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course, it could have been purchased over the Internet.”
    “What about plastic and absorbent material in the wounds?” Mick asked, apparently unaffected by her scrutiny. “Same as last time?”
    “It appears so,” Maria put in. “Very few fibers, but enough to analyze. We’ve narrowed the content down to a kind of disposable mattress pad for baby cribs. Available in every department and drug store in the country.”
    “The sheets?”
    “Still working on them. Teddies, too.”
    “Thanks,” Mick said, and looked back at Caro. “Anyone else have anything urgent or new since last night?”
    There was a murmur of negative responses.
    “All right, then, if you'd all pass your morning briefs to Officer Palmer. From now on she'll be in charge of putting together and distributing the update reports to everyone.”
    All eyes turned to her. She produced a smile and murmured, “Thank you,” to everyone who sent down papers.
    “I'll get you the final autopsy reports as soon as they're done,” Benedict told Mick as he handed her the M.E. and Coroner's reports.
    Just then a tall, rangy man wearing khakis and a sport jacket walked in carrying a briefcase. “Sorry I'm late,” he announced to the room in general, and went to shake McGraw's hand.
    Mick rose to greet him. “Woodruff, I presume? Glad you could make it. Folks, this is Special Agent Tim Woodruff from NCAVC.”
    Woodruff had arrived from the FBI's National Center for Analysis of Violent Crime early that morning, at the request of Chief Trujillo. Caro had heard that after the second set of murders, McGraw and Bobby decided to call in the big guns from Quantico for help. Gone were the days when high-profile cases were jealously guarded by local jurisdictions. With the dawn of the Information Age, law enforcement was finally learning the value of cooperation and sharing. At least this department was.
    She was eager to hear what the FBI profiler had to say about their quarry.
    After a few opening remarks, he got right down to it.
    “Based on what we know so far,” he said, “this is who I think we're looking for: White male, mid to late-thirties but quite possibly older, above average intelligence, good-looking, socially adept, drives a flashy car. This man is macho, very neat in appearance, and needs to be in control. He dominates his sexual partners, and has a hard time maintaining steady relationships. Look for a history of sexual assault and/or rape. He's obviously into fetishism in a big way, and may have priors of breaking and entering to gather tokens or objects fitting his obsession with BDSM.”
    Wow. She'd read about profilers gaining amazing insights from a simple written description of a crime along with a few photos. But when confronted with a real person analyzing this complicated case, it seemed fairly amazing. She'd have to do a lot more reading. Maybe corner Special Agent Woodruff and ask him for some specifics.
    “Our guy is a very, very organized killer,” the FBI man went on. “Very precise. He's been fantasizing these murders for a long time, which is why I’ve upped the age range from the usual serial suspect. He has perfected his ideal scenario in his mind to the degree that the crimes are already all nearly identical. And that scenario is extremely complex and revealing. What we need to ask ourselves is why now? Why hasn't he acted on them before?”
    There was a spate of suggestions from the floor. He'd been in jail. Maybe he’d done it before, but out of state. Something in his personal life had set him off, pushing him over the edge from fantasy to acting out. Woodruff nodded at all of the suggestions, and Caro took copious notes.
    “What about the posing of the bodies?” she asked impulsively. “And changing the sheets and all?” She glanced up at Mick to see if she'd breached protocol, ready to defend her right to speak, but he was busy writing, too.
    “Good questions. Very unusual situation to begin with, killing couples.