Chris Carter - The Caller

‘Not death, Captain,’ Hunter said, sitting back on his chair, ‘blood.’

Captain Blake didn’t voice a question. All she did was look back at Hunter and shake her head ever so slightly.

‘There’s something you’re forgetting, Captain.’

‘And what might that be?’

‘This killer is broadcasting his murders live over a video-call, so whichever way you look at this, you can’t deny that what he’s essentially doing is putting on a show. It doesn’t matter if he’s got an audience of one or a million. To him, it’s still a show. And the game he plays requires two main things to happen in order for his show to work the way he wants it to.’ Hunter lifted his right index finger. ‘One: He needs the person on the other end of the line to panic, because that plays directly in his favor and he feeds off it. It empowers him.’ Hunter paused for breath. ‘If he had used a hammer on its own, that would’ve been a lot harder to achieve, if he’d managed to do it at all.’

‘Are you saying that if the killer had decided to hammer Cassandra Jenkinson’s head in, her husband wouldn’t have panicked? Watching it live over a video-call?’

‘Sure he would’ve, but that could’ve easily played against the killer’s second requirement.’

‘And what requirement is that?’

‘For our killer to have his “fun”.’ Hunter used his fingers to draw quotation marks in the air. ‘The killer also needs his victims to stay alive for at least two wrong answers, because that’s how he gets his kicks, Captain. To him, torturing and murdering his victims isn’t enough. He needs more because his sadism goes way beyond killing. He needs the total desperation from the person watching. He needs them to lose their minds. He needs to make them feel guilty.’

The captain paused and mulled over that thought for an instant. Hunter helped.

‘This game he plays, though it may sound like it’s a simple enough question-and-answer game, it’s been very well thought of, Captain, and meticulously designed to unbalance the person answering the questions.’

This time, it was Captain Blake who sat back on her chair. ‘You’re going to have to give me a little bit more than that, Robert, if you want me to at least try to follow this surreal mind of yours. What the hell are you talking about?’

‘OK,’ Hunter accepted, getting up and walking over to the picture board. ‘Hidden in this question game our killer plays are some simple, but very effective psychological elements.’

‘Such as?’ the captain asked, turning to face the board.

‘Well,’ Hunter began. ‘The first thing he does, after taking a victim hostage, is call the person who will become the player in his game. Someone who is very close to that victim. Someone with a strong emotional connection to them — best friend — husband.’ On the board, Hunter indicated Tanya Kaitlin and Mr. J’s photographs, respectively. ‘His first trick is that he uses the victim’s phone to make that call, and that brings in the first psychological element — surprise.’

Captain Blake’s eyes narrowed a fraction as she began considering Hunter’s words.

‘The person answers the phone,’ Hunter continued, ‘thinking that they’ll be speaking to a best friend or a wife, and that is indeed the impression they get, because according to both witnesses, the first image they see is a zoomed-in shot of the eventual victim. Mainly their eyes, but as the shot pans out...’

‘Surprise,’ the captain agreed, seeing what Hunter was driving at.

‘And as the shot continues to pan out,’ Hunter added, ‘that surprise is immediately followed by the next two psychological elements — confusion and shock.’

He gave his captain an extra moment. In her eyes, he saw that she had made the connection. He proceeded.

‘Then comes the explanation about what is happening and the rules to his sick question game. And with that we’ve got two new elements. First, doubt — because that’s when the mind starts going, “Is this for real? Am I dreaming this crap or what?” Second, an introduction to fear — because if this turns out to be real, then your best friend’s life... your wife’s life... is in your hands.’

Captain Blake crossed one leg over the other, the look in her eyes clearly indicating that things were just starting to make sense in her head.

‘So even before the question game starts, Captain,’ Hunter carried on, ‘in the space of two minutes or less, the witnesses’ brains have been bombarded by a shower of unbalancing elements — surprise, confusion, shock, doubt, and just enough fear to make them question everything. In the midst of all that, while the witnesses are still trying to figure out if they’re dreaming or not, if they’ve been caught in the middle of an elaborate prank or not, the killer hits them with his first question. An extremely easy question. Something he knows they’ll get right.’

Hunter indicated both questions on the board: ‘How many Facebook friends do you have?’; ‘Where was Cassandra born?’

‘That first question is a very clever question because it essentially does two things, Captain. One: It brings back a combination of “confusion” and “doubt”, because right then the witnesses can’t believe that this game can be real. Not with such easy questions. So they start believing that whatever this is, it must be a prank. And, two: It gives them a false sense of security, because if these are the types of question they’re going to be asked,’ Hunter made a ‘c’mon’ gesture with both of his hands, ‘then bring on this stupid game.’ This time, Hunter paused for effect. ‘And that false sense of security expands inside the witnesses because after all, they’re now fifty percent there. Remember the rules of the game? Two correct answers and the game is over. Your friend is free. Your wife is free. And here’s where this killer shows how clever he really is.’

Captain Blake pushed a lock of hair away from her face.

‘By now, he’s already unbalanced their thought processes without them realizing it and he’s given them a false sense of security, but his trump card is still to come.’

‘Trump card?’ the captain asked.

‘He’s never told them what the consequence to a wrong answer is,’ Garcia jumped in.

Hunter pointed at his partner as if he’d given the answer to the ultimate question.

‘They have no real idea of what will happen if they get a question wrong, Captain,’ Hunter said. ‘And after that first easy question, the game is now sounding silly. So the killer hits them with his second question. The question.’ Once again, Hunter indicated the questions on the board. ‘Something he researched. Something he’d found out that they should get wrong, but it’s still only a “should”.’

‘What do you mean — only a “should”?’

‘Think about it, Captain. This killer didn’t just decide to go on a killing spree from night to day. He’s been planning his murders for some time. And he’s very, very patient, because his is a lengthy process. He starts by choosing the victim, someone he taunts with messages, and, from what we gathered, he does it for months. Then he chooses the person to play his question game. Someone close to the victim. Finally, he researches what question to ask them, because the trick is — the question needs to sound easy, but be difficult.’

Captain Blake nodded. ‘OK.’

‘If we are right about this killer finding out which question to ask by scrutinizing social media websites —’ Hunter continued, ‘and I think we are — those posts have been up for months. But even if we’re wrong about the social-media websites, how long do you think it’s been between him finding out which question to ask and the murder itself, which is when he actually asks the question?’