“Do you know much about the Meagan Stokes case, Ms. Stokes?” Quincy asked.
“It's not something my family talks about.”
“Do you have any theories as to why Larry Digger approached you?”
“I was found in the hospital when I was nine. I don't have any memory of where I came from. That makes me an easy target.”
“We've covered this ground,” David said impatiently. “There are some reasons to believe Larry Digger's allegations. That's not why I requested the Meagan Stokes file.”
“Then why did you request the file?”
“Because I'm not blind, deaf, and dumb,” David snapped. “Because I can read between the lines, and just as you've probably concluded in the last few weeks, there are a lot of reasons to doubt that Russell Lee Holmes killed Meagan Stokes.”
Even though she'd heard this theory once before, Melanie still found it jarring. Hundreds of miles away, however, Quincy did not seem startled.
“Very good, Agent. I have spent two weeks trying to figure out what to do. After all, there is no statute of limitations on homicide, and I am almost one hundred percent certain that Russell Lee Holmes did not kill Meagan Stokes.”
“He was innocent?” Melanie asked.
“I would not say he was innocent,” Quincy calmly corrected her. “I believe he did kill six young children. I doubt, however, that he kidnapped and murdered Meagan Stokes.”
“Russell Lee Holmes was never tried for Meagan Stokes,” David reviewed. “He was convicted of killing six other children, and confessed to Meagan's murder only later, after he'd been found guilty. He made that confession to Larry Digger.”
“Why do you believe he made the confession?” Quincy asked David like a teacher quizzing a student.
“Because he was already sentenced to death. What was one murder more?”
“Hold on,” Melanie protested. “Even if it didn't cost him anything, why would Russell Lee Holmes do someone a favor by confessing? He's not exactly a nice guy.”
“I don't think he did it for nothing,” David said, and for the first time, he wouldn't meet her eye. “I think he may have been given an offer he couldn't refuse.”
She didn't understand. They had just had this conversation. Why hadn't he said this then? What new warped theory was cooking in that head of his?
“I think,” David said slowly, “we just figured out why your parents may have knowingly adopted the child of a murderer. He covers their sin.”
Melanie stopped breathing. She had the strange sensation that David's apartment was tilting and she was plunging headlong into the abyss.
“Melanie?” David asked quietly. She managed to turn her head. He was looking at her with genuine concern. It turned his eyes gold. Both gentleness and anger brought out the gold. Why had she never realized that before?
She suddenly wanted him to hold her, to feel those arms around her again the way he'd done the first night, when he had carried her away from Larry Digger, and the scent of Old Spice had made her feel safe.
Melanie looked down. She worked hard at getting the next breath, then the one after that. Slowly the knot eased from her chest, the pressure easing slightly.
“Why don't we take this one step at a time,” Quincy said reasonably. “You've drawn some interesting conclusions, Agent Riggs, but you're new at this and don't have all the information yet. Ms. Stokes, are you certain you want to be part of this discussion?”
“Yes,” she said hoarsely. “Yes.”
Quincy began almost gently.
“In 1969, when Russell Lee Holmes kidnapped his first child, Howard Teten was just beginning to outline the techniques we call profiling. Without a framework for approaching such crimes, the local police and FBI handled the Russell Lee Holmes case merely as a murder investigation. They focused on
how
the crimes were committed, the modus operandi, instead of
why
the crimes were being committed — what need was driving the killer's behavior. This is an important distinction, Ms. Stokes, for a serial killer's MO can change over time. Maybe he switches from binding to drugging victims, but a killer's need,
control and domination of women
, will not change. This is called the killer's ‘signature.' It will be the same at every single killing, from the first to the thirtieth, even if everything else about the crime seems different.
“In 1969, however, the police did not understand this principle of a killer's ‘signature.' They mistakenly attributed a murder to Russell Lee Holmes based on a superficial MO, since they lacked the tools to analyze deeper, more significant issues of his pathology.
“Russell Lee Holmes hated poor white children. Are we clear on that?”
David nodded. Melanie managed a small yes.
Quincy continued. “Russell Lee Holmes never advanced beyond the fourth grade and was illiterate. He held a slew of menial jobs, was known for his nasty temper, and his last job review simply stated: ‘He likes to spit.' Most likely Russell Lee Holmes hated poor white children because a very deep, very real part of Russell Lee Holmes hated himself. And he acted upon this hatred pathologically, picking out small, vulnerable girls
and
boys because in the most elemental way, he was trying to destroy his own roots. Russell Lee Holmes did not suffer from a conscience. He did, however, possess a great deal of rage.
“Now, as an illiterate, unskilled man, Holmes could not exercise his rage in a sophisticated manner. The six murders were clearly blitzkrieg attacks. Holmes entered poor areas, which were undoubtedly familiar to him and in which he undoubtedly blended in, and simply snatched whatever child was easiest. Later, the police identified the shack he used to perform the worst of his crimes.”
“It was out in the woods, wasn't it?” Melanie whispered. “Single room. Tightly constructed, not even a draft. The windows are dusty though, I can't see out. And cracked halfway across. I watched the spider walk along that crack.”
“Ms. Stokes,” Quincy said carefully. “I happen to have pictures of the shack in front of me, full-color crime photos. I'm not sure what you are describing, but Russell Lee Holmes's shack had no windows. It was a simple, handmade structure, and I assure you, it had plenty of drafts. Several of the floorboards even came up. Beneath them was where the police found his stash of ‘trophies.'”
Melanie stilled. “It's not …I'm not picturing Russell Lee Holmes's shack?”
“Absolutely not.”
She looked at David. “Then maybe, maybe I wasn't there. Maybe I'm not—”
“Or Russell Lee Holmes kept Meagan someplace else.”
“Or Russell Lee Holmes was not involved,” Quincy said.
“Then why would I be in the room, seeing Meagan?” Melanie addressed David.
“I don't know. Maybe Meagan was kept in a different location, and for some reason you were also held there.”
“Ms. Stokes,” Quincy said, “when you say you can picture Meagan Stokes, what exactly do you mean?”
Melanie couldn't bring herself to answer. She looked to David for assistance.
“She's recently started to remember things. That's one of the reasons we believe Larry Digger may have been telling the truth. Melanie seems to have some memories of being shut up in a one-room cabin with Meagan Stokes.”
“What else do you recall?”
“That's all.”
“But you've just started remembering, correct? Think of the images that must be in your mind. There are so many things we could learn from you, particularly about the Meagan Stokes case. Would you be willing to come here? I know some expert hypnotists who could work with you.”
Melanie almost laughed. “Oh, yes, everyone seems quite fascinated by the ‘potential' of my mind.” Her lips twisted. “Except me, of course.”
“Hypnotism, Ms. Stokes. In a controlled environment. I promise we'll take good care of you—”
“No, thank you.”
“Ms. Stokes—”
“I said no thank you! For God's sake, it all happened twenty-five years ago, and I
do not
want to remember dying children!”
Quincy was silent, probably disappointed.
“Of course,” he said at last. “Then let's review what we know based upon the police notes. So Russell Lee Holmes hated poor white children. He kidnapped them, he tortured them in his private cabin, and when he was done, he strangled them with his bare hands, another symbol of someone performing a deeply personal act of violence. He disposed of the bodies randomly, dumping them naked in ditches, drainpipes, and open fields. Again this fulfilled his need to denigrate the children, to cast them aside as proverbial rag dolls not worthy even of protection from the elements.
“In short, in every act he performed, he revealed his hatred of youth, poverty, and weakness. He revealed his hatred for himself. And then we get to the Meagan Stokes file.”
“She wasn't poor,” David said. “There was a ransom demand. And her body was buried in a forest, not dumped. It was decapitated.”
“She was in the nanny's car,” Melanie murmured, “parked in front of the nanny's mother's house. I thought that was considered a poor neighborhood.”
“It was a lower income neighborhood,” Quincy said carefully, “but I would still categorize it as up from Holmes's usual hunting grounds. And then, the victim profile doesn't fit. Meagan was well dressed, well groomed. She sat in a nice car and played with an imported toy. She was bright and well spoken. If Holmes was acting out a primarily self-destructive act, there should've been nothing about Meagan Stokes to trigger his blood lust. There should've been nothing about her that would've reminded himself of him.”
“Maybe it was revenge,” Melanie said. “The other children he hated because they were like him. He killed Meagan because she was above him.”
“Possible, Ms. Stokes, but not probable. That is a distinct change in motivation, and it's rare to see a change in a serial killer's pathology. Now, in some cases, a killer may snatch a different type of victim because the desired target is not available. He prefers young, twenty-something blond women, but when the blood lust got too high, the killer ‘settled' for a thirty-something brunette. But in that case the killer's need, hurting women, was not that particular and thus it was still fulfilled. For other killers, however, the victim profile is intrinsically tied with their signature. They don't want to just hurt women. They need to hurt ‘loose' women, so the killer would never substitute a mother of three for a prostitute, even if the mother of three was more convenient. That crime wouldn't fulfill their need. For these men, finding the right target is like falling in love. They describe spending weeks, months, years, looking for the ‘right one.' They start with the physical — in Holmes's case, young, undersized, dirty, and poor. And then they simply see her. The one who moves something in their chests. The one who makes their palms perspire. And they know — this one will be their target.
“Russell Lee Holmes falls into this group of men, and looking at the victim profile, I am not convinced there was anything about clean, vibrant, upper-class Meagan Stokes to evoke blood lust in Russell Lee Holmes. To put it colloquially, she was not his type.”
“There are all the other factors,” David interjected, looking at Melanie. “Such as how did an illiterate man fashion a ransom note?”
“Excellent point, Agent,” Quincy said approvingly. “I have a copy of the ransom note in front of me. As the police argued in 1972, it is a very crude note with the words cut out of newspapers and the grammar incorrect. It was hand-delivered to the hospital where Harper Stokes worked, which was clever but simple. All of this fit their image of Russell Lee Holmes. However, if you break the note down, that argument does not hold. The words are too precisely placed for an uneducated, angry young man. There is no glue leaking from the edges, indicating a great deal of precision. Finally, there are no prints, no postmark, not even saliva used to seal the envelope. Whoever created this note was patient, intelligent, and very savvy about police procedure. None of that fits with what we know about Russell Lee Holmes.”
Melanie got up and shakily ran a glass of tap water in the sink. “Then why can I picture Meagan in that shack? If she wasn't kidnapped by Russell Lee Holmes, why would she be there?”
“I'm not sure, Ms. Stokes. I'm honestly very curious about your ‘memories' and what they might mean for the Meagan Stokes case. My overall impression is that it was a copycat crime deliberately set up by someone who knew something of Russell Lee Holmes's activities and who set out to emulate them, not out of neurosis, but out of a rational desire to cover up his or her own crime. When Meagan was kidnapped, it was already suspected that the children were kept alive and hidden away, so perhaps a shack was chosen to ensure that the crime fit as much ‘physical evidence' as possible. In 1972 that was certainly enough to fool the local police and FBI.
“But as I mentioned before, profiling takes us beyond mere physical imitation of crimes to the underlying motivations and behavior. Once again, the Meagan Stokes case does not fit with Russell Lee's motivation. Which brings me to the final, overwhelming factor in my mind — the disposal of her body.
“All of Russell Lee Holmes's victims were stripped naked and dumped. Except for Meagan Stokes. She was naked, but her body had been wrapped in a blanket. She was not dumped, but carefully buried. She was also mutilated, her hands and head cut off. Are you familiar with decapitation, Agent Riggs?”
“What do you mean?”
“Decapitation generally happens for two reasons. One is logical. The cleverer criminals, generally psychopaths who are actively seeking ways to cover their footsteps, will remove the head of their victim to make identifying the body difficult. They will also cut off hands in some cases.”
David said, “But we've already established that Russell Lee Holmes isn't exactly clever or logical. So what's the second reason?”
“Emotional. Sometimes, if a murderer feels guilty about a victim, suffers remorse or shame, he will mutilate heads or hands to depersonalize the crime. Decapitation can be an indication that the victim was close to the killer.”
“Oh, God,” Melanie said, already knowing what was coming next.
“In conclusion,” Quincy said quietly, “the body was covered by either someone who was very careful, or by someone who truly cared.”