Suicide Run

information or update on the investigation. It is a way of keeping score. So when we find him, I think we will find newspaper clippings and maybe even videos containing television reports on the case. These will probably be in his bedroom because they would be useful to him in carrying out masturbatory fantasies.”
    I noticed he had said
we
in reference to the case investigators but I didn’t react. McCaleb went on as if he were talking to himself and there were no one else in the office.
    “A component of the exhibition killer’s fantasy is the duel. Exhibiting his crime to the public includes exhibiting it to the police. In effect, he is throwing down a challenge. He is saying, ‘I am better than you, smarter and more clever. Prove me wrong if you can. Catch me if you can.’ You see? He is dueling with you in the public media arena.”
    “With me?”
    “Yes, you. In this case in particular you appear to be the media front man. It is your name in the newspaper stories included in the file.”
    “I’m lead on the case. I’ve been the one talking to the reporters.”
    McCaleb nodded again.
    “Okay,” I said. “All this is good in terms of understanding what a nut this guy is. But what do you have that will help point us to the right guy?”
    McCaleb nodded.
    “You know how the Realtors say, location, location, location? It’s the same with me. The place he chose to leave her is significant in that it plays into his exhibitionistic tendencies. You have the Hollywood Hills here. You have Mulholland Drive and the view of the city. This girl was not dropped here randomly. This place was chosen, perhaps just as carefully as she was chosen as a victim. The conclusion is that the drop site is a place our killer may be familiar with because of the routines of his life, but nonetheless was not chosen because of reasons of convenience. He chose this spot, he wanted this spot, because it was the best spot to announce his work to the world. It was part of the canvas. It means he could have come from a long distance to leave her there. He could have come a few blocks.”
    I noticed the use of
our,
as in
our killer.
I knew if Frankie had come with me he would’ve blown a gasket by now. I let it go.
    “Did you look at the list I gave you of the forty-six names?”
    “Yes, I looked at everything. And I think your instincts are good. The two potential suspects you highlighted both fit the profile I constructed for this killing. Late twenties with a history of crimes of escalating nature.”
    “The Woodland Hills janitor has routine access to industrial cleaners—we could match something to the cleaning agent used on the body. He’s the one we like best.”
    McCaleb nodded but didn’t say anything. He seemed to be studying the photographs, which were now spread across the desk.
    “You like the other guy, don’t you? The stage builder from Burbank.”
    McCaleb turned and looked directly at me.
    “Yeah, I like him better. His crimes, though minor, fall more into line with the sexual predator maturation models we have seen. I think when we talk to him we have to make sure we do it in his home. We’ll get a better feel for him. We’ll know.”
    “We?”
    “Yes. And we need to do it soon.”
    He nodded to the photos covering his desk.
    “This wasn’t a one-shot deal. Whoever he is, he’s going to do it again… if he hasn’t already.”

    I had been responsible for many men going to San Quentin but I had never been there myself before. At the gate I showed ID and was given a printout with instructions that directed me to a fenced lot for law enforcement vehicles. At a nearby door marked LAW ENFORCEMENT PERSONNEL ONLY I was ushered through the great wall of the prison and my weapon was taken and locked in a gun vault. I was given a red plastic chit with the number 7 printed on it.
    After my name was put into the computer and the prearranged clearances were noted, a guard who didn’t bother introducing himself walked me through an empty rec yard to a brick building that had darkened over time to a fireplace black. It was the death house, the place where Seguin would get the juice in one week’s time.
    We moved through a mantrap and a metal detector and I was passed off to a new guard. He opened a solid steel door and pointed me down a hall.
    “Last one on the right,” he said. “When you want out wave at one of the cameras. We’ll be watching.”
    He left me there, closing the steel door with a