Read Part Three.
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Alistair dropped the CSU files on the desk, spreading them out as he looked for details. He glanced up at Jules, her eyes fixed on the photos of the body. “Are you all right, Detective?”
Jules didn’t flinch. “Just fine, sir.”
Alistair sat across from Jules. “He seems to have deviated from him pattern; the last victim had been asphyxiated before the incision was made.”
Jules nodded, remembering that both the victims found in February and May had differed from the other victims in that one detail. “And the possibility of a copy cat?” Jules asked.
“You think I haven’t thought of that?” Alistair demanded.
“I presumed that you had – I would take that information to indicate a copy cat, but as you have obviously ruled that out, I’d like to know why.” Jules pushed the photos away from her, meeting Alistair's gaze.
"The other details aren’t dissimilar enough. No sexual contact, no other physical damage prior to death; always left naked in an empty lot – and there’s been no seeming connection in that department – and the heart is always removed, stitched up with medical precision. Asphyxiation is the only deviation to appear so far, and even then there is a pattern to whether or not that happens. I’m not convinced of a copycat.”
Jules pulled on a file from the edge of her desk, opening it up to photos from the two asphyxiation murders. “These stitches are different from the previous cases.”
“What?”
“The case files you had me read over – the first two victims? They had been injected with a sedative and the stitches were even and straight but these are slanted to the right and less evenly spaced, not sloppy, but not a surgeon’s hand either.”
“Are you suggesting that I have two maniacs running around?”
“More, I'm sure, but two separate killers, yes.”
Alistair waved his hand at Jules before he ran it across his brow. “Preston’s going to have a fit.”
“Not if we catch them first.” Jules replied.
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