Messy details
Who: Jakob and open to Garret and Danny
Where: The police station
When: midday
As always, the station house was buzzing with sounds of life; fresh collars coming in off the streets, muted clanging of cell doors opening and shutting, and the yell and holler of the people who were paid to handle it all. For once, at least, there was a quieter spot in the maelstrom.
Out in the sea of desks that made up a good part of the main processing room, Jakob was looking over his fellow officers. A few from his department had offered up their desks, and with his thrown in as well they'd formed a serviceable conference table. Jakob had brought over a pot of coffee that was being gingerly passed from man to man, and he was waiting patiently for it to settle before getting down to business.
Whether he loved a con more or not? He was good at this, and he took pride in his ability to out-think the killers that populated his city. Looking over the city maps spread out before him, Jakob's brow was lined in thought as he looked at the marked sites where bodies had been discovered lately. If he had a habit like this, where might he go next? Likely to Babylon, but the man they were hunting wasn't that sort...
Snapping from his reverie, Jakob looked back up to the other cops waiting on him now, some uniformed, some plainclothes. "Well, let's get started, shall we?" he said to the gathering, "If we've yet to meet, don't worry, you're in the right place. I'm Detective Hollis, and whatever department you came here from? You did so because your superiors want you on this case. Any initial questions before we get to the... messy details?"
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Danny watched from the side, not at the makeshift conference table, but leaning against the wall, close enough to be involved, but not to be called upon. His superior officer had radioed him in for this meeting, so he was still in uniform, hat in hand. He graciously took the coffee that was handed to him, using his hat to cover the cup as he added something extra in it. He was tired, but relieved to not be on the streets. The usuals on his current beat were as unsettled as unsettled gets by the murderer on the loose and he was tired of answering questions about something he knew nothing about. Now he was finally getting a real briefing. Not to mention an opportunity, as his boss had called it. An opportunity to be noticed, which would help him move up in rank again. They had high hopes for him in the office, even if Danny didn't have them for himself. When Detective Hollis asked fro questions, Danny didn't respond, even if his head was swimming with them. Instead he just watched the other man closely, and waited to see what else he'd have to say.
Garrett had a huge file in
Garrett had a huge file in front of him. The place stank cigarettes, coffee, sweat and mildew. The room was getting warmer as more bodies filled the space. None of it improved Garret's mood. NOW they jump on this one. He'd been working this case from the first victim found, and by the third put in a request for at least one other officer to work this with him.
"Yeah, I got a question, Hollis. How come it took eight victims to get this thing underway?" Garret tilted his head to the right. He wasn't pissed about more people getting in on it. He was pissed because it was ignored while it was the homeless but add in one housewife and everyone jumped. Okay, he was pissed that Hollis was playing king shit of turd mountain. He wasn't gonna let the prick ruin this investigation. Garret had a hard on for this killer. He wanted him off the streets one way or the other and he really didn't care which when it came down to it. Credits and politics weren't as important as stopping this animal. "More to the point, where did this guy start? You don't just wake up one day and decide to do a little rape and murder. You got to build. Torture animals as a kid, do a rape or three, then make your first kill. Easy targets first," Though Garret's gut told him the first attack was likely a rape and he snapped and he LIKED it. The power of it, feeling like God with the power of life and death, to give pain or take it away...
They also had to stop holding this close to their chest. This may have started somewhere else. The killer may have migrated here and they needed to contact nearby cities and check their Jane does and past rape cases. Thus his request for help at body three.
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A smile flickered across Jakob's face briefly, making him raise his coffee for a sip just to mask the remnants as he looked Garret's way and gave the man time to speak. He recognized Garret from the station house, and the man was good at his job, if a bit boring. He was an angry cop, and anger was predictable. "You'd have to check with the chief, Dix," he responded, making it clear that he knew who the other man was, "I only got the call last night, I've been working a double homicide up in Chinatown." Which was partially true; there had been two bodies reported in the area, but Jakob knew better than to ever press for details about what happened in that neighborhood.
"As for where he started," Jakob went on, waving his free hand over the top of the unrolled maps, "We'll trace back as far as we can. The first few were transients, yes? So maybe some of their friends know, maybe the local soup kitchen or social workers would be able to point out someone who didn't fit. It's an angle to pursue. And if you'd like to take us over the case as you know it, I have no objections."
Garret had come prepared,
Garret had come prepared, thus the large folder. He stood and walked over to the corkboard that was tacked to the wall beside a chalk board. He pinned up seven papers and deathmask style photos of the victim's faces, and the last one was the horror pulled from the river. "We currently know of seven victims. Only victims three and six have been identified." He went on to outline what the reports he'd pinned up, covered***.
"This fucker is decreasing the days between kills. Like a junkie he needs a fix more and more often. He's bound to slip up as the itch increases. Other than the attack I think was interrupted, he's dumping these women among garbage of one sort or another. He's calling them garbage. He wants to destroy these women, not just take their lives. He wants to strip them of everything. He's making them pay for something. But he's also enjoying the power he has over them. He's in control of everything."
He paused looking at the faces of the cops gathered in the room. "What we can gather so far is this guy has a truck or a car with a big trunk. You can't move a body to a dump site by walkin' or carrying it by bus or taxi. The vehicle is old, seen better days, but reliable. It wouldn't draw attention in the rough parts of town, or where some of the indigents gather. He's employed, if he can afford the upkeep of a car. He knows the city, including back alleys, so he's either local or he spent time studying... or using those areas. He's had other, undiscovered victims, one's he's practiced on. We need someone to go through our rape and peeping tom records. He'd start there and work his way into killing. He may have already done time, so we have to comb through our rape arrest files. Any questions?"
*** Please see Jere's blog for a full account of the known murders so far. That is what's on the board. It's a bit detailed guys.
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Danny leaned in closer, eyeing the board. "Any idea why he seems to be obsessed with noses? Something to do with smell or whatever?" Everyone seemed to be fixating on the rape aspect, but the fucker was cutting off noses. And keeping them like they were treasures. "That's pretty fucking odd gents. Have you made any progress on that at all?"
"My personal opinion...
"My personal opinion... trophies. He's keeping a part of the women for himself, so they'll always belong to him. But it's also another way to humiliate and destroy them. It's done while they're alive. Even the most homely woman would be horrified by facial mutilation. If they lived through what the guy was doing to them they'd be freaks." Jere shook his head. "But that's just an opinion."
"We don't even have a solid suspect. Hopefully a few more eyes going through past sex crimes might turn up a few leads."
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"Well, let's get those eyes pointed in the right direction, hm?" Jakob suggested, waving over a pair of uniformed officers. "Head on down to the archives, ask the staff to start compiling sexual assault records from the last six months, anything that was still an open case or where the offender would be back on the streets," he instructed, waiting for both men to move off before he looked back to Danny, Garret, and the rest of the assembled officers.
"Not to curtail your enthusiasm, Dix, but we can't assume all of that. I'd agree that there's a previous history of some sort, but prior victims? It's a large assumption to make. It's just as possible that our perpetrator works in some industry that would give him both insight and opportunity," Jakob mused, rifling through the pages of Garret's files. "Several of the victims were transient, yes? So perhaps a volunteer at the local shelters, perhaps an employee with one of the hospitals, or even a veterinarian's employee? Some occupation where he'd have opportunity to observe his targets, he doesn't seem the type to prowl for hunting ground, only for disposal sites."
He let the pages go, sipping his coffee again and looking around once more. "The majority of you are going to work a canvas. We need to try and establish any kind of connection between the two deceased that have been identified, any place in the city where their paths could've overlapped. I'll need volunteers to interview Mae O'Dell's sister again as well as any other vagrants who knew her, and also Mrs. Bartolucci's family. I'm also looking for teams to sweep the park and run field interviews about any disappearances, recent or otherwise. We've got a lot of blank pieces in this picture, let's fill some of them in."
Garret wanted to argue, but
Garret wanted to argue, but bit it back. The floater had proven the killer had been at it longer than they had thought. It would be stupid to assume they'd found all the bodies, again, the floater indicated that much. Instead he added another observation, not relating to the possibility of earlier victims. He didn't care what Hollis thought, he wanted it out there. "He's making a point with the dump sites. Not just that these women are garbage, but as a deliberate taunt. He's feeling superior and decided to toy with the police. If he was interested in working under the radar, there're a hundred places he coulda hid the remains. He's placed them where they can be found, but it isn't outta guilt or respect. He thinks he's better'n us and that we can't stop him."
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"So he's playing with us? This is just a game to him?" Danny was somewhat shocked by the whole concept. He'd studied his fair share of cases while going through the academy but he'd had almost no experience with serial killers. The idea that this guy was enjoying toying with those trying to catch was surprising. He looked over at Dixon and then at Hollis. "You think he has beef with cops? Like he's been arrested before or something and he's pissed off?"
"I think he has a beef with
"I think he has a beef with women. Some small, brunette in his past made him want revenge for some percieved slight. Or maybe a real one. But now that he's started I think he thinks he's invincible. He's got the power and he gets off on his kills. However he's seeing us as running after him, and he's in charge of the chase. We scramble when he leaves us his taunts. It's still about control and domination, just a different sort. That's my opinion." Garret didn't look over his shoulder but called it over his shoulder to Hollis.
"He's right, though. Can't let assumptions lead the course of an investigation. Things have a way of twisting." He hated admitting Hollis might have a minor point. That was that they didn't KNOW anything. If therw were prior corpses laying about they would only be discovered in their own time. It was too late to save any of these women. Jere felt it his mission now to keep him from killing any more. His gut told him he'd fail. This guy was gonna kill again with less of a down time.
Jere looked at the questioning kid. A uniform. He asked the right questions and had a fresh eye. Maybe it was time to call in that favor the current Chief owed him from a few years back.
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"So she's the key," Danny pointed out, taking another sip of his spiked coffee. The coffee itself tasted like sludge but the whiskey took out some of the bad flavor. "If you can find out who she is you can probably find out who he is." Danny stepped away from the board, retreating back to his corner. He could sense the distrust between Hollis and Dixon and was content to let them piss around, marking their territory. The last thing he wanted was to get involved in office politics. "You think he's killed her too? Or he keeps killing 'cause he couldn't kill her?"