In Death 17 - Imitation in Death

choice. He wasn't concerned about who she was, but what she was. A street whore, working the dingier section of Chinatown. But the -second was a who and what."
     
     
"Tell me about the second."
     
     
"A single woman, living alone in a nice neighborhood. A woman who'd raised her family and kept close ties with. them. Active in her community, friendly, well-liked by everyone. More well-liked than I think he understood, because he doesn't get that."
     
     
"He has no strong feelings for anyone, but himself, so he doesn't relate to those who do. Doesn't- understand the circle." Mira nodded "It was her situation-living alone, age, neighborhood, and the fact that she would be found quickly. That's what drew him to her."
     
     
"But it was a mistake, because she, had impact on everyone she was associated with. People liked her, loved-her, and they're not just willing to cooperate with the police, they're eager to. She isn't going- to be forgotten like-Wooton, not ever. Everyone I've spoken to had something specific to say about her, something personal and positive. It's like what I imagine people would say about you when you..." She caught herself, coughed, but it was too late. "Jesus, - that sounded creepy. I meant-"
     
     
"It didn't." Mira cocked her head and quite simply beamed. 'What a nice thing to hear. Why do you say it?"
     
     
She wished to hell and back she hadn't, but she was stuck now. "It's just"-she downed the juice like medicine, in one huge gulp-"I- ah-interviewed Gregg's daughter-in-law earlier, and it reminded me, that's all, of the way your daughter talked about you. There was this real bright... connection. A total bond. And I got that same sort of thing from the guy at her market, the people she worked with, everybody. She left her mark. So do you. It's that he wasn't considering, the way people would rally for her. Stand for her."
     
     
"You're right. He'd have expected the event itself to be the big story. Meaning he'd be the story. She, beyond her convenience for him, was incidental. Though the first victim made her living through sex, and the second was sexually brutalized, the killings aren't a sexual act but a rage against sex. Against women. And this act makes him powerful, and makes them nothing."
     
     
"He stalked Gregg," Eve said and led Mira through it.
     
     
"He's very careful. Meticulous in his way despite the fact that both killings were messy. His preparation is precise, as his imitations are. Each time he succeeds, he proves not only that he's more powerful, more important than the women he kills, but more than the men he emulates. He doesn't have to stick with a pattern--or so he tells himself because, of course, there is a pattern. He believes himself capable of any sort of murder, and the getting away with it. The outwitting you--the female he's chosen, deliberately chosen, to play against. He beats you, a woman, and proves you're less than him every time he leaves you a note."
     
     
"The notes, they're not his voice. It doesn't fit with every thing else you're saying. They're broad and jokey. He's not."
     
     
"Another disguise," Mira agreed.
     
     
"Another persona." "He's making himself sound different in them, the way he made himself sound different to the people he spoke with ,when stalking Gregg. Mr. Versatility again."
     
     
"It's important to him that he not be pegged, labeled, pigeonholed. It's very likely that he was, just that, during his upbringing, and by the female authority figure. He may maintain the illusion of the image she forced on him, but it's not how he sees himself. it is the mother he kills, 'Eve'. The mother as whore with Wooton, and now the mother as nurturer with Lois Gregg. Whoever he mimics next, the victim will be, in his mind, another form of mother."
     
     
"I've run probabilities, but even if I narrow down who he'll copy, I don't know how that leads me to the next victim before he gets to her."
     
     
"He'll need some time to prepare, to assume the pew face, the new method."
     
     
"Not much," Eve replied. "He, won't need much, because he's already worked it all out He didn't start this last week."
     
     
"Quite true. It began years ago. Some of his need would have manifested in childhood. The typical route of tormenting or killing small animals, secret bullying, sexual dysfunction. If his family or care-givers knew and were concerned, there may have been some therapy or counseling."
     
     
"And if they didn't?"
     
     
"If