said Marci, smiling for the first time that night, ‘we can warn him.’
Chapter 9
I went to Marci’s house every day that week, trading theories and combing through every piece of evidence we could remember. At first we sat in the kitchen, but Marci got nervous with the little kids so close by, and we took our talk of serial killers and dismembered corpses outside.
‘What about the poles?’ Marci asked. ‘That’s got to mean something, right?’ It was Saturday, and we were still no closer to an answer.
‘It’s a message,’ I said, ‘but that doesn’t tell us much. Most of the time when a serial killer leaves a message like that, it’s just the standard “here I am, you can’t catch me”.’
‘Even if it’s just to get attention,’ said Marci, ‘the fact that the killer needs attention is still a pretty good clue, right?’
‘Absolutely,’ I agreed. I don’t know if Marci was a natural psychologist, or if it was just the fact that she wasn’t sociopathic like me, but she was really getting good at this. Sociopathy is defined as the lack of empathy: sociopaths like me can’t identify with other people, which means we can’t really understand them either. Marci didn’t have that handicap, so she was finding connections I’d never thought of.
‘The poles are like flags,’ she said, thinking out loud, ‘to make sure people see the body. One of the poles in the Mayor was an actual flagpole.’
‘But with the flag ripped off,’ I said. ‘If they were supposed to be flags, why would she strip it down?’
‘It was an American flag, so maybe she hates America. Or maybe she loves America and didn’t want the flag associated with the murder.’
‘Serial killing isn’t murder,’ I said, the words slipping out before I could stop them. It was a pet peeve of mine, but from the shocked look on Marci’s face I knew she’d misinterpreted it. ‘I mean, it is murder, but it’s not just murder. It’s like saying computer hacking is theft. It is, but it’s got its own set of reasons and methods that make it so different from any other theft that you have to look at it differently.’
‘That seems like a weird distinction,’ said Marci. ‘Killing someone is murder. That’s that.’
‘It is,’ I said again, ‘but it’s a very specific kind of murder that needs to be looked at very differently.’ She was still staring at me strangely, so I tried to change the subject. ‘Look, it doesn’t matter – let’s get back to the flag. You think the killer loves America and doesn’t want it associated with killing.’
Marci watched me silently for a moment longer before speaking. ‘Could be a war protest.’
‘Clayton County is a weird place for a war protest.’
‘I know, I’m just thinking. The poles really do act like flags, though, and I’m trying to think of why she rips the actual flags off. Maybe it’s just the pole. She doesn’t want something up there to distract from the poles themselves.’
‘I don’t think so,’ I said, remembering back to the shot I’d seen on the news. ‘When the Mayor died, she hung plastic sheeting on the poles. It was like she was making her own flags.’
‘Did they look like anything?’
‘Kind of like wings, actually. But it was a flagpole, and she hung her own flag on it.’
‘So she’s replacing America.’
‘Or removing it,’ I said.
‘Removing it?’
‘Maybe not completely,’ I said, ‘but from the crime scene, at least. How about this: the Handyman always puts poles in the victims’ backs, because that’s how she sends her message. This time, because she was in City Hall, the only pole she could find was a flagpole, but she didn’t want the flag to interfere with her message: it’s not about America, it’s about something else, so she had to take the flag off so people wouldn’t get the wrong idea.’
‘That works,’
Chapter 9
I went to Marci’s house every day that week, trading theories and combing through every piece of evidence we could remember. At first we sat in the kitchen, but Marci got nervous with the little kids so close by, and we took our talk of serial killers and dismembered corpses outside.
‘What about the poles?’ Marci asked. ‘That’s got to mean something, right?’ It was Saturday, and we were still no closer to an answer.
‘It’s a message,’ I said, ‘but that doesn’t tell us much. Most of the time when a serial killer leaves a message like that, it’s just the standard “here I am, you can’t catch me”.’
‘Even if it’s just to get attention,’ said Marci, ‘the fact that the killer needs attention is still a pretty good clue, right?’
‘Absolutely,’ I agreed. I don’t know if Marci was a natural psychologist, or if it was just the fact that she wasn’t sociopathic like me, but she was really getting good at this. Sociopathy is defined as the lack of empathy: sociopaths like me can’t identify with other people, which means we can’t really understand them either. Marci didn’t have that handicap, so she was finding connections I’d never thought of.
‘The poles are like flags,’ she said, thinking out loud, ‘to make sure people see the body. One of the poles in the Mayor was an actual flagpole.’
‘But with the flag ripped off,’ I said. ‘If they were supposed to be flags, why would she strip it down?’
‘It was an American flag, so maybe she hates America. Or maybe she loves America and didn’t want the flag associated with the murder.’
‘Serial killing isn’t murder,’ I said, the words slipping out before I could stop them. It was a pet peeve of mine, but from the shocked look on Marci’s face I knew she’d misinterpreted it. ‘I mean, it is murder, but it’s not just murder. It’s like saying computer hacking is theft. It is, but it’s got its own set of reasons and methods that make it so different from any other theft that you have to look at it differently.’
‘That seems like a weird distinction,’ said Marci. ‘Killing someone is murder. That’s that.’
‘It is,’ I said again, ‘but it’s a very specific kind of murder that needs to be looked at very differently.’ She was still staring at me strangely, so I tried to change the subject. ‘Look, it doesn’t matter – let’s get back to the flag. You think the killer loves America and doesn’t want it associated with killing.’
Marci watched me silently for a moment longer before speaking. ‘Could be a war protest.’
‘Clayton County is a weird place for a war protest.’
‘I know, I’m just thinking. The poles really do act like flags, though, and I’m trying to think of why she rips the actual flags off. Maybe it’s just the pole. She doesn’t want something up there to distract from the poles themselves.’
‘I don’t think so,’ I said, remembering back to the shot I’d seen on the news. ‘When the Mayor died, she hung plastic sheeting on the poles. It was like she was making her own flags.’
‘Did they look like anything?’
‘Kind of like wings, actually. But it was a flagpole, and she hung her own flag on it.’
‘So she’s replacing America.’
‘Or removing it,’ I said.
‘Removing it?’
‘Maybe not completely,’ I said, ‘but from the crime scene, at least. How about this: the Handyman always puts poles in the victims’ backs, because that’s how she sends her message. This time, because she was in City Hall, the only pole she could find was a flagpole, but she didn’t want the flag to interfere with her message: it’s not about America, it’s about something else, so she had to take the flag off so people wouldn’t get the wrong idea.’
‘That works,’
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