Serial Separation by Dick C. Waters Page A

Sullivan, another college student, was reported missing, along with Cathy Palmer. Neither has turned up, but we feel Mr. Sullivan may be our next torso victim.”
    While he continued, I studied the people in the room. I recognized other members of the earlier task force, including Paul Brosque. It was also easy to notice Attorney General Victor Young, who had the most expensive looking suit in the room. Many of the others must have been members of the press.
    Paddy continued. “My role as task force commander is to focus a tiger team to find the killer, or killers, of these young men.”
    “Our previous task force efforts were to organize all of the applicable state, city and community units into a single cohesive team to find the New England strangler. I’m sure all of you know we were successful. Finding the strangler, and another perpetrator who killed two former camp counselors, was a credit to the team and the different participating entities. However, although we were successful, the process was new, and it took too long to apprehend the guilty parties.” He stopped to take a drink of water, resuming leaning on the window sill.
    “We established many procedures and methods to facilitate faster information sharing among the different organizations. Many of those organizations are represented in this room, while others were unable to attend. I am counting on these methods to expedite the capture of whoever is behind these gruesome killings. Please hold your questions—I’ll be done shortly. All the bodies were recovered on the North Shore, which leads us to believe the bodies were dumped in the Boston Harbor area. I meant to mention that the two men, and the new potential victim, were last seen on a Friday night. They were also in the water several days before they washed on shore.”
    The room was very warm. Paddy must have also noticed it, taking another drink of water.
    “I’m almost done. The preliminary coroner’s report on the bodies indicated that the hands, feet, and head were severed by a sharp, heavy object mashing the bones in all of the respective areas, causing instant death. Okay, I’ll take your questions now. Ed, since I held you off a couple of times—you’re first.”
    “Thanks, Paddy. What about the private parts?”
    “We’re purposely not going into too many details, but the removal does imply the killings could be sexually related. The danger of jumping to conclusions is risky; it could have been done to throw us off target. The coroner’s report did indicate that they were removed prior to death.”
    Another reporter asked, “Paddy what’s next in your investigation?”
    “Good question. We’re currently interviewing people who last saw the two victims and the same with Bob Sullivan and Cathy Palmer. The last two hold the most promise, since it was last Friday night they disappeared. Possibly someone saw something in the area where they were last seen.”
    “We are also asking the FBI for profiler assistance, as well as other resources available locally. You can include that if you care to.”
    “I would like you to publicize the establishment of the task force, which might prevent further killings.”
    Paddy finished his water and looked around the room. With no further questions, he ended the meeting.
    “I want to thank you for your attendance today and attention on this matter. We’re going to assemble the task team in the other room. You are welcome to take pictures. Please follow me to the other room. Members of the team should reassemble here after pictures. Thank you.”
    Everyone headed to the other room, but I managed to pull Mike aside. “Mike, I’m sorry I was late, but there was an accident on Memorial Drive.”
    “Paddy waited about two minutes to get started. Someone mentioned they passed an accident and traffic was backed up. You know that’s unusual for him to delay starting anything . . . I think he might just like you. Any chance you can join me tonight