CHAPTER FOUR
"The Fenway Slasher was caught," Detective Wolfe said, placing a folder on the table. "What they’re dealing with over in Boston is obviously a copycat, and with the same arrangement of photos here, that’s also what you’re dealing with."
"I want to see," Alison said, walking over to the desk and staring at the, as yet, unopened folder.
Wolfe obliged her and opened the folder, spreading out the photos from within. Hartley joined them at the desk, leaning over and placing her hand on the surface.
The immediate similarities were striking, not with how the person was killed, but with the staging of the Polaroids around them. Alison picked up one of them, counting six photographs around the body.
The victim, however!
A splatter of red covered the victim’s throat as they lay lifeless in the dirt.
The Fenway Slasher moniker conjured a vision, and the crime scene photo confirmed it.
It was hard to see from that photo alone whether there were any other wounds, but it was a surefire bet that the slash to the throat was what killed him.
"If the Fenway Slasher was caught," Alison commented, "then what is the killer communicating?"
Detective Wolfe moved some of the photographs around and picked up one, showing a close-up of a Polaroid. He handed it to Alison.
"He’s my best guess based on what you’ve found here," Wolfe said. "If what you say is right and the killer is pointing out failings with this original case, then this is your guy."
Alison held the printout and studied the young face contained. He looked to be in his mid-twenties, clean-shaven, pale, wearing glasses, with brown eyes and short black hair.
"And he is?" Alison asked.
"Dr. Cowan," Wolfe replied. "He’s a private psychiatrist now, but he was the lead profiler on the case back then. Thanks to him, the Fenway Slasher killed two more people before he was finally caught."
"Dr. Cowan sabotaged the case?" Hartley asked, rounding the desk to view the photo.
"No, by the looks of it, he was only incompetent," Detective Wolfe said. "There was an internal investigation at the time, but the blame wasn’t attributed to Wolfe. However, my contact in Boston suggests that they would have caught the Slasher quicker without a profiler at all. I don’t know how true that is. "
"Okay, so we have two serial killer investigations, one where the killer was never caught, and another where the killer was caught too late," Alison pointed out.
"I think it’s safe to say that we have our motive.
The killer is focusing on investigations where the investigation could have been better. "
"Which doesn’t justify anything," Hartley said with a grunt.
"No, of course not," Alison agreed. "But it does mean that there are a lot of cases the killer could choose from. I know that we all do the best we can, but none of us is perfect, and there will always be flaws in an investigation, whether large or small. The dangerous thing about this killer is that they’re not confined to a specific geographic region. We’re looking at someone who’s traveled from Boston to Philadelphia to kill. "
"Could we be looking at multiple killers?" Hartley asked.
"It’s possible," Alison admitted. "However, with cases like this where the staging of the bodies is so similar, we have to begin with the assumption that we’re looking at the same killer in both instances.
How about the Slasher victim? Any connection to the original case or anything more recent? A connection to the Fenway Slasher."
"I don't know," Wolfe said slowly. He picked up some of the files and took a brief look through. "My guy in Boston would’ve mentioned it if that was the case, but I’ll go through the file to be sure."
"Thank you," Alison said. "I don't think there will be any connection between the victims, but we look at that also, just to be thorough."
"I can handle that," Hartley said.
"I’d like to get in contact with Dr. Cowan when we can," Alison said.
"If he was the lead profiler on the case and it was because of him that the case went on longer than it should have, there’ll be some guilt.
I know I feel that way about the Riverside Strangler case, and I was only part of it for a couple of hours.
If he were investigated, maybe he would take it personally.
Maybe he did sabotage the case for some reason.
I want us to get in a room with him and see where his mind is at. "
"I’ll talk to my contact in Boston and see where he’s at now," Wolfe said. "I’d be ticked off if I were blamed for a serial killer killing two people when we could have stopped him. Could be a great double-bluff."
"And it draws attention to other failures," Alison commented. "In his eyes, anyway. This could be a way for him to deal with the guilt. We need to talk with him."
Detective Wolfe placed the file he was holding back onto the messy pile atop the desk, then stood up and straightened his jacket. He brushed himself down.
"I’ll get a hold of Dr. Cowan now, and we can pay him a visit as soon as we are able." Wolfe strode from the room.
"This isn’t like anything I’ve dealt with before," Hartley admitted.
Alison nodded. "Me neither. Serial killers, yes, but not someone who’s crossing state lines, and never someone who’s targeting law enforcement like this.
A drive to kill multiple people like the killer has been driven by something, so let’s see if there is a connection between the victims, the original killers, and any family members of each.
Someone is pointing out law enforcement failures, and there has to be a reason for that. "
"It won't be a problem getting a task force together for this," Hartley admitted. "I’ll open a line of communication with the FBI over in Boston and make sure we’re coordinating with them on this.
" She looked at the wall. "Two victims in different states. It’s more likely that the next murderer is in a completely different state, isn’t it? "
"That seems to be the pattern," Alison admitted. "Get the word out as best you can to agencies across the country. We’re looking for any murderers or trial killers where the investigation fell short in some way. So far, we have a profiler who was inept at his job and some DNA that wasn’t preserved for future use. We’re in the hands of the killer.
They are the one who deems what’s important or not. We don't know what we’re looking for."
Hartley took a deep breath, then let out a long sigh. She brought her fist up to her lips. "It could happen anywhere at any time. How do we catch someone with no connection to the victims, or the original murderers, at any location, any given person, or anything else?"
"We find the motivation," Alison answered immediately. "There’s a motivation here somewhere, and we only need to find it. That’s how we get them."
Another sigh came from Hartley.
Alison couldn’t read her mind, but there was a weariness to the sigh.
She was pregnant, and this was a case that could drag on and drag them across the country.
Alison wanted to assure the special agent that they would catch this killer, but with them highlighting two failed cases, could she make that assurance?
This was different from what she had encountered before.
Investigations had not been perfect in the past, and it would be nearly impossible to tell whether the current investigation had been perfect until it was an investigation of the past. The only hope was that when they looked back on the investigation from sometime in the future, they thought about the killer they had put behind bars.
"Okay," Hartley said, pushing her shoulders back. "Excuse the lack of enthusiasm. It's not you or the case, but the emotions from this little one bring me"—she placed her hands on her stomach—"I'm on the case, and I'm a hundred percent invested."
"I know you are," Alison said. She wouldn’t know that until she had worked with the special agent some more, but it was pointless to say that.
"Can I get you set up before I make some calls?" Hartley asked.
"A desk where I can work, but I don't need anything else," Alison replied. "I’ll take a look at the files and see if there’s any pattern or connection between them that stands out, and then I’ll go to my hotel to get checked in. The next twelve to twenty-four hours are going to be spent sifting through the information we have at hand, and if Detective Wolfe makes contact with Dr. Cowan, it’s unlikely we have a chance to speak to him until tomorrow.
I really hope we put a stop to this immediately, but something tells me we need to rest when we have the chance. "
"I’ll show you to your desk," Hartley said.
They left Hartley’s office and almost bumped into Detective Wolfe on the way out.
"Sorry," he said, grabbing Alison’s shoulders to stop her from hitting the wall behind. "We’re on for tomorrow."
"Tomorrow?" Hartley asked.
"Dr. Cowan," Wolfe replied. "He didn't sound happy when I called him, but he’s willing to talk to us. We leave for Boston first thing in the morning."