Susana pulled up a chair and sat down easily. She eyed her cousin with a sardonic look. Lisa's pulse raced as she watched Susana sit down easily. For a moment the cousins watched each other without saying anything. Then Susana grinned.
"Hello, Lisa," Susana said calmly.
Lisa watched her cousin tautly, eyes nervous above the duct tape.
"Lisa, I didn't come here to torment you. But I'll put it to you this way. Thomas bought me a Civil War amputation kit from an antique store the other day. Different, but quite thoughtful, considering my line of work. I'm going to take the tape off your mouth now. If you scream, or speak in a tone of voice above normal conversational level, I'll try it out and see how it works on your boyfriend there. Just like they did it back then: no anesthesia, no antibiotics. Are we clear?" Her voice was silken.
Jason Sullivan blanched just a bit. Lisa closed her eyes and nodded.
"Are you going to scream?"
Lisa shook her head.
"All right, then. Brace yourself." Susana grabbed the tape and pulled it away briskly. Lisa licked her lips, scowling at the taste of the adhesive.
"What are you here for?" Lisa asked in a low, quiet voice.
Susana raised an eyebrow. "Why, Lisa, really. I wanted to see how you were doing on the Bludgeon Man investigation." She chuckled. "Perhaps I could help."
"We're looking," Lisa said quickly, not wanting to give her cousin any more information than she had.
"For what?" Susana asked, tilting her head.
"We've got a profile of the UNSUB," Lisa hedged.
Susana chuckled. "You do have to remember, Lisa, I'm not the forensic psychiatrist in the family," she said. "I'm a surgeon. So how about you quit trying to hide things from me and tell me about your file. Unless you'd rather watch me practice my specialty."
Lisa paled. She glanced across the table at Jason, who simply shook his head at her. Was he crazy? Don't tell her nothing was fine for the movies, but she knew perfectly well what her cousin would do if she didn't get what she wanted. And bizarrely, Lisa wondered if Susana intended to help. Her father had.
"Well," she said, "we're looking for a male. Late twenties, early thirties."
Susana looked pleased and nodded. "Why?" she demanded.
Am I really being quizzed by a serial killer on catching another one? But the answer to that was clear. Yes, she was. It was weird. Susana had never expressed interest in profiling before. The only file she'd wanted to know the contents of was her own.
"This guy's sophisticated," Lisa said. "He operates with a level of expertise and calmness that you don't see in younger men."
"I see." Susana rose and crossed to the computer desk. She rummaged through Lisa's briefcase. She picked up the Bludgeon Man file and began to peruse it leisurely, as if this was her own home. Lisa's eyes narrowed at her. Something wasn't right.
You don't know squats about how to read that file, Susana. What the hell is this?
"Rather messy," Susana commented, looking at the crime-scene photos.
"He's very strong," Lisa said, not wanting to give Susana anything she couldn't see in the file. Oddly, she found herself feeling safe. Susana Alvarez Lecter enjoyed tormenting her, but she had refrained from killing her. And if Lisa was dead, then Susana had no more protection against being found.
"And?"
"Very angry."
"Papa was right," Susana remarked archly to the air, "the level of psychology practiced in Behavioral Sciences is on a level with phrenology."
Lisa gritted her teeth. "I am working on it."
Susana walked over and put her hand on her cousin's chin. She forced Lisa's chin up so that their eyes met.
"Lisa," Susana said calmly, "now surely you've been thinking about our…understanding."
"Yes," Lisa said, and froze. Jason looked over at her with a blank look on his face. No, please, she thought. Don't tell my boyfriend I made a deal with a cop-killer.
Susana looked over at the detective and smiled coldly. Lisa's heart dropped. Angry tears rose to her eyes. Jason was a cop from a long line of cops. He would never, never understand. She had allowed a cop-killer to go free. She didn't want to lose him.
Goddam you, you bitch, Lisa thought bitterly.
"Detective," Susana said sprightly, "I'll tell you what. It looks like you have something to say. I'll offer you the same deal I offered Lisa. Speak in a conversational tone of voice and we'll all get along fine. Raise your voice or try to attract attention…and I'll choose a body part to remove from Lisa. Do you understand?"
The detective looked blank, angry and afraid all at the same time.
"Behave yourself and she'll remain whole," Susana assured him.
Jason Sullivan turned slightly pale. Then, acknowledging he was beat, he looked down at the table and nodded. Susana reached across the table elegantly and removed the tape from his mouth.
"Listen," he said calmly. "Just get out, OK? Take what you want and get out. You want the file? Take the damn thing."
Susana tilted her head at him and grinned. "You're forceful. That's interesting," she said thoughtfully. She turned back to Lisa.
"I'm sure by now you've put together my involvement in the escape of Professor Creed," she said, and indicated the professor standing behind her. She held up the papers she had taken from Lisa's briefcase. She favored Lisa with a sardonic look. "Honestly, Lisa, do I read your love letters?" She chuckled and sat down at the table across from her cousin. The files went on the table in two piles. One pile was Professor Creed's. The other was the Bludgeon Man.
"We had a deal, you and I," Susana said. "I'm modifying the terms of the deal. I want Professor Creed. Under the same understanding you and I have."
"What understanding?" Sullivan asked incredulously. His eyes met Lisa's, then Susana's. Lisa looked away, feeling sick to her stomach. Susana held his eyes for as long as interested her.
"Never mind the details, Detective Sullivan," Susana said. "If you didn't keep up, that's your own fault. Here's my point, dear Lisa. I'm taking Professor Creed with me. I'm afraid even if you turn me down I'll take him anyway. But I'm willing to offer you consideration. A fair trade, as it were." Her hand waved elegantly at the files. "Tit for tat. Man for man. Professor Creed for the Bludgeon Man. Let me keep my serial killer and I'll give you the one you want."
Lisa stared blankly at her. "You can't possibly think I'd accept that," she said hoarsely.
Susana shrugged. "Well, then. That's your choice. I pity to think of the victims that will die, and as I said…I'm taking Professor Creed. All I ask is that you not pursue us."
Jason Sullivan leaned forward, trying to take command of the situation. "Listen," he said. "Look, I know you think that we might trade you. But we can't. We're police officers. You'll get a trial and all. You'll get a chance to defend yourself. Maybe they can commute the Professor there, but there's no way we're trading for either your freedom or his."
Susana shrugged. "Fine, then. Have fun cleaning up the bodies of the Bludgeon Man's victims. Just remember that when you see every broken, tortured corpse… that it didn't have to happen. I'll just get on a plane and go back home. You won't find me, or him. But I offered."
She gathered up Professor Creed's file and stood up from the table. Professor Creed observed the bound officers at the table and then turned to leave.
Lisa Starling let out a sigh. One of the things she had always liked about Jason Sullivan was his moral uprightness. He stood for everything that was just, true and right. He didn't deal with serial killers; he arrested them. Which is why she knew he would hate her for what she was about to say. But she had to. She could not bear the thought of turning down something that might catch an active serial killer.
"Susana, wait," Lisa said softly, and for the second time in her life wondered if her soul was forfeit.
Jason Sullivan turned and stared at Lisa with a horrified look on his face. But Susana turned and sat back down at the table. She seemed quite pleased with herself.
"Do you really have anything?" Lisa asked. "For all I know, you don't know anything about the Bludgeon Man. How do I know you can deliver?"
Susana chuckled. "I see. All right, then. A sample." She crossed her legs, perfectly at ease, and tilted her head. "Haven't you noticed about the victims, Lisa? Talk to me about the victimology."
Lisa paused and swallowed. Her tongue was dry. This all seemed to be so unreal. But yet it was. Her own voice was dusty at first, then calmer, as if she was briefing her own agents instead of two very dangerous serial killers. And anything that kept Susana from talking about the deal she had made with Lisa in front of Jay was a good thing.
"The victims are all white females," she began, staring at the grain of Sullivan's kitchen table, not wanting to meet either Susana's eyes or her boyfriend's. "Late twenties, early thirties. Usually on the short side. Short, slight women he can get control over easily."
"What color hair did they have?" Susana asked, a sideways grin on her face.
Lisa didn't have the file. She blinked her eyes. This couldn't possibly be real. But she knew her own history: a Starling consulting with a Lecter on an active serial killer.
I doubt Clarice had to be handcuffed, she thought.
"Brown, I think," she said finally.
"Exactly. Brown. And tell me, Lisa, did you notice anything about the ethnicity of some of the victims?" Susana sounded interested. She was on to something.
"All white," Lisa said.
Susana shook her head.
Lisa stopped and blinked. "You've got the case file," she said. "Look at it yourself. Pictures of the victims are all there."
"The pictures, yes," Susana said. "You looked but you did not see. Look deeper."
"So where's your sample?" Lisa challenged. "Quit quizzing me on the file and tell me something I don't know."
Susana sighed. "You're so blind sometimes, Lisa," she said. "Latinas, Lisa. He tends to target Latinas. Look at the victim names. Morales, Medina, and here's a Hernandez. Contrary to what you might think, not all Latinas have black hair and swarthy skin. Why, at home, most Argentines descend from the same European immigrant stock as most Americans." Her maroon eyes fixed her cousin's.
An inkling began to stir Lisa's belly. She ignored it for now.
"Is the Bludgeon Man Hispanic?" she asked guardedly.
Susana shook her head. "In this case, victimology will lead you down the wrong path. I assure you he's white. And the term du jour is 'Latina', Lisa."
"I'm sorry," Lisa riposted automatically. Then she stopped. Was the Bludgeon Man after Susana? Why would he be? Why would he kill other women then? That didn't make any sense.
"Have you been looking for a prison record?"
Lisa nodded powerlessly. Her eyes danced up and met Sullivan's. There was a look of shock and disappointment on his face that pierced her through to see. But he had to understand.
"For what crimes?" Susana asked, reminding her bizarrely of Ralph Lima.
"Assault and murder," Lisa answered.
Susana shook her head. "Why not rape?"
"We thought about it, but we were trying to narrow the search," Lisa admitted. "And none of the victims were raped. He never even tried."
For some reason, that made Susana laugh sardonically.
"Look for it," she said. "He's committed prior crimes. Nothing major, though. Look for one big felony conviction. One he was recently paroled from." Her eyes shifted over to Sullivan. "He won't be in the FBI's files. His crimes were stopped before he registered on the radar as a serial offender. He'll be in your files, Detective."
Sullivan shook his head, his eyes shielded. "Look, maybe Lisa will talk to you, but I don't help cop-killers," he said coolly.
"I wasn't asking you, Detective," Susana said. Her eyes flared at him. "I doubt you'd remember him, anyway. Well…his crimes. And such a high moral point of view! Did it occur to you that perhaps I could help? That just maybe, perhaps, I am willing to trade honestly? Lisa can tell you: I do deal fairly when it is necessary."
Lisa Starling clamped her hands into fists. Why does this always happen to me? she wanted to shriek. I meet a nice guy and my freaking killer cousin comes out of retirement to ruin it.
"Susana, please," she said, and her tone sounded broken. She dared not finish the sentence. Please don't tell him.
"Yeah, look," Sullivan said, "I don't want to hear a line of bull. Either you know who he is or you don't. Put up or shut up."
Susana's eyebrow raised very, very slowly as an expression of displeasure came from her face.
"You needn't be rude," she said.
"I'm not being rude. I'm being blunt."
Lisa bounced in frustration. Jason had no idea who he was dealing with. Not really.
"You said you weren't going to deal with me, anyway," Susana said archly. "So what do you care?"
"Just leave Lisa alone," Sullivan said. "Take what you want and leave."
"I want," Susana said, "to have a word with my cousin."
They stared at each other across the table like gunslingers. Lisa cringed. She knew what Susana might do to the detective if she got angry enough. The atrocities Susana had committed in the past flicked across her memory. She didn't want Jason Sullivan to become Susana's latest victim.
Professor Creed stepped forward from where he had been in the kitchen. Surprisingly, he held a few mugs of coffee, as if this were his home and he were the host. More surprisingly, he didn't seem to be doing anything horrible with them. After politely offering coffee to the handcuffed captives, he squatted next to where Jason Sullivan sat.
"Detective," he said calmly. Lisa found the sight of those tiny-pupilled eyes right next to her boyfriend to be nothing short of terrifying. Professor Creed put a companionable hand on Sullivan's shoulders.
"Detective, if I might have a word with you," Professor Creed said, no more hurried than he had been in his cell. "I can assure you that my fiancée's intentions here are not harmful. The fact that you haven't been harmed yet should tell you that. I'm sure you don't like the handcuffs, but as a police officer, you've done it to others. Perhaps now you can appreciate what they go through better. But that's not what I mean, Detective." He thrust a thumb at himself and the handcuffed policeman. "You and I? We're Johnny-come-latelies. These two have a…a bond, of sorts. A bond of blood, to be sure. And a bond of their common experience with each other. Don't try and interfere." He chuckled and shook his head. "I take it you have feelings for Agent Starling, and that's fine. To try and protect her is admirable. I should do the same were our positions reversed." He patted the other man's shoulder. "Let them talk, Detective. I assure you—man to man—that neither of us shall harm either of you, so long as you comply with the volume directive."
Jason Sullivan stared at the condemned killer and flexed his hands.
"I assure you, Detective," Professor Creed repeated. "Not a hair on your inamorata's head will be harmed, unless you force us to."
"So who's the Bludgeon Man?" Lisa asked, trying to move away.
Susana chuckled and shook her head. "I said I'd give you a sample. I have. Look for a rape record. But Lisa dear, you don't have much time. The Bludgeon Man's about due for another victim, and whoever might that be?"
Lisa sighed. "What do you want, then? Are you going to tell me who he is or not?"
Susana shook her head. "It doesn't work that way, Lisa," she said. "As you've suspected, the Bludgeon Man is not exactly mentally stable. He's consumed with rage. Sick, angry, self-consuming rage. I was expecting him to begin killing shortly after his release from prison. He took longer than I expected. Fortunately, Lisa, I have something you don't. Bait, if you will. There is someone the Bludgeon Man wants to kill, wants to kill very very badly. Being in Behavioral Sciences, you probably think it's his mother. That might be true. I don't know enough about his early life to say."
"It's you, isn't it?" Lisa asked, feeling an odd sort of resignation in her belly. "The Bludgeon Man wants to kill you."
Susana smiled and nodded.
Jason Sullivan sighed. "So what, the Bludgeon Man…did he…you know…,"
Susana glanced over at him and observed him casually. "Did he rape me, Detective?" she asked bluntly.
Sullivan shrugged and nodded wordlessly.
"I appreciate your attempt at sensitivity, klutzy and confused though it was, but no. He tried but did not succeed. And he won't be raping anyone else, either."
Lisa closed her eyes. She found herself feeling something she never would have thought she might before: sympathy with Susana Alvarez Lecter. No one deserved that.
"You castrated him?" she asked dully. Internally, her mind was racing. Susana had give her much more than she thought. The Bludgeon Man had a record for rape. If Susana had castrated him, that had to be in prison records. How many castrated men could there be in a prison, anyway?
Susana looked vaguely annoyed. "Anyone could have done that," she said. "I am a graduate of Harvard Medical School."
Lisa took a deep breath. Had she done what Lisa thought she had?
"You mean you…," Lisa began and trailed off.
"Not only will he never rape anyone again," Susana said lightly, "he got to see what it was like for himself. I'm afraid the term 'Bludgeon Man' is a bit of a misnomer…he may like bludgeoning, but he's not a man any more. Well, externally, that is." She chuckled and stood up.
"I know I've given you enough to find out his name, Lisa," she continued. "But you know perfectly well that finding his name and catching the man are two different things. He's learned a few tricks of his own. Just enough to make finding him take a bit of time. Trust me and I can catch him for you quickly. If you decide to play your own game, fine, so be it. But you know his cycle; he's due for another victim soon."
"You know I can't promise you amnesty," Lisa said, shuddering under Sullivan's gaze.
"Not officially. But unofficially you can. Just don't bother putting out an APB on us. Don't expend too much effort in finding us. Concentrate on the Bludgeon Man. That is who you were sent here to catch. Allow Thomas and I our freedom, and we'll be on our way shortly, never to trouble you any more."
Susana reached for her purse and removed a ziplock bag. In it was an ice cube. She put the ice cube on the saucer of Lisa's cup. There was something inside, and Lisa squinted at it. A handcuff key. They'd be able to free themselves, but not until Susana had ample time to leave.
"I'll call you shortly," Susana said. "This offer is only open for a short time, Lisa. And you'll need to be on board too, Detective. Otherwise, Thomas and I will go our merry way, and most likely an innocent person will die before you manage to catch him. It's all up to you."
Lisa Starling sat and thought as the apartment door closed. She had much less choice in the matter than Susana had let on. She didn't want to go to jail herself. Maybe that made her a craven coward, but then she'd just have to be a coward. She didn't want to go to prison.
What was worse was that Susana was right. The Bludgeon Man was due for another victim. It wouldn't take terribly long at all to find out how many men had been in Massachusetts prisons who had been mutilated in the way that Susana claimed she had. But Susana was also correct in pointing out that getting the Bludgeon Man's name and getting him behind bars were two separate things.
Jason would never agree to it. For a hideous moment Lisa thought about Jay arresting both Susana and Creed, and what would happen when it came her turn. And Susana had killed again to set Creed free. But Susana was almost assuredly telling the truth when she said she would leave the country and not trouble Lisa anymore. The thought of the peace returning was something she wanted so badly. If Susana had Creed, Lisa could have Sullivan. Quiet, peaceful, and together. Was it so wrong of her to want that?
To catch one killer, she would have to let two go free.