Wrath's Storm: A Masters' Admiralty Novel by Mari Carr (desktop ebook reader .txt) 📕

“Please continue,” Nyx said.

Annalise glanced at Grigoris, unwilling to traumatize Nyx any further. He was looking at his wife, but after only a moment, he nodded.

Annalise opened the lid of her laptop, her mental notes already reshuffled to approach this from a different direction.

“I am attempting to identify murders that may have been committed by the same person who killed Josephine.”

“Petro murdered her,” Nyx said softly. “Even if he didn’t actually cut off her head, he was the killer.”

Annalise nodded, but she was going to approach this as if she were giving a profile to a roomful of officers, all of whom usually had their own theories or assumptions. She had learned during briefings such as this that she had to ignore their comments, keep calm, and speak with authority.

“Our primary victim’s head is the only part of the body recovered to date.” She tapped her computer, bringing up Josephine’s autopsy report. “I’d like to warn you all there will be graphic photos of bodies in this briefing. If you’d like me to warn you before showing one of those photos so you can look away, please let me know now.”

She waited, but no one said anything.

Annalise nodded and pulled up the screen showing the original files Eric had given her. “We started with these lists. As you can see, the victims were divided broadly into those who were just decapitated, and those who were dismembered, either with or without decapitation.”

“What about that list?” Nikolett pointed. “Cross-referenced with Masters’ Admiralty. Who is in that file?”

“That isn’t important,” Annalise said.

“How could that not be important? Petro is, was, the mastermind.” Nyx sounded cold, angry.

“And we know he mentored other killers,” Dimitri added.

“Thank you for bringing that up. Let us start with the possible partnership between our unsub and Petro.

“I believe their relationship was not a full partnership. Not in the way of the González sisters, the Hillside Stranglers, or Wolfgang Abel and Marco Furlan. Nor, I think, is the unsub we’re looking for the submissive partner, but I will explain my reasoning for that further in a moment.

“What we have here is a partnership where, I believe, both parties considered themselves the dominant partner.” Everyone, including Jakob and Walt, looked at her. This was news to them too, because it was part of the profile she hadn’t been able to give at the coffee shop meeting with Eric before they were interrupted.

“Petro provided resources, and in at least one instance that we know of, identified a victim, using our unknown subject as a weapon.” She very carefully didn’t mention Josephine’s name again.

“Why would he think he’s in charge if Petro was telling him who to kill?” Walt asked.

“Have you ever worked in a hospital, a large one?” Annalise asked, deciding it might be easier to explain this by way of analogy.

“Well, during my residency, yes. And I was in the military, so if you want to talk about large organizations…”

“And did you have people above you in rank, or with more authority than you, but who were not doctors? They knew less about how to treat a patient, about medicine and taking care of another person, yet had some authority over how you did your job.”

Jakob’s brows rose and he sat back, a sort of faraway expression in his eyes. He’d figured out not only where this conversation was going, but the implications.

Her best student.

Walt nodded. “Okay, Dr. Fischer, I see what you mean.”

“Thank you, Dr. Hayden.” She didn’t wink. It wouldn’t have been appropriate, but she wanted to. “In the examples Dr. Hayden provided, he is the medical authority, and yet there are people of authority to whom he reports. Both parties have authority, but their authority is inherently different.”

Nikolett nodded. “So the killer saw Petro as an unskilled supervisor.”

“That is what I believe. A submissive partner would not have been able to carry out the murders of Josephine and Alicja on their own. Oftentimes in killing partnerships, it is the submissive partner who is forced to commit the worst aspects of the crime, but they are in the direct sphere of influence of the dominant partner—either living with them or maintaining regular contact.”

“Petro could have done that by phone.”

Annalise shook her head. “Possible, but highly unlikely. I believe the unsub saw Petro as a patron. Someone who appreciated their work and therefore was willing to provide resources and support.”

“Ciril, one of the other serial killers, referred to Petro as his ‘friend’,” Nyx said.

“That supports my theory that Petro’s relationships with the killers were not the same as say that of U.S. killers McClintic and Rafferty.”

Several people frowned, and Nikolett reached for her phone.

Annalise cleared her throat. “For your own sakes, I would suggest not doing a search. They murdered a child.”

Everyone looked grim.

“So Petro was a patron to this killer. We know Petro appreciated what this person, man, did.” Grigoris sounded harsh, and he made the word “appreciated” into something disgusting with his tone.

“Patron is, based on what information we have, an informed hypothesis, the most appropriate term,” Annalise agreed.

“How did you figure out which of the names on that list were killed by the same man who murdered Josephine?” Nikolett gestured at the wall where Alicja’s autopsy report and the list of files were projected.

Annalise talked them through the difference between defensive and offensive dismemberment—killing and then dismembering, or death as an unintended consequence of the dismemberment, which was the focus of the pathology. She went on, now with Walt’s help, to explain the skill with which the cuts on Alicja had been made. She didn’t talk about Josephine directly, only saying that the decapitation of the Polish woman was nearly identical to the decapitation of the primary victim.

She went over Alicja’s antemortem injuries, her voice compassionate but firm as she talked about the rape, the lack of DNA, and how the case had gone cold. The way Alicja’s body had been disposed of, the head carefully packed in a small