Free The Pawn by Steven James

initial encounter or abductions are here, here, and here.” I used a laser pointer to draw attention to the pulsating areas of the map. “By taking into consideration everything we know about the crime—the observable offender patterns, urban zoning, population distribution, topographic features, traffic flow, weather conditions at the time of the crime—we can extrapolate the anchor point—”
    Oh, great word, Pat. That’ll really impress them.
    “The what?” It was Sheriff Wallace.
    “Extrapolate. It means to—”
    “No, the ‘anchor point’ part.”
    “Oh,” I said. “Anchor point, right. That’s the offender’s home base. Might be his house or maybe a girlfriend’s or a relative’s place. Maybe where he works. As long as his base is stable, we can use the principles of geographic profiling to pinpoint its most likely location.”
    I took a drink of water.
    Ten minutes and you’re out of here.
    “Offenders tend not to commit crimes too close to their home base, or too far away from it. Once we’ve defined his hunting area and drawn a line connecting the two farthest crime scenes, we create the radius of a circle.” I did this on the screen with the laser pointer. “Within this circle here”—I clicked on the screen, and a blue-tinged circle appeared near the center of the larger circle—“there’s about a 50 percent chance our offender has his anchor point.”
    “Just like pins on a bulletin board.” The officer who said it made sure he spoke loud enough for everyone to hear.
    I’d heard all this before, but still I felt my temperature rising. “Yes, the principle is the same. But we’re not just looking at crime distribution here; instead we’re taking into account sequence, distribution, origination, and timing. The order of the crimes is significant. The first crime in a series often occurs closest to the killer’s anchor point. Then he moves out as his hunting grounds get overrun with investigators. However, the body dump sites tend to move closer toward his anchor point as he gets more confident with each crime that he’s able to commit without getting caught. So timing and location are significant. Also, places carry meanings for people. We all view the world, our surroundings, through the lens of our personal experiences and perceptions. If I can figure out what the locations of this series of crimes mean to the offender, it’ll help me figure out what type of person we’re looking for. Instead of asking ‘Why did he do it?’ I ask ‘Why did he do it here ?’ For example . . .”
    I pulled up a photo of Jamie McNaab. “Jamie was found beside a parking lot. Now look back behind her, just to the right, there”—I pointed with the laser pointer—“See? There’s a sign that reads ‘No Loitering.’ It’s subtle but symbolic.” I flipped to a picture of the crime scene of Reinita Lawson. “Reinita was found on a trail leading to Tombstone Caverns—also symbolic. He’s taunting us.”
    “How come no one noticed that before?” Sheriff Wallace asked. Before I could answer Agent Tucker said, “No one was looking.”
    I wished he’d stop doing that.
    “So, what about the motive?” asked Lien-hua, who had stopped doodling and was looking at me with keen interest and perhaps a hint of antagonism.
    “I leave motives to the profilers.” I smiled.
    She didn’t.
    “And that means . . . ?” She let her voice trail off and then added, “What, exactly?”
    I figured someone would ask these questions, but why did it have to be her?
    “Well, instead of probing into his mind to try and guess what the guy is thinking, I’m trying to study his life to find where he’s living. I think too many investigations get sidetracked by trying to uncover the motive—”
    “Excuse me, Dr. Bowers.” She set down her pen. “Did you just say sidetracked by looking for motive?”
    I slid the remote control into my pocket. “Yes, Agent Jiang, I did. Jurors love motives. So do people