“I think this is the work of a serial killer, and I don’t think Sojer has his man,” I tell Ida. “I’ve found at least eleven other victims who died in a very similar way over the years, so I think they’re all connected. Could you go over the files on those cases and see what you think?”
Ida’s dark blue eyes went very wide as I started talking, and they’re still wide now that I’ve put my request out there. She’s wearing her long straight brown hair loose today and it’s swaying gently in the wind.
“Are you talking about the two stabbings in November?” she asks and I nod.
“I didn’t work on those, because I was too busy with your case,” she says. “But some of the techs with me here this morning did. None of them mentioned seeing a connection to the other two deaths.”
“There are subtle similarities, like switched off victims’ phones and wallets with nothing taken found in trashcans near the bodies,” I say. “And the way they’re posed. And the time of year most of the murders happen. It’s always around November 1st. Most of the past stabbings are solved and the culprits convicted, but I think they're actually the work of a single killer who hasn't been caught yet.”
She was nodding along as I spoke but stops once I finish. “Right up our alley, then,” she says and cracks a tiny grin. “Sure, I’ll look into it, starting with the two murders in November. You have other names, I take it?”
“I’ll send you the list as soon as I get back to my computer,” I say.
After the way Dr. Marolt spoke to me this morning, I was seriously afraid the conversation with Ida would be the same, and I’m really glad it wasn’t. If Ida can confirm my suspicions, then I doubt anyone will question us again. She’s considered an expert in her field.
“What would a young attractive woman be doing down here in the middle of the night is what I want to know,” Mark says as he walks up to us. “There are no street lights here, so this spot must be nearly completely dark at night, especially if the sky’s overcast.”
“It is the perfect place for illicit activity like buying drugs, you mean?” I ask pointedly.
“Nah, these days you call your dealer and he comes over to your house,” Mark says with a very disarming grin. “Especially if you’re a twenty-something young professional with a steady job and your own place, like Ana and the other two victims were.”
“I see your point, Mark,” Ida says. “I wouldn’t choose to walk this way alone at night.”
“Maybe she was thinking of going into the river,” Mark says and I glance at the frothing, rushing water, a lead lump forming in my chest. “With the cancer diagnosis, I mean… Maybe she was considering suicide.”
We all fall quiet for a couple of moments as we look at the water. I can’t quite put my finger on why, but I think Mark has the right of it. There’s a deep sadness that seems to connect these cases and that’s something that I’ve only been vaguely aware of until right now. I associated it with how they died—alone in the dead of night. But maybe there’s more to it than that.
“None of the victims were killed where you’d expect them to be killed,” I say. “They were all young people with jobs, some of them even with families. Wandering the streets late at night is not something you’d expect them to be doing. Unless they were coming back from a visit or a party or something. Which none of them were.”
“You’re right,” Mark says. “These victims don’t fit the general profile of the majority that is killed in this way. There are always exceptions, obviously, but three in three months? And stabbings are up-close and personal type of murders.”
Ida shakes her head. “This one doesn’t look like a crime of passion or necessity. The victim was stabbed a single time. We think he missed the heart but cut the aorta which explains all the blood.”
“Maybe he likes to watch them bleed out,” I say breathlessly.
Ida and Mark glance at each other, then Mark clears his throat.
“We’re getting ahead of ourselves here,” he says. “I suggest we start by interviewing the people in the apartment building, see if anyone saw anything, and then go speak to the victims' family.”
It’s a good thing he kept on talking after that first sentence, because I was ready to blow up at him.
“Yes, and I’ll go back to the lab,” Ida says, glancing from me to Mark and back again. “Send me that list later. Don’t forget.”
There’s little chance of me forgetting. I assure her I won’t, say goodbye and then watch her walk away towards her car, which she left in the parking lot of the apartment building Mark wants to visit.
I round on him. “Tell me the truth, do you think I’m wrong?”
He winces, then his eyes turn very serious. “I can’t make that call yet, Eva. I don’t know enough about the case, plain and simple. But I know you’re not usually wrong about these things, if that helps.”
“I’m sorry,” I say. “It’s been a long day and I’ve been at this case for so long.”
He grins and lays his arm around my shoulders. “Now you have to let the rest of us catch up. Come on, we’ll start with the possible witnesses, then move on to the victim. It’s the best place to start.”
I lean against him and let him lead me towards the apartment building. And a part of me wishes we could just go home and forget all this. But a louder part is chomping at the bit and rearing to go. One last hunt. But what I haven’t told anyone yet is that I hope I’m wrong too.
* * *
MARK