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Mills : The guy had to get
into the building before the
office was closed and
security tightened. Gould
would have been working
late.
Somerset : I'm certain. He’s
the biggest
defense
lawyer in
town. Infamous, really.
Mills : The body was found
Tuesday morning. The office
was closed Monday. Which
means the guy could have
gotten in on Friday,
lay low
till the cleaning crew left
and had his way with Gould
all day Saturday, Sunday,
maybe Monday. Look at this.
Gould was bound, his right
arm free. He was handed a
butcher's knife. Check out
the scale.
Somerset : A pound of flesh?
Mills : Yeah.
Somerset : "One pound of
flesh, no more, no less. No
cartilage, no bone, but only
flesh." "Merchant of
Venice."
Mills : Didn't see it.
Somerset : "His task done,
and he would go free."
Mills : Telling you, that
chair was soaked with sweat.
Somerset : Of course. The
killer would have wanted
Gould to
take his
time to sit
and decide which cut to make
first. Imagine it, there's a
gun in your face. Which part
of your body is expendable?
Mills : How about the
love
handles? Cut
along the side of his own
stomach.
Somerset : Let's take a fresh
look at these. Even though
the corpse is there, look
through it.
Edit out
the initial shock. The trick
is to find one item, one
detail and focus on it until
it's an exhausted
possibility.
Mills : I'm going to get
another beer.
Somerset : Beer? Wine,
please. He's preaching.
Mills : He's punishing.
Somerset : The sins were used
in medieval sermons. There
were seven cardinal virtues
and seven deadly sins used
as teaching tools.
Mills : Yeah yeah yeah, like
in the "The
Parson's Tale,"
and what's-his... Dante.
Somerset : You read them.
Mills : Yeah. Parts. Hi,
remember in "Purgatory,"
Dante and his buddy, they're
climbing up the hill,
checking out the sinners?
Yeah?
Somerset : Yeah. The Seven
Terraces of Purgation.
Mills : Right, but there
pride comes first, not
gluttony.
Somerset : Well for now let's
consider that the books were
the inspiration. The sermons
were about atonement for
sin. These murders are like
forced attrition.
Mills : Forced what?
Somerset : Attrition. It’s
when you regret your sins
but not because you love
God.
Mills : Because someone's
sticking a fucking gun in
your face.
Somerset : No fingerprints.
Mills : Nop.
Somerset : Totally unrelated
victims.
Mills : Yep.
Somerset : And no witnesses
of any kind.
Mills : Which I don't get
because the fucker had to
get back out. |
