The Coffin Maker

Chapter 7

Rain was pelting at the windows when Joyce ushered Ailsa into the Sheriff's office. Li Li Wu arrived moments later. Ailsa thought Petersen looked like a man who had not slept in a week. He admitted that the only positive development since the disappearance of Riley Pacocha was that her mother was home from the hospital. He summarized his department's findings, which were limited to traffic surveillance video along potential routes to the neighborhood during the hours before and after Pacocha went missing, a survey of the residents, and preliminary interviews with the usual suspects and a list of potential offenders recently released from prison. Ailsa said she had received a text from Blackwood indicating that he would arrive the day after tomorrow. Wu asked if surveillance video existed for the two previous abductions.

"In the first case, there were none. For the second incident," Petersen paused, "the video can't be found. It's lost or was thrown out by mistake."

"Thrown out?" exclaimed Wu. "Had anyone looked at it?" She shook her head in disbelief. Petersen sheepishly offered, "I don't think anyone realized what we were dealing with until that second coffin showed up."

"Well, I want to personally view the videos for the current case," said Wu, "if you still have them," she added cuttingly. The Sheriff nodded. Wu adjusted the papers in front of her and began to deliver the Bureau's preliminary profile of the offender.

"The BAU classify him as 'Organized'. Unlike his opposite who is impulsive, opportunistic and leaves an excess of clues at unplanned chaotic scenes, this offender carefully plans his crimes, is highly intelligent, and controls his victims. In the modern era of forensics, only the Manley case parallels the paucity of evidence. The offender has an abstract signature because he seeks satisfaction in a non-conventional manner. After the initial capture, he does not touch the victim. He derives his pleasure from acts of denial. If distracted, he might arbitrarily abandon a victim leaving her to die. In his early life, he may have experienced humiliating rejection by girls resulting in crippling anxiety, awkwardness and self-doubt in social situations and he is taking out his revenge on the victims. He is physically strong and may be an immigrant schooled in the U.S. but holds a grudge against what he perceives as the privileged classes. He works in the area but has some space and a workshop. It may be a secluded rural property or a house downtown. He has a van or other vehicle to move lumber and loaded coffins. He is familiar with power tools and may work in construction. He is white, possibly Hispanic. He has a small dog. Despite a dearth of social skills, he lives a double life and is a master at cloaking a persona which fools his wife, family, friends and employer."

"That might look good in a report, but how does any of that help us apprehend him?" inquired Petersen.

"It's a process of elimination really," said Wu. "For starters, we look at the clues we do have, search for common threads among the three cases, isolate his comfort zone, and establish his anchor point."

Petersen thumbed through the report on his desk. "There are few clues. He wears surgical gloves while building caskets with pine lumber, common hardware and wood screws. He sprinkles dog hair on the ground before he sets the coffins down at the side of the road. What the hell is that all about?"

"He's clever." Wu crossed her mesh stocking legs, gathered her long black hair and flung it over her shoulder. Petersen had never seen an FBI agent like her. If he disguises himself as well as you, he thought, we won't ever find him.

"He's masking his trail," continued Wu. "He knows the lab would find hair samples from his dog. It might give him away."

"It's an attempt to confuse us?" asked Petersen.

"Confuse some of us," said Wu, curtly.

Ailsa jumped in. "He corrupts the coffin and the scene with the hair from dogs he does not own."