Chapter Eight – Thinking
The next morning passed fairly quickly. Dawn and Buffy came to the station early. Dawn continued to work with Detective Benson on the translation and figuring out what ritual the killer was following. Dr. Wong joined them, adding his insight into criminal behavior.
Buffy left with Munch and Tutuola to talk with the clients Emily Gaston had met with during her three weeks in New York in an effort to find a link between the victims.
Working this closely with the police on a serial killer case was proving an eye-opener for the Summers sisters. Most of the time it their job was just identify the demon, track it and kill it. Having to follow proper police procedures was not their primary concern. Along with worrying about making certain all the evidence was gathered properly and documented so it could be presented at a future trial.
After Buffy got back to the station the sisters decided to eat lunch together at a deli near the station. They were comparing notes.
"The language is definitely Eastern European," Dawn said. "Probably in use between the third and sixth centuries. Problem is that area is a meeting place between a dozen different cultural traditions. The characters appear to be derived from Latin, some Persia texts, Hebrew a couple of others and I'm boring you to death aren't I?"
"You're not as bad as Giles," Buffy replied. "And it's not that you're boring me. I've just got a lot on my mind."
"Like what?"
"How long until Willow's ready to apply those search programs we've been using in Cleveland and the other Hellmouth's to the rest of the country?" Buffy asked.
"She's been beta testing them for the last couple of months," Dawn said. "The major hold up is getting all the books scanned into the database so we have the proper the search criteria. Why?"
"It occurs to me," Buffy said. "When we start searching all newspaper and news reports for evidence of demon activity, we're going to run into a lot of situations like this one."
"You mean a regular guy just dabbling. No magic no demons."
"Yes. Think about it. He's following an occult pattern that would pop up as a hit. We'd dispatch one of the freelance teams to investigate."
"And they'd end up trying to chase down a human killer. I think I see the problem. But what are we going to do about it?"
"I don't know. We don't Slay humans except as an absolute last resort, to save lives and I don't want to turn the Slayers into a vigilante group," Buffy paused for a second. "On the other hand, we obviously have information that would be helpful in tracking these kind of killers down. These guys are good, but there's stuff they missed because they don't know the occult. And we also have to make certain we don't do anything that keeps the police from being able to close a case. If we screw up or get in the way, evidence could get thrown out and a killer could walk free."
"I don't think that's going to be a problem here," Dawn said. "But we're going to have to do some serious thinking on this before the roll out."
"I know."
Back at the squad room Captain Cragen was meeting with his detectives while they ate lunch.
"So anything new on our perp?"
"Dawn has been remarkably helpful in filling out the profile," Dr. Wong said. "He's in his early to mid thirties. He's well educated. College degree and probably a graduate degree. He works in a mid to low level job that doesn't utilize his intelligence. He lacks confidence and hasn't advanced much in his career as a result. He's frustrated by that lack of advancement. He turned the occult as a means to get control over his life. Dawn is probably correct; he viewed the ritual he's using as a means to gain power.
"So why the deviations?" Benson asked.
"He found power in the killing," Dr. Wong replied. "The ritual aspects are most likely just habit at this point. He's following them, at least loosely, because that's what he planned on doing. But whatever goal he was after has been subsumed by the pleasure he derives from killing his victims. From seeing them suffer."
"So what can we do to find him?" Stabler asked.
"Dawn still hasn't been able to identify the language he's using or what ritual he's following," Benson replied. "But it's only a matter of time until she does. She's good Captain."
"Munch, Fin, you got anything?"
"We still haven't been able to find a connection between the vics," Munch replied. "We did check Buffy's theory about the directions the bodies were facing. And she's right, each victim has been pointing to where the next victim was found."
"We also checked out the areas where we think the victims were snatched," Tutuola continued. "They all had good places to hide and good cover. Buffy's right, our perp probably stalked each victim before hand and picked the spot where he was going to grab them. He also cased the drop sites."
"That's consistent with the profile," Dr. Wong said. "He's not confident of his ability to act, so he plans each murder out in advance."
"So what do we make of Summers sisters so far?" Cragen asked.
"Dawn Summers is brilliant," Dr. Wong said. "She's clearly had experience dealing with these kinds of cases before. Her insights into behavior are on a par with mine. Her emphasis is on the occult and magic, not psychology. How someone her age could have gotten that kind of experience is beyond me."
"I haven't been able to learn anything new about her background," Benson said. "She's polite, likes talking about the process, but she's an expert at dodging questions that might give a hint at how she knows so much about serial killers. It's almost like a game to her."
"What about Buffy?"
"Girl moves through a crime scene like a pro," tutuola said. "She sees everything."
"The FBI has a several profilers who can empathize with a killer," Dr. Wong noted. "Perhaps she's had similar training or experience."
"She's not empathizing," Tutuola said. "She's hunting."
"What?" Captain Cragen said.
"You got to see it to understand it Cap," Tutuola explained. "Every once and awhile, the California girl disappears and the real Buffy Summers takes over."
"The real Buffy Summers?" Stabler said. "Come on, I admit she's intelligent, but you're not going to start in with that bit about her being dangerous again."
"He's telling the truth," Munch responded. "She knew where the bodies were placed at each crime scene with out looking at the photos. She moves like a cat through dark alleys. It's uncanny."
"You're still not going to convince me that little girl is dangerous," Stabler said.
"Talking about us again?" The group turned to see the Summers sisters walking back into the squad room. Buffy had a big smile on face. She walked across the room directly up to Stabler. "I don't think we've been formerly introduced yet. I'm Buffy Summers," she stuck out her hand.
Munch noticed the size disparity between the two. Buffy was also playing the California blonde act to the hilt. He almost felt sorry for Stabler.
"Detective Stabler," he shook her hand.
"You were in the military," Buffy said.
"Yes, how did you know?" Stabler responded.
"You walk like someone with military training," she replied. "You're a family man too. I bet you have daughters. You focus a lot of your attention on protecting your little girls from the big bad world."
Stabler knew she was deliberately pushing his buttons but he couldn't help but responded anyway, "So what's that to you?"
"Don't mistake me for one of your daughters," she said. "I can take care of myself. I don't need a big strong protector."
"Fine," Stabler responded. Dawn noticed the patronizing tone of his voice. She shook her head. For cop he has some obvious blind spots she thought. She moved closer to Captain Cragen, expecting what was going to happen next.
If anything Buffy's smile grew wider. She turned and walked over to one of the desks. She sat down and planted her elbow on the desk and held up her hand.
"Want to arm wrestle?" she asked.
"Excuse me," Stabler responded.
"Come on, it will be funny, big strong you against little girl me."
"People," Cragen started to intervene. He felt Dawn touch his arm. He turned and she leaned into him and whispered.
"Don't, he has to learn sometime."
Cragen stopped and decided to watch the scene play out. Stabler had a tendency to let his emotions dictate his actions. He had feeling Buffy was about to show him the error of his ways.
"Come on detective," Buffy continued to press. "Let's see how good a protector you are."
Stabler knew he was being baited. But he figured Buffy probably expected him to back down. So he decided to call her bluff. "You're on."
He pulled up a chair on the opposide side of desk and took Buffy's hand.
Buffy looked over, "Hey Fin, you want to count us down?"
"No Problem," He said. He was going to enjoy this. He covered Buffy and Stabler's hand with his own and started counting. "One, two, three."
As Tutuola lifted his hand Stabler exerted a little pressure. He didn't want to hurt Buffy.
Nothing happened. She didn't even flinch. He looked at her. The same vacant California smile was on her face. He applied more force. Still nothing happened.
"Whenever you're ready detective, we can start," Buffy said.
Stabler was starting to wonder what the hell was going on. He applied even more force and her arm wouldn't budge. It was like trying to move a mountain.
"Buffy," Dawn said. "We have work to do. Stop playing with the nice detective."
"Ok."
Stabler was still staring at her and for a brief second he saw what Munch and Tutuola had been talking about. Her eyes changed. The California girl was gone and something else was in its place.
Suddenly she applied pressure and Stabler's hand hit the desk with a resounding thud. Stabler felt pain shooting through his arm. Nothing was broken. But he was pretty sure that was only because Buffy didn't want to break anything.
Buffy got up from the desk. "Well now that that's done, Munch, Fin I believe we were planning on doing a couple of more interviews this afternoon. Why don't we get to them?"
They both gave Stabler a smile as they followed Buffy out of the squad room.
Dawn walked up to Stabler and patted him on the back. "Relax detective all she did was embarrass you a little. It's not like she tore the arm out of its socket. And for future reference; she hates being patronized," Dawn leaned in a little. "And so do I."
With that she went back to Benson's desk to start working again.
Dr. Wong walked up next. "Remember what I said about not underestimating them and treating them with respect. One of these days detective, you really do need to learn to listen to my advice."
Cragen just shook his head in disbelief and went back to his office.
Stabler just sat there thinking. What the hell was Buffy Summers?
