Fatal Instinct

Eight

The following day Jessica was in the lab early. She had pinpointed the crux of the forensics problem with regard to the Claw. What Rychman needed to know was the type of weapon used, and so she had gone to work on this in earnest. Secondly, she wanted to review the information on the bite marks thoroughly, to be certain there was only one set of marks and not two. This determination, and the exact nature of the weapon, might be the most important information she could provide for Rychman at this time.

From her reading of the files, the way the victims were attacked, first by a blow to the back of the head and then the mutilations, the idea of a team at work rather than a single individual appealed to her instincts. It wouldn't be the first time that the so-called killer turned out to be two men, or a man and woman, lust-killing in tandem. But to prove this, she'd have to prove the NYPD crime lab wrong, as all the evidence thus far pointed to a single perpetrator.

It would take all of her resources and those of the Quantico labs and a lot of help from J.T. there to rule out the possibility of a team of killers.

She had already faxed notes of her thoughts on the matter to J.T. Even with so many miles separating them, she was using John Thorpe as her sounding board. Her list in part read: All victims were taken by surprise. Victims had been struck in one location and dragged to another, where the attack took place. Further, the bodies, in all but the Hamner case, were removed and placed elsewhere, suggesting either a very strong man or two men. Possibly one man acted as decoy, distracting victim, while second slipped from shadows to overpower her. Only possibilities, she'd finished.

She had also air-expressed J.T. the one good set of teeth impressions lifted from the Hamner woman along with all those lifted from previous victims. If J.T. determined that the teeth marks all came from the same man, then she'd be satisfied, but as it was, with rumors abounding about the slipshod condition of the NY lab during Darius' bout with illness, she hadn't slept easily knowing a mistake of great proportion might have gone unnoticed. Worse things happened in a laboratory.

Jessica tried to consider all the possibilities, so she'd be open to clues when they arose. She was working in the lab when a technician called via the intercom and said that there was a Dr. Gabriel Arnold on the line for her.

“ Just what I need,” she muttered under her breath. “A sadistic shrink calling from the asylum in Philadelphia.” The last time she'd been alone with Dr. Arnold, the slime had pulled out a bottle of brandy and tried to cajole her into having a drink with him. She sensed that he had somehow learned of her recent battle with drinking. Who among her colleagues would have told Arnold about her bout with alcoholism after Otto's death? Who but Chief O'Rourke, either intentionally or unintentionally?

When she got to the phone in the office that had been turned over to her, she asked, “What can I do for you. Dr. Arnold?”

“ It's not what you can do for me. It's what I can do for you, Dr. Coran.”

“ What is it, Doctor?”

“ I've been working steadily with Matisak since you last saw him.”

“ That's commendable, Doctor.” She didn't intend to give him an inch.

“ Anyway, I think we've had a breakthrough. He's told us where the Torres woman's remains can be found, and the authorities in Ohio-she wasn't in Kentucky, after all-have unearthed a body fitting the general description-”

“ Dr. Arnold, I'm in the middle of an ongoing case here that needs my attention, so if you don't mind-”

“ But that's just it. This relates to the Claw. I've gotten Matisak to cooperate with us on this, and he wishes to speak to you. He says he has vital information bearing on your case there.”

“ Forget it, Dr. Arnold. He's using you for a fool.”

“ This was not my idea.”

“ What're you saying?”

“ I'm saying that a copy of the FBI files on the Claw was forwarded here for Matisak by your, superiors, and-”

“ O'Rourke, dammit!” She'd pleaded with O'Rourke to give her some time; that she didn't need or want any input from Mad Matisak; that the man was yanking everyone's chain.

“ Look, Matisak refuses to talk to anyone but you at this point.”

“ There is nothing Matisak could possibly say of interest about-”

“ He's sitting beside me and he tells me to tell you that the Claw is not one but two.”

This made her pause. How did the bastard know that? Was he simply taking a wild stab? Was he trying to throw her off guard? Was he trying to predict what her thinking would be? He was doing an eerily good job of both.

“ Dr. Coran? Doctor? Are you there?”

“ Put the bastard on the phone, Arnold.”

She heard the noise of a phone being passed through to Matisak in his cell.

“ You're so far away dear Doctor, my old acquaintance,” mewed Matisak, whose voice was like a knife sliding over her nerves. She felt her blood pressure rise with her anger.

“ What is it you want, Matisak?”

“ Please, I've asked you a hundred times. Call me Teach or Matthew.”

“ Get on with it.”

“ I have had time-lots of time, thanks to you-to review the records and documents your superiors forwarded, despite your apparent reluctance to, shall we say, have me on your team…”

Jessica imagined how the small man's chest was expanding. He was so full of himself. She took in a great breath of air and bit her lip, trying to maintain her control, saying nothing.

“ It's Stainlype. Stainlype went out-of-body, out of Gerald Ray Sims, just long enough to find another Sims, there in New York, where you are now. Stainlype came back here to destroy Sims, and then she returned to New York. It's a real force, Jessica: demonic, evil, powerful beyond your wildest imaginings, and if you get too close to it again, well… I fear for your future, dear Dr. Jessica.”

“ Arnold, you fool. You interrupted me with this trash?”

“ Trash!” shouted Matisak. “Are you telling me you did not know it was two all along? That Stainlype escaped? That's why you're there, but if you get too close, then I fear for you, Doctor, I do… I really do. Stainlype is a monster and she will eat you alive.”

She ridiculed him with her laughter and said, “I'm going to hang up now, Teach. I suggest you pray to the demons in your own mind.”

“ I had help, just like Sims did, when I took their blood, but you never knew that.”

“ That's a lie. You acted alone, just as Sims acted alone.”

“ Alone? Really? Alone with the devil, perhaps. Besides, if you will just look more closely, you will find there are two sets of teeth marks. Those of some dupe like Sims and those of Stainlype, or maybe the demon that once lived within me.”

She could see the direction Matisak was moving in. He was trying to bolster the “guilty by reason of insanity” plea he had maintained throughout. If he could convince the authorities that his aberration was identical to Sims', the parole board might cut him some slack in twenty years-or even ten.

“ Just the same, Matisak, your so-called information is worthless. I've already moved in that direction.”

“ Then you do feel Stainlype is there with you?”

“ No, damn your soul, and if you have nothing further-”

“ Stainlype's teeth marks were distinctly-distinctly- different from those of Gerald Ray Sims, remember?”

“ That's what I'd expect a crazy person to believe, Matisak, so go right ahead.”

“ It was proven at his trial, remember?”

“ That's more garbage. The difference was attributed to the degree of puncture, the rending. Any expert-”

“ It was more than that and you know it! It was physical proof. The same phenomenon as in Joan of Arc and others throughout history who've been possessed, such as the appearance of stigmata, disease spots, burns on the body. Careful examination of the difference in the two bites proved Sims was possessed of an evil force, a demon. There were several dental experts who testified to the fact Sims left the marks of two different sets of teeth, and not of two men but a man and a woman! One set was daintier than the other.” He allowed his hideous chuckle to creep into the conversation.

She could hear Arnold breathing heavily into the extension, monitoring every word even as it was being recorded. He was wondering, no doubt, if he should or should not cut Matisak off.

“ There were just as many experts who didn't see it that way,” she replied to Matisak.

She was mad at O'Rourke, at Arnold, at the asinine situation they had created, but she was also mad at herself for letting Matisak bait her this way; but what he'd said earlier gave her pause. Perhaps her theory of two killers was shaky; maybe the Claw was another Sims a.k.a. Stainlype case.

Matisak continued on about Sims. “You know the poor bastard died alone with the devil, and why, Doctor? Because he angered Stainlype, and why'd he do that when he knew the consequences? Why'd he anger Stainlype? Because he wanted to please you, Doctor. Sims did please you, didn't he, Doctor? But in doing so he pissed Stainlype off, because you kept dragging her secrets out of him. You're as responsible for Sims' death as you were for Otto's, Jessica.”

She wanted to scream for him to shut up, but she wouldn't give him the satisfaction. “If you say so, Matisak, then it must be so.”

“ If you ask Dr. Arnold for a video of exactly how Sims was killed by Stainlype, I'm sure-” God damn you, Matisak,” she coldly said.

“ Dr. Arnold, you wouldn't mind, would you? Sure, sure he'd oblige. I understand Stainlype cracked open his skull in three places before she was through with him.”

Arnold broke him off, shouting into the phone, “That's enough, Matisak, enough!” When they had gotten the phone away from Matisak, Arnold came back on line, saying, “I hope this hasn't been a waste of your time, Dr. Coran; truly, I had no idea Matisak was going to launch into… well, all that nonsense. I hope… Well, I'm sorry.”

“ Is Matisak off?”

“ Yes, of course. You may speak freely.”

“ Is our conversation on tape?”

“ As you might expect, yes.”

“ I don't want a single word about the possibility the Claw is two people leaking out. Do you understand?”

“ You may depend on it.”

“ For how long?” she asked, not expecting an answer.

“ Teach is full of surprises. I apologize for my part in this. But if we are to continue to glean information from him, then-”

She blew off his apology. “Whataya think his master plan is, Arnold?”

“ Minimum security in ten years.”

“ And from there an easy escape.”

“ And if he is ever free again…” He let it hang.

“ He'll feed again like the vampire he is, Doctor. He has an instinct for evil.”

Lights began to go on everywhere in the lab as day became night. Jessica felt like throwing things, the way Alan Rychman had that day she, Eldritch and the mayor had entered his office. Maybe she'd feel better if she could let out the anger the way Rychman did. She tried it, pushing a pen set to the floor, but it had no effect on her. She went back to work instead, faxing some additional information to Quantico. She wanted J.T. to have everything as she got it. She had tried to get her mind off Matisak, Dr. Arnold and the asylum in Philadelphia, as well as Sims and Stainlype. But the more her mind played over Matisak's being allowed, if not encouraged, to telephone her here, the angrier she'd become.

She didn't hear the knock on her door because she was cursing too loudly, saying, “Why doesn't O'Rourke just get Matisak a fucking fax machine in his cell?”

“ Sorry if I caught you at a bad time,” Alan Rychman said. “Is everything all right? You want me to come back later?”

“ No, no, come on in. Sorry about the tantrum.”

“ No reason you should be having tantrums, any more than I.” He tried a laugh and this brought a small smile to her lips.

“ That's pretty,” he said.

“ What's pretty?”

“ That smile of yours. Does it get better with a little help?”

“ Haven't had much to smile about in a long time.”

“ Then this is a good sign?” he asked, but she only looked back at the fax machine, finishing what she had to send, speaking with her back to him.

“ It's a wonder I can find anything to smile about, if that's what you mean. We've got one hell of a problem on our hands, Rychman.”

“ So what's new? And what's got you so riled up?”

“ Long story,” she said, finishing with the fax and wheeling around in her chair to face him again. “It'd just bore you.”

“ It's going to be a long night. Why not tell me about it over dinner?”

“ Dinner? Jesus, what time is it?” she asked, and glanced at her watch. “How'd it get so late? I missed the six o'clock meeting. I'm… I'm sorry.”

Rychman waved it off. “Forget it. You didn't miss much. Assignments, fresh leads that don't smell too fresh; nothing I can't fill you in on, Doctor. But I can tell you that you were missed by all.”

This made her smile again. “Really? By everyone?”

“ Heard you were up here working hard, so I came to haul you out.”

“ Haul me out? You do have a way with words, Captain.”

“ For dinner, I mean.”

“ I've had some training in cryptology; I figured you meant, 'Would you care to have dinner with me?' when you said, 'Haul you out,' but I'm just a little rusty, so it took me a moment.”

He half frowned and squinted at her. “Is that a yes?”

“ You haven't deciphered it yet?”

“ Working… I'd say it was an affirmative reply.”