Tears were rolling down the woman's cheeks. She was whispering, and he had to lean in close to hear what she was saying. Her eyes were closed, her face swollen with grief, and she was having trouble breathing.
“No, just an instinct.”
NICO Sirsky and Michel Cohen left the bedroom and entered the office, examining all the papers they found, including bills, professional notes and bank papers. Nico pushed open the bathroom door. He looked for the switch with his gloved hand. A Jacuzzi occupied a large part of the space. There were two long bathrobes, two sinks and a large mirror.
“Look, Michel!” Nico called out in disbelief.
There were words written in purple on the mirror.
“Lipstick?” Cohen asked.
Nico approached the mirror, being careful not to touch it. Blood or some other biological fluid could be infected, presenting a risk of AIDS or hepatitis. He had to be careful, even with protective gloves.
“Hmm. I think it's blood.”
The two men stepped back to read the message left for them.
“Seven days, seven women,” Nico finally said out loud.
They stared at the words, aghast.
I
T WAS PAST MIDNIGHT, according to his watch. The pale light on his desk lit up the entire room, creating a strange atmosphere that gave him the feeling of being somewhere between dreams and reality. He pressed his forehead against the cold glass window, and his eyes followed the Seine, an age-old witness to human history. But the images of the two murders occupied his mind, and the victims had transformed into ghosts that would relentlessly pursue him until the truth came out.
So much had happened since they had discovered Chloé Bartes' body just a few hours earlier. The message for the investigators proved that the murderer wanted to communicate with the police and manipulate them. This suggested that he had an overdeveloped sense of self and a strong desire for recognition. That was not a good sign, and this person had no intention of stopping. They had to catch him to put an end to the savagery.
The murderer had announced a seven-day agenda. What leads did they have? Was there any connection between the victims? They needed to do a handwriting analysis. Only the killer could have written those bloody letters on the mirror. Nico immediately ordered a forensics specialist to examine the message. Marc Walberg was the best they had. He began by taking several pictures from various angles. He studied the scene for a long time, occasionally taking notes in a tiny notebook. A periodic frown caused his glasses to ride up his aquiline nose. Nico did not interrupt him, because you never interrupt an expert as highly regarded as Marc Walberg. It was not that he was pretentious. He just expected others to let him do his work. Finally, he turned to Nico.
“First, the person who wrote this message knows precisely what he is doing,” he said, “and he is left-handed.”
He dropped this piece of information as if it were obvious. Nico cleared his throat. Marc liked to be urged on.
“Explain yourself.”
“The killer formed the words in a single stroke, which means that he did not have to stop and think. The use of lower-case letters is a convincing argument that he did not consciously try to disguise his writing. There's no trembling, no lifting, no signs of stress.”
“What can you tell from lifting?”
“The number of times the writer lifts his writing instrument reveals his level of sincerity and self-assurance or how much anxiety he has.”
“And this person is left-handed?”
“Left-handed people don't have to exaggerate the curve of their wrists and readjust their writing angle. One final point: It is difficult to determine if it is a man or a woman.”
“What do you mean?”
“Women write rounder letters with less pressure, while men tend to have more angular writing. Here, we can't really differentiate.”
“Oh. But it could still be a man?”
“Of course. It could also be the unconscious imitation of a close relative's writing style, which in that case would be a woman. You do understand that this particular writing surface does not help me go much further. A study of writing on something that can be picked up and examined from different angles is more useful.”
“Thank you, Marc.”
“You're welcome. Just doing my job. As usual, keep me in the loop.”
NICO had asked that the mirror be removed and taken to the police forensics lab. He had then met with Professor Vilars in the autopsy room around nine p.m. Neither was in the mood for the small talk that usually served to lighten the seriousness of an autopsy. They got to work immediately, showing determination tainted with a deep feeling of discomfort. In view of the victim's physical state, they both had the sense that they were dealing with something very evil.
“Your intuition was correct. The breasts belonged to the first victim,” Armelle said. “It will be easy to confirm, but you can already take it for a fact. The suturing is well done, and the material used is professional. She was sutured by someone who knew what he was doing.”
“So he removed Marie-Hélène Jory's breasts to transplant them on Chloé Bartes,” Nico said.
“And he kept Mrs. Bartes' breasts,” the chief medical examiner continued. “If we follow your line of reasoning, it is in order to transplant them on his next victim.”
“He is completely over the edge!”
“He staged the crime in the same way, with the young woman bound, gagged, whipped, mutilated and stabbed. The vital organs were punctured, and this led to massive bleeding, followed by death. As in the first case, the murderer inflicted exactly thirty lashes with the whip.”
“So, it is not by chance.”
“That seems difficult to me.”
“It is a clue. But what could it mean?”
“That, my friend, is your job. And I don't envy you. Now let's look at the knife. I am extracting it carefully from the victim's abdomen.”
Professor Vilars held the murder weapon in her gloved hand and carefully examined it. The blade was covered in blood. Her eyes stopped on a detail.
“Look at that. I think he left us a little gift,” she finally said in a gloomy voice.
Nico approached.
“Do you see that? On the blade. There is a lock of hair, carefully knotted, held on with a piece of tape.”
“What do you think?”
“Nothing. I'm going to examine it. I'll keep you posted.”
“Can you do it quickly?”
“Shit, Nico. Do you really think I'm going to go home for a long bath and bed? My night is ruined. I'm staying and will get to it right away. I suppose that you'll be up all night too.”
“I'll have to be. You can reach me at the office if you want. I wonder if she was pregnant.”
“I'll check.”
Nico left feeling confident. Armelle had a reputation for being the best. He met Commander Joël Théron at 36 Quai des Orfèvres around eleven p.m. The two men climbed the four flights of stairs. There, Nico unlocked a box and took out a key to open a small door that looked like it led to an attic. They ascended an extremely narrow stairwell with a ceiling so low, Nico had to hunch over. They entered the evidence room. It was a tiny room with white tiles and fluorescent lights. It was air conditioned to preserve the evidence. There were some gruesome things in that room, including a charred suitcase that had carried the cut-off limbs of a young criminal's father. There were also bloody clothes, weapons and glass containers in various sizes containing not-especially-engaging contents, certainly blood, saliva and sperm. Nico took the rope used in the second murder, removed a sample and gave it to Théron.
“Make sure to compare the two knots, and we need to know if the ropes came from the same supplier.”
Nico slipped out the window that led to the rooftop. He walked a few yards, breathing deeply. He stood over Paris. In the daytime, the view was exceptional. At this hour, the capital was wearing its stage costume of shining lights. It was magical. Théron had followed him, and the two policemen smiled at each other. Here, they stood at the summit of their turf. Neither Parisians nor tourists had access to this panorama.
They returned the way they came and walked down to Nico's office.
“So, as I was saying, interviews with Marie-Hélène Jory's colleagues and students didn't provide anything new,” Théron said. “We're not finished yet, but I'm not very optimistic. Other than a few unpaid parking tickets, there is nothing to reproach any of them.”
“And the rope?”
“In Paris, there are seventy-two retailers specializing in nautical material and fifteen distribution networks. I stopped at La Flotte Française on Boulevard de Charonne in the eleventh arrondissement. You were right. It's a square-line eight-strand braided rope used for mooring. It is very flexible, not very voluminous and absorbs shocks well. It's a 4.9 mm diameter, ACD 700 high-strength mooring line. The team got a list of Parisian customers. We are contacting them now. But anyone can go in and buy some rope and pay cash.”
“Would our man have had the idea of buying this kind of rope without knowing anything about boating?” Chief Sirsky was thinking out loud. “Could any of Jory's colleagues be on that customer list?”
“Do you take us for amateurs? Of course we checked that out. The answer is no, nor were any of her students or people close to her.”
“That would have been too simple. Keep at it, and check the second sample. We did learn something though: We have something from a boat that you can't just pick up anywhere. It's a start, Joël.”
DOMINIQUE Kreiss arrived at Nico's office. He offered her a seat and handed her a large cup of black coffee. Her emerald-green eyes, highlighted by her fatigue, shone in the half-light. The thought that he preferred Dr. Dalry's dark, deep look crossed his mind. At the mere thought of her, a warm sensation spread through his body.
“Studying the victims' profiles is just as interesting as drawing up a portrait of the killer,” the young woman began. “They're a key aspect and give an idea of the killer's fantasies. Marie-Hélène Jory and Chloé Bartes were actually very similar. They were both about thirty, successful and established. They were not the type to go off with someone they didn't know, although that could happen to anyone. Both were also pretty brunettes, average in height and thin. Nothing was left to chance.”
Footsteps resonated in the narrow hallway that led to Nico's office. Kriven entered.
“The murder was committed in the middle of the day, and there are no witnesses!” he spat out.
“The time the crimes took place tells us a lot about the murderer,” Dominique Kreiss said. “He can act in the afternoon without raising any suspicions. His work hours allow for that.”
“If he has a job,” Nico said.
“We are dealing with an intelligent, smart person who organizes his deeds perfectly. He has the profile of a sociopath. Generally speaking, this kind of individual has a successful career. He is socially integrated and can simulate emotions that, in reality, he is incapable of feeling. As I already said, he manipulates and has a high opinion of himself. He never feels any remorse.”
“I'm intrigued by his message âseven days, seven women,' ” Nico said. “It suggests that there is a beginning and an end to his acts. Yet serial killers don't put a time limit on their crimes. They generally can't stop the impulse. Sociopaths constantly seek pleasure through their crimes. They can't remove themselves from their world.”
“That's not necessarily true,” the psychologist responded. “A sociopath can take on a particular mission within a determined time span and continue with other crimes elsewhere or in another way. Furthermore, you know as well as I that the serial killer at least unconsciously wants to be caught and voluntarily leaves clues to help the investigation. And he has an overwhelming desire for recognition. He wants to be famous; that is an important part of his psychology. These seven days are perhaps just the beginning.”
“Hmm.”
“There's something else,” Dominique continued. “I find the murderer's message to have a strong biblical connotation.”
“Biblical?” Kriven asked. “That's all we need!”
“Genesis, Chapter 1,” Dominique responded. “God took six days to create the world and rested on the seventh. I have the feeling there is cynicism in the message. As if our man were defying God, and through him, all of us, by killing a seventh woman on the seventh day. I think he is Parisian, living and working in the capital. He is between twenty-five and forty and most certainly white. Curiously, serial killers are almost exclusively Caucasian, and they tend to commit crimes only in their own ethnic group. Our killer has a close connection to the profile of his victims, which would confirm the rule. That is all I can say for the moment.”
“Very good. Now the two of you should go to bed,” Nico said. “I want to see you first thing in the morning.”
Kreiss and Kriven looked at their watches at the same time. It was past three in the morning.
“Go on,” Nico ordered. “Catch some shut-eye, take a shower and come back ready to go. I won't have any pity on you starting at eight a.m. If the murderer holds to his word, we could find a third victim during the day. This may be your last time to sleep before the weekend.”
“What about you?” Kriven asked.
“I give the orders around here, and I am not obliged to follow them. I'm waiting for Professor Vilars to call. And Théron is at forensics, and he's supposed to send me some information. Get out of here, now!”
NICO didn't have to wait long. Armelle Vilars had not slacked off, loyal to her reputation. She called him on his direct line.
“Still at work?” she began. “And to think that the public accuses us of having it easy.”
Nico couldn't help but smile. She was always energetic and witty.
“I worked double time, and I don't have much to tell you,” Armelle said. “The bastard is very up to date on our methods. I sent the hair to Dr. Tom Robin at the police forensics lab. I pulled him out of his bed especially for you. He is the best molecular biologist I know.”
Nico took the information as a direct jab at his relations with the university hospital in Nantes. Armelle also considered the chief's obsession to be ridiculous and wanted to get the message across with some tact.
“Give him twenty-four hours, and we'll know everything it can tell us,” the medical examiner said. “But I kept the best for the last. Chloé Bartes was pregnant.”
“Pregnant?”
“That's right. One month along, just like Marie-Hélène Jory.”
“Do you think there could be some connection?”
“I'm not Miss Marple. You're the cop. But it is surprising, isn't it? It could mean that our man has access to confidential medical information concerning the victims. That limits the scope of the investigation, so to speak.”
“So maybe our man hates pretty young brunettes who have achieved something in life and are pregnant. How many women meet that description in all of Paris? Can you imagine?”