The 7th Victim - Alan Jacobson [124]
Rudnick nodded thoughtfully, clearly engaged and sitting on every word. “And you saw yourself.”
Vail felt herself step backward. “Yeah. How’d you know?”
“Because, my dear, you stare at mutilated bodies day in and day out. You live and breathe serial murder. It has to affect you deeply, even when you turn your brain off and go to sleep.”
“But I’ve never had these kinds of dreams before.”
“Yeah, well, don’t bog me down with details.”
She sighed. “I thought you’d be able to help me.”
“Look, Karen, are you worried that you may be the killer?”
Vail forced a laugh. “Of course not.” She chuckled again. “Yes. I mean, I don’t know. I can’t be, right?”
“No, you can’t be. You spend all day around people who analyze behavior. Don’t you think one of them would be looking at you if it were even possible?”
“A former agent on the task force thinks I’m Dead Eyes.”
“Former agent, you say? Must be a reason why he’s a former agent, Karen. Point is, you’re entrenched in a very challenging case, probably the most challenging one you’ve ever had because you’re intimately involved in it. Most of the time, you don’t even get to visit fresh crime scenes, let alone investigate them personally. That guy in your unit—Mark Safarik—what’s that saying he had?”
“Mark called it being ‘Knee deep in the blood and guts.’”
“Yeah, that’s it. You’re in this one up to your hips. It’s on your mind and you can’t shut it down. You feel enormous pressure to solve it. And when you can’t, you’re taunting yourself in your dreams. ‘Can’t you see it? Study the art! Figure it out!’ You’re telling yourself to find the answers. Think about it a minute, objectively. I know that’s hard because you’re so close. But think about it.”
Vail stood there, her mind flooding with thoughts when suddenly one fought to the surface; it tumbled out of her mouth as if it were a pilot ejected from a cockpit. “I can’t see the killer because I’m blind, just like the victims.”
“There you go,” Rudnick said. “Very good.” He squinted and shook his head slowly, the picture of pity. “You’ve been taught to empathize with the victims and think like the killers, Karen. What an impossible thing to do! No wonder you’re conflicted. Your subconscious is on overload.”
Vail bit her lip.
Rudnick stepped around his desk and placed a hand on her shoulder. “This is all perfectly normal, Karen. I bet if you ask some of your colleagues in your unit, you’ll find that many of them have had similar dreams about this stuff.”
Vail looked up, feeling a bit brighter. “Thanks, Wayne. Makes sense.”
Rudnick smiled. “Of course.” He bent over and retrieved his ball. He sat down behind his desk, leaned back, and took aim at the ceiling. “Now beat it so I can get back to work.”
fifty-four
After joining Robby in the Academy parking lot, she drove him back to his car. She had planned to go to the hospital to visit Jonathan, then meet Robby for dinner. Despite what Jackson Parker had said about him being her only friend, she knew she had Robby. She felt that no matter how things turned out, he would be there for her. And her for him.
As Robby was getting into the car, his phone sounded—followed seconds later by a similar trill from Vail’s BlackBerry. “Get in,” he said. “I’ll drive.”
They arrived at the task force op center ten minutes later, ahead of Manette, Del Monaco, and Sinclair. Bledsoe was pacing, holding what appeared to be several eight-by-ten glossy photos in his hand. As soon as Bledsoe saw Vail come through the door, his face lit up.
“I feel like a kid who’s just found out a really cool secret, but he’s got no one to tell.”
“What’s the secret?” Robby asked.
“Look.” He shoved the photos in Robby’s face.
“Where’d you find this?”
“You’re gonna love this,” Bledsoe said, looking at Vail. “If we figure out what it means, it could break the case.”
“Where was it?”
“In Linwood, shoved up her rear.”
“In her rectum?” Robby asked.
“ME found it during the autopsy. Showed up on x-ray.”
Robby handed each of the photos to Vail as he went through