Antman (48 page)

As Chris finished, Bradshaw stood up and shuffled his papers preparatory to introducing the next stage of the day. 'If you're looking for someone who knows their ants, the most likely suspect is Professor Fortius.' If Bradshaw was expecting a laugh from this attempted joke, he was disappointed. A few hesitant titters followed and he quickly moved on to introduce Mary Threadgold, Tim Rathbone and Sheila Rawlinson to talk about the profiles of the victims and the suspects.

Mary's presentation was crisp. She began with some generalities and quickly moved into the detail.

'We've been looking at the written material left with some of the victims and the very similar material we've had through the post. Quite often, killers who communicate in this way show other signs of wanting a dialogue with those looking for them. It's a paradox. They do everything they can to avoid detection, but they take the huge risk of letting us have personal details about them, which are bound to give clues and increase the likelihood they'll be caught. We've consulted our graphologist, who studies handwriting and who gives her apologies today, but agrees with our conclusions.

'We’ve analysed the content of the notes in detail. Whilst there are one or two which contain overlapping material, in general the notes signed J are autobiographical while those signed G deal with the current homicidal tendencies of our person. So the G documents are more worrying and signal danger. The way the J notes are written suggests an isolated and unhappy person who has been traumatised by some abusive childhood experiences. The content of the notes, taken together, form a considerable body of biographical data. There don't seem to be any significant inconsistencies. Although there are references to places and periods of time, they aren't specific enough for us to get a handle on the places where he lived or his age at particular times. We have no way of confirming the truth of statements made in the notes, but from the grammar and syntax, we guess he was either raised in the south of England – possibly Surrey, north Hampshire or South London – or had parental or teaching influences from that area. At some stage, he'll have moved to the Hull area.

'As far as the match between the two surviving suspects and these fragments of evidence is concerned, we haven't enough to draw final conclusions. There are stronger associations between Lovelace and the Home Counties than Thompsen, and the level of literacy of the written material points to a man of Lovelace's education rather than any of the others. These are superficial resemblances, but they're all we have to go on at present.'

Chris stole a glance behind her and saw Bradshaw was smiling.

Chris buttonholed Dr Rice, the acting Dean during coffee break.

'You've brought home to me the reality that our true suspect is a more formidable opponent than we realised,' he said.

'Tell me about this man Thompsen,' Chris said.

'I'm struggling. It's not easy to switch one's focus.'

'I suggest you try. Someone's life may depend on it.

Rice's defensiveness surfaced. 'I'm well aware, Inspector, of the vulnerabilities of the situation,' he said testily, 'but you must appreciate this is a large institution. With several hundred staff it would be impossible for me to keep in touch with all staff movements and know everyone personally.'

'Is there any chance of us looking at Thompsen's file later today?'

‘
Well, as you can see, I'm not at the University at this minute,' said Rice with a controlled sigh. 'I can ask for the file to be looked out by morning.'

'To have certain details here by lunchtime today would be more use,' said Chris. ‘We've laid on an office with a phone, if you ask at Reception.'

Rice's hard stare was lost on her. 'It depends what kind of details,' he said in an extremely precise way, a mannerism those who knew him associated with moods of extreme anger which, even if he felt them, he rarely displayed.

If she noticed, she gave no sign but continued: 'Dates of employment, addresses, personal details including national insurance, birth date and any other associated facts, would be appreciated.'

*  *  *

Sheila Rawlinson's style was relaxed and informal, as though she was chatting to a friend rather than addressing a meeting: 'There are quite a number of diagnostic keys which would fit the present circumstances. Unfortunately, we don't have a patient to examine, so I can't try them out. Reports of gaps in the person's memory, blackouts, seizures, actions other people recall but the person doesn't. But what you've shown me is quite a good starting point. I'd hazard a guess that this person has experienced some or all of these other symptoms. Some of my colleagues might simply suggest he's suffering from schizophrenia or personality disorder and pass on to the next patient. But to me that's a cop-out. You have to appreciate no respectable psychiatrist would give a formal diagnosis on such a slight foundation, even if all the above symptoms were present. We have to satisfy a list of diagnostic criteria before considering we have enough evidence. But it's possible this man – and I'm pretty sure it is a man – is suffering from a rare and serious condition, a form of mental illness known as dissociative identity disorder, known more popularly as multiple personality disorder, or MPD. I wouldn't consider it impossible for this man to take on the personalities of key people who have had an impact on his life – such as schoolteacher, parent or whoever. We can't tell whether he'll be reinforcing a traumatic event or reconstructing the past in some ideal way.'

Chris intervened: 'So it doesn't have to be a bad experience?'

'Absolutely not. A dissociative episode can take many forms. But it's usually the bad ones psychiatrists focus on, since it is traumas or mental illness that bring people to us. The incident he recalls may be so traumatic that both the incident and his memory of it will be completely segregated from the rest of his consciousness.'

'In another personality.'

'The more traumas, situations and people involved originally, the greater the number of personalities which may be assumed by the person.'

'Is it likely that his G personality is violent, psychopathic?'

'Like Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde?'

Chris nodded. 'Sort of.'

'It's impossible to say without interviewing the person and taking a detailed history. It could take a long time to get him to recall and explore previous traumatic experiences responsible for particular splits in his consciousness. You're crossing the boundary between diagnosis and treatment. I'm speculating now, but he could have mirrored the violence experienced by one of the significant people he encountered at one particular period of his past, and subsequent life events could have reinforced it, as an aberrant way of coping.'

'Can you translate that into a concrete example?' asked Chris.

'The Jewish teacher he refers to in the papers – Mr Regel. It's conceivable that one of the man's fragmented personalities identifies with the persecution he experienced in the school, whilst another acts out the role of oppressor, whether in the concentration camp or later. It all depends on the man's own intellectual capacity, the power of his imagination, the level of his own trauma and the extent of his own repression of memories and feelings.'

Sheila reflected for a minute or two, then continued: 'If I was this man's psychiatrist, I'd be wanting to get hold of him before the two sets of personalities – the oppressor and the victim – converge.'

'You're hinting he could become dangerous on an even larger scale. He's already a serial killer.'

‘
We can't tell what anger is mobilised in these destructive episodes and what he might do if at the same time he's overcome by guilt.'

'I thought you said the splits in the personality were separate.'

'If only the human psyche were that simple and mechanical. An extreme set of circumstances may provoke a rash of extremely destructive and self-destructive acts.'

'Multiple murders followed by suicide,' said Chris. 'Multiple murders yes, suicide possibly. Not good news for potential victims.' Chris turned to Mary Threadgold. 'Any comments on what Sheila has said?'

'I haven't a lot to add,' said Mary, 'except that I'm convinced Sheila is right and this is a case of MPD. My contribution to this investigation is more speculative, because that's the nature of handwriting analysis. As you no doubt all know, this man has swamped us with paper. Apart from the detail of its content, the most significant feature, I think, is the way he signs himself with different initials. So far, we've noted two – J and G. I say so far, because it is always possible in a case like this for the person to produce other aliases as well. As J he seems reflective and the diary takes on a merely autobiographical style. When he signs himself as G, watch out. That's when he's in homicidal mood.'

'You've omitted to say we're always one step behind,' said Chris. ‘We get the notes after the deed.'

'True,' Mary admitted, 'but at least we know which of his multiple personalities is the more dangerous one, at present.'

'It could change?'

'It's a highly fluid situation. He's likely to be very unstable and that means unpredictable.'

'He could kill again, very soon?'

'I think that's Sheila's territory.'

Sheila spoke. 'He could kill several times more in the near future. Or he could kill only once more.'

'Why only once more? '

'The person he sees as central, and then kill himself.'

'So he is potentially suicidal,' said Chris.

'He could be. The question is whether he will reveal a crucial clue which will lead us to him before he kills again. It's probably a race between the suicide of being detected and actual, physical suicide.'

'I don't much care how quickly he kills himself.'

'Don't forget,' said Sheila, 'that last act could include any victims he's taken hostage, who are still alive.'

Mary was speaking again. 'One other thing, these fragments of writing – if I can call them that, because I'm aware some are pretty long – are so strange. The handwriting differs and the content. If the other circumstances of the murders weren't similar, I'd be tempted to assume they were written by completely different people, or that our killer wanted to put us off the scent by presenting them that way.'

'That's possible,' said Sheila, 'though on the whole people tend to mimic psychiatric symptoms successfully only in fictional stories. I'm reminded of the biographical account in the book
The Three Faces of Eve.
Eve was suffering from such fragmentation of her personality that it was difficult for other people to know who they were dealing with at any one time.'

Bradshaw was in his element during the lunch break and spared no time seeking Chris out. 'I see you've been hob-nobbing with the head-shrinks, Inspector. Next, you'll be becoming one.'

'Not much time to do that, sir, in this job.'

Bradshaw grinned and didn't let up. 'So you've been to see Dr Rawlinson about your workload.'

Chris played it straight. 'She's not that kind of consultant. I wouldn't ask a forensic psychiatrist for advice on our workloads. I'm keen to examine the implications of our murderer having MPD, multiple personality disorder.'

'I don't care if she is a forensic whatever. What good is the label anyway? No doubt it's a half-cracked scheme to excuse these bastards from taking responsibility for their crimes and get them off with mental health orders rather than serving their time in the nick. Like that Banji.'

'Kenneth Bianchi, the so-called Hillside Strangler? Actually he tried to fake MPD and claim that one of his alternative personalities had carried it out. But it was a psychiatrist who interviewed him, showed he was probably faking, clearing the way for Bianchi to be convicted of murder.'

'Rawlinson obviously primed you with the known case which shows her and her colleagues up in a good light.'

'No, sir. She did tell me, however, that contrasted with the millions of people who suffer from mental disorders such as severe depression or schizophrenia at any one time, there are probably only about two or three hundred reported cases of MPD. She did bring my attention to books written about the most well-known of these, including
The Three Faces of Eve
,
Sybil
and
The Minds of Billy Milligan
.'

'Don't get smart with me, Chief Inspector. Thank Christ some of us keep their feet on the ground in this Force. Forget your books and get your nose into catching criminals.'