A/N: A shout out to my anonymous reviewer! Glad you liked it. Hope you like this chapter too. :)
Chapter 5
"So what do you think Doc?" Munch asked. They all had reconvened in the bull pen to compare notes from their stops at a possible suspect's place and the coroner's office.
"Typically, serial killers leave these kinds of notes. They want you to know that they're smarter than you, or at least they think they are. Very rarely are serial killers actually smarter than the law enforcement officials chasing them. It is their psychopathy or sociopathy that is what is hard to figure out," Huang frowned.
"We were wondering if he left it because we would not have put the two cases together given the difference in MOs," Fin said.
"Could be that he wants to point you in the right direction. While Melinda supposed that the death of Susan Johnson was an accident, perhaps it wasn't meant to be," the FBI agent continued to frown.
"You think it was just another part of his escalation?" Olivia wondered.
"Well attacking someone in an alley and then breaking into their apartment, are two different animals, and the same could be said for having one victim survive and the other not. Still, it obviously doesn't bother him because he was more than willing to take credit for it," Huang said.
"You've got that look…" Elliot trailed off.
"I hate to admit it but I don't think we actually are talking about one person," he shook his head.
"Well it's normal for someone to evolve during their crime sprees though right?" Cragen spoke up.
"You normally see this kind of escalation once the person has been provoked, like seeing the investigation to hit the news, or after the police have issued an APB. Of course there is always the possibility of a psychotic break but then you'd see a change in behavior. Sped up attacks, more violent attacks; this men or these men, are calculated, despite the change in MO," Huang frowned again.
"Well we're without any suspects. The one set of prints that CSU matched, came back to a Joshua Holland, who turns out does maintenance in Susan's building. He said that he'd been on the fire escape to test all of the windows just a few days prior because they had multiple tenants who said the windows were rattling in the wind. We confirmed his story with the landlord and there is no evidence he was inside Susan's apartment. In fact, the window in her apartment was due to be replaced the next day," Olivia frowned this time.
"So he's obviously still stalking his victims. If there is a partner, he could just be part of the surveillance team. Were there any hits in ViCAP?" The FBI agent asked.
"A few similar ones but no exact match. I've sent out messages to the local precincts that handled the cases. Kind of all over the map, really. We've got two assaults in Portland, Oregon, where the perp dragged the victim into an alley and then knocked them unconscious when he was done. Then in Salt Lake City, there was one assault where the victim's apartment was broken into and she was attacked when she walked in the door. There our perp had decided to use a condom. Another assault happened in Kansas City, where the victim was dragged into an alley and while the perp was putting on the condom, he was interrupted by some Good Samaritans who gave chase but lost him in the city streets. The last one was in Chicago. Perp broke into a house, knocked the victim unconscious, and then assaulted her. Again a condom was used," Cragen explained.
"So there is DNA on file," Olivia was optimistic.
"Yes and the case is only a year old, so Portland PD agreed to run it through the system again to see if they got any new leads. The other cities only have fingerprints but they have agreed to run them as well," the Captain said.
"What did Melinda have to say about Susan?" Elliot asked, realizing that Munch and Fin had yet to explain their trip down to the coroner's office.
"Susan's blood came back clean – no alcohol or illegal substances. She did test positive for her clotting medication, which wasn't a huge shock. Though the reason she bled out internally would be because there was a lot more damage than Melinda originally thought," Munch said.
"There were bruises on her thighs and forearms, which we expected, along with the hit to the head. However, there was a skull fracture, which we were not expecting. Since there was no bloody weapon at the scene, Melinda is trying to figure out what our perp or perps used," Fin filled in.
"So either the weapon was brought or it was stolen from the apartment. Munch get on the horn with Susan's roommates and see if they've discovered anything missing," Cragen ordered. The elder detective nodded when Olivia's desk phone rang. She quickly answered it and Elliot noticed her demeanor changed as she listened to the caller. Once she hung up, she announced,
"There's been another attack."
To Be Continued…