[MD 1, 12:45PM]
Zenya thought for a few more moments about the details of the case that had been discussed at the briefing before pulling out her copy of the case file. She had already begun to form cursory profile of the killer. Jim and Vanessa had hit on precisely the points she had been considering while she pretended to be resting. This was a very organized and methodical killer. The diminishing time frame in Denver fit every model of behavior she knew. Eventually, the perpetrator would have to kill more and more frequently in order to satisfy whatever perverse desire drove him to his crimes. But the twenty year lapse in killings made almost no sense, unless of course the individual were in prison or a mental hospital. That explanation didn�t feel quite right, though.
And then there were the markings on the victims, drawn while the victim was still alive. The symbol was complex. If the killer merely wanted a signature, it would have been something much simpler, therefore there must be something deeply personal about the image he chose to represent. Discovering just what it meant to the killer would be a tremendous step, but given that the human mind can warp and twist in an infinite number of ways, it was an answer they might never have. The only logical approach to the question was to begin with the mythology. Whatever else Zenya tried to think about, she kept coming back to that.
At least it beat thinking about where she was at the moment. Glancing out the window at the clouds and the ground, which seemed a little too far away at the moment, Zenya shuddered and mumbled a few words under her breath.
Leo glanced up from the file he was reading. "What?"
"I hate flying," Zenya said, removing the photographs from the file and searching for the one with the clearest view of the markings on the body. "I don�t trust any form of transportation that doesn�t wear shoes."
"Then you�ll really love the flight from Albuquerque to Santa Fe," Jordan commented.
"I�ve been trying not to think about that." She found the photo with the clearest image of the markings and pulled the drawing from the file to look at them side by side. "How�s your Hindu mythology," she asked, directing the question to the entire team.
"I know that�s supposed to be Kali, goddess of death," Leo answered.
Zenya smiled and nodded. "Indian myth is rarely so succinct. Goddess of death, true, but that�s only one aspect of her. She�s the supreme mother goddess. She creates, nurtures and finally destroys her creation. This representation is a bit unusual."
"What do you mean," Jim asked, glancing over the back of the seat to get a view of the drawing.
"There have been many images of Kali, and I�m certainly no expert on the subject," Zenya said, though she planned to remedy that situation as soon as she could get to a library, "but from what I recall, when she�s pictured with a skull, she�s generally drinking from it. The difference here may be significant."
"In what way," Jordan asked.
"She seems almost to be displaying the skull," Vanessa said. "Like a trophy or something."
"Maybe," Zenya agreed. "Of course it could mean almost anything."
"Does the killer see himself, or herself, as Kali, or is that how he sees the victims," Jim wondered.
"Interesting question," Leo said. "Trying to kill death?"
"That certainly speaks to the ritualistic nature of the murders," Zenya said.
"And what about the hearts?"
Leo glanced down at the reports he was reading, then back at Jim. "When you said ripped out, you weren�t too far off the mark. According to the reports from Denver, the removal of the hearts was done with no particular skill and apparently without surgical instruments."
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