‘No to the first and in a way to the second,’ Garcia replied, scratching his chin.
‘And what the fuck does that mean?’
‘She wasn’t at the church,’ Hunter said calmly. ‘All she told us is that she had a vision.’
The captain’s posture tensed. ‘Hold on,’ she said firmly, lifting her right hand. ‘She came in claiming she was psychic?’
‘Not as far as we know,’ Hunter replied.
The captain stared around the room and came to rest on Garcia. ‘Somebody better tell me something.’
‘According to the officer who first talked to her, she didn’t say anything about being a psychic or having any visions. She claimed she had some information, but she’d only talk to the detectives in charge.’
The captain took a packet of mints out of her dark blazer’s breast pocket and popped one in her mouth. ‘I’m sorry.’ She turned to Hunter. ‘But if she is a crackpot claiming she’s psychic, why are we after her?’
‘She’s not a psychic, captain,’ Hunter said cautiously. ‘She seems to feel things deeper than most people.’
‘She what?’ The captain almost choked on her mint.
‘Extrasensory perception.’ Hunter didn’t hesitate.
‘Please tell me you’re joking,’ she shot back. Her hands on her hips. Her voice half an octave higher.
‘I’m as skeptical about this as you are, captain,’ Hunter replied, ‘but the fact is, whether we believe it or not, people with ESP do exist.’
‘It doesn’t matter, Robert.’ The captain crushed her mint with a loud crunch. ‘We’re not the supernatural freaking police. The press is already out in force to get us, and so is the mayor. We are under severe pressure. Now imagine what would happen if they found out we enlisted the help of a psychic. How incompetent would we look?’
‘I’m not enlisting anyone’s help, captain. I just wanna talk to her. Find out what she has to say. If it all turns out to be bullshit, we’ll disregard it like we’ve done with one hundred percent of the tips that have come in so far.’
She popped a new mint in her mouth and rolled it from one cheek to the other. ‘What makes you think she’s the real deal?’
Hunter stood behind his chair and leaned his elbows against it. ‘As I was rushing out of the interrogation room yesterday, she stopped me to tell me something.’ He looked at Garcia. ‘You’d already left.’
‘And what was that?’
Hunter paused for a moment. ‘She said, “He knew about the fire. He knew what scared her.”’
The room went silent and all eyes fell on Hunter.
‘It couldn’t have been a guess.’ He shook his head and moved from behind his desk. ‘But at that moment I had no idea what she was talking about.’
‘Maybe she’s using this hyper-sensitivity thing as a smokescreen,’ the captain said. ‘Maybe she’s more involved than she’d like us to believe.’
‘Whatever the reason is, I think we should talk to her.’
‘Unfortunately,’ Hopkins interrupted, ‘as I’ve said, no one got her details. She left no last name, address or phone number at the front desk.’
‘Yes, but we have CCTV in the interrogation room.’ Hunter nodded at Hopkins. ‘Ask the tech guys to get a snapshot of her from the tape and run it against the MUPU database.’
‘The Missing Persons database?’ Hopkins asked, looking puzzled.
‘I have a hunch she’s a runaway. Start the search with Pennsylvania.’
‘Why Pennsylvania?’ the captain asked.
‘She had a slight Pennsylvania Dutch accent. I think that’ll be the best place to start.’
‘I’ll get right on it.’
The captain waited for Hopkins to leave before turning to face both detectives. ‘If you find her, you bring her here, do you understand?’ she said firmly. ‘This has to run by the book, Robert. If she has information about any of our investigations, psychic crap or not, she has to be interviewed under caution and I wanna be in the observation room. Am I clear?’
Hunter nodded.
‘Am I clear, detective?’ She pressed him for a vocal answer.
‘Yes, captain.’ Hunter didn’t break eye contact.
‘OK.’ She furtively checked her watch. ‘Brief me on what we have so far on this Amanda Reilly.’
Hunter quickly explained what the autopsy had revealed.
‘The killer took a bite out of her body?’ the captain asked, feeling a wave of nausea starting to surge.
‘The doctor found indentations just under her right breast.’ Hunter retrieved a photograph from a paper envelope and handed it to Captain Blake. ‘A small chunk of flesh is clearly missing.’ He indicated what he meant on the picture. ‘Due to the state the body is in, it’ll be impossible to confirm the teeth marks, but the doctor is as certain as he can be.’
‘This is insane,’ the captain responded, rubbing her face.
‘It’s one of the very few things that’s consistent with the Seven Saints church murder,’ Hunter replied. ‘The killer drank some of the priest’s blood and now it looks like he ate some of Amanda Reilly’s flesh.’
‘Why?’ Captain Blake asked with a disgusted look. ‘Why would the killer do that?’
Hunter massaged his eyes with his thumb and forefinger. ‘History and textbooks will tell you that the most common reason why a killer would consume his victims’ flesh or blood is because he feels that by doing so the victims become a permanent part of him. Sometimes it gives the killer a sick sense of sexual pleasure.’
A disturbing silence followed.
‘But we know this killer is not after sexual pleasure.’ The captain handed the picture back to Hunter. ‘Why would he want to make the victims a permanent part of him?’
‘Only the killer can really answer that, captain.’
‘Humor me with the psychology stuff,’ the captain said in a commanding voice. ‘Who might we be facing here?’
Hunter pinned the photograph to the board, took a deep breath and faced Barbara Blake. ‘A killer who knew the victims very well. Whose hate for them is so complete that having absolute control over their life and death wasn’t enough for him. He needed more.’
The captain exhaled. ‘And by more you mean drinking their blood and consuming their flesh?’
Hunter nodded, approached the window and looked out into a sunny, cold day.
‘But why the change?’ The captain wasn’t giving up. She wanted to understand the possible reasons behind all this. ‘If the killer drank the priest’s blood, why not do the same with Amanda Reilly? Why go for a bite?’
‘Again, only the killer can answer that, but he might be evolving. Moving up the ladder.’
‘Come again?’
Hunter stretched his body and his muscles tensed. ‘Many serial killers usually escalate in one way or another. It could be the violence, the time interval between kills . . . This one could be escalating from drinking blood to true cannibalism.’
‘Oh, that’s just great,’ Captain Blake said, raising a hand to her forehead as if fighting a headache. She checked her watch. ‘Shit. I have to be in a press conference in ten minutes. For now, I’ll play dumb and say I can’t confirm both murders are linked, but I won’t be able to hold that position for long. If need be, I’ll lie my ass off and say we have very reliable leads we’re pursuing, but you two better come up with something – and quick. And find this Monica girl. I wanna know why she said what she said.’
‘Me too,’ Hunter said as the captain let the door slam behind her.
The press conference room at Parker Center was large enough to comfortably accommodate the herd of hungry reporters that had turned up.
Barbara Blake had to admit that when she took the RHD captain’s job only a week ago she never expected to be facing the LA press on a serial killer case so soon. She also never expected to have to see eye to eye with the Los Angeles mayor on her first day at the job. But if this was what the job demanded, this was what she was prepared to give.
As she entered the room, the loud murmur of animated voices died to a whisper. Captain Blake was wearing stylish straight-legged black pants with a light red satin blouse and a black blazer that was the perfect backdrop for her long dark hair. Her makeup, as always, was subtle and elegant. She took her position behind the speaker’s stand, looking completely at ease and self-confident. Without saying a word, she let her eyes travel around the room, waiting for everyone’s attention. It took her less than ten seconds to get it.
‘I’ll answer questions for five minutes and five minutes only. Maybe we’ll be able to do away with some of the fantasy that’s been published in today’s paper.’ Her voice was as firm as it was seductive, combining a soft, girlish tone with a level of self-assurance that was disarming. ‘Before you start, let me say this. I will not discuss any aspect of any of our ongoing investigations, so please don’t even bother asking. If your questions don’t come in a civilized and orderly fashion, this conference is over.’
Hands flew in the air as reporters started shouting questions and thrusting forward microphones emblazoned with insignia from CNN, Fox, CBS, NBC, Court TV and several of the major newspapers.
The captain gritted her teeth.
They didn’t hear a damn word I said
.
‘Captain Blake,’ an attractive, long-dark-haired female reporter called from the corner of the room.
‘Claire Anderson from the
LA Times
.’ She identified herself, and the captain turned her attention to the reporter with interest. Claire was tall, slender and her tone of voice carried a distinct arrogance. ‘Are you saying that last week’s Seven Saints church murder and yesterday’s Pacific Coast Highway one aren’t connected?’
‘At the moment we have nothing to link these two investigations together,’ the captain replied in a steady, non-hesitant voice.
‘So why assign the case to Detective Hunter?’ Claire insisted.
‘What do you mean?’
‘I mean I have a very reliable source who tells me Detective Hunter is supposed to be dealing exclusively with the Seven Saints church investigation. If the cases aren’t connected, how come he’s been assigned to the Malibu murder as well?’
So that was it
, the captain thought.
There’s been no leak or tip. Claire had simply deducted that if Hunter had been assigned to the Malibu murder, the cases must be connected. Quite clever, really
.
‘That’s why your paper printed what it did this morning?’ the captain demanded furiously. ‘Because of your assumption? You chose to spread panic around this city because you made a silly deduction?’
Claire shrugged without shying away from the captain’s angry stare. ‘As I said, my source is very reliable.’
‘Really? Well, if you’re paying this source of yours more than a buck ninety-five, you’ve been had.’
Restrained chuckles echoed throughout the room.
‘Let me clarify this for you,’ Captain Blake said confidently. ‘In an ideal world, this department would have as many detectives as it has cases, and the ratio would be one to one, but this isn’t an ideal world, is it? This is a world where someone enters a church during confession time and decapitates a priest. This is a world where someone ties an innocent woman to a chair and tortures her in front of a large fire until she’s dead.’
The room went completely silent.
‘Unfortunately,’ the captain continued, ‘the number of violent crimes committed in this city surpasses that of detectives exponentially. Detective Robert Hunter and Detective Carlos Garcia were supposed to deal exclusively with the Seven Saints church investigation, you’re right.’ She nodded at Claire, widening her eyes. ‘But all my other detectives are overloaded with cases. Maybe the
LA Times
could publish a request to all violent murderers out there, asking them to take a few years’ break so we can catch up. How does that sound to you?’
Nervous laughter came from around the room. Claire kept her face steady.
‘So you’re admitting Detective Hunter is leading the Malibu investigation as well?’
‘Detective Hunter brings us the advantage of also being a forensic psychologist. His knowledge and understanding of how the mind of a violent criminal might work proves indispensable in many of my department’s investigations. Due to the extreme brutality of the crime committed in Malibu over the past weekend, I have asked Detective Hunter to take the investigation, yes,’ the captain finally admitted.
‘Why isn’t he attending this press conference?’
‘I can answer all your questions at this moment. Time is of the essence and Detective Hunter has to use it wisely. He’s not needed in this press conference.’
More hands shot up and shouts filled the room once again.
‘I guess Mayor Edwards won’t be best pleased,’ Claire said, raising her voice above all others. ‘It’s my understanding that he wanted your best detective to work exclusively on the Seven Saints church murder.’
‘In this department,’ Captain Blake hit back fiercely, ‘we don’t have a best or a worst detective. We all work just as hard and we all do our job to the best of our abilities. Rest assured both cases will be solved.’ She hoped the slight uncertainty in her voice wasn’t as noticeable to everyone as it was to her.