Ripper

by Michael Slade

  “This body is well-groomed, exercised, and manicured. Lice don’t fit such a lifestyle,” she said.

  “Perhaps they were on a wrapping used to transport it? A blanket or sheet?” Nick suggested.

  “The lice are in the wounds, not on the skin. All covering was removed before gravity bulged the guts.”

  “What’s your opinion?”

  “Lice are only in the wounds with underskin bleeding. That links them to premortal stabs. They were probably transferred on the weapon used.”

  In turn, Macbeth and Craven examined one of the slides. The bug on it was hairy and leggy with claws and vicious jaws.

  “Human lice are Anoplura. Sucking lice,” Gill said. “Lice with jaws are Mallophaga. Chewing lice,” she added. “Whatever host shed these, it didn’t walk on two legs.”

  MINDHUNTER

  2:25 P.M.

  The mindhunter of today evolved from the manhunter of the past. It used to be a cop’s rule of thumb was in 80 percent of murder cases the victim knew the killer. Money, hate, passion, revenge: these were real-life motives, not the psycho fantasies peddled in comics and crime fiction. The Joker, Goldfinger, and Fu Manchu gave cops a good laugh.

  Then, thirty years ago, evil began to change.

  The demons who brought this change about are now household names: the Mad Bomber, the Plainfield Ghoul, the Boston Strangler, the Moors Murderers, the Nurse Killer, the Tower Sniper, the Manson Family, the Son of Sam, Zodiac, the People’s Temple, the Killer Clown, the Hillside Stranglers, the Coed Killer, the Yorkshire Ripper, the Milwaukee Cannibal, to list a few. Forty-five percent of today’s murders are “stranger-to-stranger crimes,” and more than half of those result from psycho fantasies.

  Serial killers have stalked the unwary throughout history, but only recently have their atrocities reached epidemic proportions. Random, seemingly motiveless murders offer few physical clues to the killer’s identity, especially when such crimes are sexual in nature.

  Sexual homicide is defined as one person killing another in the context of power, control, sexuality, and aggressive brutality. The hallmark of sexual sadism is the infliction of physical or psychological suffering on the victim in order to achieve sexual excitement. Such crimes are never “motiveless,” but often the motive is one understood only by the killer. Sexual homicide originates in fantasy, for fantasy is what drives sadistic behavior.

  Clearly, hunting this type of killer requires a special cop. A mindhunter able to peer inside the killer’s head.

  Psychological profiling from crime scene analysis is the latest weapon in the Mounties’ arsenal. Developed by the FBI’s Behavioral Science Unit, profiling is the means by which mindhunters solve fantasy-driven crimes. The premise behind its effectiveness is the way a person thinks directs his behavior. Behavior reflects personality, so reconstructing what the killer did to produce the crime scene profiles the makeup of who’s responsible.

  A psychiatrist studies a person to predict how he will act in the future. What a mindhunter does is reverse the process. He studies a killer’s deeds to deduce what kind of person the killer is.

  “From a drop of water,” said Sherlock Holmes, “a logician could infer the possibility of an Atlantic or a Niagara without having seen or heard of one or the other.”

  A crime scene speaks its own language of behavior patterns. Unlike detective fiction where the case is often solved by one tiny clue, a profiler considers all clues and how they interrelate. His skill is in recognizing the crime scene dynamics that link the murder in question to a known deviant type. Most victims of bizarre murder are women or children. Overwhelmingly the killers are men. The weirder the crime scene, the darker the psychological fingerprint left behind. Profiling narrows the police investigation.

  The mindhunter with Special X was Inspector Eric Chan.

  Robert DeClercq’s office at E Division Headquarters was on the second floor of the Tudor building at 33rd and Heather. The room was an airy, high-vaulted loft, with windows facing the Conservatory in Queen Elizabeth Park. Three Victorian library tables U’d to form a horseshoe served as his desk. His chair was an antique from the Force’s curly days, high-backed with a barley-sugar frame crowned with the crest of the North-West Mounted Police. DeClercq returned from Rosetown where he’d talked with Zinc to find Chan feet-up in the chair, contemplating an input model on one of the corkboard walls. Inputting was step one in generating a profile.

  “What’s with the protesters? And U.S. TV crews?” DeClercq shook the rain from his parka and hung it by the door.

  “Media circus,” Chan said, “and feminist feeding frenzy. North Van GIS referred the vultures here. I’ve already given a statement to quell their appetite.”

  “Some of the faces I recognize from the Headhunter case. Let’s hope we don’t have a repeat of that. Riots we can do without.”

  “Amen,” said Chan.

  Balding, with a foxlike face and quizzical eyes, the Inspector was the first nonwhite to join the Mounted Police. While training at “Depot” Division in 1961, he was nicknamed “Charlie” by the ghost recruits. Ostracized, Chan was the butt of hazing and racist jokes, but being Chinese, had persevered by “taking the long view.” When Hong Kong’s Triads chose Vancouver as their main heroin port, he was the only Mountie who could speak Cantonese. Forming the Asian Gang Squad was his idea, after he drove the Five Dragons from the West Coast. When the Force began selecting members for college degrees, he studied random processes and probability at UBC. Graduating with honors, Chan computerized the RCMP, programming the Headhunter dragnet in 1982.

  The Violent Crimes Analysis Section was also his idea. By definition, serial killers and rapists repeat their crimes, so this subsection of Special X looks for common threads in crimes of violence coast-to-coast. The investigating officer in every case must fill out a sex crime and murder analysis form. The form is a checklist of 211 questions eliciting details a computer can categorize. How did the offender first approach the victim? What kind of weapon and/or bindings were used? Is fantasy or ritual evident in the crime? Because this data is compared and cross-referred, a VCAS mindhunter needs only a desktop computer to establish links. Bang, bang, bang, mix and match, there’s the thread.

  Chan was using the computer on DeClercq’s desk.

  “So?” the Chief Superintendent said. “What have we got?”

  “Looks like a stalking team.”

  The Inspector rounded the desk to join DeClercq at the corkboard wall. The input model was split into four sections. The first section was a collage recording the scene of the crime. Aerial photographs followed Lynn Canyon up the mountainside, while 8x10 color glossies detailed the body and the bridge. There were maps of the North Shore area, crime scene sketches noting distances and scale, and a weather report that overlapped a chart of the neighboring homes.

  “The vagrant who called it in,” said Chan, “heard two people on the bridge. Footsteps, no talking, so we don’t know their sex. The victim wasn’t killed where her body was found. If she was murdered in someone’s home, the killers may live together or at least one lives alone. The murder site is somewhere the team feels safe, because this killing took some time. The victim was tied spread-eagled and her face was ritually skinned.”

  “Could be one killer and an accessory after the fact.”

  “I doubt it,” Chan said, moving along the wall.

  The second section was a collection of forensic reports. Preliminary morgue shots of the cleansed wounds circled a fax containing Macbeth’s autopsy results. Toxicology and serology tests were underway, but analysis of the stomach contents would take a few days. The food was on its way to an expert in California. The estimated time of death was early Monday morning, two and a half days ago. The cause of death was asphyxia and stabbing. As yet Ident had turned up nothing at the scene.

  “Strangling and stabbing combined means two killers,” said Chan. “See the ligature around her neck? One killer pulled both ends of the cord while the ot
her stabbed, or each pulled an end while one of them used the knife. No weapon was recovered from the canyon.”

  “What do we know about the victim?” asked DeClercq.

  “Not much,” Chan replied. He moved to the third section of the wall. It was reserved for information on Marsh’s background: age, occupation, marital status, employment history, family tree, reputation, criminal record, health, habits, fears, politics, personality, and social relations. Where the victim was last seen alive is crucial. The section was almost bare.

  “Brigid Marsh,” Chan said. “Professional feminist. One of the angry type. All men conspire to enslave women. Made her living writing and doing the lecture circuit. Mannequin, Amazon, and Witch Hunt are her books. All were bestsellers. We’ve ordered copies. Flew here Sunday from her home in New York. Was to speak at this week’s feminist convention. Left her hotel Sunday night and didn’t return. No one knows where she went.”

  “Could be someone didn’t like her politics. Someone here or in New York. She might have been stalked to foreign ground to hide a U.S. motive.”

  “The NYPD’s doing a background check. That’ll take a day or two, but said they’d fax something by late this afternoon.”

  “Who’s available to go to New York?”

  “Politically, Spann would be the best choice.” Chan glanced at the protesters on the street. “She’s bogged down in Thailand, and won’t be back till Monday. Davis is free.”

  “New York’ll do a thorough job once this hits the air.” DeClercq indicated the NBC crew working Heather Street. “Let’s see what they come up with, then decide. Who caught the squeal?”

  “Corporal named Craven. North Van GIS. Keen fellow, hungry for his Sergeant’s hooks.”

  “Have him assigned to Special X for this case. Bad for morale to shut people out. Ask Craven to meet us here at eight.”

  The last section of the wall was thick with police reports. They filled in the surrounding details of the crime. The time of day or night an offense occurs may shed light on the killer’s occupation or lifestyle. Was the victim approached, murdered, and dumped at different sites? If so, the killer probably owns or has use of a vehicle. What does each location say about victim and offender risk? A low-risk victim snatched under high-risk conditions, such as a woman grabbed at noon on a busy street, shows the killer needs excitement from his crimes. How much sophistication is revealed by the offense? The answer reflects the killer’s emotional state. And—the most important question in profiling—how much control was exercised by the killer over his victim?

  DeClercq returned to the photos of Marsh hanging from the bridge. “Reminds me of the Headhunter case,” he said. “This hanging’s staged. For whom? Us?”

  “The entire crime scene’s out of whack,” said Chan. “The killing screams fantasy-driven ritual to me. Stabbing combined with strangulation. Skinning the face for a skull and painting crossbones beneath. Hanging the naked body from a bridge.”

  “What’s the problem?”

  “Problems,” said Chan. “First, the computer failed to find a match. When I tried to link the murder to others here and in the States, every query drew a blank. A ritual like this doesn’t hatch overnight. So why does Marsh compute as a single homicide?”

  In profiling, homicides are classed by time and place. A single, double, or triple homicide is one, two, or three victims at one location. Four or more bodies at one site is mass murder. Mass murder subdivides into classic and family. Classic mass murder is often committed by an unbalanced person whose problems have reached the point where he lashes out at those unrelated to him or his stress. Whitman, the Texas tower sniper, and Huberty, the McDonald’s killer, are examples. Two or more killings at different locations with no cooling-off period between them is spree murder. Though not committed at one site like mass murder, the deaths are still one event. Serial murder is three or more homicides with a cooling-off period between them. The interval may be days, weeks, months, or years. Cooling-off distinguishes serial murder from other multiple homicides.

  Classifying a murder correctly is essential, for each class profiles a different type of killer. Single homicide suggests a specific victim. Mass and spree killers are controlled by events, often attacking anyone who crosses their path. A serial killer thrives on power and control, fantasizing about every aspect of a murder except the specific victim. When the time is right and he’s cooled off from his last crime, he targets someone who symbolically fits the role of victim in his fantasy. He goes after a victim type, so who he chooses may reveal the fantasy. The Headhunter stalked black-haired women.

  “Another problem,” Chan said, “is the dichotomy’s wrong. The crime’s a mix of organized and disorganized features.”

  Profilers draw an important distinction from crime scene evidence. Is their quarry an organized or disorganized offender? The personality behind each category differs.

  The organized offender plans meticulously. He snatches a victim, uses restraints, and exerts control through manipulation and fear. Because he needs to see his captive tremble and beg, his fantasy is one of sex and torture while the victim’s alive. Murder is his act of ultimate control, after which he loses interest in the crime. Intelligent and skilled at work, he leaves few clues, and often follows the aftermath in the media. Organized offenders are usually psychopaths. Like Sutcliffe and Bundy, they lack all moral sense.

  “Marsh was snatched, restrained, and terrorized.” Chan swept his arm across the input collage. “This pair wanted their victim alive. The level of planning and vehicle use are organized traits. So why does the ritual fit disorganized behavior?”

  The disorganized offender is compromised by distorted thinking, often resulting from hallucinations, drugs, or alcohol. Sexually inhibited and tormented by aversions, he kills quickly to exert control over the dead body. Postmortem atrocities rule his fantasy, such as face, breast, and genital mutilation, or disembowelment, amputation, and drinking blood, or inserting foreign objects into the vagina and anus. He may keep the body, or rape the corpse, or dump it positioned in a humiliating way. His drive is to depersonalize the victim, because that’s how he demonstrates control. His haphazard behavior may leave clues, such as abandoning the weapon at the scene. Often he knows the victim and strikes near work or home, rarely using a vehicle. Disorganized offenders are usually psychotics. Like Dahmer and Gein, they suffer a break with reality.

  “Two killers always muddies the profile,” said Chan. “With Brady and Hindley, the Hillside Stranglers, and Lucas and Toole, one was dominant, the other a follower. The problem is each is driven by his or her own fantasy, which meld to profile someone who doesn’t exist.”

  “Perhaps our dominant killer is organized,” said DeClercq, “while our follower is disorganized?”

  “Or maybe it’s a case of “mixed” dichotomy. That’s been known to happen.”

  “You don’t sound convinced.”

  “I’m not,” said Chan. “My gut tells me the ritual is grafted on, as if it originates outside, not within the team.”

  “You lost me, Eric.”

  “In cases like this, murder isn’t the primary intent. Usually the killer wants sexual gratification through violence. Pelvic mutilation equates with sexual homicide. Here the womb was stabbed, not the genitals. That suggests one killer is stalking a substitute for mom, giving us a fix on half the team. An organized offender whose primary intent is sex.”

  “You think something different drives the other half?”

  “That would explain why the ritual seems out of place.”

  Henri Landru, France’s “Bluebeard,” serial-killed for gain. So did the Edinburgh body snatchers. Contract killings advance criminal enterprise. They’re part of doing business, often without personal malice toward the victims. Assassinations further political goals. Mercy killings result from compassion. Religion sparked the Inquisition and Jonestown Massacre. Racial purification drives the Ku Klux Klan. The Manson Family was …

  “A c
ult?” said DeClercq.

  “Or occult,” added Chan. “Either would explain why the ritual’s out of sync. It doesn’t spring from the fantasy driving either killer, but is adopted from an external source. It is grafted on.”

  “There’s another explanation,” DeClercq said. “What if the scene was staged to make it look like a fantasy-driven ritual? The killers want to smokescreen the fact Marsh’s their specific target. That’s why the computer draws a blank and nothing fits. The ritual has no foundation in fantasy or reality.”

  They were sipping coffee dispensed from the machine down the hall. DeClercq sat on the edge of his desk while Chan leaned against the wall. Rain slapped the windows in waves like a tide pounding the shore.

  “By the way, that mystery woman Franklen called. You promised to drop by on your return? She needs to know who you picked to be the “real sleuth.” Message is the stakes have risen since you last spoke. Will Zinc do it?”

  “Reluctantly. Hobnobbing with mystery writers is a long way to fall.”

  “How’s he holding up?”

  “He’s frustrated and depressed. Returning to the Force keeps him going day to day.”

  “Everything’s under control here. Go see Franklen. Reports’ll be in by the time you return, and maybe the New York fax.”

  DeClercq gave him the evil eye. “Are you after my job?”

  “Of course not.” Eric grinned. “I’m aiming higher than that.”

  DeClercq donned his coat as Chan went back to trying to make sense out of the input model. Robert could almost hear the wheels turning in Eric’s head. The mindhunter was stalking Marsh’s stalking team, worming inside each killer’s i brain until he thought their warped thoughts and wrestled with their nightmares, until he himself was hunched with hate and squinting through bloodshot eyes. Poor devil, Robert thought. Conscience is a cutthroat.