JF01 - Blood Eagle by Craig Russell Read Free Book Online Page B

Gisela Frohm. She was seventeen years old. A child.’
    ‘I see.’ Dr Eckhardt removed her glasses and seemed to appraise Fabel for a moment. ‘I understand you making the link, but I have to say I think that even if this Svensson had survived, he would not be a natural suspect for these killings.’
    ‘Why not?’
    ‘He just doesn’t fit the profile – in age, psychology, anything …’ Dr Eckhardt pushed back a lock of thick raven hair that had fallen over her broad brow. She donned the spectacles again before reading from her file. ‘We’ve got two indicators from which to build a profile of our killer: the physical evidence from the murder scenes and the content of the e-mails. The broad profile we have at the moment is: male, anywhere between twenty and forty, but likely to be under thirty. He is clearly intelligent, but perhaps not as intelligent as he thinks he is. Educated to at least Abitur level, he may be a graduate working in a reasonably responsible job which he nevertheless feels is beneath him. Or he may, for some reason, have been diverted from fulfilling what he sees as his full academic potential and is in a lower-grade technical position. If he is a graduate, this would, of course, nudge the lower end of our age range up to about twenty-six.
    ‘As Frau Klee has already pointed out, he seems to be highly computer literate. He is likely – although not certain – to live alone. The description in the e-mail of social isolation and marginalisation is consistent with the typical profile. He is a loner: someone with a low sense of self-esteem. He feels that his intelligence is undervalued and his potential underdeveloped by the world around him … a world that he has now declared war upon. There may also have been an event – or a sequence of events – in his childhood or youth where a woman has humiliated or dominated him. Alternatively, there may have been an event where he blames his mother for failing to protect him from a domineering or abusive father. Whatever the event, it may have coincided with puberty when masturbatory fantasies may have revolved around violent revenge against women. In which case his loathing and fear of women has become indissolubly linked to sexual arousal. He may be sexually dysfunctional and impotent except when arousal and orgasm is precipitated by extreme violence against women.’
    ‘But there has been no semen or even signs of penetration found at the scenes,’ Fabel commented. The beautiful Frau Doktor returned his look by angling her face and peering over the top of her glasses.
    ‘No. But that does not mean that he has not carried out a sexual act. He may have used a condom to prevent leaving DNA traces. What is more likely is that what this person does to achieve sexual gratification is so wildly removed from normal sexual function as to be unrecognisable. And, as I said, he may be impotent. The crime is sexual in nature, but the perpetrator may not himself recognise or acknowledge its sexual motivation. And a major element that emerges from the e-mail – and from the ritualised nature of the killings – is the religiosity of this act. It’s some kind of ceremony he is committing for reasons more abstract than simple or immediate sexual satisfaction.’
    Maria Klee interjected. ‘Could this be more than one person? The way you’re talking it’s like it’s almost a ritual. If it’s not political, could we be dealing with some kind of cult?’
    Werner Meyer gave a hollow laugh. Both women ignored him. Fabel gave him a warning glance.
    ‘That is possible, but unlikely,’ answered Susanne Eckhardt. ‘If this were to be the actions of more than one person, then the profile of our principal – the person who is doing the killing – remains the same. Any other involvement would mean a manipulator … someone whose role fills the chasm left by the uncaring or abusive parent. In such cases – like the Leonard Lake and Charles Ng case in America in