"If I remember it clearly, my report said that the information was, at this point, insufficient to make that sort of assumptions," Mac said, suspicious of the FBI's lightning speed response. They were fast, but damn, that was almost clairvoyance.
Donauh snorted.
"Detective… Tayler, is it?" He tried to confirm. When Mac didn't correct, he went on, "You aren't new to this game. The minute you report six bodies lying in your morgue that might've been killed by the same MO, you know red flags jumped up in all sorts of places. Mine was just one of them."
Mac's look upon the man did little to disguise what he thought about the game and red flags. He knew that, in theory, they were working for the same result, but previous experiences had taught him the hard way that more often than not, department prides and personal feelings came in to play, completely ruining any chances of solving the cases.
"We're all on the same side, detective," the man said, guessing Mac's thoughts. "I promise I won't stand in the way of your forensic investigation. My only function in here is to help your team to catch this guy before he kills again."
Mac could almost believe him.
8o8o8o8o8o8o8o8o8
"This isn't making any sense!" A frustrated Danny said to no one in particular, leaning back from his computer stool. He took off his glasses and rubbed his tired eyes.
Mac had decided that each would continue to run with the DB's they'd been initially assigned to, crossing references and information when ever something important came up. But, so far, all of them had had little to 'show-and-tell' to the rest of the class.
"What?" Aiden, seated on the stool next to him, asked. She rolled her chair closer to look at his computer screen. It was opened in the VICAP's page. "No hits?"
"Too many," he sighed, "but none close enough to our guy. I mean, we have three different COD's in six victims, plus one that died of natural causes but that could've easily be caused by fear. In my book, such a wide spread of MO' suggests there is either more than one killer or one killer highly experienced, right?"
Aiden nodded. The same ideas had already run through her mind as well.
"Right. We have the Emmerttons, who died of punctured heart; the Stutons who were strangled; our Jane Doe from Broadway who died from blunt force trauma and Mills, whose heart failed."
It was Danny's time to nod. All of them knew the six victims' cases by heart now.
"Now, if we're looking at more than one killer, and VICAP's data base is showing me at least a hundred MO's to each of those patterns, then why the same markings and words written in bruises on the victims backs?"
Aiden could only shrug. She had no idea.
"The one killer theory is, however, inconsistent with a serial killer's usual MO. They prime themselves for following a pattern, perfecting their technique and use it in every one of their victims. So, if this is a serial killer we're dealing with, why is his killing method all over the place?"
"Exactly," Danny beamed her a smile, happy to see their brains working on the same page. "There is a third option…"
Aiden noticed his hesitation.
"But?"
"But it's just a hunch, so I'll seat on it for a while," he finished lamely, having learn his lesson about following his instinct over the evidences. He hit a button on the keyboard to start a new search.
"Too bad that the ones with the best info are all lined up downstairs, not breathing." Aiden said, patting his shoulder and returning to her computer.
"We've just got lucky, kids," Flack said, entering the room with a satisfied smile.
"And by 'we', you mean you, right?" Danny said, turning away from the frustrating computer once again.
Flack 'whipped' his friend's head with the report he was carrying before placing it on top of the table, between the two CSI's.
"Our Jane Doe ain't Doe no more."
Two hands flew to open the file, eager to know if this was the one piece of information that would allow them to move forward in their investigation. Flack saved them the trouble.
"Her name was Barbara Ramirez, age 50, mother of one Orson Ramirez, age 8. We ran her DNA on CODIS and had a hit by association. Her brother, Raul Ramirez, is doing time for car theft. Her mother had reported her missing two days ago."
Aiden ran a hand through her long hair.
"As she been contact?"
"Yeah, Stella was on it. Left her on the phone and came to give you guys the news."
"And what do we have on Miss Ramirez?"
"Not much, like the others. Respectful, law obeying single mother. Worked at a hospital in Manhattan, paid her bills and lived her life quietly, as far as we can tell so far," Flack said, opening his note book even though he had already memorized all the details that were necessary.
"So, we're more or less where we started, right?" Danny asked, returning his glasses to his face and turning towards the computer.
No one answered him. There was no need.