Bevo tried not to look too excited when she got to sit in the common room with the rest of the team for their meeting. They were still here to discuss a serial killer. It was serious business and she was a serious person. She was still a little excited, though.
“Alright, Farsus, you’re the only guy here with a brain,” Kamak said. “Please tell me you’ve solved this thing.”
“While I can’t claim to have identified a culprit, I believe I have identified an important thread in their killings.”
Farsus manipulated the central console and started putting up displays of the Butcher’s most recent killings, as well as other information on Et-Fe Lithrette and EmSolo Aerodynamic’s headquarters. The crime scene was on the far side of the universe, so a direct investigation was not feasible, but Farsus had spent the past several swaps gathering as much information as he could.
“The choice of Savant Alvrit as a victim rather than Et-Fe Lithrette stood out to me, so I reached out to the local security forces, asked for a breakdown of the killer’s potential access to Alvrit versus Et-Fe,” Farsus said. “According to the guards, at least, the security levels were comparatively similar. Both were in the same building at the same time, under watch by the same guards, had the same security systems on their doors.”
He put up a holo of the office complex, highlighting Alvrit and Et-Fe’s offices, which were only a few rooms apart.
“Why, then, would the Butcher target Alvrit, a man we did not know, over Et-Fe, the woman we specifically reached out to contact?” Farsus continued. “Analyzing our killer’s behavior, I think I have identified a common thread. The Bad Luck Butcher has made similar odd choices in the past, specifically at the homes of To Vo La Su and the Obertas family.”
He called up a map of both crime scenes. Tooley twitched at the sight of her old house, even though it had been reduced down to a simple blueprint and a few red dots.
“When presented with the option of killing To Vo La Su or her infant daughter, the Butcher chose to target Den Cal Vor, a man we barely knew and who most of us have never even met,” Farsus said. “Similarly, when attacking Tooley’s family members, he killed only the father, leaving her mother and sister as hostages.”
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“Isn’t that just a matter of convenience, though?” Tooley said. “Like, Corey was between the Butcher and To Vo, and they presumably only had so much time to kill anyone on Turitha.”
“Reasonable assumptions, and one I made myself, but in the larger context, a pattern becomes apparent,” Farsus said. “Especially in light of their uncharacteristic intervention for Bevo.”
Bevo perked up at the mention of her name. She hadn’t been tracking the conversation well so far.
“Looking at their history of victims,” Farsus said. He pulled up a few headshots of everyone killed by the Butcher, and pointed to them one by one. “The Bad Luck Butcher has only ever killed men, even when female targets were both accessible and more damaging to us. I don’t believe that this is a coincidence.”
Kamak stared at the rows of all-male victims and narrowed his eyes.
“Are you implying that our serial killer is a feminist?”
“No, I am implying that they are a misandrist,” Farsus said. “Belief in the equality of women is not the same as a hatred of men.”
“It’s still a little crazy to say that all of this is because someone hates dudes,” Corey said, gesturing to the long list of dead bodies.
“I don’t believe simple misandry is their primary motivation,” Farsus said. “They also showcase a desire for fame and recognition, as well as a clear vendetta against us for as-yet unidentifiable reasons. I am confident that the misandry is a key element of their pathology, however. The Butcher’s comment to Tooley’s female relatives, that she was ‘saving them’ makes sense, viewed in the context of women living in a misogynistic society.”
“It makes sense to me,” Doprel said.
“It makes perfect sense, yeah,” Kamak said. “I just don’t know how useful it is. What are we going to do, ask for a list of everyone in the universe who hates men?”
“We can use it to narrow down our suspect list, at least,” Corey said. “We know we’re looking for someone who hates us, hates men, wants fame, has some kind of access to genetic modification-”
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me!”
Tooley burst out of her seat, pushed Kamak out of the way of the console controls, and started punching through the system. Kamak briefly considered shoving her right back, but he recognized that manic look in her eyes. Tooley frantically scoured the system until she called up a hologram of a single purple face.
“It’s her,” Tooley said. “It’s got to be her.”
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Halfway across the universe, a timer beeped in a dark room. The chamber’s sole occupant stood up and pulled a tube out of their veins. The modification process was over, for the time being, and they were back to their original state. They would become someone else when it was time to strike again.
The face of the ‘Bad Luck Butcher’ often changed, but for the time being, it had returned to the purple-skinned visage of Kor Tekaji.