"Of course I’m angry."Cowan balled his fist tightly."Everyone blamed me.And it wasn’t kept a secret either.Whenever anyone in the media asked about my contribution to the case—and the only reason they asked in the first place was that the information had been leaked—it was, alas, met with ‘no comment.’Which is as good as saying that I’m an incompetent fool who derailed the investigation from the beginning."
"And what’s the truth?"Wolfe asked, also stepping forward.
Dr.Cowan looked up at Alison with a piercing gaze."She knows.If you’ve read the file, you know, and you also know what it’s like for us.When evidence comes in, you can look at it and decipher it, for the most part.When it comes to profiling, you don't get to report the facts, but your best approximations and interpretations."He held Alison’s gaze as he fell silent, urging her to say something.
"I’ve read the files, and a lot of what Dr.Cowan did in the case made sense.It’s also true that profiling is more of an art than a science.You only have to look at the Strangler case to see that Dr.Carver and I disagreed on where to look for the killer."
"There you go," Cowan said, unfurling his hand and waving it in the air."They made me the scapegoat because that was better than admitting none of us had a clue.And do you know how he was caught in the end?A fingerprint!He left a fingerprint at the scene.It wasn’t good police work or another profiler brought on board, but a bit of luck.That’s not what the public wants to hear, though, right?They want to know that the police are on top of things, and that if someone is running around the city killing people, they’re going to figure out who it was.Not that we need to wait for some good fortune and for the killer to mess up."
"Still," Wolfe said, sitting on the seat on the opposite side of the desk facing Cowan."When the killer was caught, your profiling was almost completely wrong."
"Excuse me," Special Agent Hartley said as she took the phone from her pocket and left the room.
"What do you want from me, Detective Wolfe?"Cowan asked."I didn’t mess up back then, no matter what anyone says.Yes, I wasn’t accurate with the profiling, but hindsight is a wonderful thing, and it still doesn’t mean I was wrong."
"All I want from you is to know where you’ve been over the past few days, Dr.Cowan?"Detective Wolfe said."Made any trips to Philadelphia recently?"
"Oh, good lord!"Dr.Cowan exclaimed."That’s why you came here?And here I was thinking that you wanted to know why this killer blamed me for the Fenway Slasher killing more people, but you think that I’m the killer."
"Are you?"Wolfe asked.
Dr.Cowan smiled and shook his head, running his tongue behind his lower lip."I built a life after I quit law enforcement, and yes, no matter what anyone else might tell you, I did quit.I had had enough with the blame game.I started my own practice here, and I help people.I actually help people, and they’re thankful to me for it.I have a beautiful house, good friends, and did you see the young woman at the reception desk?I have her, too."
The way he phrased it made Alison’s stomach turn.
"Why would I want to give any of this up?"Cowan asked, glaring at Wolfe.
"Because you’re angry at being blamed for what happened in the past," Wolfe said."Because you got what you thought you wanted, only to find out that it’s not what you wanted after all?The more you had, the more you wanted?Or that no matter how much you got in life, it couldn’t erase the failures of the past?"
Cowan glared at Wolfe some more before he took a deep breath and let out a sigh."I believed therapy might be good for you, Detective Wolfe.If I believed I was wrong back then, maybe you would be onto something.I don't believe I was wrong, and if I were in the same position again, I would make the same decisions.Dr.Payne, if you believe I was in the wrong, then speak now, and we can have a different conversation."
Alison thought about it."I don't know the case well enough to make a conclusion," she said."And it’s impossible to look back now and apply the same thought process to the evidence with the advances in the field.So, I can't say with any certainty whether you were right or wrong.However, I do believe you were right at the time.Although that doesn’t mean much right now."
Cowan ran his tongue under his lip again as he held Alison’s gaze this time.He nodded."That’s fair, that’s fair.Okay, how about this?You can check my schedule over the past couple of weeks, and you are more than welcome to talk with my assistant at the front desk.I’ve been here during the days, and at night"—he turned his attention back to Detective Wolfe—"I’ve been with Maisie, if you know what I mean."
Alison rolled her eyes.She disliked Dr.Cowan more and more, but the presence of a concrete alibi was only a benefit.Dr.Cowan was currently a suspect, and if they could rule him out, they could focus their energy elsewhere.
"How about last week?"Alison asked, not really wanting to hear the answer."Were you with your assistant?"
"Oh, every night," Dr.Cowan said with a wink.
Alison sighed and folded her arms across her chest.
"We’ll talk with her," Wolfe said.
"Oh, be my guest," Cowan said."Anything I can do to help.Anything at all."
"Hey," Hartley called from the door.
Alison looked around to see Hartley gesturing for them to leave.
"Both of you," Hartley ordered."We need to go."
"We need to talk to the receptionist first," Wolfe said.
"Quickly," Hartley ordered.
It was Wolfe who moved first, turning from Dr.Cowan and striding out of the room to talk with Maisie before Dr.Cowan could brief her.
