Catherine gave a rundown on information they already knew about the first six victims and how she connected them, but as she spoke it became clear that she was leading them toward the pattern. Nurse. Educator. Cop. They hadn’t seen it before because they didn’t have the background on Anne Banks, and had only begun to suspect it yesterday—but now it was clear.

She detailed the type of personality they were looking for: high-functioning, intelligent, introverted, but not openly antisocial.

“He waits an unusually long time between his triple murders,” Catherine said. “We call this a cooling-off period, but it’s more than that for him. He’s methodical, disciplined, extremely organized. We have always assumed that his victims are random, and they appear to be random, but it’s important to understand that they are not random, not to the killer. He has a specific motive for choosing his victims. It is irrelevant that they are different genders, different ages, different races. This has bothered me for some time, because serial murderers generally have a defined victim pool. Prostitutes, for example. Or homeless men. Or young blonde women. And generally, serial murderers will both build up to murder and have an identifiable tipping point, something specific that set them off, that made them ‘snap’ for lack of a better word...though they haven’t truly mentally snapped.”

“So he’s not crazy,” Michael said.

“I can’t say with any confidence what his mental state is,” Catherine said, sounding more like a lawyer than a doctor. “But I would deduce, even considering that I haven’t interviewed him, that he is completely sane.”

“Where’s his home base?” Kara asked.

Matt glanced at her. He hadn’t forgotten she was in the room, but he hadn’t expected her to speak up. Why, he didn’t know—Kara didn’t seem to be a person to keep her mouth closed if she had an opinion or observation.

“I don’t understand the question,” Catherine said.

“Well, he killed in three different cities. Does he move to one city, find a place to live, get a job, stalk his victims, kill and leave? Or does he come in for a short time, a month or so, to target his victims, kill them, then go back to wherever he comes from?”

“That’s a good question,” Catherine said. “I don’t have an answer. I will go out on a limb and suggest that he’s been in town—if not for the three years since the last murders, at least for a few weeks. He definitely stalks his victims, knows where they’re going to be and when they’ll be there. To be able to kill seven people so violently, so brazenly, he is confident that they will be alone.”

Matt made a note to follow up on rentals, but he didn’t think that was going to help—there had to be hundreds, or thousands, and no central database. Still, they could contact property companies for male renters within the last three years.

Jim spoke up. “I think it’s relevant that none of the victims fought back, except one of the male victims.” He glanced at his notes. “The off-duty cop in Missoula had blunt force trauma to his head, otherwise, no signs of physical violence.”