would do so if things
got too crazy. He signaled that the techs could bag up the body and
take it away. As he and Kate turned to look at the two teenagers in the
back of the police cruiser, the boy trying to act manly as he comforted
his girlfriend, whose endless whimpering was getting on
everyone's nerves, Hawkin said, half to himself, "I
don't know whether to hope this guy Banderas has a history of
wife beating, or hope he doesn't."
MATTHEW BANDERAS DID NOT have a history of spousal abuse.
Matthew Banderas had a history of rape.
Chapter 6
THE MURDER MADE THE papers in the morning, but although the articles
speculated on the possible links between this victim, James Larsen, and
the lighter pranks of the LOPD, they did not yet have the key link of
the criminal history of the two murdered men. It would only be a matter
of time, however, and with that knowledge riding on their necks, the
two detectives threw themselves at the case. Early on Saturday morning
they met up in the Hall of Justice, to get the search warrants under
way and to track down their latest victim's past.
Banderas had only been arrested once, shortly after his twenty-sixth
birthday. For that he had stood trial, been found guilty, and served
just under three years. The light sentence had been a result of his
plausibility on the stand, and was further reduced by his spotless
behavior in the low-security prison. Still, neither detective believed
that the one rape was his only instance of aberrant behavior.
"How many rapists do you know who started when they were in
their mid-twenties?" Kate asked Al skeptically, and indeed, when
they began to dig, they found that Banderas had been closely
investigated for three other rapes since his eighteenth birthday, all
of them let go by a lack of evidence the district attorney found
adequate enough for conviction. The one time he had been caught was
seven and a half years before.
Hawkin shook his head. "He was a very clever boy. He took
souvenirs--the victim's underwear--but he either
destroyed them or hid each one. Assuming he was behind all of
these."
In addition to the three for which Banderas was chief suspect, there
was a whole string of unsolved rapes, three of them clearly related by
place, time, and technique, two others with more tenuous links. Eight
times over the last seventeen years some unidentified predator had
waited for a lone woman to come out of a convenience store at night,
forced himself into her car at gunpoint, driven to some dark place,
raped her, and left her naked, bound, and missing her underwear. He
always wore a mask and gloves.
None of the series had taken place while Banderas was incarcerated.
"Why didn't anyone catch this bastard?" Kate asked incredulously.
"No forensic evidence, and you can't lock a guy up on a
similar MO. The one conviction, the woman bit him on the face and the
mask came off. She identified him at the trial. But because he
didn't finish up like he usually did--he dumped her out in
the hills, didn't take a souvenir, didn't tie her
up--there wasn't much point in going for the whole series.
And he wore a condom, so there wasn't even any DNA."
Only two of the unsolved rapes had taken place since Banderas came out of prison. As Hawkin had said, the man was cautious.
"He never hurt any of the women beyond the rape. Though
that's bad enough," he hastened to say, "but even a
couple of the victims said he was 'polite." Seems to me a
strange way to describe a guy who's just raped you."
"Do you suppose he'd have let the next woman to see his face go free?" Kate asked him.
"Not if it cost him another spell in prison. But someone has
taken that choice out of his hands and put the problem on our
desk."
"So you think there's someone out there taking care of the bad guys?"
"Doesn't it look like that to you?"
"No chance of a copycat?"
"The taser and cuffs were described in the paper, but they all
just said 'strangled' without giving details. And they
certainly don't have
got too crazy. He signaled that the techs could bag up the body and
take it away. As he and Kate turned to look at the two teenagers in the
back of the police cruiser, the boy trying to act manly as he comforted
his girlfriend, whose endless whimpering was getting on
everyone's nerves, Hawkin said, half to himself, "I
don't know whether to hope this guy Banderas has a history of
wife beating, or hope he doesn't."
MATTHEW BANDERAS DID NOT have a history of spousal abuse.
Matthew Banderas had a history of rape.
Chapter 6
THE MURDER MADE THE papers in the morning, but although the articles
speculated on the possible links between this victim, James Larsen, and
the lighter pranks of the LOPD, they did not yet have the key link of
the criminal history of the two murdered men. It would only be a matter
of time, however, and with that knowledge riding on their necks, the
two detectives threw themselves at the case. Early on Saturday morning
they met up in the Hall of Justice, to get the search warrants under
way and to track down their latest victim's past.
Banderas had only been arrested once, shortly after his twenty-sixth
birthday. For that he had stood trial, been found guilty, and served
just under three years. The light sentence had been a result of his
plausibility on the stand, and was further reduced by his spotless
behavior in the low-security prison. Still, neither detective believed
that the one rape was his only instance of aberrant behavior.
"How many rapists do you know who started when they were in
their mid-twenties?" Kate asked Al skeptically, and indeed, when
they began to dig, they found that Banderas had been closely
investigated for three other rapes since his eighteenth birthday, all
of them let go by a lack of evidence the district attorney found
adequate enough for conviction. The one time he had been caught was
seven and a half years before.
Hawkin shook his head. "He was a very clever boy. He took
souvenirs--the victim's underwear--but he either
destroyed them or hid each one. Assuming he was behind all of
these."
In addition to the three for which Banderas was chief suspect, there
was a whole string of unsolved rapes, three of them clearly related by
place, time, and technique, two others with more tenuous links. Eight
times over the last seventeen years some unidentified predator had
waited for a lone woman to come out of a convenience store at night,
forced himself into her car at gunpoint, driven to some dark place,
raped her, and left her naked, bound, and missing her underwear. He
always wore a mask and gloves.
None of the series had taken place while Banderas was incarcerated.
"Why didn't anyone catch this bastard?" Kate asked incredulously.
"No forensic evidence, and you can't lock a guy up on a
similar MO. The one conviction, the woman bit him on the face and the
mask came off. She identified him at the trial. But because he
didn't finish up like he usually did--he dumped her out in
the hills, didn't take a souvenir, didn't tie her
up--there wasn't much point in going for the whole series.
And he wore a condom, so there wasn't even any DNA."
Only two of the unsolved rapes had taken place since Banderas came out of prison. As Hawkin had said, the man was cautious.
"He never hurt any of the women beyond the rape. Though
that's bad enough," he hastened to say, "but even a
couple of the victims said he was 'polite." Seems to me a
strange way to describe a guy who's just raped you."
"Do you suppose he'd have let the next woman to see his face go free?" Kate asked him.
"Not if it cost him another spell in prison. But someone has
taken that choice out of his hands and put the problem on our
desk."
"So you think there's someone out there taking care of the bad guys?"
"Doesn't it look like that to you?"
"No chance of a copycat?"
"The taser and cuffs were described in the paper, but they all
just said 'strangled' without giving details. And they
certainly don't have
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