“He kills by bloodletting.”
Shivers traveled down my spine. A real sicko, indeed.
I hated asking this next question, but it was critical for my profile, and could give us some clues on how to catch him. "Does he sexually assault his victims?"
"No. There's no signs of rape. My guess is he gets sexual gratification from the act of killing itself."
I nearly gagged. I couldn’t imagine how anyone could find sexual pleasure in murder. I was going to have to entertain the idea, though, because if we were going to catch this guy, I had to get inside his head one way or another.
Kallie sighed. "And he leaves no DNA behind, either, or any magical traces that can be helpful to the investigation, which isvery unusual.Usually, these types of crimes are easy to trace, because the scenes he leaves behind are sloppy. But somehow, the police still have no idea who this guy is."
“It’s a performance for him,” I said confidently. “He likes to take his time and watch his victims die, but he dresses them up as if they’re a part of the act— a participant.”
Kallie sounded intrigued by my analysis. “It’s not his way of posing them like a trophy, then?”
“No, that’s what the wings are for,” I said. “Dressing the victims up indicates he’s creating a scene out of his fantasies. He’s probably young himself, still identifying with the ages of his victims, but he’s aging them down because he’s fixated on a girl from his childhood. Something bad must’ve happened to him, and she was central to his trauma. His victims are made to be participants, and killing them is his way of fulfilling the fantasy he never got to play out with this other girl.”
“Do you think the person committing these murders performed other crimes first?” Kallie asked. “I could never connect him to any other crimes. Perhaps I overlooked something.”
“It’s possible,” I said. “There are groups of serial rapists who move on to becoming serial killers, because they no longer get the same emotional high from the domination aspect of the sexual assault, so they have to take it a step further and take the life away from the victim in order to receive that high. Then, as they keep killing, they make the murders riskier in order to get high from the gamble of potentially getting caught by police. He might’ve escalated to murder because he needs the thrill of humiliating his victim, like addicts need to retain the high from drugs. But maybe he’s not one of these guys.”
“That’s still a lot of assumptions.”
“Let me guess. When he dresses up the victims, it’s always the same?”
“He always puts them in a navy-blue dress.”
“It’s the same girl, over and over.”
“No, it’s a doll,” Kallie said. “I think you’re looking too deep into this. He’s a sicko, and there’s no rhyme or reason to it. He probably got his kicks chopping off dolls’ heads as a kid, and he escalated to real people.”
“You don’t do that without some serious issues,” I pointed out. “This guy was severely traumatized.”
Kallie got quiet for a moment, then said, “So, he wants to killher— the girl who hurt him.”
“No, actually. He wants toimpressher,” I realized. “He’s not that helpless little kid anymore. He wants to show her he’s powerful.”
“That doesn’t make any sense,” Kallie said. “He’s exercising poweroverher. If it’s a fantasy about killing her, she must be the one who hurt him.”
I shrugged. “It’s my first time creating a profile. I’m not saying it’s perfect, but I’d wager a bet that I’m on to something. And when the Union finally finds him… I hope he’s young enough to be sentenced to the Institute. I’ll gladly blood let him like he did his victims.”
“Charlie,” Kallie said harshly.
“Don’t lecture me,” I replied. “You were an assassin. You just admitted you’ve thought about killing this guy countless times.”
“Of course I have,” she hissed. “But what good does it do? It feels good taking out monsters who do nothing but hurt people. You think you’re doing the right thing and protecting everyone. But once you start, it’s hard to stop. I’ve already done it before. I can do it again. And if the Dollmaker ends up here, I won’t hesitate. That asshole ismine. But you, Charlie?”
She breathed a heavy sigh. “I can’t watch you become what I was.”
“I’ve killed people before,” I said bluntly.
“And that’s what terrifies me,” she whispered harshly. “Killing in a time of war is an entirely different feeling than hunting people down, okay? I got addicted to acting as judge, jury and executioner to the people I assassinated. I started assassinating people when I wasfourteen, Charlie. Did those predators deserve it? Probably, but why was that my call? I hope to the gods that warlock you killed in the hallway will be your last, because I can’t see you lose yourself in this.”
Kallie was always pretty serious, but this was on a whole other level. Forget Cellblock 9. Forget hell. This was deeper and darker than anything I could ever imagine.
“All right,” I told her. “I won’t go there.”
“You better not. I’ll be holding you to that promise,” Kallie said darkly.
