6:02 a.m.
The nightmares left me alone.
I dreamt of Taci instead, and woke up thinking about our weekend getaway to Tennessee the first weekend of October. We’d been close as a couple when we headed down there and when we returned, we were even closer, with shared memories of day hikes in the Smoky Mountains and evenings in front of the fireplace at a bed-and-breakfast nestled up in the hills.
It was a nice note to start the day on and when I got out of bed I felt much more rested than I had yesterday morning, which was a relief because I had the feeling this might shape up to be another long day.
I wasn’t scheduled to meet Taci until seven thirty, nearly an hour and a half from now. Anthony’s Cafe was downtown, which gave me an idea.
When you’re working cases like this, the odd hours, the long hours, it’s easy to eat poorly-admittedly one of my weaknesses. And, for me at least, it’s easy to miss workouts. Getting motivated to exercise wasn’t usually the issue for me because I loved to trail run, climb, hike, anything outdoors. But finding the time to get out and play when you’re in the middle of a case can be tricky.
My climbing buddy, Reinhold Draeger, operated the South Wall Climbing Gym, which wasn’t too far from Anthony’s Cafe. The morning’s agenda seemed to lay itself out neatly for me: slip in a workout at the gym, grab breakfast with Taci, review Werjonic’s notes and the case files, meet with the task force at HQ, then call Dr. Werjonic at eleven.
Even though I climb with ropes when I’m at the crags, working out close to the ground without them is a great way to develop finger strength, leg work, and breathing. It’s called bouldering and an hour of that would be more than enough of a workout for this morning.
Before leaving my apartment, I taped up my hands to protect the sores from being torn open by the holds, some of which were pretty sketchy. Then I took off.
Because of my unusual work hours, Reinhold had given me a key to the gym and now I parked, went in the back entrance, and had the place to myself. Climbers have their own jargon and, while most people might talk about pulling themselves up a climb when they’re making moves, we talk about pulling them down. So, after warming up and working past the pain in my hands, that’s what I did on some of the stoutest climbs in the bouldering cave.
Counterintuitively, it often seems that stepping away from a case and letting that curious, secret part of my brain work on it is the best way to get a fresh perspective.
Often it’s in the moments of quiet that the tiny threads of a case imperceptibly intertwine. I guess it’s human nature, though. We gather facts, try to process them, but don’t often tie them together until we’re in the shower or on the golf course or waking up in the middle of the night. Just ask any novelist, any artist, any scientist.
And sometimes we think of them when we’re upside down in a bouldering cave.
Sometimes.
Like today.
Halfway through one of the hardest climbs in the cave, a V9 problem that I’d never been able to send, it struck me.
Indiana.
He passed through Indiana.
All sixteen missing persons, as well as the homicide victims we knew about, came from Ohio, Illinois, and Wisconsin. Why did the offender-or offenders-skip over the state of Indiana?
The questions from the article that I’d read last night from Dr. Werjonic flashed through my mind:
(1) What does the choice of the crime’s location tell us about the offender and the victim?
(2) What purpose do these locations serve for him? Expediency? Opportunity? Isolation?
(3) What do the locations of the crimes tell us about how he’s choosing his victims?
(4) What led him to this specific victim, and location? How and when did his life intersect with the victim’s to create the encounter that precipitated this crime?
The conclusion about why he skipped over Indiana: he wasn’t familiar with the state.
His awareness space didn’t include it.
We needed to find people who’d lived, worked, or attended college in the three states in question-but not in Indiana. Specifically, the metro areas of Milwaukee, Champaign, and Cincinnati. Looking more closely at the tip list and suspect list would be the place to start.
I dropped from the climb and landed on my feet on the bouldering pads beneath the route. I wanted to get right at it, start looking into that, but Taci and I had apparently hit some sort of snag in our relationship, and I needed to iron that out first.
Hopefully it wouldn’t take too long.
In truth, I was somewhat anxious about what we might be discussing, but I assured myself that whatever was on her mind was something we’d be able to settle without too much hassle.
As soon as I’d showered and changed, I gathered my things and walked down the street to Anthony’s Cafe.