Some of us like working hard, I told him.
As opposed to those of us who are the entitled product of an oh-so-privileged upbringing? Michael asked, wiggling his eyebrows.
That wasnt what I meant.
He leaned over and tweaked my ponytail. Likely story, Colorado.
Do you really hate it here? I asked. I couldnt tell if he legitimately disliked the program or if the attitude was for show. The biggest thing Id figured out about Michael in the past week was that there was a very good chance that hed been wearing masks for longer than hed been working for the FBIpretending to be something he wasnt was second nature.
Lets just say that I have the rare ability to be dissatisfied wherever I am, Michael said, although Im starting to think this place has its perks. This time, instead of messing with my ponytail, he pushed a stray piece of hair out of my face.
Cassie. Deans voice took me by surprise, and I jumped. Lockes here.
All work and no play, Michael whispered.
I ignored himand went to work.
Two rows of picturesthree in one row and four in the otherstared up at me from the kitchen table. Each picture contained a body: glassy eyes, limbs splayed every which way.
Am I interrupting?
Locke, Dean, and I turned to see Judd in the doorway. Yes, Locke said with a smile. You are. What can we do for you, Judd?
The older man bit back a smile of his own. You, young lady, can point me in Briggss direction.
Briggs is out doing some legwork on a case, Locke replied. Its just me today.
Judd was silent for a moment. His eyes fell on the pictures on the kitchen table, and he raised an eyebrow at Locke. Clean up when youre done.
With that, Judd left us to our own devices, and I turned my attention back to the photographs. The three on the top row featured women lying lifeless on pavement. The four on the bottom were indoors: two on beds, one on the kitchen floor, one in a bathtub. Three of the victims had been stabbed. Two had been shot. One had been bludgeoned, and one had been strangled.
I forced myself to stare at the pictures. If I blinked, if I turned away, if I flinched, I might not be able to look back. Beside me, Dean was looking at the pictures, too. He scanned them, left to right, up and down, like he was taking inventory, like the bodies in these pictures hadnt ever been people: somebodys mother, somebodys love.
Seven bodies, Agent Locke said. Five killers. Three of these women were killed by the same man. The remaining four were the work of four different killers. Agent Locke tapped lightly on the top of each photo, bringing my eyes from one to the next. Different victims, different locations, different weapons. Whats significant? Whats not? As profilers, a large part of our job is identifying patterns. There are millions of unsolved cases out there. How do you know if the killer youre tracking is responsible for any of them?
I could never tell when Agent Locke was asking a rhetorical question and when she expected an answer. A few seconds of keeping my mouth shut told me that this was an instance of the first.
Agent Locke turned to Dean. Care to explain to Cassie the difference between a killers MO and their signature?
Dean tore his attention away from the photos and forced himself to look at me. Studying mutilated bodies was routine. Talking to meapparently, that was hard.
MO stands for modus operandi , he said, and thats as far as he got before he shifted his gaze from my face to a spot just over my left shoulder. Mode of operation. It refers to the method used by the killer. Location, weapon, how they pick victims, how they subdue themthats a killers MO.
He looked down at his hands, and I looked at them, too. His palms were calloused, his fingernails short and uneven. A thin white scar snaked its way from the base of his right thumb to the outside of his wrist.
A killers MO can change, Dean continued, and I tried to focus on his words instead of his scar. An UNSUB might start off killing his victims quickly. Hes not sure hell be able to get away with it, but with time and experience, a lot of UNSUBs develop ways to savor the kill. Some killers escalatetaking more chances, spacing their kills closer together.
Dean closed his eyes for a split second before opening them again. Anything about an UNSUBs MO is subject to change, so while it can be informative to track the MO, its not exactly bulletproof. Dean fingered the closest picture again. Thats where their signature comes in.
Agent Locke took up the slack in the explanation. An UNSUBs MO includes all of the elements necessary to commit a crime and evade capture. As a killer, you have to select a victim, you have to have a means of executing the crime unnoticed, you have to have either physical prowess or some kind of weapon to kill them with. You have to dispose of the body in some way.
Agent Locke pointed to the picture that had captured Deans attention.
But after you stab someone in the back, you dont have to roll them over and pose their arms, palms up at their sides. She stopped pointing, but kept talkingabout other killers, other things that shed seen in her work with the FBI. You dont have to kiss their foreheads or cut off their lips or leave a piece of origami next to the body.