another attack. The pieces were starting to pull together. They needed a name. It had to be the same person, but they still didnât know who it was. Greco wasnât going to allow himself to be overly optimistic. They needed a name.
Greco, James and Wyatt had gone to all of the places the attacker went with the credit cardsâMervynâs, Sav-On, the lunch spots, the spa, the Nike factory outlet store, the perfume place, the housewares store. Clerks who could remember the customer gave similar descriptions. Many claimed sheâd been in a hurry, one mentioned that sheâd even knocked over a display in the housewares store. She was rude to one of the waiters. She wore her cowboy boots out of the Western wear store; she had made her selections quickly when she bought the diamond-and-sapphire earrings and Opium perfume.
Opium perfume. Diamond earrings. Cowboy boots. Lunch, a haircut, pampering at a spa. Liquor and cigarettes. Greco perused the list of purchases, trying to imagine the kind of person who would beat someone to death, who would strangle someone with her own hands, and then go out an après-murder spending spree. This must be a person without a whisper of remorse. Greco found it bizarre. What did it mean that this woman killed with vicious ferocity, and then went shopping? Was it a release after the intensity of the murder?
And now, with the attack on Dorinda, she seemed to be increasing the frequency of her killing. Between Norma and June, it was two weeks. Dorinda came 10 days later. The lag time between incidents was getting shorter, Greco thought. She was like an animal that canât stop itself after its first taste of blood.
He had many questions, but no one with whom to discuss them. It saddened Greco that he and his co-workers were unable to function as a team. After Tuesdayâs blow-up, they split up the credit card work. Greco found it ironic that even though Lt. Gaskins had told him that he was in charge, Wyatt had assigned him to go to Mervynâs, West Dallas, Esthetiques hair salon, the jewelry store and Ferrari Bistro. Greco worked mostly by himself while Wyatt and James teamed up. He sometimes went with either Wyatt or James to interview clerks. But even though they were working with the same information on the same case, they didnât have meetings to share what they had. There was no brainstorming, no discussions about what all of this information meant and how the investigation should proceed.
Wyatt never volunteered information, but Greco played by the rules and always told Wyatt, his supervisor, what he came up with. Occasionally James let him know what was going on, but he was going to night school and usually hit the road for class at the end of the day. James had known Wyatt when they were both deputies for the sheriffâs department in Orange County. James was friends with both of them and was playing it straight down the middle. Greco knew Wyatt wanted to solve the case over everything else. Greco naturally wanted to solve the caseâhe had gotten close to Jeri and felt bad about Juneâs family. He didnât want to let any of them down.
Greco picked up the paper again and looked at the story about the attack. Why an antique store? He looked up the address and marked it by sticking another pin on the map behind his desk. Heâd marked the murders in Canyon Lake, the shopping spree in Temecula and Lake Elsinore, and now the new attack in Lake Elsinore. He tried to set up a timeline to show the times and dates of the purchases. Greco saw that the suspect had stopped at a Sav-On in Lake Elsinore at 4:59 p.m. on Feb. 28, that sheâd gone back to that same store early the next morning before going out to Mervynâs and then Murrieta Hot Springs. Heâd bet the suspect lived near that Sav-On. He made the mistake of sharing that with Wyatt and James. They had poked fun at his pin map.
One of the best clues came from the hairstylists and
Greco, James and Wyatt had gone to all of the places the attacker went with the credit cardsâMervynâs, Sav-On, the lunch spots, the spa, the Nike factory outlet store, the perfume place, the housewares store. Clerks who could remember the customer gave similar descriptions. Many claimed sheâd been in a hurry, one mentioned that sheâd even knocked over a display in the housewares store. She was rude to one of the waiters. She wore her cowboy boots out of the Western wear store; she had made her selections quickly when she bought the diamond-and-sapphire earrings and Opium perfume.
Opium perfume. Diamond earrings. Cowboy boots. Lunch, a haircut, pampering at a spa. Liquor and cigarettes. Greco perused the list of purchases, trying to imagine the kind of person who would beat someone to death, who would strangle someone with her own hands, and then go out an après-murder spending spree. This must be a person without a whisper of remorse. Greco found it bizarre. What did it mean that this woman killed with vicious ferocity, and then went shopping? Was it a release after the intensity of the murder?
And now, with the attack on Dorinda, she seemed to be increasing the frequency of her killing. Between Norma and June, it was two weeks. Dorinda came 10 days later. The lag time between incidents was getting shorter, Greco thought. She was like an animal that canât stop itself after its first taste of blood.
He had many questions, but no one with whom to discuss them. It saddened Greco that he and his co-workers were unable to function as a team. After Tuesdayâs blow-up, they split up the credit card work. Greco found it ironic that even though Lt. Gaskins had told him that he was in charge, Wyatt had assigned him to go to Mervynâs, West Dallas, Esthetiques hair salon, the jewelry store and Ferrari Bistro. Greco worked mostly by himself while Wyatt and James teamed up. He sometimes went with either Wyatt or James to interview clerks. But even though they were working with the same information on the same case, they didnât have meetings to share what they had. There was no brainstorming, no discussions about what all of this information meant and how the investigation should proceed.
Wyatt never volunteered information, but Greco played by the rules and always told Wyatt, his supervisor, what he came up with. Occasionally James let him know what was going on, but he was going to night school and usually hit the road for class at the end of the day. James had known Wyatt when they were both deputies for the sheriffâs department in Orange County. James was friends with both of them and was playing it straight down the middle. Greco knew Wyatt wanted to solve the case over everything else. Greco naturally wanted to solve the caseâhe had gotten close to Jeri and felt bad about Juneâs family. He didnât want to let any of them down.
Greco picked up the paper again and looked at the story about the attack. Why an antique store? He looked up the address and marked it by sticking another pin on the map behind his desk. Heâd marked the murders in Canyon Lake, the shopping spree in Temecula and Lake Elsinore, and now the new attack in Lake Elsinore. He tried to set up a timeline to show the times and dates of the purchases. Greco saw that the suspect had stopped at a Sav-On in Lake Elsinore at 4:59 p.m. on Feb. 28, that sheâd gone back to that same store early the next morning before going out to Mervynâs and then Murrieta Hot Springs. Heâd bet the suspect lived near that Sav-On. He made the mistake of sharing that with Wyatt and James. They had poked fun at his pin map.
One of the best clues came from the hairstylists and
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