Free With Cruel Intent by Dennis Larsen

the
    room.
    “Let me turn that around on you.
    How many of these little ‘victimless’
    crimes take place in Valdosta, Lowndes
    County or Georgia for that matter every
    single day? Any takers?” Pink wandered
    back to the other side of the room, tapping
    a pointer in her palm.
    “Nobody? Well I’ll tell you,” she
    quipped, returning to the projector, she
    removed the initial image and placed a
    transparency on the overhead.
    A chart of numbers and titles
    covered the opposing wall.
    “All right, these number are for
    2005 alone and were provided by the
    GBI. You should all know what that
    stands for. Who can tell us?”
    Mr. Rickert raised his hand.
    “Yes,” aiming the pointer in his
    direction.
    “Georgia Bureau of Investigation,”
    he said.
    “Thanks, correct. They have a
    statistical division that generates this
    database every year. So let’s take a look,”
    and she pointed at each column and read
    aloud:
    “Murder - 526, Rape - 2086,
    Robbery - 13,800, Aggravated Assault -
    22,409. Bringing the total violent crimes
    in the state of Georgia for one year to
    38,821. Anyone surprised?” She paused
    then continued. “Okay then, let’s take a
    look at the property or more victimless
    crimes. Burglary - 79,834, Larceny -
    234,436 and yes that comma is in the right
    place, Auto Theft - 43,411, Arson - 1130,
    Total Property Crime - 358,811. What do
    you think of those numbers?” Without
    waiting for anyone to answer, Pink
    questioned, “Do you think the GBI or the
    FBI has time on their hands to process
    DNA on every case that involves some
    pervert taking pictures of a sleeping
    woman in little old Valdosta, Georgia?
    Don’t think so. Nope don’t think they’ll be
    wasting thousands of your taxpayer
    dollars to track down every two-bit
    peeping tom or night crawler that makes
    the paper. I could be wrong, does anyone
    else have an opinion?”
    The same young lady that posed
    the initial question asked, “But what if he
    does it again and someone gets hurt or
    even killed?”
    Ella’s face almost appeared a bit
    sad when she replied, “That’s the
    heartbreaking part, isn’t it? So often these
    types of people do a harmless little
    ‘prank’, if you want to call it that, but they
    get hooked on the adrenalin rush and can’t
    stop. They’re always looking for the next
    opportunity to fulfill some inner need,
    some fantasy, and unfortunately we know
    from experience that it often escalates and
    someone does get hurt. In the event that
    there is substantial property loss and
    certainly physical harm or death, the state
    is then obligated to get involved and put
    forth their resources. But in cases like this
    there aren’t enough dollars to go around
    and the local police just have to do the
    best they can with what they’ve got. You
    just gotta know hindsight is always 20/20
    so if this 'nut job' does hurt somebody
    down the road, you can sure as hell bet
    there will be those wanting to know where
    CSI was. Sadly, that’s just the reality of
    the job. Often times, someone does have
    to get hurt before anything gets done.”
    Pink turned off the overhead, the
    whir of the fan still going as she
    addressed the class.
    “I’d like you each to look a little
    more carefully at this case as a way of
    understanding deviant behavior. Perhaps it
    was just a prank, at least this incident, but
    do some research and see what you can
    dig up on individuals that started their
    criminal careers with similar events and
    see if you can document any patterns or
    known profiles. In the few minutes we
    have left today I want to introduce the
    topic of deviant behavior and brain
    dysfunction.”
    Having completed her thought, she
    started into a brief lecture, explaining
    chemical imbalance, learned behavior and
    the road to deviant criminal behavior.
    Seymour
    was
    pumped
    about
    the
    assignment and as the instructor droned on
    in the background he put pen to paper and
    was quickly writing down all the