Karen Rose - Have You Seen Her?

"Which should have pulled at least one or two hairs if she'd been laid on the grass," Steven finished and Kent nodded again.

"Exactly right, especially with how dry the grass is right now."

Steven glanced over at Meg. "He shaved her head? Just like Lorraine Rush."

Meg shrugged. "That would be my guess."

Steven looked back at Kent. "What about the dark hair you found?"

'The hair was clipped at the edge, almost like it had been shaved with a razor or some other kind of blade. It's not Samantha's, I can tell you that. As for DNA, there was no follicle, like I told you yesterday, so I'll need to use mitochon-drial cells for the DNA print instead of cells from the nucleus. It doesn't provide the full range of gene mapping as it only holds genetic material from the mother."

Steven turned to Assistant DA Liz Johnson. "Admissible?"

Liz nodded. "Yes, I've used it before. Not often, but enough."

"What else do you have?" Lennie asked brusquely and Steven knew he was impressed.

Kent's expression hardened. "The hypo had traces of ket-amine."

Steven's shoulders slumped as murmurs ran round the table. "Shit. Are you sure?"

"Unfortunately, yes. I ran the GC three times, which is why I was late this morning. All the peaks match up."

Steven looked to Harry. "Did Latent find anything on the hypo itself?"

Harry shook his head. "Not a print. Bastard wore gloves."

Nancy raised her hand. "I'm out of the loop here. What's ketamine?"

"Close relative of PCP," Sandra answered grimly. "Widely used as an anesthetic, especially with vets. Veterinarians," she specified. "Available from most veterinary supply catalogs."

Meg pushed away from the table and walked to the window. "Legally used, it's an effective replacement for general anesthesia, especially outside of hospital environments."

"Doctors on charity missions to Africa will use it when they're operating out in the field," Kent offered. "It completely immobilizes the patient."

Meg nodded. "That's right. And when used correctly it's quite safe."

"But?" Nancy asked.

"But it's one of the fastest-growing illicit drugs out there today," Steven said grimly. "If you take enough you enter what users call the 'k-zone.' Users have out-of-body experiences. Some even say they witness their own death."

"Our perp uses ketamine to immobilize these girls," Nancy murmured. "Like a date-rape drug."

"Something like that," Meg replied. "But unlike rhohypnol where the victim doesn't remember anything, ketamine users have a detached awareness of their surroundings." She turned to the group. "But the worst part is what they call the reemer-gence dreams. They can be simply horrific."

Steven rubbed the back of his stiffening neck. "Wonderful. Was there anything else, Kent?"

"The dog's teeth were clean. If Pal bit our perp, he didn't bite deep enough to take any flesh. His stab wounds were deep and wide. I took some digital photos before the vet sewed him up."

"Good thinking. Let's compare them to the pictures from Lorraine Rush's autopsy," Steven said, "and let's hope there's something to compare. Also see if they can do any tests for ketamine on Rush's tissue samples. Harry, I want you to focus on finding out where he got the ket."

Harry wrote it in his notebook. "I'll start with the vet supply houses and the local vet clinics."

"Good. Sandra, see if any of your contacts on the street have heard about this."

Sandra nodded. "I've already put out some feelers. I'll see what I can drag in."

Steven turned to Nancy who was busily taking notes of her own. "Nancy, what have you found in your database search?"

Nancy looked up and lifted her half-lensed glasses off the end of her nose. "I checked for perps charged with sexual assault crimes in a one-hundred-mile radius and popped up more names than we can run through in a month. I'll see about doing a cross-ref with ketamine and perhaps we can narrow it a bit."

Steven mentally ticked off the items he planned to cover in this meeting. "I'm going to work the connection between the two girls. I know they went to the same church. I want to know how well they knew one another and how our perp knew them. Finally, Meg, can you paint a picture of what kind of person we're looking for?"

"It's just a top of head sketch," Meg cautioned. "We're assuming he's killed twice. At least. The savagery with which the first girl was brutalized before and after death indicates he's angry. He probably doesn't communicate well, probably holds his anger in. We'll likely find he's killed animals leading up to this. Most certainly he's committed some lesser sexual crimes in the past, again working up to this. By not burying the Rush girl, it seems like he wanted her to be found. Media exposure will make him very satisfied." She stopped and fixed her stare out the window. "I'm wondering how the ketamine factors in. Does he dope them up before he kills them? During? Does he use it to initially immobilize these girls while he's kidnapping them or as an anesthesia to keep them from feeling anything while he's killing them?"

"A considerate serial killer?" Sandra asked skeptically. "That would be one for the books."

"Bundy volunteered at a suicide hotline," Harry said thoughtfully.

"That's not the same thing and you know it," Sandra shot back. "These guys kill for the thrill of seeing another person in pain."

"You mean our guy is abnormal ! Perish the thought." Harry recoiled in mock horror and Sandra glared.

Steven lifted his hand. "Boys and girls, please. What else, Meg?"

Meg glanced over her shoulder, then back out the window. "Sandra could very well be right. His use of ketamine could have nothing to do with its anesthetic effect. It could be he's using it for the dream effect. That would indicate a curiosity about psychology or maybe even firsthand experience with some kind of therapy."

"Or he could have a trigger-happy mouse finger," Nancy said, her eyes on her laptop screen. "In the last few minutes I've come across six articles written by chem-heads espousing the awesome trips you can take into the 'k-zone.' Some of these are incredibly well written. It's hard to believe such articulate people are stupid enough to do this drug." She looked up and slid her glasses off her nose. "Sorry, Meg. I didn't mean to interrupt. I was just surprised at the amount of information I was able to get so easily seeing as how I'd never heard of this stuff before."

"It's everywhere, Nancy," Meg murmured. "That's what makes it so scary." Clearing her throat she went on. "I'm also wondering about the timing of this second abduction-it bothers me."

"It's too soon," Sandra supplied.

"It is," Meg agreed. "We found the Rush girl's body five days ago and the autopsy showed she'd been dead less than a week. That's less than two weeks between incidents. Early in their 'career' serial killers may go months or years between incidents. I don't know. Maybe he's done this before-many times that we don't know about-and he's now at the critical escalation point."

Steven sat back in his chair. "But you don't think so."

"No, not really. This feels more…" She tightened one side of her face, struggling for the words. "Immature," she said finally. "Especially given the way he was shaken up by the dog yesterday morning. Leaving behind the hypo was… unprofessional at best."

"An amateur," Harry said wryly and Meg smiled.

"For lack of a better word, yes." She shrugged wearily. "Summing up, if I had to guess his age I have to say he was younger and I'll bet we find he's well educated. He's probably white, since serial killers tend not to cross ethnic lines. That's all I can offer until 1 have more information."

Steven closed his notebook and stood up. It wasn't much. But it was the best they had at the moment. "Then let's go get some more information."