The Valkyrie Song

9

‘Okay,’ said Fabel, pouring Susanne another glass of wine. ‘We’ve ruled out that we’re dealing with an Angel of Death/Mercy or a Black Widow. So that leaves us with her being a Revenge Killer or simply insane.’

‘Insanity is out. Serial killers tend to have identity disorders but only a tiny percentage are clinically insane. And within serial killing there are the two personality types: higher IQ and organised or lower IQ and disorganised. This killer is highly organised. That suggests to me that she’s smart and she’s not mad.’

Fabel set his glass back on the table. ‘Revenge?’

‘The original Angel killings in the nineties had revenge all over them. In its most abstract form, I mean. The castration thing was a rather unsubtle way of declaring that she was emasculating abusers. Revenge Killers are most often women who kill a series of individuals because they perceive those individuals to have victimised them in the past. This could be real victimisation — revenge for earlier abuse — or it can be that revenge is exacted on a type of person who is targeted by association.’

‘But there was no connection between any of the victims. Their paths never crossed and they were picked at random.’

‘No, they weren’t. They were targeted, Jan, because they were users of prostitutes. Just like the victims of Aileen Wuornos in the USA around the same time. Wuornos had been abused as a child and then as a prostitute. She projected her experience on every man who used prostitutes and saw them as potential abusers. She killed them in revenge for what she had gone through at the hands of men like them.’

‘But that only fits with the first series of murders in the nineties. There’s no symbolic castration this time round.’

‘Exactly,’ Susanne said emphatically. ‘Castration was the signature for each murder. A fundamental element. If you’re dealing with a copycat, why has she dropped this central motif?’

‘I know what you mean,’ said Fabel. ‘That’s been bothering me. The answer I’ve come up with is that it’s too messy. And takes up too much time.’

‘But if she is the original Angel, or if she’s a true copycat, she would feel — I don’t know — unfulfilled if she didn’t emulate the ritual of the original killings.’

‘Okay,’ said Fabel. ‘So what you’re saying is that we had a revenge killer the first time round and now we’ve got someone pretending to be a copycat?’

‘There’s something else that bothers me. Women are in the main less violent than men, agreed?’

‘Agreed.’

‘That is reflected across all aspects of behaviour, including, ironically, serial killers. Less than fifteen per cent of all violent crime is committed by women. And only one in six serial killers is a woman. Of those, the vast majority use non-violent means — poisoning, more than anything else. And if they do use violence, then it tends to be smothering or strangulation. Wuornos, of course, used a gun. But the point is they don’t tend to slash, stab or bludgeon victims to death, which male serial killers do. Both the murders in the late nineties and the recent killings are extremely violent and bloody.’

‘And also highly efficient,’ said Fabel.

‘The efficiency fits the pattern. The violence doesn’t.’

‘I had a call from Ulrich Wagner, the guy at the BKA who’s helping me coordinate the setting-up of the Super Murder Commission thing. He told me that a woman has escaped from the secure state mental hospital in Mecklenburg. I’ve listed her officially as a possible for these murders. Her escape and her activities before being committed were those of a highly organised killer. On top of which she belongs to the fourth group of female serials. She’s insane. And that means all bets are off. Oh, by the way, she castrated three victims.’

‘That makes her a fit for the first series of murders. Not this.’

‘Exactly. And she was confined to the hospital for the whole duration of the first series.’

‘I can see why she may be a front runner. But there’s still something about the violence of these attacks that doesn’t fit with a female serial.’

‘So what are you saying? That we’re looking for a man dressed as a woman?’

‘No, Jan,’ said Susanne. ‘I’m not saying this isn’t a woman. But has it never occurred to you that we might not be dealing with a serial killer at all?’

‘As a matter of fact it has,’ said Fabel. He contemplated his wine, swirling it in the glass. ‘This doesn’t make any sense, I know, but bear with me… You know Jens Jespersen’s death?’

‘Of course — that’s the whole reason why Karin Vestergaard is here, isn’t it?’

‘Quite. Well, I have this feeling that his death is in some way connected with all this.’

‘But there’s no similarity, surely…’

‘I’ve been a policeman for a long time, Susanne, and one thing that I’ve learned to be suspicious about is coincidences. Wherever I see a coincidence, there tends to be a connection. And I find it one hell of a huge coincidence that Jespersen was down here looking for a female killer and we just happen to have one running around St Pauli.’

‘But we’re talking about two completely different types of killer.’

‘Are we?’ said Fabel. ‘Karin Vestergaard said that before she and Jespersen busted Goran Vuja i c six years ago he talked about this contract killer called the Valkyrie. He said she had been very effective at taking out her targets. She made some look like accidents, others like suicides or natural causes. What if Jake Westland and Armin Lensch weren’t victims of the Angel of St Pauli or the Angel Part Two…’

‘What? They were victims of a contract killer? Then why all the symbolism? Why did she tell Westland she was the Angel?’

‘Think about it. That’s exactly what she did — she told him to tell us. She injured him to exactly the right degree for him to deliver his message before he died. It doesn’t sound like an amateur, does it?’

‘So you think we’ve got someone hiding in plain sight?’

‘I think it’s a possibility. The Angel is maybe really the Valkyrie. She wants us to believe she is killing at random.’

Susanne was lost in thought for a moment. ‘There is something else that’s been bothering me…’ she said eventually. ‘And it confuses things even more. As you know, one other thing that differentiates male and female serial killers is the duration of their activities. Male serials, on average, are active for less than five years. Sometimes for only a matter of months. Female serial killers are active over a much longer period. Ten, fifteen years. Longer, maybe. It doesn’t fit with the first spate of killings.’

‘You’re saying those killings are suspect, too?’

‘Yes. But I’m not suggesting it’s the same killer. Yet another massive difference between male and female serial killers is the motive. Of the four kinds we discussed, the profit motive is by far the most common. So, if you’re right and these recent killings are the work of a professional contract killer, whether she’s a serial killer or not is simply a matter of semantics.’