was.”
“And?”
“I still need more information for any substantive profile. You went over the victimology and the timeline, but I’m curious about the Sacramento victim. George Price.”
“That’s the thing,” said Hans. “The vic wasn’t George Price. He’s a John Doe, homeless-was most likely a stranger to the killers.”
“But this John Doe just happened to have the identification of a man who fits the profile of the victims?” Dillon asked.
“We now believe that the killer planted Price’s dog tags on the victim, but I can’t figure out why,” Hans replied. “If the killers were more symbolic at the crime scene, it would make sense because they couldn’t get to Price-he’s AWOL. The military couldn’t find him, and our killers probably couldn’t either.”
Hans continued. “That’s one of the many things I’m struggling with. Price’s dog tag actually led us down the path we’re going, connecting the victims via their military records. No one had thought to check that with the first two victims because it wasn’t obvious they were both veterans. Then Rosemont sent one of Price’s tags to the FBI agent in charge of the investigation, as if to say,
“But why did they choose Sacramento of all the cities in America to plant Price’s tags on a body? Wait … did you say that the killers sent Price’s dog tag directly to one of your FBI agents?”
“Megan Elliott, supervisor of the Violent Crimes Squad. I thought maybe it was a sign that he wanted to be stopped, but … now I don’t know.”
“What about a copycat killer?” Dillon asked.
“I don’t think so,” answered Hans. “Rosemont was found with a medical bag of the needles he used to torture his victims. The hamstring injuries are consistent with the same type of knife, though the knife is missing and is presumed to have been taken by the accomplice. But this is the thing, Dillon: Rosemont killed two innocent civilians at a rest stop. No apparent reason, he just shot them point-blank. Now he’s dead, and I can’t even ask him why. A married couple. She was eight months pregnant.” His voice cracked on the word.
“Hans?”
Jack watched Hans’s face as it went through myriad gut-wrenching emotions, then the agent rubbed his eyes and looked down at the table. Suddenly, Hans’s odd behavior for the last two days made more sense. Jack said nothing, but filed the information away.
“Let’s retrace what happened in Hidalgo when Jack’s buddy Scout was killed,” said Dillon. “Was there something different about that crime scene, inconsistent with the first three?”
“Everything on the surface appeared to be the same,” Hans said, “but I didn’t see the crime scene. I have the reports from the Rangers, and they read like it could be any of the other scenes. Putting aside the rest-stop murders and General Hackett, it was the Sacramento crime scene that was different from the others because of the planted dog tags.”
“But there was also one other thing different in Hidalgo,” Jack interjected. “My friend Frank Cardenas, a priest, had been on the mission where Rosemont was abducted, yet Rosemont killed Scout and not Frank.”
“You know this priest well, Jack?” Dillon asked.
“Yes,” Jack said, his voice clipped. Everyone was suspicious.
Hans said, “Cardenas hasn’t left Hidalgo in months, and there’s been no evident contact with Rosemont. Cardenas’s involvement doesn’t fit with what I know about him. And it goes back to motive. Cardenas doesn’t have one. Who does?”
“After the Hidalgo murder, you noticed a change?”
“The first four murders were well planned, methodical, disciplined,” said Hans. “The last three-the two civilians and General Hackett-were rash, disorganized, impulsive. Though Rosemont came prepared to torture Hackett, I don’t see how he possibly thought he’d get away with it, even with the privacy of the cabin. He registered under a variation of his name, was captured on the lobby security camera. After that, it would have been only a matter of time before he was identified and stopped.”
“His female partner lured Hackett to the room,” Dillon conjectured, “where Rosemont hamstrung him and then she shot him in the back.”
Hans wasn’t convinced. “That isn’t consistent.”
Jack asked Dillon, “How can you say that with certainty?”
“Because of Rosemont. I’ll write up a formal report for you, but here’s the nitty-gritty. The guy suffered from severe post-traumatic stress. He’d been tortured for three months, including needles in his nerves with the purpose of causing excruciating pain. Therefore, he wanted to cause pain to those he blamed for his captivity. He obviously couldn’t go back to Afghanistan and hurt those who held him, so he turned to the Delta team who were supposed to protect him.
“He acknowledged to his psychiatrist that he didn’t follow orders, and he alternately blamed himself and blamed the army. He was suicidal-had attempted suicide at least twice that the doctors knew about-and he was on medication. The psychological reports all indicated that Rosemont was a threat to himself and not others.”
“That’s bullshit,” Jack said. “Who are these idiots?”
“Let me finish, Jack.”
Jack crossed his arms. His phone vibrated and he looked down. Padre had sent a message. He clicked on it and it started to load.
Dillon continued. “But Rosemont still suffered from nightmares that were as real to him as if he were being tortured again. He also started hurting himself-cutting, poking, making himself relive the pain of captivity. I think, if he was left alone, he would have eventually been hospitalized or would have succeeded in killing himself.
“Shortly after he was ordered to start an intensive exercise program two years ago as part of therapy, he seemed to get better. But last June he disappeared and has never refilled his prescriptions.”
“You can get most drugs on the streets.”
“True, but psychopaths aren’t going to actively look for drugs that are supposed to make them calmer.”
“I thought psychopaths were born that way,” Jack said.
“Some. And some are made. I think Rosemont probably suffered from mild depression growing up-like millions of people-but this incident sent him down a deadly path. I don’t think revenge was his idea.”
“Why?”
“He didn’t have the aptitude to plan such an elaborate and detailed scheme. The two people at the rest stop? Yes, that screams an impulsive, explosive Rosemont to me. Sudden, violent, unexpected. The other murders? Controlled, well planned, organized. That’s the mind of his accomplice.”
“She’s the instigator?”
“You’re looking for a highly intelligent, extremely disciplined female between the ages of thirty-five and fifty- five. She will be attractive and a pathological liar. She is manipulative and has no remorse.”
“Why would this UNSUB want to help Rosemont kill these men?” Hans asked.
“A means to an end,” said Dillon.
Jack understood. “She wanted to play with his toys.”
“Bingo.”
Hans looked like he was still lost, so Jack added, “The needles. Torture. It takes a very specific personality to be able to torture another human being. Even if it’s for the right reason, torture itself can’t be done by someone who has a lot of empathy. She wanted to learn how to do it.”
“I suspect that’s right,” Dillon said. “This woman hooked up with Rosemont around the time he appeared to be improving. Found out who he was, what he went through, and then asked him to teach her. He didn’t want to, but she was very convincing, very manipulative. She orchestrated the murders and he went along with it. But don’t forget he had a very real psychosis culminating in the attack against the Hoffmans. Rosemont snapped at the rest stop, and I think his accomplice realized their games were drawing to a close, that if she didn’t kill him soon, he’d get them both captured or killed.”
Dillon continued, “That brings us back to Sacramento. You didn’t say that any other dog tags were sent to other law enforcement agencies, just the fed in Sacramento.”
“Megan,” Jack said, leaning forward.
“That’s the key to the case.”
