The Winner Stands Alone

"Have you read Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson?"

Savoy explains that he has so much work that he has little time for reading. Morris's gaze grows icy.

"And do you think I don't have work to do?"

"No, no, I didn't mean that. Listen, Dr. Morris, I'm here on an urgent mission. I'm not interested in discussing technology or literature. I just want to know what conclusions you drew from the reports."

"I'm sorry, but I'm afraid we can't, in this instance, avoid literature. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is the story of an apparently normal individual, Dr. Jekyll, who, in seeking to explore his own violent impulses, discovers a way of transforming himself periodically into a creature entirely without morality, Mr. Hyde. We all have those impulses, Inspector. A serial killer doesn't just threaten our physical safety, he threatens our sanity too. Because whether we like it or not, we all carry around in us a great destructive power and have all, at some point, wondered what it would be like to give free rein to that most repressed of feelings--the desire to take someone else's life.

"There are many reasons for this: wanting to put the world to rights, to get revenge for something that happened in our childhood, to vent one's suppressed hatred of society, but, whether consciously or unconsciously, everyone has felt that desire at one time or another, even if only in childhood."

Another meaningful silence.

"I imagine that, regardless of your chosen profession, you must yourself have experienced this feeling. Tormenting a cat perhaps or torturing some perfectly harmless insect."

It's Savoy's turn now to give Morris an icy stare and say nothing. Morris, however, interprets his silence as consent and continues talking in the same easy, superior tone:

"Don't expect to find some visibly unbalanced person with wild hair and a hate-filled leer on his face. If you ever do have time to read--although I know you're a busy man--I would recommend a book by Hannah Arendt, Eichmann in Jerusalem. There she analyzes the trial of one of the worst serial killers in history. Obviously, Eichmann needed help to carry out the gigantic task he was given: the purification of the human race. Just a moment."

He goes over to his computer. He knows that the man with him wants results, but that simply isn't possible. He needs to educate him and prepare him for the difficult days ahead.

"Here it is. Arendt made a detailed analysis of the trial of Adolf Eichmann, who was responsible for the extermination of six million Jews in Nazi Germany. She says that the half a dozen psychiatrists charged with examining him had all concluded that he was normal. His psychological profile and his attitude toward wife, children, mother, and father were all within the social parameters one expects in a responsible man. Arendt goes on: 'The trouble with Eichmann was precisely that so many were like him, and that the many were neither perverted nor sadistic, that they were, and still are, terribly and terrifyingly normal. From the viewpoint of our legal institutions and of our moral standards of judgment, this normality was much more terrifying than all the atrocities put together...'"

Now he could get down to business.

"I notice from the autopsies that there was no sign of sexual abuse..."

"Dr. Morris, I have a problem to solve and I need to do so quickly. I want to know whether or not we're dealing with a serial killer. No one could possibly rape a man in the middle of a lunch party or a girl on a public bench in broad daylight."

He might as well have said nothing. Morris ignores him completely and continues.

"...which is a common feature in many serial killers. Some have what you might call 'humane' motives. Nurses who kill terminally ill patients, people who murder beggars in the street, social workers who feel so sorry for certain pensioners or disabled people that they reach the conclusion they'd be better off in the next life--there was one such case in California just recently. There are also people bent on putting society to rights, and in those cases, the victims tend to be prostitutes."

"Dr. Morris, I didn't come here..."

This time Morris raises his voice slightly.

"And I didn't invite you. I'm doing you a favor. If you want to leave, please do so, but if you're going to stay, please stop interrupting my argument every two minutes. In order to catch someone, we have to understand the way he thinks."

"So you do believe we're dealing with a serial killer?"

"I haven't finished yet."

Savoy controls himself. After all, why was he in such a hurry? Wouldn't it be more fun to let the press tie itself in knots and then present them with the solution?

"Please go on."

Morris moves the monitor so that Savoy can see more clearly. On the large screen is an engraving, possibly from the nineteenth century.

"This is the most famous of all serial killers: Jack the Ripper. He was active in London in the second half of 1888, and was responsible for killing five or possibly seven women in public and semi-public places. He would rip open th

eir bellies and disembowel them. He was never found. He became a legend, and even today, there are still people trying to uncover his real identity."

The image on the screen changes to reveal what looks like something from an astrological chart.

"This is the signature of the Zodiac Killer. He's known to have killed five couples in California over a period of ten months, mostly courting couples who had parked their cars in isolated spots. He used to send letters to the police bearing this symbol, which is rather like a Celtic cross. No one has yet managed to identify him.

"Researchers believe that both Jack the Ripper and the Zodiac Killer were people who were trying to restore moral order and decency to their particular areas. They had, if you like, a mission to fulfill. And contrary to what the press would have us believe with the terrifying nicknames they invent, like the Boston Strangler and the Child Killer of Toulouse, these were ordinary folk who would get together with their neighbors at weekends and who worked hard to earn a living. None of them ever benefited financially from their criminal acts."