suit, that was about all Peter could bring back. Big help, everyone around there wore suits. It was an odd thing about suitsâwhen you werenât concentrating on noticing, sometimes that was all you saw.
MacRaeâs next question took Peter aback: âSo, is this guy crazy?â
Not exactly a plea for help, and certainly not an apology for being rude and unpleasant, but Peter savored the momentâMacRae was actually asking his opinion and offering the tiniest acknowledgment that maybe he didnât have all the answers.
Unfortunately, neither did Peter. âYou think itâs the work of one person?â he asked, sidestepping the question.
âSuppose, just for argumentâs sake, that this is one person. What are we looking for?â
Peter didnât answer right away.
âHey, it could have been you in that building,â MacRae said, misinterpreting Peterâs reticence. Heâd hesitated because he wasnât a profiler. When he evaluated a suspect, it was based on an in-depth evaluation. He interpreted the results and extrapolated backward. This was different. He had no interviews, no test data. Still, there was behavior. That was something. The same principles could be applied.
âThis is just informal, right? I mean no oneâs going to subpoena me to testify, right, because Iâd just be shooting from the hip.â
MacRae held up two fingers. âScoutâs honor.â
What did he think, assuming, as MacRae suggested, that it was one person who did both bombings, and assuming the flyers were his?
âWhoever it is, heâs not a big fan of the government,â Peter offered.
Duh. MacRae didnât say it, but his expression did.
âAnd based on the messages, the targets donât seem random.â
MacRae still didnât seem overly impressed.
Peter went on. âHeâs planning. Thinking things through. It takes time to compose these messages, print them, and put them up, to gather what he needs to make the explosives. And heâs interested in more than making noise and communicating a message. Heâs picked times and places that guarantee casualties.â
Peter took off his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose. What were the options? âCould be schizophrenic, someone like the Unabomber with some convoluted logic behind the point heâs trying to make. He could even have a legitimate gripe. Maybe heâs someone who should have been protected by the judicial system but wasnât, and heâs conflating larger social issues with his own personal issues, maybe to the point of being delusional about them. Could be a sociopath, using anarchist rhetoric as a cover. Or a terrorist, with an organization behind him.â
Now MacRae looked exasperated. He was getting questions, not answers.
âThis is pure speculation, right?â Peter said.
âYou donât see me taking notes.â
âOkay.â Peter put his glasses back on. âIâd say itâs a man. Bright. Well-read. Disenfranchised. Educated. White. Unmarried. Probably not in a committed relationship. Only child.â MacRae reared back as Peter reeled off his ideas. âPossibly a childhood abuse victim. Maybe a history of fanaticism or cult involvement. Probably reads sci-fi or spy novels.â
MacRaeâs eyebrows went up in surprise. âSci-fi?â
âIâd say this is someone whose grip on reality is a little bit loose or distorted, who might think he can engineer change all by himself.â
MacRae fished out his pad and cocked his pen. âYou mind? No subpoenas, I promise.â
Peter didnât protest as MacRae wrote.
Peter went on. âTo set up something like this, knowing people will be randomly killed, suggests an individual who doesnât connect emotionally to other people. No empathy. Thatâs where the abuse comes in. Kids who were physically abused learn a different way of relating because