“I’m ready to carry my weight on the team. I only hope that it’s up to my usual standard,” he said, trying to convince himself, more than them, of that.
“I have no doubt,” Elizabeth said.
Ethan took his seat beside Callen and pulled out his tablet. Pulling up his notes, he began.
“Our killer is going to be male. I’m basing this strictly on the fact that these bodies are being dumped in a remote location on Native land. He’s carrying them there, and I don’t believe for one minute that it’s part by part. Our prime example would be Jefferson Harris. He was a decent sized individual. We know that the killer isn’t completely de-fleshing the bones, so that’s going to add up.”
She wrote it down on the board. “Okay, handsome. What else?”
“Normally, I would be able to give you more regarding his ethnicity. My gut tells me that he’s Caucasian, simply based on the fact all his victims were, but then I have one little thing that keeps tripping me up.”
“What is it?” Whitefox asked.
“It has everything to do with him using the Native dumping site with such familiarity. Why there? Is it because the land is off in the middle of nowhere, or is it culturally significant to the person doing the killing? I’m toying with the idea that this is a revenge thing.”
Callen spoke up, “How so?”
Elizabeth got it immediately. “What better way to reenact your retribution on a group of people who you believe caused your ancestors harm?”
“Precisely. Why scalp the white man when you can eat him.”
Callen was creeped out. “That’s really gross.”
“Again, it’s just a beginning theory. I’m still mulling it around in my head. As soon as I’m sure, I’ll let you know, Lyzee.”
Pausing, she thought back to something the chief had said. “Runningwolf told us that Jason got into a domestic squabble with a woman he was living with, right?”
“Yes,” he replied.
“She was an outsider. So, could he be focused on that too? Is it possible that if it is him, he’s focused on that incident? Because of it, he ‘lost’ his identity and walked away.”
“Good point,” Blackhawk said, glad that his wife had his back. That one thing totally slipped his mind.
She wrote both ‘Native’ and ‘Caucasian’ on the board. “Let’s keep pulling this apart and see what we get,” she suggested.
Blackhawk nodded.
Immediately, Elizabeth sensed his hesitation. “Before you begin, I want to say something.”
Ethan glanced up. “Yes?”
“I’m proud of you. Yeah, you may think you’re off your game, but I can tell you that you’re not. You’re facing the biggest fear that you have, and taking control. I think that Ethan is fully back, and I’m willing to trust everything that you’re going to tell me.”
He stared at her, touched at her faith in him. “Thank you, Elizabeth,” he said, softly.
“I feel the same,” added Callen. “You, my friend, are bad ass. You are grabbing this one by the horns and owning it, and that speaks a great deal about the man you are.”
Ethan took a deep breath.
“You’ve got this, Ethan,” she reassured.
He had a little more faith in his process, now that the people he loved were in his corner and supporting him completely.
“I believe that the killer is addicted to cannibalism.”
They both stared at him.
Elizabeth finally spoke. “You mean like when someone is addicted to smoking?”
He nodded. “I know I generally do this alone, but if you and Callen don’t mind, I would like to get a second opinion on this,” he stated, picking up his phone.
“Anything that you need to do, Ethan,” Callen said, supportively.
Elizabeth was a little taken aback and began to worry. Maybe their pep talk didn't have the desired effect, after all. Ethan never used other people when constructing his profile. “Okay.”
Blackhawk stared into her eyes. “I need to ask about the psychology of addiction. It’s out of my realm of expertise and nothing more.”
That gave her reassurance.
Dialing, he placed the phone on the table on speaker phone. When the woman answered, she already knew who it was.
“Yes, Director, what can I do for you?”
“Doctor Gaines, I’m here with my partners, and we need to discuss something with you.”
“Is it personal or work related?” she asked. In the background, there was talking. “I can ask my husband to leave if it’s related to our sessions,” she clarified, wanting to offer him privacy.
“No, it’s about the profile that I’m working on, and I’m a little out of my league here.”
There was more hushed talking, and then silence. “Okay, I’m ready. What do you need to know?”
“We have a cannibal. I need to know everything about the psychological make-up of someone who consumes flesh.”
She thought about it for a few seconds. “First off, this is a rare topic to find in the field. Man eating man is not only taboo, but generally frowned upon by almost everyone.”
“Yeah, because it’s gross,” Elizabeth said, honestly.
Doctor Gaines laughed. “I have to agree with you there, Director. Generally, the only time it comes up in polite society is when there is a need for it to happen out of necessity of survival, or someone on a drug bender. As of late, there have been some instances where someone on bath salts has assaulted victims and eaten their faces off.”
She placed her hand over her stomach.
“Uh, Doctor Gaines, our wife is pregnant and if you could see the look on her face…”
“I’m so sorry, Director. I didn't know. Congratulations,” she offered, cheerily.
“Thank you,” Elizabeth replied. “Please continue.”
“As I was saying, it’s rare and doesn’t happen often.”
“What can you tell us about the person who would partake in eating another human?” Blackhawk asked.
“The eater, as I will call him, will find a sense of euphoria from devouring flesh. There will be a perceived high. It won’t just be about the consuming, but the entire process.”
“Can you please explain, Doctor Gaines?” Elizabeth asked. “I’m used to Ethan’s methodology, since he’s the only profiler I work with. Psychology of mental illness needs to be broken down a little bit more for me.”
“I certainly can, Director. It will be all about the process start to finish. The killer will enjoy the picking of the prey, the hunt, the chase, and also the preparation of the flesh. It will be ritualistic in nature. Each step will naturally progress to the next.”
She thought about it. “So, what you’re saying is if I went to his house and dropped dead, he wouldn’t eat me?”
Both Callen and Ethan looked horrified by her even putting that out there for the universe to contemplate.
“I’m sure the men in your life are giving you quite the look,” she said, before addressing the question. “I know just from speaking to Ethan that he’s quite attached to you. I would venture to say Director Whitefox is too.”
Callen spoke up, “I’m more than attached to her.”
Doctor Gaines laughed. “The doctor in me has so many questions that I’m dying to ask.”
“Yeah, we’re used to that,” Elizabeth said.
“Well, to answer you, no, he wouldn’t likely eat you. It wouldn’t be the same thing. You weren’t picked specifically. He would want to take a person who had reasoning and rationale in his mind. While the flesh to him may taste the same, it would be missing the most important thing.”
“Which is?” Ethan asked, as his stomach turned by the conversation. He didn't exactly like the idea of his wife being someone’s dinner. Oh, he liked dining on her, but that was an entirely different thing.
“It’s about the rise in dopamine. He would want the entire process, not just the consumption. If you were to find your cannibal and ask him
what the flesh tastes like, he likely couldn’t tell you specifically, since he isn’t focused on it for flavor. When he sinks his teeth into a human, it fires off the dopamine receptors in his brain and gives him a high. Think of it like drugs. He’s addicted to flesh, and that’s why you likely have multiple victims.”
“So, if we can figure out how he hunts, we can find out who he is?”
“Yes, you can.”
“How did he start doing this?” Callen asked. “I’m sorry, but maybe I’m just a simple minded person, but I don’t know who would wake up one day and say ‘I think I’ll eat a person today’,” he said. “Who does that?”
Doctor Gaines understood. “It would start as nothing more than a fantasy. It was most likely, something dark and brooding and possibly with tones of sex beneath it. In his mind, he might get turned on, and then relate it to the eating of flesh.”
“Great, so I have a cannibal that’s horny?” Elizabeth opted to lighten the mood. When the doctor began discussing darker desires, Callen’s face said it all. She really hoped that he wasn’t relating his love of rough sex to something as vile as cannibalism.
When his eyes met hers, there was an exchange of reassurance.
It was all Callen needed and all the fears were gone.
The doctor laughed. “Well, if he’s male and in the peak of his sex drive, then you very well could. What’s more instinctual than sex or food? We eat because we’re hungry. We have sex because something in us hungers for us to procreate.”
Both men checked out Elizabeth’s ass as she stood at the whiteboard. When she turned and pointed at them both, they tried not to laugh.
They would pick sex over food any day.
Elizabeth scribbled a name in red.
Jason Walters
The man made it onto her whiteboard for one major reason. He was a walking horn dog, and had tried to get into her pants when he first met her. Plus, he was shacking up with the wife of the first victim and had violent tendencies.
“When he took that first life, the dopamine exploded, rushing his brain and giving him the same feelings after really good sex. Picture your best sexual climax, and then not having to do anything to reach it, but eat.”
Elizabeth tapped her chin. “So it’s like the way some women feel about chocolate?”
“Yes, but a million times more addictive and reactive. He probably dreams about it and thinks that he’s hungry all the time. It’s not the pangs of needing to eat, it’s his mind telling him he needs another hit of that drug.”
Blackhawk thought about it. “Then, he’s likely doing it more and more often. Like with people addicted to drugs and sex, you need to keep feeding that need to meet the same level of satisfaction.”
“Yes. If he’s killing multiple people, he’s probably eating them daily. That would mean that he’s storing them somewhere, and that makes me think about when my husband goes hunting,” Doctor Gaines said. “He processes the meat, and then freezes it.”
Once more, she underlined Jason’s name. He freely admitted to hunting, but had he crossed the line?
“The act of consuming his victims may have even taken the place of sex in his life. Quite possibly, he may have had something happen in his sex life that made him veer from it and towards the consumption of flesh. If he’s getting the same feel good feeling during a meal, he may not need to have sex to still feel pleasure.”
“The dopamine is like crack,” Elizabeth said. “We have a horny, addicted, cannibal.”
“Yes, likely.”
The aspect of abstaining from sex didn't fit if they were looking at the Native boy toy, unless it was all an act to throw them off. If he was guilty, he would try and point suspicion away from him to confuse them.
Damn it!
What she wouldn’t give for DNA evidence.
“Like the drug addict,” Ethan paused before continuing, “he’s going to need to keep that fix going. We have the first victim at one year. He kills him, and then goes off the grid for three months. Then, our second victim disappears nine months ago, and days later, again, he takes victim three.”
“What happened next?” asked the doctor.
“Then, he goes off the grid again,” Elizabeth said. “When he comes back, he takes the ME from town. We know why he took him, and it’s because we believe Doctor Trudeaux was working on finding him. We think that he asked questions that made someone uncomfortable. It’s a small town, and anyone working around Doc would have suspected what he was working on, not to mention his patterns deviated. Even his lab assistant and a deputy noticed.”
“Why did he wait for three months, and then take two more?” Callen asked. “Then, nothing for nine more months?”
“He was probably eating them. Maybe he didn't have room for them in storage and didn't want to waste the flesh,” Elizabeth said. This fit the doctor’s hunting scenario. “Think about it, Cal. When you’ve hunted in the past, you killed, gutted, and then stored the meat, right?”
“Yeah.”
“When would you hunt again?” she asked.
“I would go out when my freezer was empty. I didn't hunt until I needed to,” he offered.
Ethan pointed something out. “You do realize that I’ve hunted too, and Callen isn’t the only one that knows his way around a deer, and how to butcher it.”
Whitefox had to agree. “Ethan is right. Whenever it’s Italian leather season, he bags a great pair of boots without breaking a sweat.”
The man laughed and punched his brother in the arm.
Doctor Gaines was pleased to hear Ethan Blackhawk finally laugh. For a while, she didn't think that he was going to return to his old self.
“Nice one, Cal,” Elizabeth said, offering him a fist bump.
Callen continued, “We both know who’s going to be teaching our sons to hunt.”
Ethan didn't give him a chance. “Yeah, Wyler.”
There was an unladylike snort from Elizabeth.
“Anyway,” Ethan said. “I can’t imagine giving up sex for eating flesh. I would become a vegetarian before thinking that a burger was sexier than my woman.”
“Your wife appreciates that,” Elizabeth said, shaking her head.
“I told you my fantasy about Elizabeth and bacon wasn’t weird,” Callen teased.
It got him slapped.
“Not in front of the shrink. Who knows what Ethan has told her about us!” she reprimanded, teasingly.
“I drew pictures, so I wouldn’t break any husband rules,” Blackhawk added.
The doctor laughed. “You three have an incredibly healthy relationship. I can tell just by listening to you. It’s like you’re a well-oiled machine.”
Blackhawk stared at his family and was incredibly appreciative that this part of his life was back. He didn't know what he was missing until just then.
“Yeah, we’re a team.”
Elizabeth dropped a kiss to the top of both of their heads. “Yeah, well the team needs to focus. What can you tell us that you haven’t already, Doctor Gaines?”
“At this point in the game,” she began, “he isn’t going to be able to stop. He’s going to be wrapped up in it and need it more and more.”
“Great,” Elizabeth said. “We’ve just found the pubic bone of a woman without her head. He kept that for a reason. We didn't find anything else.”
“He may keep the heads because he is relating to their humanity, or because he doesn’t want you to find out who they are. It could lead them to him.”
Blackhawk leaned back in his chair. “He’s going to justify it with any means necessary. He’ll do anything to feed that hunger, and that means the likelihood of this escalating into something bigger is a possibility.”
“You’re correct, Director,” Doctor Gaines said.
“I appreciate you helping us with this,” Ethan said.
“I’m glad to assist anytime. I look forward to having you all in session so we can talk. When you come back, set up an appointment.”
&
nbsp; “I get dibs on the couch,” Elizabeth said, grinning.
The woman on the phone started laughing. “I’ve been warned about you, Director Blackhawk. This should be entertaining.”
“Hey! Who warned you?” she asked. There was no reply, only the click of the line going dead. “What did you tell her about me?” she asked, staring at her husband. “I thought you were only kidding about drawing pictures.”
“Just that I was madly in love with you, you were scary when you were mad, and our sex life was very fulfilling.”
“True, true, and true,” stated Callen. “Especially the scary part.”
She whipped a marker at him.
“Speaking of scary,” Ethan stated, drawing their focus back to the board. “We have a bona fide psychopath. It’s rare to have a genuine one in your midst. Most people have tendencies towards it, but to really truly be one, is something totally different.”
“Great. We attract all the sickos,” she said, pausing. “Well, I do, anyway.”
Callen whipped the marker right back at her, pegging her in the ass.
“What worries me,” began Blackhawk, trying to regain control as he continued, “is that this person is going to have no empathy. He’s not going to care that he’s killing loved ones. All that is going to matter is getting that fix and his next meal.”
“Is that going to make it harder to catch him?” she asked.
“No, it’s going to make it more dangerous. He’s not going to care if you try. The only thing that would get him to focus on the FBI is if we tried to take his food away.”
The minute he said it, he regretted it. In the past, his wife had put a bull’s-eye on herself to catch killers. This time, Blackhawk didn't think he could handle it. His heart was still a little fragile from what happened to him.
Callen went there immediately, sparing Ethan from having to draw the line in the sand. “Under NO circumstance are you to bait this nutjob. Am I clear? Where Ethan may not say it, I will. You are not going to be on his dinner plate, and just saying that makes me want to break down and weep in a corner.”
Consumed by Wrath: An FBI/Romance Thriller (An FBI/Romance Thriller ~ Book 8) Page 44