Chapter 3: No Psychopath
Ryan looked at the photos at the whiteboard. What was the pattern in both murders? What was it that set the killer up to kill these particular girls?
Allison leaned against the doorframe. "Serial. Psychopath. Male, early twenties. Caucasian."
Ryan looked in her direction, confused.
"Allison Mulder. I understand you are Ryan Wolfe?"
Ryan nodded.
"Please call me Allie, Ryan. I am here to form an opinion about you, for a psycho analytic report about all of you."
Ryan crossed his arms and looked at Allison. "Miss Mulder, please leave this lab. I'm busy."
Allison didn't obey his request but instead, she walked over to the whiteboard and took a quick look at the photos. "See? The victims are girls, and they have been raped, which points at a male. Then there's the fact that serial killer tend to murder people who they identify most with. This points at the early twenties and Caucasian. And see this ankh at the ankles? The Egyptian symbol of eternal life. Interesting. I think your suspect is a history student who has some trouble with himself. But he's a psychopath."
"Except; a psychopath who has trouble with himself isn't a psychopath."
Allison smiled. "You'd think so, Ryan, but you're wrong. He is a psychopath 'cause he has no conscience. He doesn't feel sorry for his victims. See how he stabbed both of them and beat up that poor girl? He doesn't respect them, doesn't feel sorry for them. But he is still able to feel bad about the person he is when it comes to other things, things of which we may think they're not important but that are of importance to him. He's a complicated psychopath." She walked out, leaving Ryan behind.
Ryan watched Allison leave and looked at the photos again. What she said made sense. Somewhat. But something about her gave him the creeps. As if she knew everything. It seemed pretty coincidental that her description fitted the profile of the murderer of Georgina perfectly. But how coincidental was coincidental? What if she knew more about these murders than she had told him? On the other hand, would she be allowed in the lab to talk to them being a psycho analyst herself if she kept things a secret? And who had hired her?
Horatio walked up to a cubicle. For a moment, he watched the IAB sergeant do his paperwork. Then-
"Rick…" Horatio said his voice dark and intimidating. Stetler looked up.
"Horatio" he answered. Horatio smiled in a way that an outsider would interpret as being flirtatious but an insider would interpret as being very threatening.
"Who is this Allison Mulder you sent?" Horatio asked.
Stetler was slightly taken aback by the threatening sound of the Lieutenant's voice. But soon, he found the confidence in himself to look Horatio straight in the eyes.
"She's a psycho analyst. IAB hired her to find out what influence you have on your team. After all, since the death of that Marisol and the shooting of one of your CSIs, you'll need some therapy."
Horatio smiled again and avoided Stetler's gaze for a moment, before looking back at him. "I will… as soon as I need to."
Stetler continued looking at him. "You need counseling, Horatio."
"You have told me that before, Rick, and it didn't do much then."
"You mean Speedle?"
"What I mean, Rick, is that you should have someone looking at you first before you hire someone to examine me."
With this, Horatio walked off, leaving a dumbfounded Rick Stetler behind.
Natalia looked at the results from the swab Alexx had taken from the body. Oh yes. She grabbed her cell phone and called Horatio.
Eric was glad to see the database had finally got a hit on the tire threads. He cross-referenced these results with the name of the suspect from the previous case. He slowly dialed a number.
"H…"
Calleigh looked at the photos of the stabbings of Jennifer and Georgina. She recognized the cut of the blade as being made by a dagger, but what kind or brand, she couldn't exactly make out. Though the shape of the impression of the handle helped her, definitely. She scanned the photos into the computer and ran a comparison database.
A few minutes later, she found a reason to call Horatio.
"Horatio? It's me, Calleigh. One of the registered owner of the dagger that was used to murder Jennifer and Georgina is a Bruce Taren."
"The bartender… okay, nice going Calleigh. Let's bring him in."
Calleigh smiled and ended the conversation. She collected the photos and printed the result. Finally, she walked out of the lab. Just when she'd turned the corner, she bumped into a brown-haired woman, who looked at her.
"I've been looking for you, Miss Duquesne" the woman said. Calleigh looked surprised.
"Have you?"
"Yes. I'm Allison Mulder. Can I have a word with you?"
Calleigh smiled unsure. "Sure, just not now. I'm on my way to interrogate one Bruce Taren."
"Are you? Well, in that case I'll walk up with you 'cause I'm heading the same way. He's the murderer of the two girls, isn't he? And then I can also have a talk with your boss about this…"
Calleigh smiled again, understanding it now. "You're IAB. And new."
"Not entirely. IAB hired me for this one time."
"Well, then you better save the effort of talking to Lieutenant Caine, 'cause he won't give in to IAB."
"I see" Allison noted something on her notepad. "You see, Miss Duquesne, I'm a psycho analyst. I want to see if this Bruce Taren fits my profile."
Horatio shove a pair of photos in the direction of the young, blonde, skinny man across the table. On the table, the sun reflected from outside, the light only broken by Horatio's sunglasses that lay on the table. The man squinted to take a good look on the photos. Horatio rested his hands on his hips and waited.
"Who are these girls?" the man asked. Horatio smiled (I ask you; flirtatious or threatening?) and collected the photos again.
"These girls, my friend, are the girls you murdered."
The man looked at him.
"I was cut loose after you charged me of killing that Georgina girl."
"I know" Horatio said "That you've been cut loose because you were said to be an important source. But Bruce, we found that you actually killed a young girl again." Horatio showed him the photo of Jennifer again. "Her name is Jennifer and she had just turned twenty-one that night."
Bruce looked at the photo. "Yeah. I know her. She used to get to the club every once in a while. She was hot. She liked me the best but she flirted with everyone."
"So you killed her."
Bruce seemed to panic. "No! I didn't kill her!"
Horatio looked at him, the smile had faded and now a cold, hard look was on his face. "Bruce, our weapon specialist matched the wounds to a dagger of which one of the many is registered to you. Now, I personally do not believe in coincidence."
"That's circumstantial! No, I'm sorry, indirect!"
Horatio went on without paying attention to Bruce. "Furthermore, you have no alibi for the time of both murders."
"Have you already checked that?"
"Your semen has been found in both girls."
Bruce kept quiet now, knowing it wouldn't make any difference.
"At last but not least – you fit the profile."
Bruce's face turned as white as a sheet. "I'm no psychopath!"
Behind a one-way-mirror, Calleigh and Allison watched Horatio interrogate Bruce.
"You think he did it?" Calleigh asked. Allison shook her head.
"No. This guy is too insecure to be a psychopath. Though he does indeed fit the profile and all evidence points to him."
Horatio left the interrogation room, walking up to Allison.
"Miss Mulder?"
Allison nodded. "What's he saying?"
"He says that someone is making him do it. Leaving a sign that he loved most and raping and stabbing her. He tells us, that whoever set him up to it, made him so angry at the first murder. For the second one he was more careful, 'cause this person had told him to be careful otherwise he would get caught."
Allison looked at Horatio. "Whoever set him up to it, it's either someone close to him or someone who soon gains trust. Status will gain trust, for example. Someone with excellent people skills, I think it will be hard to trick people into killing a person once, let alone twice."
A dark figure walked up to Bruce.
"Brucie, do you really think they will not lock you up? Of course they will. They will figure it out that you lied."
"I didn't lie! You did set me up to this!"
"I didn't do it, Bruce. You did it. How can you live with yourself?"
"I-"
"Do you believe in capital punishment? 'Cause I do and you deserve it."
The dark figure saw how Bruce was fighting, thinking, judging what he should do inside. He was weak, so weak… one push would get him over the edge now. But this was getting boring. Setting Bruce up to murder someone was boring. Would setting a person up to suicide be more fun? And a more interesting question; would someone who killed two people and then himself be a serial killer or just accused of murder one? The figure wanted to know all of this.
"Bruce? Shame on you for killing those girls. They didn't deserve it. Think about their parents, their families, their friends. Their grief." The figure showed him a few articles that were cut from the paper. "Look at this, Bruce, and look at the harm you've done."
The figure could almost see him break down inside. This was not boring. This was actually fun. Grinning, the person left the apartment.
It was almost midnight and shift had been over for hours. Horatio was alone in his office, when he received a call. Dispatch, again, just like last morning. He and Alexx, the only two day shift employees left in the lab
It was a massacre. The body of Bruce Taren was lying in a pool of blood, his wrists cut. Alexx immediately recognized it as being suicide. On a side table, Horatio found a note.
Tell Alice I can't take it no more. I'm sorry Alice, that I wasn't stronger.
A/N: Please let me know what you think of it and whether you'd like to know the last chapter… I'll go for the five reviews before I post the next chapter!