Chapter 13
Dr. Dudley studied her as she walked in and noted, “That looks painful.”
She shrugged. “Not even from a case.” His eyebrows popped up, and he gave her a shocked look. She shrugged. “I wasn’t paying attention in my karate class.”
His lips twitched, but she had to give him credit.
He didn’t burst into laughter outright, which most of her team had.
She had her own sense of humor about it because it was her own fault.
She never asked for special treatment and never expected it.
She was just trying to save her life most of the time.
And, if getting beat up at the dojo was what it took, then that’s what she did.
He just smiled and asked, “What can I do for you? You got my attention when you told me that it was urgent.”
She frowned. “If you don’t have time, that’s fine.”
His eyebrows shot up again, and he shook his head. “Stop being so prickly. What is it you need help with?” When she glared at him, he just waited.
Finally she spoke. “We have an odd case.”
He nodded. “I figured as much. Otherwise you wouldn’t be here,” he pointed out. “What’s so odd about it?”
She went through the two deaths that were poisonings and then the possible third case linking to the other two, but it was deemed a drug overdose. Maybe self-inflicted. Still, she couldn’t rule it out.
He stared at her at the mention of the third death. “To do it once is bad enough.”
“Exactly,” she replied. “And then you consider how it’s potentially three times?
That’s worse. So, one of my questions to you is, What on earth would be a motivation for this MO?
Is it even feasible?” Then she hesitated and added, “I’m leaning toward a woman, but I don’t have any clue as to why, … outside of rejection.”
“Do you have any evidence supporting that?”
“No solid reason, just my gut instincts.”
“It could also be the boyfriend of one of these women, who has decided that these playboys are the reason he can’t get serious or can’t get anybody to go that step further into what he really wants, which could be a marriage commitment.”
She nodded. “That is also a concern, though we don’t really have anything to go on in that regard.”
“I don’t have to tell you that poisoning tends to be a woman’s preferred method to kill someone.”
“Right,” she agreed, “though, if I were a man, trying to make the murder look like a woman had done this, then using that method would throw the suspicion off of me.”
He nodded. “Yet there are other ways and means, and how would somebody get access to the three victims’ apartments?” he asked curiously.
“The killer was let in, as far as we can tell,” she shared, and he nodded.
“Nobody has cameras on their front doors, and nobody had security at that level. In one case, it’s been so long that, even if they did have security video, it would have long since been copied over.
That was the death deemed to be a drug overdose from two years ago, so no autopsy, no criminal investigation at the time.
” She took a deep breath. “All I can tell you is that these men were very careful but very dedicated playboys.”
The doc shuffled his papers for a few minutes, thinking about it. “So, you tell me. What are you thinking?” he asked, looking up at her curiously.
“I’m thinking mid-thirties, female, somewhat desperate.”
He stared at her with a questioning look. “Interesting, why mid-thirties?”
“My take is that somebody wants more than what these men can give, but they are the type of men whom she attracts, for whatever reason. While she can be a bedmate, she’s not finding any men interested in long-term relationships.
Over time, either she has realized something’s wrong with this ecosystem or something’s wrong with the men that she’s seeing. ”
“Or the easiest solution but the most painful revelation is how something’s wrong with her.”
“Exactly.” Kate gave him a sharp look. “These men want casual sex, just flings, nothing permanent. … I don’t know whether it’s a matter of refusing to have a long-term relationship or just not wanting monogamy.
None of them apparently ever expected anything out of their partners, except the freedom to be consenting adults.
No force was used here. There is no regret on the men’s part.
From a couple women I’ve spoken to recently, they had no regret on their part either, except they have thought about being exclusive at one time or another. ”
“And how do they feel about it now?” the shrink asked.
“It’s interesting, but the same two women who I spoke to, though they describe their relationships as friends with benefits, now have realized just how much they cared about this person and hadn’t really understood that until they were gone.”
“So, are you thinking that a lot of them were hoping secretly that maybe a real relationship or a more long-term relationship could be there?”
“I’m not sure I can say that,” she hedged. “One is bitterly divorced. The other is married but has a husband who doesn’t particularly have a sex drive, so this is her way of keeping her marriage safe.”
“Right. Although I disagree that affairs keep anyone’s marriage safe, still the lack of sexual compatibility is not an uncommon complaint. In fact, that’s one of the biggest reasons why a lot of men start wandering as well.”
She agreed. “But that doesn’t have any pertinence to these cases.
That one married woman did, however, say that, upon hearing of his death, she felt emotions that she didn’t expect.
She was surprised to be so affected by this loss.
She was thinking that she would be cool and casual and calm with my questions, right up until she found out he was dead. ”
“So, she had a very strong emotional response?”
Kate nodded.
“Which is not that far off, given that she’s also been quite free with her body with him—and for some time, if I understood you correctly.”
“Exactly,” Kate noted, curious as to what he was getting at. “So, I’m not necessarily surprised at seeing that emotional reaction from her, but, in a way, I am surprised. However, I don’t feel she is the one killing these men.”
“And you’re saying these guys are very fit, very buff, right?”
Kate nodded. “They’re physically in their prime. They’re the male predator, … at their prime. And somebody has been cutting them down, cutting them to size.”
“Do you think so?” he asked curiously.
She pondered that and then added, “I don’t know enough about these cases, but I do know this. … A lot of emotional baggage is involved. The killer wrapped up their victims in decorations, in gift cards even, and that’s the part I don’t understand.”
“And that’s the part that makes me think that it’s a man.”
She stared at him but shook her head. “I could not, in any way, imagine a man wrapping up another man, as if wrapping a gift. That makes no sense to me.”
“No, maybe not.” He smiled. “I was thinking more along the line of, you know, a gift for someone, or maybe a gift to someone. It’s easy to default to believe the killer is female, especially when poison is used to kill, because, if these victims are physically fit, no way for the average woman to take them down easily.
So, poison would definitely be a woman’s trick here. ”
Kate nodded. “It would be, except for the jealousy factor. I could see an insecure man, a weakling if you will, poisoning these three men—or overdosing the third with a cocktail of drugs. I could see how many men would question their manhood when compared to these three males. So such a man—not buff, not confident, not strong, not dating much, perhaps not even dating a small fraction of the number of women these three buff playboys have snared—could feel compelled to erase some of this competition. That’s quite possibly what’s happening here. ”
She sighed and added, “Plus, leaving behind a note that says Believe in these latest two murders.” Dr. Dudley just frowned at her.
“I know, right? Nebulous. Maybe related to church beliefs, advising monogamy? Maybe to the role of the traditional wife, staying home, having babies? I have no idea on that note and how it figures into murder, three of them even.”
He smiled at her. “You seem to have made up your mind, Detective. Remind me, what did you come to me for?”
She smiled sweetly. “I was hoping for a profile.”
He shook his head. “I don’t have enough information, but you’re pretty close on what you’re thinking. I’m just not sure you’re quite there yet.”
“No, I’m not there yet. And the trouble is, I don’t want another man to die because I’m a little slow on the mark.” She got up and paced around in frustration.
“Obviously that won’t be on you,” the shrink pointed out, “but I can see that, as much as you care about your work, you will take that personally.”
She snorted. “Yeah, … ya think?” Then she frowned and muttered, “I wonder how many men are like this?”
Confused, he asked, “What? Buff men or insecure men?”
“The insecure ones.” She shrugged, pacing slower now.
“I would love it if there was a club, a club where these insecure men hung out, and I could find out if there would be another victim. That’s the part that really bothers me, even while I’m trying to untangle all this.
Is another man about to die and has no idea that he’s now one of many?
And, of course, with the city as big as it is, no way for us to know that. ”
He pondered that for a moment, and suddenly a glint filled his eye.
She didn’t miss the change. “What are you thinking?”
“You are looking for a motive, right?”
“Yes.”
“What about the women who had been active with the men now deceased? Did they replace him? And, if they replaced him, with whom?”
Startled, she pondered that. “That could be a worthy pursuit, although I’m not sure that the women in question will be open to those kinds of discussions.”