text: “Has the forensic team finished up with their part yet? I don’t want to contaminate the scene with my shoe prints if they haven’t cleared it.” “Yes. It’s ok to walk around now. They already did their thing. About two hours ago they got dispatched to a new crime scene. Another stiff was found a few miles from here. HQ didn’t notify you about that one yet? The crew is there working that case. I’m sure you’ll be investigating that one also. Dave’s still on vacation, right?” “Yeah. I guess It’s my lucky day.”; Hiroki Hamada responded to the deputy with an eye roll. The detective noted a couple of obvious things first. The victim hadn’t been dead very long and visible evidence pointed to it being a homicide. A large ‘T’ was carved in the man’s forehead with some sort of sharp instrument. That sort of cartoonish mutilation was usually reserved for big city murder cases and crime novels. It wasn’t enough that the victim died. The perpetrator wanted to make a strong statement about his or her victim. That extra level of effort implied it was a crime of passion. There was no ID present on the corpse but the forensics team had taken his prints and other info. They would know who the deceased was soon enough. Once his identity and personal background was known, a clearer picture of possible motives would hopefully present itself. For the time being the mystery man was simply labeled ‘John Doe #1’. The coroner picked up the body and transported it back to the county morgue for an autopsy. Detective Hamada called Mark’s work cell. “Hey. I hear you have another case? Since Jefferson is still hula hooping in Honolulu, this one is gonna fall on my assignment docket too. Text me the location. I’ll be over as soon as I finish my notes here.” Larson sent him the address. Upon arrival Hiroki immediately noticed the glaringly obvious connection between the two crimes. The victim was similarly posed and also had a large letter carved in her forehead. This time it was a giant ‘A’. He exchanged furtive glances with his be-speckled coworker. It was no coincidence. They were dealing with a spree killer. Who was Miss ‘A’? She did have identification on her person and from it Detective Hamada noted that no part of her name bore the initial ‘A’. He was immediately reminded of ‘The scarlet letter’. It was mandatory reading when he was in high school. “ I see she’s wearing a wedding ring. Does it list her emergency contact in her phone? As soon as we’ve make positive ID on the body and notified the family, I’ll bring in her spouse and have a little chat with him. Her death may not be that much of a shock. I’ll feel him out and see if he knows who our ‘John Doe’ is” “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”; Larson muttered. “Nathaniel Hawthorne?” “Yep.” ----------- The woman’s husband was brought in for an exploratory ‘interview’. He seemed genuinely broken-up about her grizzly death but that was to be expected. Even if he killed her, that didn’t exclude the possibility that he felt genuine sorrow and remorse for his violent actions. Hiroki studied the husband’s facial mannerisms carefully but didn’t detect any sign of deception in his eyes or body language. His reaction came across as that of an innocent man grieving over a devastating loss. A detective’s instincts about a suspect were not indefatigable but his gut feeling had served him well over his career. In order to validate or strengthen his opinion of the man, it was necessary to escalate the pressure and intensity in the interview. It was about to morph into a full-blown murder interrogation. Certain terse details presented in the right way were apt to trigger an honest response. The day before, Hiroki had done some digging around in the wife’s personal life. He uncovered that she was having an affair with a man in her aerobics class. More telling, she hadn’t been terribly discreet about it. The ‘A’ carved in her forehead fit his ‘Adulterer’ theory perfectly but when confronted with the sensitive news, the husband denied knowing anything about it. Being asked point blank about something like that would likely rattle any pretense or acting out of the subject. He was genuinely crushed to learn of her infidelity. As tidy as it would have wrapped up the case, Hiroki believed the man really didn’t know. Interestingly, ‘Mr. T’ as they began referring to him; was not even the dead woman’s lover! His mysterious identity and relationship to her (if any existed) was still unknown. The other detectives on duty observed the interview from behind the one-way privacy glass. They were just as perplexed by the ‘near miss’ of not being able to connect the two cases, as Hiroki was. It was unusual having two unsolved murders for their modest-sized town. For them to be so similar and obviously connected (but unproven) was incredibly frustrating. Both crime scenes had been surprisingly free of usable evidence. The killer had been very careful to cover his tracks. They intended to bring in the wife’s lover for questioning but that would have to wait. Another dead body was reported in the industrial district. Like the first two cases, a letter was carved into the deceased person’s forehead. This time it was a large letter ‘H’. The detectives were starting to feel overwhelmed. The woman’s identity was unknown but based on several facts revealed at the scene, she was believed to be a prostitute. The detectives and forensic team recognized the tell-take signs of needle marks and drug paraphernalia on her person. They’d seen those things enough in the abandoned buildings nearby to realize she probably had an arrest record. A quick run of her prints at the precinct would reveal her identity. Much more complicated was going to be how to unravel her connection to the other two victims and what the ‘H’ stood for. Someone was leaving them a symbolic trail of breadcrumbs but they couldn’t see where the mystery led yet. ---------- “Does anyone have a working theory or possible suggestions for what the letters might mean? Originally I thought the ‘A’ stood for ‘adultery’ since the victim was having an affair but that could just be a coincidence for all we know. The ‘T’ victim does have theft and larceny charges in his extensive arrest records but he’s been guilty of many other crimes as well. In the end, we are still assuming here. We could be wandering down the wrong path.” Detective Jefferson answered: “If your crime initial theory is right, what would the ‘H’ stand for on the prostitute? ‘Whore’? This killer is way too cunning to misspell a word like that. He’s been very careful in his efforts to avoid detection so far. That implies some level of higher education. For all we know, he’s just alphabetizing his murder spree. Heaven forbid! I’d hate to think he plans to have 26 bodies out there.” In the next few weeks several more bodies were found. An ‘R’, an ‘M’ and an ‘S’, among them. Detectives Hamada and Jefferson were up to their necks in seemingly unrelated details. They sought to find an obvious pattern to the murders. They examined financial details of the victims, relationship statuses, political ideologies, and a dozen other random variables. Despite the exhaustive research, none of the victims were believed to know each other and no connection could be found between them. It was baffling. Hiroki interviewed family, friends, spouses, and coworkers. He was able to build a clear understanding of the victims but wasn’t really able to find a common thread. Eventually he had to consider another angle. It was a strong possibility that their murders were the morbid handiwork of a completely unconnected vigilante. That would make solving the murders infinitely more difficult since there would be no clear connection between the victims and killer. Regardless, even a vigilante would have to encounter his victims somehow in order to know intimate details about them. There had to be at least a minimal source of connection in order for the killer to select each of them for their letter designation. Hiroki was determined to find out how the victims were picked. From there he hoped to track down ‘the alphabet killer’ before another person ended up with a letter carved into their head. One by one, the identities of the victims were uncovered. They came from all walks of life and personal backgrounds. Detective Hamada kept going back to his ‘sin label’ theory. The little bits and pieces he learned about them could possibly be tied to the letter they were found with. The victim with the ‘T’ had been a thief. The victim with the ‘A’ was definitely an adulterer. The ‘R’ victim had been accused of rape. The ‘M’ victim’s family strongly hinted during interviews that he had ‘touched them’ inappropriately. He had never been legally charged with molestation but those crimes often go unpunished. It was enough to support his suspicions. The ‘S’ case was difficult to tie to a traditional ‘sin’ at first until Dave Jefferson reminded him that homosexuals had been referred to as ‘sodomites’ in the past. That in itself was very telling about the killer, if correct. Finally that left the ‘H’ case. They knew she was a prostitute, so why hadn’t she received a ‘W’ or ‘P’; if the theory was right? ----------- Somewhere in their modest-sized town, a very angry, judgmental killer hunted prey with little resistance. Law enforcement struggled to find suitable suspects to focus on. With all of the online surveillance and potential eyewitnesses of a modern society, it seemed reasonable to think that someone knew who he was. Someone held the key. The police department put out an urgent request for witnesses and tips. As was typically the case, most of the calls received were of questionable assistance. They interviewed dozens of felons and individuals with police records. Public and private pressure was mounting. The municipal powers that be, seemed as if they were more concerned about arresting someone, than finding the actual guilty party. To finger a patsy would be a double miscarriage of justice. State and federal police threatened to take over the investigation. Some days, Hiroki was beyond ready to hand it over but pride or masculine stupidity pushed him to keep going. Some days he wasn’t sure which one was the motivator. He surmised that perhaps it was a little of both. The ‘alphabet killer’ case drew national attention. The news media went out of their way to pander to public fear and imply that Hamada and Jefferson were inept detectives. Even the ‘favorable’ reports panned them as being way out of their league. That was perhaps the strongest catalyst for Hiroki to keep trying. He drew up a list of what they knew and then divided it from what they believed. Dave Jefferson has always been skeptical of the ‘sin letter theory’ but he didn’t have a better explanation for the killer’s motives. None of the victims names shared initials with the letter they were branded with. The two men decided to focus on the puzzle pieces which didn’t really fit. “Why was Charlotte Jones inscribed with an ‘H’? Did she try to rob a customer who retaliated, or was she lured into that vacant building with the sole purpose of killing her?” Jefferson answered. “I think she was ‘dead’ before she even walked into that seedy place. The killer had her number, er, umm, ‘letter’. It wasn’t really a crime of passion. The situation was fully controlled. She wasn’t shot or stabbed in fury. She was strangled with the meticulous focus of a baker slowly kneading some dough. This was a political statement, pure and simple. I think the ‘H’ might stand for ‘hooker’. It would suit your ‘sin letter’ theory.” Hiroki agreed with part of Dave’s assessment but disagreed with another key aspect. “Absolutely! This is about ridding the world of ‘undesirables’ (from his misanthropist point of view) but who does that? Who takes it that far? What person carries his contempt for the ‘amoral’ in humanity to the level of murder while branding them with a corresponding initial? It’s not enough to just take their lives. He also leaves us a cryptic clue as to why he killed them. This guy is ‘cool, calm, and collected’. He’s focused and very determined.” “Obviously.”; Dave replied. “He doesn’t make forensic mistakes that would lead us to him. To me, he doesn’t seem like the type to call prostitutes ‘hookers’ either. Maybe I’m wrong but that slang term almost seems ‘beneath’ him and ‘distasteful’. At least, based on what we’ve witnessed by his choice of victims. I seriously doubt he has a police record either. I get the feeling this guy is Ivy League educated and even hobnobs with social elites. He’s basically a morality snob. Who still calls a homosexual a ‘sodomite’ in this day and age? I wouldn’t be surprised if the guy wore a top hat and monocle.” Jefferson imagined the ‘Monopoly guy’ and grinned. What Hiroki said made complete sense. He laid out his argument perfectly. The normal pattern for a murderer is to have a lengthy crime record of escalating offenses which eventually build up to violent crime. They typically have a personal beef with their victims. This killer appeared to operate on some misguided morality crusade. It wasn’t simply a mindless murder spree. In the mind of the unknown killer, it apparently served the purpose of ‘bettering mankind’. Idealogical killings of that nature wouldn’t be committed by irrational individuals who had criminal records or made rookie mistakes. ------------- The two of them had spent too much time focusing on traditional criminal patterns and predictable behavior. Nothing about these bizarre killings fit the pattern of a sadistic felon with an uncontrollable bloodlust. Both men realized that a radical adjustment was necessary in their methodology and problem solving efforts. They refocused their energy on those with higher education and the devoutly religious. It brought in a whole new list of potential suspects. Hiroki couldn’t stop fixating on the ‘H’ victim, Charlotte Jones. He was sure that she was somehow the key to solving the crimes. Her name echoed continually in his head. He tried to work through the mystery information roadblock by sheer repetition. “Charlotte. Charlotte. Charlotte... the... hooker. Charlotte the ... huuuu”. Like a bolt out of the blue a thought came to him. “Adkins! Hand me that Oxford dictionary. Quick!” The clerk pulled the oversized reference book off the shelf and handed it to Detective Hamada. Hiroki flipped wildly through the pages. He scanned the top and bottom word of each margin in search of a specific noun. There on the yellowed sheet was the very answer he sought. ‘Harlot: noun; Origin Middle English, rogue, buffoon, female prostitute, from Anglo-French herlot beggar, vagabond. First known use: 15th century’ “Harlot!”; He almost shouted to Dave over the phone. “ it’s the ‘H’! It’s got to be! Harlot is an English noun for a prostitute. By prim and proper English standards of the older generation, Charlotte Jones was commonly referred to as a ‘harlot’. Why don’t we see if there are any expat British citizens living in or around the city? It would fit in perfectly with the evolving profile we’ve built about the killer.” The men dug in to their research with renewed enthusiasm. Hiroki didn’t even want to consider that their new idea might lead to another dead end. The cruel thought was unbearable. This HAD to be it. It just had to be. As luck would have it, there was an ex-English nobleman living nearby. He immigrated to their city less than a year before. Under ordinary circumstances, he would’ve never been on their radar but with their adjusted parameters, he deserved more attention. Hiroki and Dave sat down to discuss their interrogation strategy. Someone with his power and influence could easily ‘lawyer up’ and avoid answering questions if he became spooked. If he was their guy, he surely anticipated being caught as some point. If so, he had a strategic head start of almost a year. The distinguished subject of their interest was an older gentleman with degrees from Cambridge and significant financial resources. It wasn’t going to be easy to wrangle him into the interview room. He was definitely no ordinary suspect. It would be even more difficult to get him to be forthcoming if he was involved. The detectives needed to plan for every possible contingency. They needed the element of surprise to catch him completely off guard. They researched his background extensively so there would be no surprises (if and when they got him into the interrogation room). ---------- “Good evening constables! I was told that my assistance was needed here at the precinct. I have availed myself to be at your service. Anything I can do for the brave lads in blue.” The detectives looked at each other in amused skepticism. His gentlemanly manner was almost too exaggerated to be believed but he was dead serious. He was suave, urbane, and genteel. Hiroki invited him in. The three men sat around the interview table and made small talk for a few minutes. It was all meant to put the suspect at ease to lower his guard but it had the opposite effect. For the suspect to show up so enthusiastically and unannounced, it put them at a strategic disadvantage. He was calling the shots. It was almost like he was interrogating them. Dave shot Hiroki a discreet look. He wanted to excuse themselves for a private moment to discuss the odd turn of events but it wasn’t a good idea. They didn’t dare leave him alone so early in the session. They had to keep tag-teaming him, to stop the suspect from collecting his thoughts. In an embarrassing gaffe, he’d already managed to fish some details from them over why they had asked him to come in. They had to regain control of the situation. All during the questioning, both men had to keep reminding themselves he was their lead suspect. It was surreal to think that such an affable gentleman was possibly responsible for a number of gruesome unsolved killings. He came across more like a dignified TV host of ‘Masterpiece theater’ than a serial murderer. The only hint of his possible guilt was how he dominated the interview. With that in mind, it was believable. The two detectives were used to being in total control. In this ‘cat and mouse game’, he was the cat. “Gentlemen, I hate to be imprudent but I sense there is something you wish to ask me. Can we dispense with the banter and pleasantries and ‘cut to the chase’? I feel we would all benefit from ‘yanking off the bandaid’, as it were.” Hiroki looked at Dave. The interview had drifted so far off course that it made getting back to their plan of attack, a challenge. The whole point was to put the suspect at ease and then slowly build toward confronting him. His forceful candor had turned the tables on them and unseated their careful stages of planning. Then he forced their hand before they could recover. “Mr. Maybeck. We appreciate your directness. Really we do. Let me lay it out for you. We have a series of unsolved murders in the city. We are certain they are connected because of certain commonalities between them. These reoccurring crime elements point to a person with certain distinctive traits. Through painstaking deduction and police work, we have created a profile of the killer. While that profile is still developing, it’s incredibly specific.” “And you feel that I fit this suspect profile...”; He interrupted. “Um, Yes sir.”; Dave replied. “You currently match our parameters so we’d like to ask you a few questions, in order to eliminate you as a suspect. Do you mind, or would you prefer having an attorney present?” “Ah! We were doing so dashingly up until now. I appreciate your candor, gentlemen. We can sit on opposite sides of the table and still maintain our dignity here. I’m sure that you’d very much appreciate closing the book on those crimes you spoke of. Please do me the kindness of not trying to outmaneuver me in some mental chess match. Just put forth the questions. I shall answer them with full truth. It’s my word as a person of honor.” Hiroki couldn’t believe the situation they were in and neither could Dave. They were actually considering being completely straight and open with the man. It went against every rule in the detective’s playbook but it was unique circumstances. Against his better judgment, Hiroki came out and asked him point blank about his involvement in the crimes. Mr. Maybeck smiled. “See. That wasn’t so hard, was it? I am indeed, ‘your man’. Honestly, it’s a great relief that I’ve finally been caught. I wish to unburden myself over my reasons and justifications for my bloody deeds soon but for the moment, I’m just curious about my ‘Waterloo’. What was my slip up that led you to me?” “Harlot.”; Dave deadpanned. “Detective Hamada realized that ‘H’ had to stand for something other than ‘hooker’ or ‘(W)hore’. Once we happened upon the old English noun ‘Harlot’, it pointed to an educated, older Englishman like yourself. We just looked into our census records until your information came up. If you had used ‘P’ for prostitute, we’d probably still be looking.” Mr. Maybeck smiled at the linguistic irony. He knew that one day he would eventually slip up. It was just a matter of time. He was proud that the two astute gentlemen across from him were the ones who finally brought him in. He imagined a ‘M’ carved into his own forehead.