The Stone Wall and His Weakness [A.H.]

XIII

━━━━━━⊱༻ ༺⊰━━━━━━

I stayed at the office while Aaron, JJ, and Reid went to Bill Kinderman's apartment. He had slit his own throat, which we deduced to his paternal instinct taking over, since the only other person in the apartment was his son.

We had learned from Kinderman's wife, though they were separated, that Bill had been going to therapy and coming home with recovered memories. These memories were told to his therapist, a fantasy that he was convincing himself were true. We looked at things from a new angle, one where all the victims had these recovered memories. Before, we had profiled that they all had pre-existing conditions, and these memories, or rather delusions, were it.

Aaron guessed that the unsub was there the last time they made up a story, back in 1985. JJ pointed out that the victims were only three or four, so they wouldn't be able to distinguish reality from fantasy.

"Exactly," He said, "And their age plus the time period puts us right at the height of the satanic ritual abuse allegations."

"Oh, crap." Rossi and I chorused.

"This is a completely different set of circumstances."

"Was it? Throughout the nineteen-eighties, pre-school age kids made accusations against their teachers."

"McMartin, Fells Acres, Kern County. Two-hundred cases by nineteen-eighty-eight." I rambled off. Everyone looked at me surprised, "What? Reid isn't the only one who knows stuff."

Reid's ears tinted pink, "Numerous innocent teachers had their careers and lives ruined, and all the cases were ultimately debunked."

"By the BAU and the Lanning Report, thank you very much." Rossi stated proudly.

"Except that was mass hysteria involving teachers and kids, and these victims were adopted."

"Well, that's the deviation that made us miss the profile until now. Thirty years ago these victims could have made similar accusations in a foster home, all saying the same thing, that they saw this." He held up the photocopies of the drawing that were clipped to a file.

"Three year old Larry Merrin would have said the monster dragged him down the stairs."

"And four year old Daniel Karras one-upped it by adding a sexual detail. That's how kids tell stories, especially when they're reinforced by well-meaning parents, therapists, and cops."

"And in doing so, they ruin the unsub's life, and now he's taking revenge."

"Okay, so if this is the why, how do we find him?"

"We talk to Christine McNeil. Maybe she can tell us where the foster home was."

"Flag on the play there. She's not talking to anyone."

"Maybe she will."

▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
Aaron, Rossi, and I stood in front of the open door, staring in at Christine, who hadn't moved since the last time we saw her. Aaron held a small box in his hands.