Chapter 11

Wednesday, September 6th, 2006
7:58 AM

There was a brisk air chilling her slightly as she leaned against the wall, waiting for the doors of UNLV's main library to open. She glanced down at her watch. Two minutes, she had two minutes to wait, two minutes to stand there, propped against the building in the cool morning air, trying to stay awake.

Stifling a yawn, she glanced around at the eager students standing by the entrance. A couple days into the school year, and already the new students were lined up outside the building. She wanted to laugh aloud; that was her, years ago. Instead, she counted, seven of them, seven young adults, almost children really, five girls, two boys, waiting for the library to open up the second day of school. She would hate to see the bookstore.

Closing her eyes for a brief moment, blocking out the rising sun, she allowed herself to rest. She was more tired than she let on, far more tired. Grissom had guessed she'd taken a forty minute nap, but the reality was that the nap had only lasted half that amount of time. With only a few hours of sleep the night before, she was approaching empty. A couple more hours though, a little bit of research, maybe a few questions for a professor, and then she'd be able to get some sleep, hopefully curled up to the man she'd been missing for days, promising him earlier that she'd take a break when he did.

She heard, rather than saw, the doors to the library open. Her lids flickered open to watch a young man sprint to the doors, while the other students milling about slowly followed. She walked inside and headed straight for an elevator, already knowing which floor held the books of interest. The elevator rose up four levels, taking her to the fifth floor. The doors opened and she walked out, looking at the rows and rows of books, searching until she found the section she was looking for. Scanning the titles, she selected a few, pulled the books from the shelf, made her way to small cubicle and began reading.

The books were…interesting. However, while she'd selected some books that were more general in nature, and some that were more specific, the books that were more general, were almost too general, focusing on the larger arguments of society, rites, rituals and religion, while the books covering a narrower scope held arguments that were of little or no use to their cases. Sighing, she put the last book down, leaving them for a librarian to reshelf, and stretched her back. Checking her watch, she was surprised to find that the hours had flown by. It was past eleven. She knew she should leave, call Grissom and tell him she'd meet him at his townhouse, but the morning had been so unproductive, so she decided she'd make one quick trip to the Sociology or Anthropology department, and see if any professors could offer her some insight.

Sara chose to walk down the steps, rather than take the elevator, hoping the walk would waken her a little. When she reached the main floor, she searched out the information desk, making a quick enquiry about where to find the two departments. The lady in reception gave out the desired information, and Sara was thankful to find that the two departments shared the same building.

Outside the library, the sun was shining brightly. The campus was now alive, and filled with activity you'd only find during the opening days of classes. Sophomores, juniors and seniors were playing frisbee or football on the grass, freshman were carrying piles of books, and stopping passerby's to ask directions to a building. There was a band playing, belting out the latest in rock/alternative music. She was now awake, the life of the campus seeping into her. Walking quickly, she traversed through the crowds of people and found the building in question.

Once inside, Sara searched a directory and found which floors housed the desired departments. Jogging up the stairs to the third floor, Sara wandered the halls, checking each door, finding all the offices closed. Walking up one more flight of stairs, Sara continued her search until she found an office with a light on inside. She stopped and looked at the plate by the door, Dr. Anton Mian, PhD, Professor of Anthropology. She scanned a typed sheet by the door, relieved to see that he held office hours during the current block of time and she wouldn't be interrupting anything unless there was an overly eager student already questioning the professor. Raising her fist, Sara knocked on the door.

The man who answered the door was attractive. He was in his late thirties, possibly early forties, tall, rising more than a few inches above her, had a dark tan, black hair, and deep green eyes that reminded her of Warrick. He smiled at her, a curious and welcoming smile. It took her a moment, but she returned the smile. "Professor Mian?"

"Yes."

She noted a slight accent, though she couldn't place it. His name was Italian, but that wasn't it. Shaking her head, she ignored it, hoping she'd detect its origin later. "I'd like to ask you a few questions, if you have the time."

He smiled at her again, cocking his head to the side. "Are you one of my students?"

Sara blushed and shook her head. "No, sorry, I'm Sara Sidle. I'm a criminalist with the Las Vegas Crime Lab."

"Crime Lab? Is there a problem?"

Yes, she thought, her mind running through the murders of the past few days. However, she knew that wasn't what the professor meant, and that he misunderstood the reason for her visit. "No, no. I was just hoping you'd be able to shed some light on a few topics for me."

"Absolutely." He grinned, stepping aside to let her pass before him, into the office. She sat down, turning to watch him close the door behind him. Her eyes followed his path from the door to behind his desk. When he sat down, he fixed his gaze on her, his green eyes dancing.

Her eyes met his, and she felt a little nervous under his stare. The professor was a flirt. Shaking her head, she looked at him with mirth and raised an eyebrow. "A student?"

Anton Mian's smile never dimmed. "You never know. Many people are going back to school and getting an education these days." He winked at her and she blushed again.

"Touché."

He leaned back in his chair, folding his hands together on the desk in front of him. "So, how can I help the Las Vegas Crime Lab?" Before Sara could answer, a knock sounded at the door. Anton Mian frowned. "Excuse me."

"Sure." She watched as Mian stood and crossed the room, opening the door to two giggling, but beautiful young co-eds.

"Professor Mian, do you have some time to answer a few questions?"

"I'm a little busy now. You can try to catch up with me later, or check the offices of my TA's. I'm sure any one of them will be able to answer any question you may have at this point."

The women looked disappointed, but Sara noticed that Anton Mian never gave them a second glance. He simply rounded the desk, resumed his former position, leaning back in the chair and folding his hands together, and smiled. "Sorry about that. I always get a few keen students raiding my first office hours."

She laughed, thinking about where the interests of the two young women really lie. No doubt those keen young students were always female. She shook her head, grinning, "That's alright."

Anton Mian leaned forward, gazing at her with interest. "Now, you were about to tell me how I could be of service."

Sara paused, thinking about where to start and how much to reveal. The news had been all over Nick and Catherine's Sati case, had glazed over the murder of the prostitute in the hotel, but hadn't yet had time to expose or sensationalize the stoning of the young woman, though her death did receive some coverage on the morning news. Likely the cases were known, so it was a matter of the details. Staring at the professor like a woman with out answers, she opened and closed her mouth while watching the professor look on in amusement. After letting out a soft laugh, she began. "What do you know of the Bohra Muslims of India?"

"The Bohra?" Anton Mian raised an eyebrow. She watched the curiosity dance through his eyes. "Well, seeing as I specialize in the primitive, my knowledge is short, though I may be able to tell you a few things. However, while I would love to be of help, and spend every moment I can, talking with you, speaking with a Professor of Sociology might be of more help."

"I looked. All of their offices are closed. No office hours posted, yet. I could come back, but…"

"Sociology professors." Anton Mian shook his head and Sara had to chuckle. "Their loss is my gain. Never mind, I'll offer all the help I can. I think it may be easier if you asked me specific questions on the subject though."

"Alright. The Bohra practice female circumcision, is that correct?"

"Yes, when they converted to Islam, they began the practice."

Sara nodded. "I know the practiced was picked up. I am curious about the rituals they practiced as Hindus, before they converted."

"Such as?"

"Did they ever use stoning as a method of execution?"

"Likely. Stoning had been used by almost every civilization, from Asia to Africa, to parts of Europe. Again, my knowledge of the specifics of the Bohra population is lacking, but I'd be more surprised if they hadn't than if they had."

She nodded again. "What about Sati?"

"Sati?"

"Yes, in your knowledge, have the Bohra ever practiced Sati?"

There was an audible sigh. Then, Anton Mian placed his palms together, spreading out his finders, and raised his hands to the front of his mouth, pursing his lips on his joined index fingers. "Before Islam, possibly. Traditionally Sati's were more prevalent in western India, and the Bohra are found in Gujarat, so at one time, the Bohra may have practiced Sati. However, the practice is prehistorical, and currently, there aren't any records demonstrating that they had. It is extremely unlikely that they practiced it after the conversion to Islam. When the Muslims invaded, the practice occurred more frequently, as the native population worried about their women marrying or coupling with the invaders. However, after the Muslims conquered the area, the number of instances decreased. The Muslim government was against it, seeing it as barbaric, and they created measures to end the practice altogether."

Sara sighed. "So there is almost no possibility that the Bohra have a syncretistic religion, and combine Sati and female circumcision?"

"Oh, the Bohra are definitely syncretistic, but as practicing Muslims, Sati is not a ritual that would carry over." She nodded and watched Anton Mian lean forward. He rested his forearms on the desk. "May I ask what this is about?"

She paused, looking down quickly and studying her lap. She looked up again, and let out her breath, slowly. "We have three murders that I believe are connected. They all involve some sort of old practice, and the only connection I could find between the practices is India."

"Sati, stoning, and female circumcision?"

"Yes." She narrowed her eyes.

"You've asked me about all of them in relation to the Bohra."

"Right." She shook her head, feeling a little sheepish.

"Ms. Sidle…."

"Sara."

"Sara…" Her frame stiffened at the way he said her name and the way his eyes were on her as spoke. "Sara, I may be able to offer a little more insight if you tell me a little more about your cases."

Sara took a deep breath. "Currently, my colleagues and I are investigating the murder of a prostitute, who died from shock during or immediately after undergoing an excision, the sati of another woman whose husband had just died, and the stoning of young woman. All have occurred in the past week at evenly spaced intervals. The uncommon nature of these murders has led us to search for certain connections."

The professor's eyes were fixed on her while she spoke. As soon as her monologue ended though, Anton Mian spun in his chair, looking out the window, before spinning back to face her, with a thoughtful expression crossing his features. "Can I offer you an Anthropological perspective?"

"Any insight you could offer would be appreciated."

"I think you're right to make these connections. However, you seem to be looking for a location to connect the practices, when I think you should be looking at the practices themselves, and the reasons the practices may occur. Tell me, when you first looked at the three practices, which practice seemed to you, the unlikeliest fit?"

"Sati."

"Why is that?"

"The practice of Sati, while it still occurs, it is rare and illegal. And, the practice, though occurring in other cultures during brief moments in history, was pretty much confined to India, while stoning and female circumcision still occur today and are both prevalent in Sub-Saharan Africa. Plus," she began, a little reluctantly and apologetically, "I'm an American, living in a post-9/11 world, and as open minded as I strive to be and generally am, my Xenophobia extends more to that area than it does to India. Fight the message, but it still seeps in."

"You're a scholar for admitting it, and admitting it demonstrates how open-minded you really are. You understand how powerful growing up in a certain culture can be." Anton Mian leaned back in his chair, offering her another smile, less flirtatious, but more intense than any of his previous ones. "Now, while I follow your reasoning for isolating Sati, I myself, would be far more inclined to isolate the stoning." Sara cocked her head to the side, raising an eyebrow. She waited for him to continue. "Stoning is a practice and method of execution, however, both Sati and Female Circumcision, are far more ritualistic. As an anthropologist, I am far more curious about rites and rituals. I would question the reasons behind the stoning."

"There is never a good reason for murder."

"Ah, Ms. Sidle, Sara, you are passionate about your work, I see. I'm not suggesting for an excuse for the murder. I'm curious as to why the killer stoned your victim. You said that it was a prostitute that underwent cutting, and a widow who was burnt over her husband's corpse. The reasoning behind those two executions is obvious. Tell me about the woman who was stoned to death. Maybe she did something offensive or was unclean in someway, that led the killer to believe her execution was warranted."

"She's a Jane Doe, Caucasian. We don't know anything about our victim other than that she's a young woman."

"Then, I believe, until you find the motive, you won't find the connection. Discard the stoning and focus on the other two for now."

"You mentioned the word unclean." Anton Mian nodded. "Emile Durkheim was interested in the sacred and the profane, correct?"

"Ah, now this conversation is getting somewhere. You are correct, though Durkheim discarded the notions of the 'unclean,' in the primitive sense. As those notions became dispelled over time, they didn't interest him. He was more interested in contagion. May I ask why he suddenly entered our conversation?" Sara smiled, not elaborating, thinking about the hygienic nature of Grissom and Greg's crime scene, and how the killer registered under the name of the famous sociologist. She had her reasons for mentioning him, however, letting the professor know the obvious ones would be giving out too many details. Luckily, the professor didn't press. Instead, he returned her smile. "Never mind. I'm rather intrigued that you did. Any conversation of this nature should involve Durkheim. Before we get to the sacred and the profane, however, we should begin with what Durkheim stated religion involved, other than the sacred and the profane."

"Common sets of values. Beliefs and rites."

"Exactly. And, both Sati and Female Circumcision are rites. They have been used within their religions to guard against impurity. If you want to understand your cases, you have to understand the rites, and the reasons behind them. They are based on the very old, yet very powerful idea of contagion, and are very important to the believers within their society. To understand those ideas and those rights, you have to accept the reasoning for them."

"Isn't that cultural relativism? Excusing the behavior because that society has always operated in that manner?"

"Ah, again, very good. I'm impressed. However, I've said nothing to excuse the behavior, only tried to help you understand it."

"Alright. You're saying that the practices within the religions have evolved from primitive times, as they are based on contagion and impurity."

"That is how civilizations have evolved, from the primitive to the religious, and now to the scientific. Initially, societies needed religion. It helped to organize and order their society."

"But, primitive ideas of cleanliness are very different than our ideas, ours being based on pathology, while primitive ideas are symbolic and based on the sacred."

"I'm impressed; you know your stuff."

"I've done some research."

"It shows. Yes, if you equate modern hygiene with primitive hygiene, the ideas are very different. However, take the word, hygiene out of the equation, as the modern use for the word seems to be troublesome, and use a different word, such as impurity, or the profane, and you'll have to agree that these words, these beliefs are still around in modern society and modern religion. Fears about pollution and impurity and contagion are very old fears. And, as Durkheim would have argued, those beliefs that passed on are the debris from past religions or past societies. Societies, religions within societies evolved, and as they did, so did the beliefs and rites. What has interested sociologists and anthropologists, are what survives throughout the evolution. It is what interested people like Robertson Smith."

"A different form of Social Darwinism."

"Evolution of beliefs and fears – the strongest survive. It takes a lot to dispel them, and the cultures they exist in have to be willing to dispel them. Old fears about impurity and contagion did not disappear, even in this culture. Society as a whole hasn't yet evolved that far. One can align primitive rites and rituals with the modern practice of prayer and even the partaking of the sacraments. Baptism washes away the sins. It purifies the child."

"But hasn't the Catholic Church argued against old fears of contagion? St. Catherine of Sienna drank a bowl of pus because hygiene wasn't compatible with charity."

"You came across that in your research, or were you raised Roman Catholic?"

"Neither. I used to enjoy reading about the lives of the Saints."

"Ah, well, I believe the notion of hygiene in that parable is more along the modern notion. And you are right, the Church has tried to dispel old fears of contagion, St. Thomas Aquinas was the forerunner in that movement, arguing that it wasn't the blood that was impure, but the shedding of blood. Committing the act was the sin, not the blood itself. Before St. Thomas Aquinas, though, fears of contagion were still ever present. And, they are still present, just in a different form. It is the notion of the impurity of blood that has been dispelled, though not completely. The profane still exists. Taboo still exists. People are still uncomfortable around bugs. They crawl; some are in between states, solid, yet liquid. We still fear the grotesque, the abnormal…"

Sara wanted to laugh, thinking of one man who'd evolved enough to see past the repugnant qualities of insects. The professor carried on, unaware of the irony and the humor his words sparked in her. "It's even Biblical. Look at the Old Testament, and Leviticus. Leviticus is a whole book dedicated to what is taboo and contagion. And, today, many people still follow that book. People of the Jewish faith still follow that doctrine. People of the Islamic faith follow that doctrine. I myself don't eat pork. I see it as vile, grotesque. They have a revolting diet, and the fat of the pig seems an almost jelly-like matter. See, the ideas of contagion are still alive in me. What about you?"

"I'm a vegetarian." And it was a pig that did it, she thought, shaking her head with a small smile.

"Ah, interesting."

She felt his stare on her again, his eyes bright and a small smile playing at his lips. She coughed, "Before, you were speaking about contagion…"

"Yes." Anton Mian's eyes were still on her, but, to her relief, the intensity had dimmed, and he looked more pensive. "What has occurred over the course of Christianity is the purification of impure things. Blood for instance. Communion is a prime example. Though symbolic, believers drink the blood and eat the body of Christ to cleanse themselves."

"Because Christ's blood is pure, it purifies them."

She watched as Anton Mian nodded. "Exactly. Almost all religious rites are about purification."

"So, bringing it back to the cases at hand, would you connect the murders, the Sati and the Female Genital Cutting, with the idea of purification?"

"Would you?"

She smiled. She could tell he was probably an excellent and well liked professor. He was very intelligent and had a way of challenging her. "That is why I came here, to gain your insight on the matter."

He smiled, laughing softly. "I can't assume to read the motivations behind this, but however, as these practices involve the pure and impure, I'd say it was a good place to begin."

"Out of curiosity, how would you align Sati with notions of purity and impurity?"

"Taking out the forced Sati of widows during the Muslim invasion, to avoid Muslim's from coupling with Hindus, there are other notions of purity behind the practice. The idea of women as a part of their husband is almost a universal notion, and I'm not talking about the wives belonging to their husbands. It is seen in Christianity as well. Eve came from Adam's rib. She is a part of him. If you take marriage as a spiritual union, you see the union of two souls. The wife becomes a part of the husband, spiritually as well as legally. When the husband dies, the wife loses her other half. She is still living; yet, she's dead in a sense. Her state without her husband is ambiguous, and anything ambiguous is profane and cannot be touched. And, culturally, India has a long history of separating people based on purity. The notion of the caste is a notion of purity, or a higher order. Contact between castes causes impurity. A woman widowed becomes an untouchable. Contact with a widow could lead to impurity. That's where Sati enters in. Burning was thought to purge the soul of evil spirits. The burning of the widow over her husband was believed to be a collective purge of both their sins, so not only does it remove an untouchable from society, it purges the sins and dark spirits of the souls of both man and wife. Wife becomes a sacrifice."

"But it's really just about upholding order. I mean, that's why it was created. The assignment of caste often came from occupation."

"Or did the assignment of occupation come from caste? It works both ways. Upholding order has been the basis behind the practices of every society. However, the ideas of purity within the practices have become ingrained. You can't ignore them. Sati was one of those ingrained ideas. When the practice was voluntary, and the widows weren't burned, they were still isolated. You see it as upholding the order, but people practicing the religion, people fearing those ideas of contagion, would see it differently. The practice, to them, is about purification."

"Alright, for argument's sake, say the killer was committing murders for ritual purification…"

"Wait." Anton Mian interrupted her, furrowing his brow. "About a week ago, two new born twins, African American boys, were mysteriously killed in the hospital. It was all over the news. Are you familiar with it?"

Sara's face shot to Mian's. The case he brought up was Warrick and Catherine's still open case, the case Warrick had been killing himself over. "Yes, my colleagues are working that case. It is stalled at the moment."

"If you were to connect your cases based on ritual purification, then I would argue that the deaths of African American twins would be connected."

"Care to explain?"

"In many West African tribes, if twins are born, they are killed at birth. Two babies can't come from the same womb at the same time. It is an anomaly, and primitive tribes like to avoid anomalies. Killing the twins would eliminate the anomaly."

Sara did some calculations in her head. Catherine and Warrick took the case her last night before taking off to the conference, two days before Grissom and Greg's mutilated prostitute. It fit in the timeline. It didn't fit in with the sex of their victims. "The twins were boys. The other victims were all women."

"Women, after puberty, are thought to be unclean. They menstruate and any bodily emissions are seen as sources of impurity. It is why many cultures marry their women before they hit puberty, because they are still pure in that state. It follows that many purification rituals are performed on women. However, many are also performed on boys and on men. Circumcision, for example, is a lot more common on males. With regards to your investigation, I believe that any perceived instances of impurity could be a target, explaining the death of the newborn twins. You're seeing more females as targets because of the perception of women as sources of impurity."

"Alright, you mentioned circumcision, and we have the case of the female genital cutting. How do they relate to purification?"

"It is a rite of initiation. If you follow Durkheim, when a boy is circumcised, he is leaving the profane world behind him and moving into a sacred world, or moving into a religious life. His profane self dies, and he becomes a new man. With regards to your prostitute, it may have worked along the same line, removing her from the profane world, where she performed impure acts and sold her body for money, and brought her into a more sacred world. Or, he was punishing her or sacrificing her, seeing her as symbolically encompassing the notion of impurity, which is why I believe your stoning may have been a punishment or execution doled out for an impure act."

"So if it's a punishment, then?"

"Then I believe that the person behind these killings is hands off." Sara cocked her head, raising an eyebrow. Mian went on to explain, "These rituals deal with cleanliness and purity. Being too actively involved could pollute him. He has to protect himself from defilement. Blood is unclean. Touching the prostitute, and cutting her could make him unclean…"

"That would only be true if it was part of his own belief system, but he's invoking multiple belief systems."

"You're right; my mistake. Your killer could be actively involved, though, if he believes in pollution, he may still seek help, keeping his hands clean. I would also like to point out that you seemed to leap to the punishment aspect, when it really could be about ritual cleansing. Part of that Xenophobia you mentioned earlier?" He grinned as he spoke the question, his eyes again dancing.

"Perhaps," she admitted.

"You aren't a religious person, are you? No, you can't be. Yet I doubt you're atheist. Agnostic, perhaps. While you strive to understand the rituals, you dismiss them." Sara felt uncomfortable under Anton Mian's stare. It felt as though he were looking right into her. She turned away, but the words continued. "But, you are spiritual, aren't you? You believe in the soul…"

Sara deflected his insight into her. "I believe in a person's right to live."

Anton Mian held his hands up in surrender. "Forgive me, I didn't mean to pry, but I'm very interested in you. You, how should I put it, intrigue me. You're intelligent, well versed. You've evolved past the primitive notions that still hold so many hostage, yet there is something about you that is very spiritual." Sara frowned. She watched the professor shake his head. "Sorry, I'll get back to the topic at hand. Your case could be about ritual cleansing, and if it is about ritual cleansing, I'm more apt to believe he'd be enacting the murders himself. He wouldn't let someone else be involved in a task so delicate, and he'd be more likely to believe he could perform the rituals himself. Somebody who doesn't understand pollution in the sense he does, wouldn't understand the ritual aspects behind the killings and could mess them up, causing the deaths to lose their meaning."

"Then he'd have to see himself as a priest-like figure, would he not? He'd have to be if he thought he could perform the rituals."

He grinned. "Only if it was part of his own belief system."

Sara shook her head. "Ah, touché."

"Considering the killings happened in this society, I'd say your killer is operating more as a magician."

"A magician?"

"Not a magician in the Vegas sense of the word. Magicians were around in the time of primitive religions, when magic wasn't magic. The rituals they performed could be equated with the modern form of prayer. Miracles, as we understand them, didn't exist, because the notion of miraculous didn't exist, the supernatural didn't exist. Without science and a natural order of things, man did not know what was possible and what was beyond the realm of possibility, so what people now constitute as miracles, weren't miracles to them. Spectacular to be sure, but not impossible."

"Sounds like a Vegas magician to me."

The professor laughed. "Priests, men operating within the community, were the ones performing the rituals, not magicians. And, the rituals were symbolic, a form of prayer if you will, and weren't used to produce spectacles or results. I equate our notion of miracles, with their notion of spectacles, but I did not mean to suggest that magicians, or priests, were responsible. They were merely events that occurred that were…well, out of the ordinary. Magicians could be blamed for such events, especially if the event was seen as negative. For that reason, magicians, unlike the spiritual leaders who operated for the betterment of the community, were seen as taboo."

"But our 'magician,' as you call him, is responsible."

"Unlike the primitive magician, your killer is actively creating the spectacle, but we know he's not a primitive man. He's using Vegas as his operating theater, so he's active in a society that has moved far beyond the primitive. Yet, it's not about magic, or spectacle, or entertainment. It's more of a response to society." The professor paused, flatting his hands together and bringing them to his mouth. Sara noted the pensive look of his face as he tried to put thoughts to words. "I don't think I've been very clear about the notion of the magician in the sense I meant to use. We keep going off all over the place and covering too many bases at once, and that's leading to misunderstandings. The notion I'm trying to convey is in between the two notions that have come out. It's post-religious, meaning he's invoking religions and notions from religions from other cultures in a way to formulate his response to this culture. He's a person operating outside the community. Are you following me?"

She nodded. "Keep explaining. What exactly, do you mean by 'magician'?"

"Alright." Anton Mian smiled, and Sara felt they were finally over the barrier the misconceptions had caused. Likely, he was used to presenting ideas in a linear, organized manner, defining concepts in the terms and conditions those concepts arose in. Inwardly, she theorized that her tendency to interrupt and question and bring in other ideas probably upset his ability to formulate those ideas into words in a coherent manner. Luckily, he recovered. "A magician is somebody who operates outside the cult of the Church. Often, he takes beliefs and rites from other religions and invokes them. Durkheim believed the magician took pleasure in profaning things holy to the culture the magician lived in. This line of thought is the reasoning behind my suggestion that your killer could be operating as a magician. Instead of beliefs, the killings may be about values. The killings are symbolic. Your killer could be taking pleasure in profaning the values of the society you live in, invoking practices from other societies that perhaps he values. Instead of operating outside of the cult of the Church, he's operating outside of the cult of Society."

Sara let the idea sink in for a few moments. The professor had offered a lot of insight. Checking her watch, she was surprised to find that it was past noon, and his office hours were over for the day. She stood, extending her hand. "Dr. Mian, thank you. The discussion was enlightening."

"Sara, please, call me Anton." He shook her hand, and held onto it. "We could always continue this discussion over lunch."

"Thank you, but I've taken up too much of your time already."

"Really, it's my pleasure. I've enjoyed your company and our discussion. Please accompany me to lunch."

"I'm very sorry, but I really must go."

"Another time, perhaps?"

Sara just smiled and pulled her hand from his. "Goodbye, Dr. Mian."

"I see. Point taken. No ring, so I see you aren't married, though I bet you find that practice primitive. Not interested?" He looked at her with a question in his eyes, studying her, but she remained silent. "Spoken for?" Sara gave him with a smile that betrayed nothing and turned to leave. A hand on her arm stopped her. She looked down at the hand, feeling the caress of fingertips on her forearm. "Well, at least let me give you my information, so that if you have any other questions, you can contact me. Or, in case you change your mind…" he trailed off, scribbling on a card and handing it to her.

"Thank you." She gave him one last smile before exiting the office. Once outside the door, she pulled out her cell phone, hitting four on her speed dial. Warrick's voicemail came on immediately. "Hey Warrick, I just spoke to a professor here at the University. He believes the murders could be about ritual cleansing, and we're looking for a magician of sorts. He also believes that your case involving the murder of those newborn twins in the hospital may be involved. Look up twins, tribes and West Africa and it might tell you more. I'll catch up with you and let you know more later."

After ending the call, Sara held her open phone for a few moments, closing her eyes and leaning against the hall wall. She was tired, feeling a little like Rob Petrie at hour twenty-four, in that Dick Van Dyke Show episode Grissom had her watch, where Rob Petrie had to stay awake for one hundred hours. She sighed and pushed herself up, pocketing the card Dr. Mian had handed her. Holding her open phone in her hand, she held the number two down. After a few rings, the call was picked up. When it was, she smiled softly. "Hey Griss, I just finished up at the university, and I'm really tired. I'll have to take a rain check on meeting up. I'm just going to go straight home and crawl into bed."

"You are going home, though?"

"Yes, I promise I'm going back to my apartment to rest."

"I could come over."

"No, don't worry about it. I'm just going to pass out. Go home. I'll see you later."

"Alright. Bye."

"Bye."

She closed her phone and headed down the stairs, before making her way out of the building.

A/N: I didn't mean to have this chapter come from one POV only, but adding another seemed excessive. I do have to put in a little disclaimer and acknowledge that many of the facts and ideas in this chapter are not mine, and come from selections of Emile Durkheim's, The Elementary Forms of Religious Life, (1912) and Mary Douglas's, Purity and Danger, (1966). I am not profound enough to ever have thought of such ideas, I've only borrowed them for the sake of my story.