All Fall Down by Erica Spindler Page A

anyone’s parade, but I don’t think we should pin our hopes on this guy,” Agent Parks offered. “He sounds like a disorganized inadequate, same as our UNSUB, but the—”
    â€œExcuse me,” Mayor Pinkston interrupted. “Our what?”
    â€œUnknown subject. As I was saying, the other descriptions we have of him and of his behavior don’t fit the profile.”
    For the second time that morning, all attention focused on Connor Parks. “Profile?” the mayor asked.
    â€œMumbo jumbo,” Stemmons muttered, tossing his pencil onto the table.
    â€œA psychological portrait of a killer,” Connor told the mayor. “We create this portrait by comparing what we know about criminal behavior to the details of a particular crime scene. They’re quite accurate.”
    Connor looked at Stemmons, his expression bland. “Actually, there’s nothing metaphysical or mysticalabout profiling. Our conclusions are based on data collected from actual crimes and hundreds of hours of interviews with known serial killers and rapists.”
    Stemmons scowled. The mayor settled more comfortably in his chair. “So, tell us about this UNSUB, Agent Parks. What kind of man are we dealing with here?”
    â€œHe’s a white male,” Connor began. “Twenty-five to thirty-five years of age. He’s handsome and in good shape. He works out, most probably at a health club.
    â€œHe’s a professional man, doctor, lawyer, accountant,” he went on. “If not successful, he has the trappings of success—the clothes, the car. A BMW is my guess. But one of the smaller ones, a 300 series, maybe. A few years old.”
    One of the SBI guys inquired about Connor’s reasoning; he responded with the same theory he’d presented to Melanie at the scene a week ago—Joli Andersen had been both beautiful and rich and since it appeared she had gone with this UNSUB willingly, he would have had to meet certain requirements.
    Melanie spoke up. “He’s right about that. From interviews with her friends and co-workers, I learned that although Joli was an outrageous flirt, she was picky about who she dated. She had real high standards. He had to be good-looking. And he had to be well off.”
    â€œExactly,” Connor murmured, then continued. “His neighbors would describe him as nice. Quiet, maybe even shy. He lives or works near the crime scene, he picked the Sweet Dreams Motel for that reason.”
    â€œHow near?” Chief Lyons asked.
    â€œThree or four miles is my guess. But no more than ten.”
    That caused a ripple of interest at the table, but Connor ignored it and moved on. “As evidenced by the whore/madonna aspects of his ritual and the fact that he didn’t penetrate the victim naturally, he had a strained but obsessive relationship with his mother. He has a history of broken relationships with women. If married, the union is an unhappy one.”
    â€œWhat about priors?” Bobby Taggerty asked.
    â€œGood question. If there’s anything, it’s nothing serious. No convictions. He frequents prostitutes, you may find a charge for soliciting.” Connor fell silent a moment. “This UNSUB hasn’t killed before, but he will again.”
    A buzz moved around the conference table. Harrison spoke up first. “You sure about that, Parks?”
    â€œPositive. He’s been nurturing his fantasy for a long time. With Joli the fantasy got out of control, because unlike the hookers he’d experimented with, Joli stopped behaving as he wanted her to. In an effort to control her, he killed her. Killing her provided him with a powerful sexual jolt. He’s going to want that again. He’s going to crave it.”
    â€œWe could check out the hospitals,” Harrison murmured, “the doctors’ and lawyers’ offices in that area, start putting together a list of names of guys who fit this