Killer Among Us by Adriana Hunter, Carmen Cross

on large doses of
constant scrutiny and belaboring points until they were dead. He
often thought that they had analyzed their relationship to
death.
    The profile was finally complete and he
stared down at it. It had most of the typical details: white male,
probably in his late forties, professional, likely not white collar
however. He was not adverse to media attention but he had yet to
contact the police, Janelle was positive that he was cognizant of
and perhaps even manipulating parts of the investigation and said
so over lunch.
    “ You know as well as I do
that these types of killers often involve themselves with cases so
that they can throw police off their tracks or so that they can
manipulate the media into fearing them, it is a way to gain power
for them.” She said as they chewed large sandwiches over his
desk.
    “ With the media being
everywhere these days it is a lot easier for one killer to get lost
in the mix,” Kane put in, “So quite often they are resorting to
bigger scenarios, even worse mutilations and so forth in order to
gain attention. I’m not sure that’s playing a part in his
accelerating kill rates but it could be.”
    “ Look at the way these
women were killed,” Janelle said, “It’s like he started off
hesitant and unsure but very enraged.”
    “ Then there were two that
were almost perfunctory, until he got to the one who thought she
was a goddess.”
    “ Then the rage kicked back
in.”
    “ I don’t see a pattern,”
Kane admitted as he leaned back in his chair. “It’s almost like he
chose some of the victims and not the others. I think he may have
killed some of the women, the ones who were tortured and killed the
hardest, because he knew them and the others because he simply
likes being the Creeper and didn’t want to fade from the news. It’s
the only thing that makes sense.”
    “ Did any of them know each
other?” John Hamm finally put in. He sat in a chair close to the
desk but not right at it. Kane was very well aware that John had
chosen that position to use body language and perception to make it
clear that he was there to help, not to encroach on Kane’s
territory.
    “ If they did we haven’t
found the link.”
    Janelle pulled the files back toward her.
Her white blouse pulled taut across her firm high breasts as she
did so and Kane saw Forrester’s eyes go to them. He cleared his
throat and saw John’s face harden slightly. He knew that the two
were not sleeping together, the older man simply found Forrester to
be rude and for that Kane couldn’t blame him; the older cop had
spent all day ogling Janelle, getting in the way and disrupting
their brain storming with a lot of tiresome questions and pointless
debating.
    “ Maybe we aren’t looking at
this from the proper angle.” John said mildly. “Let’s stop looking
at who these women were and start looking at who they
weren’t.”
    Forrester looked at him, a frown creasing
his forehead. “I’m not following you chief,” he said in an openly
hostile tone.
    “ All of the women did have
one thing in common. They were almost famous. None of them were
exactly unknown, even the ones who seemed to have been killed as an
afterthought. They were all connected by one thing, they were all
artists or models or musicians. The …what was her name? The medium?
Jenny Fox…she claimed to be an artist too.”
    “ Maybe they all had an
agent in common.” Kane suggested. “It would be a long shot but we
could give it a try. We could put a couple of guys on
it.”
    “ I don’t see where that
makes any sense,” Forrester said through a mouthful of pastrami and
rye, “You’re going to be wasting manpower on a bullshit wild goose
hunt when they could be out on the streets looking for this
guy.”
    ‘ We are doing it.” Kane
said; his eyes steely as he stared at the other man. He really
hoped he would not have to break out the ‘I’m in charge’ card. For
a second he almost pitied him, he was fifteen years