here.”
“We need something where a woman with a Scandinavian last name tells you she’s got a son at least twenty-five years old?”
“Or vice versa. A form of some kind where the son gives his mother’s maiden name.”
“Hell, John, that could be credit-card applications, job applications, a lot of things.”
“Except I’m sure these men didn’t all apply for the same job. The army takes that kind of information, but only two of our men were in it.”
“Social security?”
“No.”
“The goddammed census, I don’t know, what?”
“The census is an idea. Tee, although I don’t think they take that kind of information, but I’ll check it out.”
“You know the answer already or you wouldn’t be jumping me through the hoops. Where would you get the information?”
“Insurance. There are other ways, but they’re harder and not local. The same insurance salesman could easily cover our four towns. And he doesn’t even have to sell you a policy to get the information. They offer to see if they can beat your present insurance rate, you know. Just fill out the form and they’ll get you a free quote, no obligation to buy.”
“I always knew I didn’t like insurance salesmen. So we have to find out if the same insurance salesman talked to all of these men who disappeared?”
“To begin with, we have to see if the same one talked to even two of them. That’s something to start with, but it won’t be easy to find out. Would your wife remember if you had a talk with an insurance salesman six months ago? A year ago? We don’t know how long this guy waits once he selects his victim.”
“Victim? You’re sure that’s what’s going on?”
“Nope. I’m still hoping it’s a case of mass amnesia. But in the meanwhile, I’ll stay cynical.”
“But why the mothers? Wouldn’t it be easier to just pick men with Scandinavian names, if that’s what you were after?”
“Easier, but it would make for an obvious pattern. I only stumbled onto this because of the actor. It wouldn’t show up in a routine scan of the victims’ case studies. It didn’t for you, did it?”
“You think Mick’s dead, then?”
“I think we should start checking out insurance salesmen.”
“Damn it, Becker, I’m not Laurie! Tell me what you think. Is he dead?”
“Did you get a ransom note?”
“Of course not. Why would anybody kidnap Mick? He doesn’t have any money…”
“You’ve checked hospitals, traffic fatalities… It’s not just Mick, there are eight of them. Christ, Tee, you brought this thing to me yourself. What did you think it was? Things like this go on. All the time, all over the country. Read the newspaper; there’s a new case every other month. The Hillside Strangler, the Atlanta murders, John Wayne Gacy, Ted Bundy. There’s some farm couple in Missouri in their seventies who killed at least twenty and counting. Sometimes I think it’s a national competition. And the newspapers are just interested in the big numbers. You never even hear about the creep in Arizona who got caught after three, or the one in Baton Rouge who… Maybe I’m wrong. Tee. Give me another explanation.”
Tee was silent for a moment. Becker looked away, giving him the time in privacy.
“Okay,” said Tee at length.,
“Sorry. Maybe I’m wrong.”
“Okay.”
“It’s my experience. Tee. My training. I look for the worst.”
“I accept that it’s not UFOs… It’s just that Mick and I… okay.”
“It’s not just about Mick, Tee.”
“I know.”
“It’s happening faster, his pace is accelerating. He took the first four in thirty months. He took the last four in eighteen. The time between Timmy Heegan and Mick was only two months. His appetite is getting ravenous, the need is consuming him.”
