Chapter 514 - Cooling-Off Period (1/2)
Chapter 514 Cooling-Off Period
It was in the opinion of many people that serial killers were absolute lunatics or unhinged, cold-blooded thugs.
The fact was that it wasn’t an accurate representation. Serial killers weren’t all the same. Studies have shown that a number of them come in the form of highly educated idealists who have a high sense of morality, even willing to sacrifice themselves in pursuit of the truth they so desperately sought.
They often came as good-looking, well-dressed, and well-spoken individuals with stable careers and closed interpersonal relations.h.i.+ps. As for how they ended up being serial killers, the reasons varied from one individual to another.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation defines a serial killer as a person who has murdered three or more people, with a cooldown period between the crimes. Unlike ma.s.s killers, they would carry out ma.s.sacres in one place in a short period, or spree-killers who murdered in a frenzy.
Jack, the Ripper, was your textbook serial killer.
His crimes only occurred within the confines of Whitechapel, and he had a consistent behavioral pattern. According to Lestrade, among the three murders that had taken place within half a month, there was a ten-day gap between the first and the second, but the third murder happened only five days after that.
It was clear that the rate of murders was accelerating
Whether the killings were for a mission, entertainment, ideals, or only a career choice, the killer got a certain kind of satisfaction from the act itself.
It wasn’t dissimilar to those addicted to video games or patroning brothels, where serial killers were simply addicted to killing people. Every time after visiting a brothel, most people would have a so-called refractory period, and similar to that, the “cooling-down period” was like a serial murderer’s refractory period.
After each murder, the killer’s excitement would peak before gradually deflating. They would relive the experience and continue to learn until their next crime was due.
This phenomenon proved to be little more than troublesome, considering how you’d be facing a constantly evolving enemy—the shortening cool-down period a tell-tale sign of the declining emotional stimulation and gratification that each murder granted the killer. For that reason, the murderer would need to kill even more frequently to ease the gradually intensifying cravings.
If Zhang Heng remembered correctly, two more murders occurred in the East End on the third day after the first letter. However, one of those crimes was different from the restmodern-day researchers concluded that this particular case wasn’t the work of Jack the Ripper himself. But it was unclear if it a copycat or if someone was trying to rock the boat, taking advantage of the chaos to kill before putting the blame on Jack the Ripper. In short, Zhang Heng didn’t have much time to solve the case. If possible, he wished that no more murder victims turned up. The best-case scenario was to find the murderer within three days. Of course, now that the rate of the killings had only gotten more frequent, he might not even have three days to solve this. Not to mention how he was competing against the formidable Sherlock Holmes.
Zhang Heng got to work immediately. After examining the body in the morgue, he went straight to the crime scene. But whatever that had happened there had long been cleaned up, and all the evidence collected by the police. There was still small traces of blood on the ground, but other than that, not many clues were left. After a visit to all three murder sites, it was clear from the locality of the crime scenes that the murderer was only getting bolder. He had moved from dark and dingy alleyways to a loading area, then to the fence behind the apartment-each new murder having a possibility of being discovered than the last. Zhang Heng marked the three locations on the map, then going by Lestrade’s addresses, he visited witnesses who discovered the bodies and the last person who saw the victims alive. Unsurprisingly, having been hara.s.sed and bombarded with questions by reporters, police, and nosy curtain-twitchers, the witnesses were immediately put-off by Zhang Heng the moment he revealed the purpose of his visit.
When he took out a gold coin from his pocket, though, their att.i.tudes took an almost instant turn. The once hostile witnesses become hospitable again and readily regurgitated answers they had been repeating so many times before this.
The police reports had actually provided all these facts, and Zhang Heng had already read them, so that wasn’t his focus.
Thanks to the generations of fans inspired by Jack The Ripper, Zhang Heng already had a list of suspects. The specific names and ages may not be useful, but their corresponding occupation and motives are made for a great reference.
For instance, a retired sheriff believed that Jack the Ripper was a sailor on a German merchant s.h.i.+p since the Whitechapel district was very close to the pier. The arrival and departure of the merchant s.h.i.+p from London coincided with the time the victims were killed. He speculated that the murderer was probably a seaman. As for the killer’s mysterious disappearance and the fact that no further crimes were committed afterward, the sheriff surmised that the murderer must have fled to the United States.