Boys in Blue 02 - Reasonable Doubt Read Online Free PDF Page A

the room. Maps, string maps linking locations and children, computer generated relief maps showing the circles of contact and possible direction each child had been driven in, if the information could be obtained. The parks where the bodies of two girls had been dumped were circled in red.
On another wall, the faces, names, locations, suspect lists, witness descriptions overlapped a city map. Mack stood at corner of the room facing the adjacent findings. The seemingly unrelated abductions listed to the left showed all the missing children without filtering them for the current case, the apparent related abductions to the case mapped to the right. It was the only way to see if they’d overlooked another stolen child as one that belonged to the serial killer.
He folded his arms across his chest, his head the only thing moving as he looked from one wall to the other.
He smelled Andy’s aftershave before he heard him approach.
“Your profile’s off,” he said.
The fuck it was. Mack turned. Andy held a manila envelope with a short stack of papers.
“We just got this from the FBI sector office via Quantico. Your profile’s off.”
He eyed the smaller man with curiosity. Andy had seemed insignificant the day before, full of fluff. Today he exuded confidence. Mack’s respect quotient for the man scaled up a notch.
“What did they find?”
“We’ve been looking for a Caucasian male, between twenty-five and fifty based on the averages of similar crimes,” Andy began. “We should have adjusted the profile after the first two bodies were found.”
“We did.”
“Not enough. Our specialists have analysed the evidence and they’ve discovered a couple of things. The biggest clue is that the girls aren’t sexually assaulted. Nothing about the positioning of the bodies or the dump sites suggest the abductions are sexually motivated.”
Mack nodded. He and Geo had thought the same thing. The Chief had insisted that sexual crime not be ruled out. Because they were dealing with children, and because it was the Chief, they’d agreed.
“The similarities aren’t common enough to suggest a specific displacement syndrome.”
“A what?” Mack asked.
Andy grinned. “Sometimes a child is abducted with specific physical traits which remind the killer of a particular child they can’t get to. They try to take another child who closely matches the one they actually want, in order to act out their fantasy. We aren’t seeing that pattern. Only two of the girls are blonde but their hair lengths are completely different. The only link is age and race, that we can tell.”
“What about religion? If you’re a parent you take your kids to family gatherings, school, social events, and religious institutions. Four of the girls come from the same faith background,” Mack suggested.
“All different churches and denominations.”
“Maybe that’s the link. He’s gathering one from each?”
Andy shook his head. “The profile update I’ve been mentioning is a critical one. The specialists seem to feel that the evidence points towards a female suspect.”
Mack knew he was staring. How could they have been so far off? “Why female?”
“Each child has been tucked. Not under a blanket, but in a position which suggests comfortable sleep. You’ve found small stuffed bears with them, which have been traced back to a rather large supply warehouse. They’re not only in repose, but they’ve been perfectly redressed. Aspects of the clothing, the positioning, the pieces of the layout and the deliberate perfection of dress, plus a list of other things point to a woman’s hand.”
“Meticulous male?”
“Female,” Andy insisted. “It’s the likeliest scenario. I’m printing out new information for the boards. You want to post it?”
“Yeah.”
“Good. Lauren and Geo are doing the CLU update and filling the Powers That Be in on the parameter changes.”
Mack searched the room, but only Andy and he stood there. When had they left and why