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There have been cases where a female in company with a male was targeted, but very few where both were deliberately killed and staged at the same time. That's a key factor and a big clue to this guy's head. We also need to figure out what he was trying to say by his method of killing the victims. Why stab and gut the men but strangle the women?”
    “You mean why not just shoot them both, which would be easier,” she ventured.
    “Exactly. In killing the men, he's telling us he's angry. A knife is a very personal weapon. Sexual, almost. The brutality of the deaths tells us he's got a whole lot of hostility and rage directed at whomever the male victim represents in his fantasy. And yet, he is very controlled in his rage. He uses two different knives, is precise with their placement and careful to absorb the initial blood spatter. Then he deliberately and savagely guts the men. It’s almost like he’s trying to shock us with the brutality once he has them under his control. Trying to make it look like a crime of passion, when in fact it’s meticulously planned.”
    “And the woman? Why strangle her?”
    Woodruff contemplated a spot on the wall behind the table. “With the woman, it's something very different. Subtle. There are no wounds, and despite the overt sexual context of the crime scene, he leaves her in a modest, even innocent pose. He cleans her up, along with the bed, and dresses her in white, hands folded over her chest. Almost reverently. Like he wants to leave her in a good light.”
    He looked up and down the table at the members of the task force. “Our job is to figure out why.”
    Caro thought about that as Tim went on to analyze other details of the crime and answer questions from the task force. If they could solve that one puzzle they'd be a lot closer to pin-pointing the murderer. It was something she'd have to keep in mind when she and Mick started meeting people at Brimstone. What deep need was the killer fulfilling by killing and leaving his victims in just this way? And which particular suspects were most likely to fit the profile?
    Her musings were interrupted when everyone at the table turned to look at her.
    “Officer Palmer and I will be going in undercover,” Mick was saying. “We're working with LAPD for surveillance, and hope to be able to spot the perpetrator before he does any more damage.”
    “Dangerous,” Tim said, tenting his fingers in front of his chin contemplatively. “But...hell, it just might work. I'll have a real close look at any suspects you identify.”
    “I was hoping you'd say that,” Mick said.
    “You two should probably move in together.”
    Caro stared incredulously at Woodruff, who had made the preposterous statement. Studying serial killers for years had obviously affected the NCAVC profiler's own mind. The man was out of his gourd.
    “No,” she replied emphatically.
    At the same instant, McGraw recovered from his shock sufficiently to utter a firm, “Impossible.”
    Woodruff wagged his head back and forth. “It's up to you, of course, but I'd strongly advise it. All the victims were couples married or living together. As I said, this guy is highly organized. It wouldn't surprise me if he stalks, or cases, his victims well ahead of time. Remember, the credit card receipts all indicate the dead couples were at Brimstone during the week. But they weren't killed until the weekend. He's probably checking them out in the meantime. The fact that they all lived within several blocks of each other supports the theory that he’s probably killing in familiar territory, close to his home.”
    To her dismay, McGraw sat back and actually appeared to be considering the idea. Oh, brother . She had to nip this one in the bud but quick. So what if she occasionally wondered what Mick McGraw's delectable body would look like naked? It was a totally different thing to actually have to confront it walking out of the bathroom every morning for God knew how long until they