Serial Love: Saints Protection & Investigation (6 page)

The two women started to walk away when Alice turned back. Lifting her gaze to Jack’s, she held it courageously. “You will find him, won’t you?” she pleaded.

Nodding, he promised, “Yeah. We’ll get him.”

With his confident assurance, Alice linked her arm through Sybil’s and the two walked out of the campus center.

Blaise looked at his friend and boss, asking, “You reckon we can keep that promise?”

Jack speared him with a glance. “Yeah. This fucker’s hiding and he’ll strike again, but we’ll get him.”

With the interview complete, the two drove back to the company compound outside of Charlestown to meet with the others.

*

The next morning,
the eight-member team of Saints met in the basement conference room to debrief. While Jack and Blaise had been at Montwood College, Bart and Marcus had gone to Rasland College to interview the friends and possible witnesses of Helena Rorton. Chad and Cam had also been on the road, driving to Richland Community College to investigate Sheila Carlson’s murder.

Luke had stayed behind, continuing to research the similarities as the team sent in their information. Monty had been busy with his contacts with the FBI. Monty reported, “Shirley Kerstig, an FBI profiler will join us by secure conference later.” Luke had arranged for the team to have video conferencing with others, but only the group would be able to see the person speaking to them. The Saints Protection & Investigations would not be seen by the others, nor would their location be compromised. Working with the law while not playing by their rules, had Jack cautious about keeping his compound out of sight.

The men sat, laptops in front of them, as they compared their findings. Luke had taken their notes but wanted to verify the information before continuing his analytical investigations.

Jack began, “Tonya was in the company of a man at a bar before her disappearance. Blond with a mustache, but witnesses said it could have been a wig. She did not normally visit bars, so this was an anomaly for her. Helena had been to a campus church service and was seen praying with a redheaded man, according to her roommate who attended with her. He had a beard, but the witness could not identify if it were real; she also said the man was not college age. Sheila worked as a waitress in a coffee shop near the campus and so she was in contact with a great many people. No one could determine if there had been anyone in particular and the coffee shop has numerous repeat customers so there’s a possible dead end there.”

“Helena came from wealthy parents. She could have gone anywhere on daddy’s money, but chose a state college to follow a high school boyfriend. He flunked out, but she stayed and was doing well,” Bart reported.

Chad added, “Sheila was from a poor background; deadbeat dad and a mom working two jobs. She’d worked in high school and continued while in college. I see Tonya’s parents are typical middle-class America.”

Heaving a heavy sigh, Cam added, “One’s blonde, another’s redhead, and another’s brunette. They were different ages, different body types, different backgrounds. So where’s the connection?”

Jack turned to Luke, watching as his fingers flew across the keyboard of his computer. “You got anything for us?”

Luke shook his head, shooting a glare at Jack. “You know this shit doesn’t just pop up like on TV. It takes time to get hits off of all this data.”

“So what are we looking at?” Jack asked.

“Okay, I’ve loaded the bank records, school information which,” he looked up at them and added, “goes all the way back to pre-school. Doctor’s info, right down to when they got their shots and braces.”

Cam could not hold back a slight grin, knowing that as quiet as Luke was, when he got going on an investigation, he was meticulous in detail. A glance around the table exposed the same expressions on the others’ faces.

Luke continued, “I’ve loaded in the descriptions of their bodies, habits, classes, jobs, majors, activities…” He paused, perusing his co-workers faces. “If you’ve given the data to me or I’ve read it in the police files, it’s in here. And it’s not going to fucking pop out an answer in case you’re wondering.”

Blaise could not hold in his chuckle anymore. Luke was a data-mining genius, but testy when pushed.

“What about the cold cases of missing girls?” Bart asked.

Luke smiled, answering, “Already on it. I’m entering what information I’ve received, but that will take more time.”

“How many are we talking about?” Marc asked.

“Hard to say,” Jack answered. “On a college campus, you can have students drop out, go missing, go back home, or hell, just move to Montana if they want. The campus does not keep records on all of the students that just leave. But we do have the missing persons from the police. There are six women in the past five years that were attending college, went missing and their families filed missing person’s reports.”

“All from Virginia colleges?” Cam asked.

Jack nodded, glancing over at Luke still banging away on his keyboard. “You got their info?”

Luke jerked his eyes over to Jack, acknowledging, “Yeah. I’m on it.”

Just then, Monty’s laptop sounded and he quickly signaled for everyone to be silent. Connecting to his secure conference line, he spoke into the screen. “Ms. Kerstig? Glad you could join us.” With a few taps, he projected her image on the wall screen but while the team could see her, she was unable to see any of them.

A middle-aged women, short dark hair stylishly coiffed, sat at a table wearing the typical FBI uniform of bland, navy blazer and light blue blouse. She smiled from the screen, greeting, “Damn, Monty. Wish I could see your ugly face again.”

The others laughed as Monty said, “Well, Shirley, it’s good to see your sense of humor hasn’t changed.”

After quick introductions, she began. “I won’t bore you with the details of the case since I’m sure you all are as thorough as Monty was when he was with the agency. And of course, my report is in there as well. With the additional information about the possible missing girls, I haven’t changed my initial impressions, but Monty asked if I would give them to you here.”

“We appreciate any assistance you can offer, Ms. Kerstig,” Jack acknowledged, respecting the agent’s efficiency.

“First, let me debunk a few myths concerning serial killers. First of all, contrary to popular belief, not all serial killers are loners. Some are…others are not. They are also not all white males. They are not only motivated by sex, although they can be. There is also a myth that they travel the highways and kill all over the country. Actually, most operate in a localized comfort zone.”

“Comfort zone?” Cam interrupted.

“Yes,” she confirmed. “There are transient individuals who kill in a much wider range, but some kill within a certain area. And contrary to the Hollywood version of serial killers, they are not insane or evil geniuses. They test from borderline to above average in intelligence.”

“So what you’re saying is there’s no one profile of a serial killer,” Bart clarified, heaving a sigh.

“Exactly. Now here is what we do know,” she stated. “Serial killers gain confidence and while they do not want to get caught, they begin to make mistakes. They start feeling as though they will never be identified and they will take shortcuts in either the actual murder or in disposing of the bodies.”

“With the increase in our ability to investigate and forensic developments, why is it still so hard to identify them?” Luke asked.

“In the case of these killings, they took place in Virginia but in different locations. Different law enforcement agencies were investigating, collecting evidence, sending evidence to different labs. It wasn’t until Helena’s murder with the similarities that the FBI became involved. Then with Tonya’s murder being linked, it was determined to be the act of a serial killer.”

Bart asked, “Three is significant?”

“Yes, it takes three murders that have common characteristics to suggest the reasonable possibility the same person committed the crimes to be considered a serial murder.”

“Anything specific you can give us?” Jack prodded, his frustration showing.

Shirley smiled indulgently, hearing the irritation in his voice even though she could not see him. “Profiling is an inexact science you know? But yes, this is what I can surmise. The three girls whose bodies were found were sexually assaulted so that does give us a clue into the killer’s motivation. While it does not mean he was motivated by sex, it does indicate a high probability he was not motivated by money or just a thrill. He could be sexually impotent or sexually angry. But not necessarily. Because the three girls were mutilated with what appears to be the same knife, it’s as though he is trying to mark them, or change them, if you will.”

“Change them?” Monty asked.

“Yes. Some serial killers hate something about their victims and in mutilating them, they see the act as erasing whatever is bothering them.”

“So that could be a tie-in—something all three have in common that is upsetting to the killer?” Jack surmised.

Shirley nodded her acquiescence. “Absolutely. And it’s not usually something simple like body type, although it could be. With the viciousness in which he violates the bodies, I would also surmise that not only is the killer sexually motivated, but anger is also a motivation. Perhaps there was neglect or abuse in their childhood. Considering we have at least one witness identifying a possible suspect in the bar chatting up Tonya, I would even consider psychopathy as a very probable diagnosis. This is using charm, manipulation, and then violence to satisfy their needs.”

“Goddamn,” Marc cursed before quickly apologizing.

“No need to apologize on my account,” Shirley stated. “In closing, gentlemen, I would say we are looking for a male, thirty to fifty years old, who may have poor behavior control, early childhood behavior problems, possible juvenile delinquency, and exhibits a complete lack of remorse concerning their actions.”

Shirley was quiet for a moment before continuing. “Mr. Bryant, I don’t know much about your organization, but I do know Monty. He was one of our best, but I know the Bureau’s sometimes cumbersome hierarchy was the tipping point that finally had him leave and join your company. It’s my understanding that you…um…fly under the regulation radar…if that is a good way of putting it?”

Jack chuckled. “That would be a perfectly good description.”

She nodded. “Please don’t be offended by this. You have a great deal of latitude in your investigations which will make it easier for you to ascertain information. But the special information also gives you a great responsibility. The killer will strike again and while the Bureau is placing the highest priority on this case, we know he may kill again before we can catch him. Make sure whatever you find, is shared. None of us wants the killer to get away due to faulty information gathering.”

“Understood, Ms. Kerstig,” he agreed.

The conference continued on for several more minutes before they ended the call with the profiler. Monty looked around the room, stating, “Shirley knows her shit, but I swear this is about as clear as mud, as my momma used to say.”

The others agreed. No discernable personality trait of the killer they could pinpoint at this time.

Jack said, “While Luke is still collating the evidence, the rest of you will be assigned to continue the investigation and we need to make sure our location is secure. Chad, I’d like you and Cam to stay with me to work on the perimeter. I also need to file an initial report with the Governor. Bart and Blaise, you head to Tech and Eastburg campuses to see what you can dig up on the missing girls from there. Monty and Marc, you take Western VA community college and Blue Ridge. You know the drill—get whatever information you can, however you need to get it.” Giving them a little grin, he added, “Just don’t get caught.”

The others chuckled, knowing Bart especially enjoyed breaking into wherever he needed to and so far…his luck had held out.

Jack finished by saying, “Now with added information and a little more idea of what we may be looking for let’s see what we can find even though the trail may be cold.”

S
ally, an old
friend of Bethany’s mother, came into the lodge on Saturday morning, gathering clean linens to put on the cabins’ beds. Her brown hair, streaked with gray, was efficiently pulled back as she stooped and bent to handle the laundry. A medical receptionist, she retired early at fiftly-five when her last child left for college, but loved to stay busy helping out at the cabins where she and Bethany’s mother had played as children.

Mountville’s weekly rentals ran from Saturday to Saturday, although if space was available Bethany would accommodate other days. Sometimes guests came on Friday for the weekend and would check out on Sunday. During the summer months, most of her cabins were filled with renters who stayed for the entire week but occasionally she would have room for a weekend visitor.

Tossing the soiled linens into the bin, Sally walked to the closet to grab the clean ones before heading back to the cabins. Since Bethany was out and about, Sally had Ann with her. It seemed to spark Ann’s memories when she was helping in the cabins. While Sally cleaned, Ann would help a little and reminisce about the guests she remembered over the years.