Speak No Evil

sexual predator tracked her down, lured her out by convincing her he was a high school senior at a neighboring school, then raped and killed her. Her content was all very innocent, and her parents had helped her set it up according to all the safety rules-no personal information, no identifying comments. One of her friends had a picture of her on their journal page and identified her by her login name; another friend on the list mentioned some geographical information; another friend talked about losing a big game on Saturday night and named teams. The killer put all the information together, tracked her down, lured her out, and killed her.”

“So even being anonymous doesn’t help,” Nick said.

Dillon shook his head. “Unfortunately, it’s a false sense of security. Getting back to this killer, I think you need to look at the manner of her murder.

“Using industrial-strength glue to seal her mouth may have been personal, but I think it’s simpler than that. He didn’t want to hear her cry; he didn’t want her to say anything. Maybe he feared he could be talked out of it, maybe he was in a location where someone might hear her. With the glue, the victim would be in extreme pain if she tried to move her mouth. She would be focusing on breathing through her nose and not choking. But there’s something about her mouth and her voice that sets him off.

“The other thing that really stands out to me is that he didn’t kill her with his own hands. He put her in garbage bags, bound them, and she suffocated to death. This might indicate that he’s removed from the killing, that he feels it has to be done but he doesn’t want to do it.”

“So this isn’t some elaborate setup?” Will asked.

“Setup?”

“Like some guy wanting payback for the victim talking about him online. Rapes her, hurts her, kills her, but then trying to make it look like some psychotic asshole.”

Dillon looked at him. “Anyone capable of a murder like this is a sociopath.”

“May I look at the report?” Nick asked.

Carina hesitated, then handed him Dillon’s copy. “It stays here,” she said.

“Of course.”

Dillon continued. “Your killer is very immature. The crude manner of the rape, the awkwardness of the way she was bound, writing across her breasts in marker-it all points to someone who isn’t a seasoned killer. The supplies he used were common household supplies, as you already noticed.”

“Why is writing in marker a sign of immaturity?” Will asked.

“Virtually every similar case I’ve investigated, a killer marks a body by carving into it or taking something away like hair or an appendage. Writing on the body with a marker or pen or paint seems almost like an afterthought. Not so much branding the victim, but sending a message as to what he thought she was in case anyone missed it. It wasn’t for him so much as for anyone who might find her.”

Carina said, “Dr. Chen’s report indicated that the marker had been applied after she’d been washed.”

“And then there’s how he disposed of the body,” Dillon said.

“Killers often leave their victims in plain sight,” Carina said, “as a way to taunt police. To show us they’re ‘smarter.’ ”

“I’m looking at the big picture,” Dillon explained. “The common restraints. Not wanting to hear her talk or cry or scream. Putting her in garbage bags to die on her own without any help from him.”

“He put her in them!” Will exclaimed.

“Yes, but he’s a step removed, he’s watching her die as opposed to being an active participant in her death.” Dillon had a rare look of frustration on his face. “I guess what I’m trying to say is that each step he took-restraining her, sealing her mouth, washing her body, suffocating her, dumping her body-fits together if you look at it from the killer’s point of view.”

“She’s dead, she’s nothing, he throws her out like garbage,” Nick said.

“Right. She holds no more allure for him. Dead, she’s an annoyance, a chore that needs to be done. Like taking out the trash. Now, there’s one more thing that’s important.”

“He cleaned the body,” Nick said.

Dillon smiled as if Nick was his star pupil. “Exactly. Notice he washed her before he killed her. Before he put her in the garbage bags.”

“Some sort of ritual for him?” Carina suggested. “Maybe he thinks sex is dirty and therefore needs to be washed away?”

“That’s a good analysis,” Dillon said, “and I think it’s partially true. He grew up in a house where sex was considered dirty or forbidden or otherwise unhealthy. Puberty is a dangerous time for sociopaths. Hormones, unhealthy fantasies, and no outlet. Either they have no one to talk to about their feelings and how to deal with anger and their sexuality, or their fantasies have been reinforced through sexual abuse or indifference or observation.”

“So it’s the parent’s fault,” Will said derisively.

“No, I’m just saying it’s one factor. Put it all together. You have a child with sociopathic tendencies-and researchers have shown that you can see these tendencies as young as the age of four.”

“Four?” Carina couldn’t imagine being able to pinpoint a killer as a toddler.

“Remember, Cara, not all sociopaths kill. They are identified through lack of empathy, ease of lying, lack of remorse for bad behavior, among other things. But they don’t all grow up to become serial killers. I believe other factors, environment in particular, twists these kids. An abusive mother or father, usually a one-parent household or a stepparent in the picture. Not always, of course-if we knew the formula that created monsters we could put an end to them.”

Dillon continued. “You asked for my professional opinion, and based on what we know about the victim and the manner of her death, I believe that the secondary reason he cleaned her body was because of a deep-grained feeling that sex is dirty. It could have been developed by a mother who punished him for wet dreams, or something more sinister.”

“Secondary?” Carina asked.

Nick was the one who spoke. “He washed her body to get rid of evidence.”

No one said anything for a long minute. “You’re not suggesting that he’s a cop or someone with forensic knowledge?” Carina asked.

“Everyone these days is a forensic expert,” Nick said. “Look at the popularity of crime shows on television. I recently read a report about a killer who disposed of a body by feeding it to his neighbor’s pigs. Why? Because he saw it on television.”

“And the husband who put his dead wife in a drum of lye and buried it in the backyard,” Dillon added.

“Today’s criminals know what we look for, and they are doing everything they can to cover their tracks,” Nick said. “It makes our job a hell of a lot more difficult.”

“So who are we looking for?” Carina finally asked. “You said he was immature, but he has the where-withal to clean up after himself.”

Dillon explained. “Immature in that he’s not a seasoned, practiced killer. He will get more proficient.”

“He’s going to do it again,” she said flatly.

Dillon and Nick both nodded. “How old do you think he is?” Nick asked Dillon.

“Under thirty. There’re no definitive studies on the subject, but there’s evidence that most serial killers begin killing in their twenties. Killing is the first end point in a series of escalations, usually started during puberty, and sometimes younger, with bedwetting, killing animals, and setting fires. It sounds cliche, but studies have shown that these three acts are identifiable in known serial killers.”

“If he’s under thirty, he may be new to this,” Carina said.

“Exactly. Angie may be his first, or he may have another under his belt. Or perhaps a failed attempt.”

Dillon said. “He also has a strong sense of survival. He’s abnormally neat in appearance and environment. His house will be immaculate. He’ll have no tolerance for dirt. You won’t see him working in construction, for example, because he can’t stand the thought of getting that dirty. He most likely lives alone. He may date, but he can’t maintain a long-term relationship. He’ll appear safe, innocuous, pleasant, polite. He will not seem like a threat, but he has a vicious temper. He has it under control, but when it gets away from him he can’t easily regain control. Very likely a student or a college dropout. Above-average intelligence, but an underachiever. He won’t take