Studying the chart, Annie made some notes she planned to have Binky put into the computer later. According to her calculations, most of the victims were white: six as against two black and one Hispanic. All of them were Catholic. Three were married, four were single, and two were divorced. Five of the victims were childless. One of them had four children. Another had three. The remaining two had two children each. The women’s ethnic backgrounds were varied, with the largest number of them — three — being Irish. Their ages ranged from a low of 19 in the case of Janet Reilly to a high of 46 as concerned Blanca Diaz, the only Hispanic victim. Discounting these two extremes, Annie came up with an average age of about thirty — the same age as the rapist.
She looked at the chart again.
It seemed odd to her that all of the victims were Catholic. It seemed further odd that none of them had been sodomized. That simply didn’t jibe with the M.O. of most rapists. Would Binky Bowles — she smiled every time she thought of his name — come up with a knife-wielder who matched the description the women had given and who further specialized in rape alone? Was he afraid one of them might bite it off? Put the son of a bitch out of business forever. Serve him right.
She didn’t have enough data.
She looked through the D.D. reports and profiles again, taking notes, and then prepared another rough chart she would later ask Binky to feed into the computer for a more sophisticated evaluation than her own.
A mixed bag if ever there was one. Housewives, students, a blue collar worker (literally, since she was a postal clerk), a domestic, a translator, and a former travel agent now living on the proceeds of alimony. Three natives of the city, the rest from all over creation. Education ranging from elementary school to a master’s degree. Clubs and organizations, sports and hobbies ranging from — God, what a woman this Angela Ferrari seemed to be! Only thirty-four years old, married and with two children, she’d still found the time to get her masters degree, and was presently engaged in more activities than a colony of ants. And how about Janet Reilly? Nineteen years old, in her first year of college, and already involved in enough extracurricular pursuits to keep the entire freshman class busy. So the son of a bitch rapes them. Caught Janet twice and Angela four — no, wait a minute. Angela was the one who’d described one rapist differently: twenty-one years old, five foot seven, a hundred and sixty pounds, blond hair and green eyes, no weapon. Had she been hysterical on that occasion? Or had another son of a bitch decided to take advantage of someone he knew had already been raped repeatedly? The way so many lunatics will jump on a bandwagon once it starts rolling, to cash in on the notoriety of the originator.
She looked at the computer printout again.
Lois Carmody: raped four times by the same man. Blanca Diaz, a forty-six-year-old housewife with four kids: three times. Patricia Ryan: three times. Vivienne Chabrun: three times. Angela Ferrari: three times for sure by the same man, yet another time by someone else. Cecily Bainbridge: twice. Mary Hollings: three times. Janet Reilly: twice.
Why the same women again and again?
Why?
She went back over the original D.D. reports, trying to find a pattern, trying to zero in on the link. Each of the women had been raped at night. Even in the case of Mary Hollings, the last time the rapist had struck — coming into her apartment this time — it was still dark, even though it was technically Friday morning, October 7. She traced back through the D.D. reports on Mary. The first reported rape was on June 10, a Friday. The next was on September 16, another Friday.
Well, coincidence maybe.
She looked at the D.D. reports on Janet Reilly.
She had been raped for the first time on September 13, a Tuesday night. And she had been raped again little more than a week ago, on October 11 — another Tuesday night.
Okay. Okay, Annie thought. Take it easy now. Do them in order, check off the dates on all the D.D. reports against the computer printout of names. I need a calendar, where the hell’s a calendar?
She opened the top drawer of her desk, rummaged around for a calendar, found one already marked with appointments, and then opened her notebook to the first several pages, where there were blank calendars for both this year and next. She carried the notebook to the copying machine in the corner of her office, and then made a dozen copies of this year’s calendar — one for each of the victims, three spares for errors. Back at her desk again, she headed nine of the calendars with different names, and then — referring to the D.D. reports on each woman — began circling dates:
She hesitated. The three dates she had just circled were the dates for identifications of the same man. The man Angela had described differently — the wild card, so to speak — had raped her on June 28. On the calendar, Annie marked that date with an X.
On a separate sheet of paper, she listed all nine names again, and then — referring to the calendar entries for each name — made yet another list.
Lois Carmody: March 7, April 4, April 25, May 9. All Monday nights.
Blanca Diaz: March 15, April 12, May 3. Tuesday nights.
Patricia Ryan: March 23, April 20, May 25. Wednesday nights.
Vivienne Chabrun: March 31, May 19, June 2. Thursdays.
Angela Ferrari: April 11, May 30, and June 13 for description of same man. All Monday nights. June 28 for the wild card. A Tuesday night.
Terry Cooper: May 1, June 19. Both Sunday nights.
Cecily Bainbridge: May 7, June 4. Saturday nights.
Mary Hollings: June 10, September 16, October 7. Fridays.
Janet Reilly: September 13, October 11. Tuesdays.
She studied the list.
Okay. Same woman on the same night of the week. But what the hell did it mean? His choice of a night for any given woman may have been premised on a study of her habits. Maybe Vivienne Chabrun went to a meeting of L’Alliance des Femmes Françaises on Thursday nights. Maybe Lois Carmody played tennis on Monday nights. Maybe Janet Reilly sang with the chorus on Tuesday nights. Who the hell knew?
She leafed through the calendars.
Vivienne Chabrun had been raped for the first time on the last day of March, the second time seven weeks later on May 19, and then again two weeks after that on the second of June. All Thursday nights. Terry Cooper had been raped on the first of May, and then seven weeks later, on June 19. Sunday nights. Patricia Ryan had been raped on March 23, again four weeks later on April 20, and then not again till May 25, five weeks after the April date. Wednesday nights. There seemed to be no discernible pattern until Annie went back through the calendars again, and studied the one for Lois Carmody, the first of the serial victims.
First rape: Monday, March 7.