[MD1, 7:30PM]
>After dinner, the group split again, promising one >another that they would meet for breakfast the next >morning at the motel.
Before leaving the restaurant, Zenya stopped to look up the number for the local library in the phone book and dialed the number for the hours.
Jordan was already waiting in the car when she finally came out of Delaney�s.
"Would you mind making a stop on the way to the motel," she asked, sliding into the passenger seat.
"What do you have in mind."
"I want to see what the library has on Hindu mythology. It might provide some insight into the killer�s mind." She gave him the address and the vague directions provided by Delaney�s hostess.
Jordan nodded. "While we�re on the subject, have you made any progress in composing a profile of our killer?"
"I was planning on working on that tonight. I want to get a look at Mary�s journal first. The choice of victims says a lot about the killer in a case like this. But I can give you the preliminaries. Male, probably white, age... Instinct tells me mid-thirties."
"But that doesn�t jive with the murders in Denver," Jordan observed.
"No, it doesn�t. In fact, neither does the similarity in the MO."
Jordan gave her an inquisitive look. "I don�t think I understand what you mean."
"The human mind can deviate in an almost infinite number of ways, but the deviation itself runs a predictable course. In every case of serial murders that I�ve encountered, the level of violence escalates over time. After twenty years, I would expect more mutilation, more brutality in the crime. Serial killers don�t just stop killing for twenty years and then pick up where they left off."
"Maybe he was out of circulation until recently. In prison, a mental hospital."
Zenya shook her head. "I don�t think so. If that were the case, he would be so desperate to find a victim, he wouldn�t have taken the time he did stalking or seducing her. Unless there was a previous victim we don�t know about."
"We�ll check missing persons first thing in the morning."
They arrived at the library a short time later, with a minimum of difficulty in locating it. While Jordan headed off to the periodicals section to look at the local newspapers, Zenya looked with distaste at the computer terminals that had replaced card catalogs in all but the most remote and backward libraries and finally sat down to get to work. After running half a dozen fruitless searches, she came to the conclusion, not for the first time, that there was something infinitely more satisfying in digging through drawer after drawer of weathered and tattered index cards than in having a computer screen inform you that you haven�t provided it with enough information. Just as she was about to give up, the system reluctantly found one book that might contain the information she wanted.
In the stacks, Zenya quickly found the book, along with a few others the computer hadn�t bothered to tell her about. Gathering her research materials, she headed to the checkout desk, where Jordan joined her a moment later.
"Library card," the librarian asked.
"We�re from out of town," Zenya said.
"Any ID will do."
Zenya handed her driver�s license over to the librarian, who placed it on the scanner, then scanned the books. Zenya watched this, a thought suddenly occurring to her. Kali seemed to be a very important symbol to the killer, and if the killer developed a relationship with his victim, he might encourage her to read up on the subject.
"You keep records of who checks out books," Jordan said a fraction of a second before Zenya could ask the question.
"Of course," the librarian said. "Problem with that?"
"No, of course not," Jordan said, pulling out his ID. "FBI. Could we get a list of the people who have checked out these books recently?"
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