I dont think so, Sean answered. Perhaps if hed only taken the teeth Id consider it more likely, but with him taking the fingernails as well
But youll check anyway, Canning said, with another grin.
Sean nodded and gave him a faint, sad smile.
Your initial thoughts then, Inspector? Canning asked. If he has no special affinity for teeth, or nails for that matter, why did your killer go to such lengths to take them?
Souvenirs, Sean told him.
But surely there must have been easier souvenirs to take? The victims personal belongings, for example.
Not intimate enough for this one, Sean explained. He needs the ultimate reminder of his victims parts of their body. At the same time, he wants something he can keep forever. So he took their teeth and nails.
I see, Canning nodded, keen for Sean to continue with his insights.
At the same time, hes showing us his strength, Sean added. Showing us what hes prepared to do to achieve what he wants. Where hes prepared to go. A challenge, if you like.
A challenge to you?
I dont know. Maybe. Or maybe to someone else.
Someone else? Canning pressed, intrigued.
The lack of defensive marks interests me, Sean said, keen to move on. Neither victim had a single mark.
In each case a blow was administered to the back of the head, Canning explained. Not with sufficient force to kill them, but enough to render them unconscious or to incapacitate them while the killer inflicted the fatal wounds. Sean shook his head and frowned. Something bothering you, Inspector?
I dont know, he replied. That just doesnt feel right.
What exactly? Canning asked.
This one wouldnt want them unconscious, he explained. Hed have wanted them to know what was happening, to know that he was going to kill them. He would have wanted to look into their eyes and see the terror. Ideally, he would have wanted them to be alive when he took their teeth and nails. He wanted them to feel his power.
Canning cleared his throat. Have you considered that he might have inflicted the fatal wounds just as they were coming to?
Its a possibility, he answered, sounding unconvinced. But why the first wound to the throat? It wasnt necessarily fatal. Why take the trouble to cut through the front of the throat and then follow up by cutting through the side of the neck and the carotid artery? Why not administer the fatal wound straight away?
Maybe it was the other way around, Canning suggested. Maybe he killed them quickly with the severing of the carotid artery and then slit the throat.
But in that case, why slit the throat at all? Sean asked himself more than Canning.
He derived pleasure from mutilation? Canning offered.
No, Sean dismissed it. The mutilation to the fingers and mouth was coincidental, a side effect of removing his trophies. Mutilation after deaths not what this one is about.
Certainly it would have been difficult for either victim to have screamed or cried for help once the trachea had been dissected. Maybe he wanted their silence.
Cannings words set Seans mind on fire as he cursed himself for not having seen it himself the victims trying to scream, to call for help, but only able to make sickening gurgling sounds as the air from their lungs mixed with the blood from their wounds.
Thats why no defence wounds, he announced. He cut their throats so he could watch them struggling in fear for as long as he dared until it was necessary to kill them. They had no chance to recover from the shock and horror of what was happening to them and fight back.
Fight-or-flight instinct, Canning nodded. Even the gravely wounded can inflict significant damage once the bodys flooded with survival endorphins. But surely that contradicts rather than explains the lack of defence wounds?
Their hands Sean turned to him, seeing it clearly in his mind now. Their hands would have been clawing at their own throats. They were too busy trying to stop the flow of blood to fight back. He wanted to watch them. Watch them in silence.
And before the fight instinct took over, Canning went on, he cut the carotid artery, giving them only seconds to live.
He watched the life drain out of them, Sean continued, and then he went to work on their teeth and nails.
Interesting, Canning admitted. But you realize its all guesswork Ill never be able to say for sure which wound was inflicted first.
No, Sean accepted. The crime scene should help though: blood-spray patterns, footprints in the blood, anything else we can find.
Build up a picture, eh?
Try to, at least, Sean told him. If you just give a jury a long list of evidence, youll lose them.
Not sure that would be the case here, Canning argued. The viciousness of these attacks would keep most juries interested, not to mention his distinctive modus operandi.
I suppose, Sean reluctantly agreed.
There was a moments silence, then Canning spoke again. Does it worry you?
Does what worry me?
That he wants to leave you in no doubt that the crimes are his.
It does, Sean admitted. It tells me he wants the world to take notice of him and thatll hell never stop until it does.
Why does he want the world to take notice of him?
Dont we all? Sean answered with a question. But thats too general not specific enough to him. I dont think killing is the thing that drives him. I think its a means to an end. The way he can achieve whatever it is hes trying to achieve.
Are you sure? Canning asked doubtfully.
No, Sean shook his head. Not really.
Well, one thing we can be sure about, Canning told him, is the type of victim he seems drawn to. Young and vulnerable.
Victims of society become the victims of killers, Sean explained.
Indeed, Canning agreed sadly.
And therell be more of them, Sean warned. Unless I can find him and find him quickly.
Then youd better get on. Canning turned to his tray of torturous instruments and removed a lethally sharpened scalpel. And so had I.