"And thirdly — our greatest protection — we can learn from history."
At this point Robert DeClercq stood up and loosened his uniform tie. It was a small gesture, in many ways out of character, but he did not want his audience to feel that they were being given a lecture. He wanted them to sense instead that this was a dialogue. That they were truly a team.
"I'm sure that most of you will agree with me that it is our sense of history which is this Force's strongest asset — that because we record it in such detail, revere it, and build upon our past foundation year after year, we have constructed the most integrated policing unit the world has ever had. We deserve our reputation: it's founded on fact.
"I sometimes feel, however, that we don't look far enough in the past — that we revere the early years for our pageantry, but study the techniques of later years for skill in investigation. This squad is going to rectify that fact.
"Now if you'll bear with me a moment, I'd like to illustrate what I mean by an excursion into our past.
"In 1886 Lawrence Herchmer was appointed Commissioner of this Force and it was he who transformed us from a military organization into a civilian police force. In doing this, Herchmer's most important contribution was in setting up the patrol system. Under this system members of the Mounted Police were distributed in small detachments throughout the Northwest Territories. These detachments became the operational centers of the policing system.
"Herchmer then introduced the patrol report form. This was a document to be prepared by each member as he performed his mounted patrol.
"Copies of these patrol reports from each and every detachment were then forwarded to divisional headquarters where they were assembled to give a complete and comprehensive picture of all activities within Mounted Police jurisdiction.
"Now you will see the organization that I have outlined as our Central Corps, our general investigative body, is the modern computerized parallel for this patrol system. There is nothing new in that. A similar organization was used to hunt the Yorkshire Ripper and for the Atlanta child killings.
"Commissioner Herchmer, however, was not content to stop there — and this is the part of our history that I fear, in our modern desire for centralization, we tend to forget.
"For in 1890, in order to prevent evasion of the patrol system, Herchmer introduced the additional system of flying patrols. These flying patrols did not follow the regular trails of the patrol system, but instead they functioned totally on their own, independent of the main centrally organized system. They were, if you like, the commando guerrillas of the Northwest Mounted Police."
DeClercq paused for a moment, then said: "In our manhunt for the Headhunter I intend to bring back the flying patrol.
"These flying patrols will be seven in number. Each patrol will consist of a male and female member.
"The flying patrols will be our third line of defense against tunnel vision. They will counteract the possibility that we might err in our assumptions — for they will work totally independent from the Central Corps of this squad which I have already outlined. These patrols will follow their own instincts, and the members who will be involved have been selected for self-starting initiative. In order to prevent the taint of a possible faulty assumption, no member in the Central Corps will discuss any aspect of the case with a flying patrol member. Each patrol will receive all facts collated by Computer Command — but without any enhanced conclusions, theories or assumptions. Liaison with the main group will be through Sergeant James Rodale. He is the man who just entered through the rear door and who, like Inspector MacDougall, is unaware that for his work to date on this investigation he has also been promoted."
Again there was a spontaneous round of applause, but the frown on Rodale's face in no way abated. In his right hand he was carrying a brown manila envelope and he was making his way to the front of the room through the crowd.
"In closing," DeClercq continued, "I'd like to add three comments.
"The first is to caution all of us against creating a copycat killer. Any and all information going out to the media for public consumption goes through Jack MacDougall.
"The second is to tell you that any interrogation of a possible suspect will be put on videotape. These tapes will be reviewed once a week by each flying patrol. This gives us a guarantee of independent assessment, and also of female perspective. We are dealing with a killer who has a perverted passion for women. No one can know the hunter to the same degree as the hunted.
"And the third is to advise you — and I mean this — that my door is always open. As I said at the beginning, my goal is effective teamwork — and teamwork to be effective requires open communication. If something is important, or you need direction, discussion, resources, you only have to climb those stairs and knock. For let's be certain about one fact: we're working against the clock. Believe me, there is a ground swell of panic out there in this city and all it might take is one more murder to bring out uncontrolled mass hysteria.
"It took the English police more than five years to catch the Yorkshire Ripper.
"It took the Atlanta police twenty-two months to arrest a suspect later convicted on two of those twenty-eight black child killings.
"It took this Force thirteen days to nail Olson for eleven murders.
"Let's get this Headhunter — and shorten our own record."
It was as DeClercq ended the briefing that Sergeant James Rodale handed him the envelope. It was addressed to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, having been dropped in the mailslot of the central Post Office during the night and delivered this morning. After copying it for broadcasting, the CBC had dispatched it to the Vancouver Police Department by special courier. The envelope and contents were coated with fingerprint powder. A police Xerox copy was also enclosed.
"You'd better look at this," Rodale said. "Before you adjourn the meeting."
The Superintendent opened it and removed a Polaroid print sealed in a clear plastic VPD evidence pouch, plus a note constructed from cut and pasted newspaper headlines, also plastic sealed.
The Polaroid picture was of Joanna Portman's severed head stuck on a wooden pole.
The note read: Welcome aboard, Robert. Do you think you're up to this?
The Meat Hook
New Orleans, Louisiana, 1957
With her arm around Crystal's shoulders, Suzannah walked the girl out through the door of the vault and into the corridor beyond. The whine from off the river had started up again.
"Love, we're running short of time, so I must ask a favor. Take the flashlight with you and go back upstairs. Turn on the outside lights. The switch is near the door. There's something down here I must do in order to get ready. I'll join you in a minute for another snort of coke."
The thought of wandering through the cavern by herself was not an enticing one. The girl hesitated.
"Well go on. Be a sport. Only one more night's work — and then the thrills of Europe!"
Crystal took the electric torch and began to walk away. >
Suzannah waited until the footsteps had died away. She was definitely worried about the girl's commitment to tonight. And for this sort of money, she couldn't take a chance. But all the doors were locked; Crystal had no way out.
The way Suzannah figured it, if she kept going two more years she'd have a million dollars. Just three more sessions in London, three in Bonn, and two more sessions here. Plus tonight, of course.
Now if only Crystal held together and played her part to the hilt.
The man who would arrive tonight was her favorite john of all. Filthy rich from some business that had to do with nuclear arms (she suspected a past involvement with the Manhattan Project) he had already paid her twenty grand just to set it up. The twenty thousand coming tonight merely reserved him a place next year. What would you say, Crystal, if you knew what you were worth?