The Darkness of Evil (Karen Vail #7)(43)

He suggested that she meet him at the gymnasium. She passed through the magnetron scanner, then headed straight past the auditorium, library and classrooms, and on to the physical education wing. As she made her way down the hall, she saw Rooney opening the door to the pool area.

“Art!”

Rooney turned, nodded at her. “Trying to squeeze in a short workout before heading off to an appointment. You mind?”

“That’s fine. I got hung up over at Fairfax County PD. Took the clerk an hour to pull a file from archives.”

“Normally I wouldn’t care but I’ve got a dinner appointment.”

“Speaking of dinner, Robby and I had a guy over last night. Former ATF agent who did time in the fire lab.”

He tossed a pair of swim goggles onto a railing and continued on to the stairs, which led down to the main level of the cavernous gym. “Anyone I know?”

“Richard Prati, now with DEA Special Operations.”

Rooney pursed his lips. “Doesn’t ring a bell.”

“We had a chance to chat about Crime Concealment Fires. Anything new on that case?”

“Got back some forensics on the latest scene,” he said, grabbing a basketball off a wheeled cart. “Come shoot some hoops with me before I swim laps.”

Vail removed her shoulder holster and placed it around the head of an oversize gray and black “Cuff Man” dummy, which was outfitted with Velcro and designed to teach the proper techniques for applying handcuffs.

“Anything surprising?”

Rooney took a shot and the ball swished but came off to the right toward Vail. She snatched it up and threw a bounce pass to Rooney, who caught the ball, dribbled left, then pulled up for a jumper. It hit the side of the rim and Vail again gathered it up, fed Rooney as he moved toward the basket and laid it in.

“Hey, you’re good at this.”

“I’ve played with Robby and Jonathan. They taught me well. Can’t shoot worth shit, but I’m good at rebounding and passing.”

“So, the forensics.” He pulled up and took another shot. “I’ll have to show you everything when you’ve got some time. Getting close to identifying the accelerant.”

“I thought it was Sterno gel.”

“That’s the one we found but I knew he had to have used a more conventional, and effective, accelerant.”

“And?”

“And I should have an answer soon.”

“Keep me posted. Sounds like this is shaping up to be an interesting case.”

“Definitely challenging.” He dribbled once and took another shot. “But that’s not what you came here to discuss, is it?”

“You had a case a couple of years ago. That homosexual serial. Padrova?”

“Yeah, what about him?”

“I wanted to pick your brain. I think Roscoe Lee Marcks might be gay. Something Thomas Underwood missed or overlooked. Or discounted. Nothing in his case file about it.”

“Have you spoken to Tom about it?”

“Left a message. Hasn’t returned my call yet. He could be traveling.”

“Let’s say you’re right. The purpose of our assessment is to help identify the kind of person doing the deed. But we know who it is. He’s not an UNSUB. So is this just curiosity on your part or is there some relevance that I’m missing?”

“If he is gay, then it could impact how the fugitive task force goes about looking for him.”

Rooney nodded. “Okay. So then let’s talk homosexual serial killers. A lot of the well-known serials were gay. But there isn’t necessarily a predominance of gay serials relative to the general population. So it won’t be unusual if he is homosexual.”

“Right. Again, it’s only significant in terms of finding him.”

“If I remember right,” Rooney said, “Marcks excised the male genitalia, right?”

“Correct. I’m thinking that could be his way of making the male body look more feminine. Cut away the penis and testicles, you’ve got a more female body type.”

Rooney took a shot and it clanged off the rim, hit the backboard, and fell through the net. “And why would he do that?”

Vail gathered up the ball and bounced it while she thought. “He’s uncomfortable with his homosexuality and he’s trying to make the men, who he’s attracted to, look more like women, who he feels he should be attracted to.”

He held out his hands and she threw him a chest pass. “Could be. I’ll accept that. But didn’t he kill women also?”

“Yeah. It was one of the things I was going to ask him about. Before he escaped.”

“Two different killers?”

“They found forensics at two crime scenes—one male victim and one female victim—that fingered Marcks.”

“Okay.” Rooney took a shot. “Well, there are some killers who don’t have a preference for a particular type of victim, but most do.”

The rebound caromed to Vail. “Right. So?”

“So for those who do, it’s unusual for them to have more than one victim preference. But they can stray from that preference when their type isn’t available. So if he likes white females and the night he has the urge, he can’t find a white woman, he kills a Hispanic. Then he’ll go back to whites.” He gestured at her. “Go on, take a shot.”