“So you’re coming to me with Darlene Beckett?” she asked as Harry slipped into a visitor’s chair.
“I am. I need a psychological profile on the woman and, if possible, on the type of men she would attract. Plus, if you can tell me something about the killer-like his name, address, and Social Security number, it would be good.” Harry’s face broke into a grin. He had worked with her many times and both liked and respected the woman.
Lola brought her tiny hands together with pleasure. “So you need me. Even with Harry Doyle’s famous intuition, his ability to hear the whispered words of the dead, he needs an old lady to help him.” She laughed at herself, at both of them. “In any event, I’m delighted. Ever since this woman appeared on the scene, I’ve been dying to study her.” She leaned forward. “This, I think we will find, is a complex lady, Harry. Not the simple bimbo the media has made her out to be. Understanding her, understanding how her mind worked, will be a challenge.” She waved her small hands as if dismissing what she had just said. “As far as your other questions go, I can tell you right off that any heterosexual man with a living member between his legs would be attracted to her. Not every one would act on that attraction, but they would all desire her. This, Harry, was a very alluring woman, and one who worked hard at being so. Regarding your killer, I think I can help you. Not a name and address, of course, but at least a strong profile. But for that I’ll have to see your entire case file. Darlene’s as well, of course.”
Harry placed the two folders he had brought with him on her desk. “The top one is a copy of the entire murder file,” he said. “I really need you to look at that first, and tell me anything you can about the killer. The other folder is the child abuse case file. I just got it from the Hillsborough County state’s attorney last night and had it copied for you.”
“So it’s a copy I can keep?”
Harry nodded, and again Lola brought her tiny hands together. “A treasure, a virtual treasure trove.” She shook her head. “It will be difficult to concentrate on the murder file with this sitting here waiting for me.”
“Please,” Harry said.
Lola raised her hand like a traffic cop. “I will. I will.”
As Harry watched, Lola began poring over the murder file. The office was designed to provide a soothing, relaxed atmosphere. The lighting was subdued; the furniture-a sofa and two chairs-was oversized and covered in soft, plush fabric. Even Lola’s desk was not intimidating, a Queen Anne style, something more suited to a home than an office. There were no diplomas or certificates on the walls-those had been relegated to the reception area-only soothing pastels. It was a place designed to make frightened, insecure people feel safe. It was something that didn’t work for Harry. Instead he felt a lingering inner tension that he knew would stay with him until Darlene’s murder was solved. It was something he lived with on every complex case, something that drove him to find the answers that eluded him, or so he believed.
Lola was studying the in situ photographs of Darlene’s body. She glanced up at Harry. “Implants?” she asked.
“Yes.”
“Interesting. A woman so beautiful and still she had to offer herself up to the surgeon’s knife to become even more appealing.” She opened the other file and found an earlier photograph of Darlene in a cheerleader’s costume. “Look here,” she said. “She didn’t have a flat chest as a child. She was perfectly normal, absolutely lovely.” She shook her head. “There was a deep psychological need here. I would bet my license that this woman’s psyche was severely brutalized at a very young age-something that made her obsessive about her looks and her desirability as a woman. She would also want to be desirable to other women,” she added. “I’m not saying she was a lesbian, or bisexual. This was an obsession, and the need to be wanted would not be limited to one sex.” She shook her head again. “But that’s only a guess for now. Give me time and I’ll find more. This was a complex woman, a very disturbed woman. Your case will undoubtedly be solved before I understand her completely… if I ever do.”
“Any initial sense about the killer?” Harry asked.
“Well, here we obviously have obsessive behavior of a different kind. I would guess that our killer is young. No more than late twenties, early thirties. Very religious to the point of obsession. Intelligent, but blinded by his own convictions. Not willing to question those beliefs, or be tolerant of anyone who doesn’t accept them with the fervor that he does. Without question, a true believer in every meaning of that phrase.” She raised her hands and let them fall back to the desk. “This business of carving the word evil on his victim’s forehead, then covering it up with a mask, is so direct it’s a bit unnerving. There is no subtlety in this man. He believes and therefore he acts. His mind is organized and yet it isn’t.” She nodded to herself. “It shows me someone who is not quite as smart as he thinks he is; someone who has convinced himself that other people are so unable to grasp what he sees that he must give them a message that is blatantly simplistic. This is someone who has no respect or tolerance for his fellow man; someone with no feeling of moral responsibility other than to himself, although he believes he has great moral responsibility to everyone, even to the world at large, perhaps even to the point of having a savior complex, if you will… Harry, my friend, you are dealing with a pure sociopath. And he may be very hard to spot, because he is extremely good at hiding. He has practiced that art for years. He has had to.”
“Could he have been the victim of abuse himself?” Harry asked.
“Very possibly. But if so, I think he would believe that he-himself- had sinned. He may believe that he was led into sin by someone even more evil than himself, but he would still carry great guilt for his part in it.”
“And deliver us from evil,” Harry said.
“Exactly.” Lola nodded her head emphatically. “That is exactly how he would now feel.”
“You haven’t gotten to it yet in the file, but we found a gold cross at the murder scene with that quote from the Lord’s Prayer engraved on it.”
“I would be surprised if that cross had not been torn from the killer’s neck,” she said.
“The young boy who was abused by Darlene, he and his family belonged to an evangelical church that shunned them when his family refused to let him testify. The minister also urged the parishioners to do everything they could to bring Darlene to justice.” Harry stared at her. “It was an unqualified statement, as far as I’ve been able to determine, almost an invitation for someone to take the law into his own hands.”
“An invitation our killer would not have needed, but one he would have taken very, very seriously.” She paused and stared into Harry’s eyes. “Did you get anything from the victim… anything about religion?”
“Yes.”
“It was a strong… sensation?”
“Very.”
Lola paused again, considering what Harry had said. Then she nodded to herself. “I would look at this church closely, Harry. Very closely indeed.”
As Harry began to rise from his chair, Lola leaned forward and studied him closely. “What’s new with you, Harry? You seem very tense. Any personal problems you’d like to talk about?”
Harry hesitated, then shook his head. He had talked to Lola in the past about his mother, and whenever they met she inquired without specifically asking about her.
“Nothing?” Lola persisted.
“My mother’s coming up for parole,” Harry finally conceded. “But I don’t need to talk about it.” She smiled up at him. “You probably do. But I won’t press the matter. I will ask you to consider one thing: consider that this case may not be right for you; that perhaps someone else should investigate this woman’s murder.” She waved off any objection before it came and continued, “I don’t mean you won’t be able to do a good job. You’re probably the best homicide detective in the state. I mean this case may not be right for you. ”