J. Bertrand - Pattern of Wounds

“We’ll skip over that one for the time being,” he says, flashing me a smile. “Once you’ve seen the rest, maybe you’ll wanna come back to it of your own volition.”

“I only count fifteen cases on this list. Yesterday there were more than twenty.”

“Like I said, some of these I’ve looked at in greater detail than others. This is a work in progress, so as I’m able to, I rule them out. But the ones on this list are looking pretty solid, with one or two exceptions, which I’ll point out. Now, if you don’t mind. .”

“Go right ahead.”

2000, Maria Olivares, age 28

Houston prostitute, multiple stab wounds, single-edged blade (probably 4”), not recovered. Body dumped in reservoir. No suspect.

2000, Shelly Lloyd, age 17

Student found in flooded ditch, ne Harris County, drowned and multiple stab wounds. Ka-Bar knife recovered at scene, partial print. No suspect.

“At the time, the Olivares case doesn’t seem to have gotten much attention. Just a hooker who got herself cut up. The body was in the water awhile. But the Shelly Lloyd murder was big news at the time. She was held down in the water and stabbed to death as she drowned. The murder weapon was an army surplus Ka-Bar knife-a clip-point 7-inch blade-but the partial print on the guard was never matched to a suspect.”

“And you think these two cases are connected?” Cavallo asks.

“It looks that way, doesn’t it?”

She gives a noncommittal shrug. “Right here, it says the knife that killed Olivares was probably four inches long, and you just said the other one was seven inches.”

“That’s the thing,” he says. “This killer isn’t attached to a particular weapon. He seems to use a variety of blades. Personally, I think he brings one with him as a backup but always makes a point of looking for available alternatives at the scene. Let me keep going and you’ll see what I’m talking about.”

He rattles off three cases from 2001-Kathy Ann Morrison, Tonya Stall, Mira Echeverría-before he gets to Amber Dawson from 2002, who was found in a ditch. He passes around a couple of crime scene photos. The young prostitute’s body, displayed on a coroner’s stainless autopsy table, is bloated from being in the water, her torso crosshatched with slashes.

“Those wounds could have easily been made by a Ka-Bar.”

“And they look nothing like what was done to Simone Walker,” I say.

“A killer’s profile can change over time. His technique evolves and develops.”

Next is a Jane Doe. Then a restaurant server. And then he gets to a familiar case, perking Cavallo up.

2004, Tegan McGill, age 29

Woodlands homemaker found in backyard swimming pool. Raped, stabbed, mutilated by kitchen knife, recovered at scene. Husband charged but found not guilty at trial. Alleged prosecutorial misconduct.

“But the husband did do it,” Cavallo says.

“You know that for a fact?”

“It’s common knowledge. The prosecution bungled the case, but that doesn’t make him any less guilty.”

“If you’d asked me six months ago, I would have said the same thing. Knowing what I know now, though, seeing the pattern here, the husband’s story makes a lot of sense. He left her by the pool and went upstairs to shower, and when he came back she was dead. Sounds crazy, doesn’t it? Unless you know there’s a killer with this exact MO and stalking his victims is how he gets off. Trust me, I’ve gone over the case file and this one fits like a glove.”

I suppress a sigh, but Lauterbach is undeterred. He opens the file on another prostitute, Janice Smith, summarizes the notes, then sets it aside for another vaguely familiar name.

2004, Dawn Nickerson, age 25

Houston paralegal found in bathtub, throat cut, similar circumstances to 2001 Tonya Stall homicide. Investigators theorized connection, but no suspect was charged. Mentally disturbed person confessed to both crimes after media coverage. Follow-up eliminated him from suspicion.

“It’s not me saying there’s a connection with Tonya Stall; it was the original HPD investigators. As a matter of fact, I have the documentation right here.” He thumbs through the nearest stack of reports, withdrawing a thin folder he’s marked in advance with a sticky note. Inside, a two-page report that I immediately recognize as one of my own. “You worked this case, didn’t you?”

The case was Ordway’s, but he had asked for help from Wilcox and me. While I was busy trying to dig up dirt on my bystander project, Wilcox came up with the connection to the 2001 case. Covering for my disengagement, he’d handed the find over to me. Write this up and it’ll look like you’re pulling some weight around here. So I’d knocked the report out and gotten on with my extracurricular work, forgetting all about the brutally murdered paralegal and the nurse from 2001. I feel a sickness radiating like heat through my chest. What had I told Wilcox this morning?

I cut some corners. I dropped the ball.

Clichés to hide behind. Both Lauterbach and Cavallo are looking at me, expecting some kind of response. I slide the report back without comment: “Keep talking.”

A cell phone company manager from 2005.

Another restaurant worker in 2007.

A third grade teacher for HISD in 2008.

“If Guzman’s your suspect,” I say, “he’s in the system. It was a DNA test that cleared him of killing Nicole Fauk. We have prints from the Walker scene, which don’t connect to him.”

“Those prints belong to the homeowner,” he says. “I’ve read the file, remember?”

“The homeowner is looking like a suspect.”

Lauterbach greets this news with a smile. “I don’t think a fifty-something English teacher is the person behind all this.”

“There’s not one person behind all this,” I say. “All these names, all these poor, dead women. Pile the paperwork up and I feel like we’ve been asleep on the job. And I’d love to be able to pin all this on some larger-than-life villain, so I can understand what’s motivating you right now. Problem is, you’re chasing the bogeyman. All this”-I sweep my hand over the spread of files-“it’s the work of many hands.”

“We shall see.” He folds the page in his hand over, examining the last entry. “We’re this far, so I might as well finish. .”

2009, Ramona Sanchez, age 30

Harris County fitness trainer, body discovered in swimming pool at private gym. Multiple stab wounds, mutilation, sexual assault. Several clients interviewed, no suspects. Weapon believed to be an 8” “survival knife” as in 2005 Mary Sallier slaying. Strong similarities to Simone Walker homicide investigation led by hpd Det. Roland March.

“Back in April,” he says, “I started off with the assumption that one of Ramona’s male clients did this to her. She had quite a few, and it wasn’t unusual for her to be at the gym after-hours. That hypothesis didn’t pan out, and when the ME came back with the description of the weapon, this time I immediately thought of Mary Sallier.”

I raise my eyebrows.

“The cell phone manager,” Cavallo says.

Lauterbach nods. “We went over the details a couple of times, me and Dr. Green, so when your case came up and it looked like a similar knife was used, she gave me a call.”

“Was this before or after Brad Templeton put your list of cases together for you?”

He glares. “You’re confusing things. I don’t make any apology for consulting Templeton. It’s not like you haven’t. When I first met him, I’d been working on Ramona Sanchez for months without getting very far. I suspected there was a serial killer, but I’m experienced enough to know that making that kind of claim before the facts are in can be risky. There are always small-minded people looking to cover themselves.” He turns to Cavallo, stabbing a thumb at me. “Case in point.”