Lei Mi - Profiler

"A disorganized serial killer?"

"That's right, as opposed to an Organized Serial Killer. This classification was created by the American F.B.I. in the 1980s. So-called disorganized serial killers usually suffer from serious mental disorders. Additionally, they have often lost much of their intelligence and social awareness-or never had much to begin with-and are either partly or fully disconnected from reality. This results in certain commonly recognizable aspects to their crimes; i.e., they are often impulsive and commit the crimes in areas well-known to the killer. And the scenes themselves are generally messy-carelessly so-and full of evidence. In the case of the bloodsucker, all of these characteristics were obvious."

"Is that so?" Tai Wei was listening intently. "Regardless, it still doesn't seem possible to determine the killer's appearance, family background, and living situation from this information alone."

"Of course it's not. But first let me ask you a question. Have you ever felt a certain way about someone, good or bad, the moment you saw them, and then after meeting them found that your intuition was exactly right?"

After thinking for a moment, Tai Wei nodded. "Yeah, I have."

"Any idea why this happens?"

"Not a clue," said Tai Wei honestly.

Fang Mu smiled. "It's because this person closely reminded you of someone you met in the past, someone who definitely left a deep impression on you. So when you encountered this new individual, you subconsciously replaced his personality with that of the old person, and as a result immediately liked or disliked him. And as we have discovered, there are times when this seemingly improbable kind of intuition is totally correct, which goes a long way to solving the problem."

"What problem?"

"Sometimes, people who look alike are alike."

Tai Wei frowned. "Are you talking about Cesare Lombroso? Born criminals?"

"Yes, very good. In his book, Criminal Man , Cesare Lombroso set forth his theories about so-called born criminals . He also boldly detailed the physical appearances of various kinds of criminals. For example, murderers often have cold, detached eyes, aquiline noses, strong jaw lines, and large ears; while thieves have short hair, narrow foreheads, and thick, closely-spaced eyebrows. Many people have criticized these theories as being unrealistic, but they forget that that Lombroso was a classic empiricist. He made sure that all of his theories were based on concrete evidence. So although a lot of modern empiricists doubt it, I believe his theories about born criminals are entirely scientific. For example, environment, upbringing, culture, and diet all have clear effects on criminality."

"In what way?"

"Let me give you a simple example. You ever hear how husbands and wives look alike?"

"Of course."

"One man, one woman, different in appearance before marriage, increasingly similar afterwards. Why is that? It's because when people live together, their diets become more or less the same-their work and leisure habits, too-and as a result their complexions follow suit. For this reason they will seem to be growing more and more alike."

"Huh." Tai Wei nodded, seemingly lost in thought.

"Now let's look at Ma Kai. I deduced he was very thin for two reasons. The first was that I knew the killer struggled violently with some of his victims. The second was that I sensed an extreme anxiety in his crimes, which I felt was connected to his perceived lack of blood or some other negative physical condition. Think about it: if a person were to live with this kind of anxiety over the long term, his diet would definitely be affected, and he would display signs of malnourishment. In other words, he would look thin and weak. A person like this, who couldn't even attend to his most basic needs, would obviously not be doing squat for his appearance. Among other things, this would lead most notably to him having long, dirty hair. He was also almost certain to live alone, because if he shared a house with relatives or friends their guidance would have calmed him down and prevented his anxiety from devolving into paranoia. His sickness must have only come on in the past few years, otherwise he would have killed sooner, and there have been no crimes like these in the city for some time."

Fang Mu took a sip of water and then lit another cigarette.

"The disorganized serial killer has a few classic characteristics," he said. "These include poor social skills, a tendency toward anxiety, and the inability to hold skilled jobs, among other things. They are also often the youngest son, pay little attention to the news, and live alone, generally near the scenes of their crimes. This is why I felt the killer probably lived nearby. And since Hongyuan District is in the old part of the city, it has very little commercial housing. This is significant. Because the killer would have been unable to hold a high-paying job due to his mental disorder, he also would have been unable to afford an apartment at market price. Therefore, he most likely lived in a house inherited from his parents. This meant that they must have worked for some state-owned company, because back then only state employees received discounted housing."

Fang Mu tapped the ash from his cigarette. "So, to sum things up, the killer was under thirty, emaciated, unkempt, with an apartment near the crime scenes, parents who once worked for a state-owned company, and with a very serious mental disorder."

Tai Wei stared at Fang Mu. He was dumbstruck, and it took him a while to snap out of it.

"My god," he said. "You were right about everything."

Fang Mu smiled faintly. "Not quite. I was initially wrong about the connection between blood and his crimes. I thought his anxiety about blood had something to do with the weather."

"Really?" Tai Wei thought for a moment. "Oh yeah, now I remember. When Tong Hui was taken, you said the killer would probably be wearing thick clothing."

"That's right. Since his first murder was committed just after the end of winter, I had thought he was afraid of his blood freezing, or something along those lines, and was taking various measures to keep warm-like wearing thick clothing, for example. But after seeing where Tong Hui was murdered, I decided he was actually paranoid about his blood being somehow deficient."

Seeing the reverent look on Tai Wei's face, Fang Mu laughed. "Look, I'm not that good. There were still a bunch of things I was unclear about; for example, how he chose his victims, why he cut them open, why he mixed their blood with other liquids, why he carried Tong Hui away from the scene-a ton of stuff."

"Oh…" said Tai Wei, as if he had suddenly realized something. "So that's what you asked Ma Kai during your interview?"

"Exactly."

"You’re so interested and have studied a bunch of cases." Tai Wei gave him a meaningful glance. "Want to be a criminologist in the future?"

Fang Mu was taken aback. "I don't think so," he said after a moment. "Actually, I've never really thought that far ahead."

"So then why are you so interested in this stuff," asked Tai Wei, finally voicing the question that had been puzzling him for so long.

Fang Mu's face fell, and for a while he was silent. At last he spoke: "I don't know."

Tai Wei was a little drunk when they left the restaurant and went to his car. "Little brother," he said, clapping Fang Mu on the shoulder, "you've helped me a hell of a lot. Any reward you want-it's yours!"

Fang Mu smiled and shook his head. "You don't need to do that."

"Yes, I do!" cried Tai Wei gruffly. "You want some kind of material reward? Or should I write a commendatory letter to your school? Oh, right…" Suddenly remembering something, he shook his head. "Oh yeah, perhaps it had better not be me who writes it." He chuckled to himself.