Free The Last Blue Plate Special by Abigail Padgett

and threw it as far as I could fifteen times, making my Dobie’s day. While throwing, I pondered the gender
     issue.
    Social psychologists are supposed to be able to determine gender on the basis of very little data, but I didn’t feel comfortable
     assigning sex to Sword. Not yet. Anybody intelligent enough to pull off the crimes suggested in the letter to the police and
     the Bugs Bunny tape might be intelligent enough to be misleading as to his/her sex. Already there were confusing markers.
     An “internal” kill method suggesting a female killer, and demands for attention suggesting a male.
    Inside again, I looked at Rathbone’s fax of the Bugs Bunny tape text. More biblical-sounding language. “Abomination.” “Cast
     her down and killed her.” There wasn’t time to run more linguistic analyses, and they wouldn’t have told me anything dad already
     hadn’t. Sword was no stranger to violent and judgmental passages in the Bible and identified with them. Moreover, he or she
     was troubled by women in positions of authority, but not women in traditional roles.
    Sword’s choice of pseudonym was clearly phallic, which could be misleading. Research into the psychology of aliases and pseudonyms
     suggests that people often choose names reflecting qualities they lack or dimensions of themselves they believe others do
     not see. It is telling that the most common surname alias used by English-speaking prostitutes is “White.” Sword could be
     a man conflicted about what a man is supposed to be, or a woman who sees herself as more like a man.
    I documented my conclusions, arguing that Sword’s gender would have to remain open pending further information. “The subject
     is most likely to be a white male between twenty-five and forty,” I wrote, “based on the pattern of killing or claiming credit
     for killing female Caucasian victims who do not conform to typical profiles for victims of female killers. That is, the victims
     are not children nor are they elderly or in any way disabled. However, the subject is intelligent and resourceful, perhaps
     sufficiently so that s/he is able to mask gender. Subject’s need for attention from police and media, as suggested by the
     letter and tape, also suggest that subject is male. On the other hand, the presumed method of killing (introducing substance
     into body of victim) is typically female.
    “My preliminary assessment is that the subject is either deliberately masking psychological features reflecting gender or
     is deeply conflicted personally over gender issues. In either sex, look for overcompensating behaviors. In both look for extreme
     and punitive religious beliefs. Suspect either is or has been associated with a religious context which stresses rigid sex
     roles and violent punishment.”
    I typed out another three pages of advice for the police, including warnings that victims were chosen from a population of
     women in positions of authority. I mentioned that newspaper coverage of these public figures might be a trigger to further
     attempts. Then I e-mailed my report to Roxie and called her at her office. It was precisely ten-thirty.
    “Just e-mailed it,” I told her. “What have you come up with so far?”
    “Oh, just the obvious. High IQ, poor early schooling or else a learning disorder. Sword speaks well, but can’t spell, may
     have had some negative experiences as a child due to difficulties with reading and writing skills. Doubt that there was ever
     a serious psychiatric disorder. This is psychological, not psychiatric. Rigidly controlled personality finally blows. God
     knows what the trigger was, but the murders were extremely well planned, if indeed they were murders. We still don’t know
     that, Blue, although it seems likely. There are too many noncoincidental factors.”
    “What did you do about which sex this is?” I had to ask.
    “Look for male, but don’t rule out promising female suspects. Tidy, clean-cut person who’s