A Criminal's Mind

If

We only stay in Altoona long enough to talk to Benjamin and Mrs. Barnwright. When we get back to Quintico it is almost eight p.m. So we decide to call it a night and head home. The next morning we get to the office around nine a.m. and to no surprise, Carr is already there, ready to work. I get there before the boys do and help Carr get a couple files put together and on everyone's desks. Ford and Tench come in at the same time, Ford leading, "hi."

I smile over to them, "there you two are, I was worried you had decided to take a day."

"No, never," Tench shakes his head.

"What are you two up to?" Ford sits his case down on his desk.

"I got all kinds of fun things for you to look over," Carr turns to the boys after placing the final file on Tench's desk.

"Ooh, paperwork?" Ford picks up the file on his desk.

"It's hardly sexy, but I'm trying to put together a list of questions for the killers that you interview. Things like family history, mood, thought patterns before, during and after the crime. This is just a first draft, but look it over and let me know what you think."

"Shouldn't we tailor the interviews based on the killer's personality?"

"You mean, just wing it?"

Tench places his case beside his desk, "we've been finding with these guys, we need to look for different ways in."

"Yes, but we still need a data set that's consistent across all our subjects."

I shrug as I sit down, "couldn't we fill out the data sheets about their mood and family histories, without sounding like a census ?" I ask as Carr packs up a couple of things. "Are you leaving?"

"Back to Boston."

"You just got here," Ford gestures over Carr, file in hand.

"Well, until you conduct more interviews there's really nothing for me to do here."

"We had a really interesting conversation with the fiance of that victim in Altoona."

"I got a taxi waiting."

"Cancel it. I'll drive you." Ford looks from Carr, to Tench, then back to Carr. She sighs before picking up her things and heading for the door. Ford opens it for her, "let me take your bag."

"Thank you," Carr hands one of her bags to Ford.

Ford looks over to me, "care to come?"

I shake my head, "no, thanks, I've got a couple things here to go over."

"Alright. Have fun."

I nod and grab a file out of my case and put it on my desk, looking over some work from the Beverly Jean case. Tench sighs, "still working on that?"

"Yeah," I nod. "I just have never seen a man cry like that."

"I know."

"I don't know why Holden or Mark don't see him as a possible suspect."

"I don't either. But if he's our guy, we'll find something."

"It just felt wrong, Benjamin was blubbering like a baby but it didn't seem vulnerable at all. Honestly, it was kind of hostile."

"Alright," Tench nods, "how does that help our case? Try using something we've learned from the killers."

"Well, Psychopaths are extremely skilled at imitating human emotion. It's how they manipulate or gain power."

"Do they have human emotions?"

I shrug, "they have them, they just believe other people don't. Or at least not that other people have interior lives."

"So how do you find them?"

I think for a second and take a deep breath, "I think we already did." I shake my head, "that whole town thinks of him as this lost little puppy that needs protecting. Maybe I'm wrong."

"Look, we are developing a methodology, so let's put it into practice."

I nod and lay out some of the photos in my file, "so we need to look at where the unsub went."

Tench nods, walking around to me, "hair, breasts, vagina."

"All symbols of her sexual power. It was his way of neutralizing her."

"And the hair on the ironing board?"

I shake my head, "it was a trophy. A way to show his dominance. And since Beverly was the first woman Benjamin had been with and since he is twenty-six that would give the relationship an extra significance. And the fact that Beverly Jean had some experince would either excite or threaten him."

"She looks like the girl next door."

"Well, I mean, a young, pretty girl can be manipulative. Even if she was using sex to control him, which we have no evidence of, then it would be what many women do to have an ounce of power in this world. But if it went too far, if something happened and Benjamin snapped, feelings of impatience could explain the rage. It could explain why he cut her up four days later. As an attempt to support control."

"But wouldn't the rape have already accomplised that?"

I think for a moment, "I don't know, in everything we've studied, they've been raped then depersonalized." I shake my head, "if a killer mutilates her after death, then they normally commits sexaul acts after death as well. It's almost like there is two different unsubs."

"You know, I don't know if you sound more like Holden or Wendy," Tench glances over to me. Tench and I sit back down, going over evidence photos and things like that before the phone rings. "hello?" Tench answers. "Jesus."

Ford walks in and Tench puts a finger up toward him, I turn and whisper, "hi."

"Hell, pick him up. Don't tell him anything. Let him stew for a few hours until we get there. Okay," Tench hands up the phone.

"What was that about?"

"Ocasek looked into Frank Janderman." Tench stands up, "apparently, in High School, he was sent to a psychiatric hospital for taking a monkey wrench to a girl."

"Jesus," I look up to Tench.

"Frank Janderman?" Ford asks.

I turn to him and stand, "Rose's husband, Benjamin's brother in law."

Ford steps between Tench and I, grabbing the tape recorder, "we should get this on tape."