Gallery of the Dead

Forty-Seven

As the private jet finally crossed the invisible line that separated South California from West Arizona, the stars that so brightly encrusted the night sky seemed to acquire a different kind of shine, hazier perhaps, less full of life, as if their brightness lost a fraction of its strength the further east they flew.

Hunter and Garcia both waited for Agent Fisher to continue, but she offered little else.

‘The best part is still to come?’ Garcia pushed. ‘What do you mean?’

‘The carvings the killer makes to his victims’ backs,’ Agent Fisher finally clarified. To emphasize her point, she called their attention back to the photo she had just showed them moments earlier, the one where Linda Parker’s skinned body could be seen against a background of blood-smeared walls.

‘Regardless of how much experience anyone has,’ she began, ‘this is without a doubt one of the most vicious-looking crime scenes any investigator could’ve walked into. Everything about it screams “brutality and sadism”.’

Garcia chuckled. ‘You don’t have to tell us, we were there.’

‘But despite what this looks like,’ she advanced, ‘pathological evidence tells a very different story — no pain... no suffering... no torture. Death came fast and through suffocation, which doesn’t make a lot of sense, not here... and not with any of this killer’s previous victims either.’

‘Until you look at it from a different perspective,’ Hunter added.

‘Absolutely.’ Agent Fisher smiled at Hunter as if they shared some sort of telepathic bond. ‘It explains why, despite how brutal this killer’s crime scenes may look, he’s actually merciful toward his victims. He has no reason to hurt them or make them suffer because he’s not after them as people. He’s after them as objects.’

Garcia made a face at Hunter. Despite him not uttering a single word, Hunter could read his expression like a book — Is she late to the party or what? We’ve been through all this yesterday. It’s like she’s repeating everything I said.

‘One thing is for sure,’ Agent Fisher carried on. ‘This killer isn’t dumb. Far from it. Delusional, maybe, but certainly not dumb. He knew that no matter who you were, no matter how much experience you had or even which law-enforcement agency you worked for... no one in their sane mind would’ve looked at any of these crime scenes in any way other than a sadistic shitshow.’

‘Unless he told us to,’ Garcia said, repeating what he had told Captain Blake the day before.

‘Exactly.’ Agent Fisher was clearly getting excited now. ‘There really is hope for you yet, Detective.’

She indicated one of the ‘carvings’ photographs. It showed Linda Parker’s back — Pulchritudo Circumdat Eius — ‘Beauty is all around her’.

‘With this,’ she said, ‘the killer covers the walls around her with blood.’ Agent Fisher rotated her wrists so the palms of her hands faced the ceiling. ‘If we believe that the killer used the Latin phrase he carved into his third victim to guide us to his view of the crime scene, it’s only logical that he would’ve at least tried to do something similar with his first two as well, isn’t it?’

She indicated a second photo in the ‘carvings’ group. It showed Kristine Rivers’ back — Pulchritudo in coniunctio.

Garcia blinked first.

‘Hold on a second,’ he said. ‘What does that mean again?’

‘ “Beauty is in the relationship”,’ Agent Williams replied.

‘Or better yet,’ Hunter broke in, ‘ “Beauty is in the combination.” ’

Garcia looked at him.

‘Remember that most Latin words will translate to more than a single word in English? “Coniunctio” can mean relationship, connection, combination, conjunction... it depends on the context.’

‘And that was the bit we missed,’ Agent Williams admitted, his index finger pointing at Hunter. ‘The context. That was our big mistake. We believed that the killer meant to say “beauty is in the relationship” because it fitted with our original theory — Kristine Rivers’ and Director Kennedy’s family relationship. We believed that the carvings were just the killer’s cryptic way of letting us know that her murder was payback for something that the killer considered Director Kennedy responsible for.’

‘But you were wrong,’ Garcia said.

‘Yes, we were,’ Agent Fisher said. ‘We now know that her murder had nothing to do with revenge. The killer probably doesn’t have a clue who Director Kennedy is. If we reanalyze the context of the crime, and by context I mean the crime scene as a whole, it becomes clear that what the killer meant was “beauty is in the combination”.’

‘As in the combination of the body and the rest of the shed,’ Hunter said, immediately seeing the finishing line Agent Fisher was paving the way for.

She smiled and picked up the crime-scene photo that showed only Kristine Rivers’ mutilated body on the floor. ‘No other combination would work. Look at this — the body by itself... nothing but a grotesque, sadistic image, right?’ She picked up the same wide-angle photo that she had showed them moments before. ‘But in combination with the graffitied walls, the dirty floor and everything else... you tell me.’

For an instant, Garcia held his breath.

‘The killer’s message was cryptic, all right,’ Agent Fisher continued. ‘But once deciphered and viewed in the correct context, the message was nothing more than instructions on how he wanted us to look at his crime scene... his “art”.’ Agent Fisher once again pointed at Hunter. ‘As we all know, certain serial murderers firmly believe that what they’re really doing is “making the world a better place” or “giving the world a gift” or any old crazy nonsense. And those types of murderers, despite believing that they are more intelligent than everyone else, despite doubting that others could see things the way they see them, despite all their delusions, deep inside they don’t want to be misunderstood. They want us...’ The agent reconsidered her last statement. ‘No, they want the world to know how great they are.’

Not wanting to lose her momentum, Agent Fisher selected one of the two wide-angle shots from the second crime scene — Albert Greene’s bedroom.

‘Mr. Greene’s body was left on his own bed,’ she said. ‘Inside his own, spotless bedroom. There was no mess, no blood.’

The next photo Agent Fisher presented everyone showed Albert Greene’s back — Pulchritudo in oculis aspicientis. Next to it, she placed the printout she had showed them earlier — a messy, unmade bed at the center of a sterile, empty room.

‘ “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder”,’ she said. ‘His second message was as much a set of instructions as it was a challenge.’

‘Challenge to do what?’ Garcia asked.

‘To see the beauty in his work.’ The reply came from Hunter. His tone of voice was steady and pensive.

‘Precisely,’ Agent Williams agreed. ‘We think that this time he was challenging us to see the beauty in his work. Why? Because he’s accepting the fact that we might never see beauty in what he does, in what he considers to be art. He’s accepting that what looks like art through someone’s eyes — his eyes — might look like nothing but heartless murder through someone else’s. “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” We are the beholders.’

Agent Fisher addressed Garcia. ‘You told us you believed that what the killer was doing through his carvings, his messages, was reaching out, remember?’

Garcia nodded.

‘And I think you’re right. The killer is reaching out. He’s trying to show us his vision. Now please bear in mind that all we have are crime-scene photos, which were snapped by a forensics photographer, whose sole concern was to document the scene, nothing else. An art photographer, on the other hand, would look for the perfect angle to bring the composition — the “piece” — to life. Now I have no doubt that that’s exactly what The Surgeon does. He photographs his scenes for his own pleasure. He maybe even films them. What this guy is doing is creating his own gallery of the dead.’