My hotel was just two blocks from the theatre district in Chicago. There was an El-stop on this block. Commuters were beginning to run to and fro. As I watched them, something occurred to me.
“All the victims are roughly the same size and shape, yes?” I asked Xavier.
“Between 5’7” and 5’9” and within ten or fifteen pounds of each other.” Xavier confirmed.
“And their fingers? Feet?” I asked.
“Some bruises, broken fingernails and toenails, the odd broken bone, nothing that can’t be explained during their initial struggle or struggling to not be tortured.”
“True,” I turned back outside. The thought still forming in my head. Two inches wasn’t a lot of height difference. Ten or fifteen pounds could be, depending on the body shape, but perhaps not enough.
“Why?” Lucas held suspicion in his voice.
“Because I think I can explain how they are being held.” I got out my book and flipped until I found the page.
“This is called a Hanging Coffin. They are supposed to fit like a glove, so that the captive can’t move too much. In the old days, they were made to order. They had hanging cages, but those left a lot of room for movement. These were different. The victim was put inside, the door was closed and for several days, people passing by could hurl rocks or food or sticks at them. Eventually, the victim was either let out or left to starve to death. There weren’t injuries involved except what was done by the people passing by or the futile attempts to escape their fate. Because the Hanging Coffins fit so tightly though, it is hard to move much more than your fingers and toes. Considering the victims were the same size, same body shape, you could just order ten Hanging Coffins with those specs. It might raise eyebrows if you ordered them all from one person, but then again, it might not.”
“It would raise my eyebrow,” Alejandro commented.
Michael cleared his throat. I smiled at him. I had been right.
“They are popular with a couple of subcultures,” I started. “I have seen them at Goth clubs, but I also know if you go for something a little darker, you can find them in the vampire underground and some of the fetish groups.”
“I’ve seen them in a few death metal clubs and at raves,” he admitted. “I didn’t know what they were called though.”
“No and they have been popularized by vampire and medieval based movies. There is even one in Monty Python and the Holy Grail.” I added.
“So these things while being difficult to make are not exactly unique, rare or uncommon.” Xavier sighed.
“No, but again, they require a master smith. You couldn’t just look at a picture and get one made. They are hinged, the entire front opens, then locks. The metal that makes the latitudinal slats are made slightly different than the ones that make up the longitudinal slats. They have been fitted properly. Like anything else made of iron or steel, it takes true craftsmanship to create it.”
“Why do you keep saying things like craftsmanship and skilled?” Alejandro asked.
“Have you ever been to an artisanal community?” I asked him.
“No.” He answered.
“Ok then, communities of the Middle Ages were artisanal in design. You didn’t have importers or exporters and if you did, the populace couldn’t afford it. So, everything was made there, in the community. You got bread from a baker, meat from a butcher, metalwork from a smithy; even your torturers and executioners were parts of these communities. The executioner was paid by the state, he had to then pay for everything he bought in the community, but he also helped with law and order to some degree. Some people knew he was the executioner, some didn’t. Those that did kept clear of his bad side. In the modern age, where master smiths are as uncommon as artisanal communities, it requires a bit of luck and a lot of work to find a master smith, especially one that works with iron. Everything about this case reeks of the Middle Ages, meaning that everything to do with this case is not modern in nature except our techniques to catch them. I can’t help but ask myself if we shouldn’t be time traveling with them. What are these women’s offenses? Are they flirts? Atheists? Shoplifters? Something about these women, other than their size, has to connect them and I imagine the connection is as medieval as the methods used to kill them. My first thoughts are heresy or adultery or something similar, but it could be secular instead of ecclesiastical. It doesn’t have to make sense to us, just the person doing it. Which means there is a lot of theories and ground to cover.”
“Not necessarily,” Lucas looked at me. “If it is ecclesiastical, it is most likely a woman, very devout. If it is secular, then male and this is feeding his need for some sense of justice.”
“Great, we just need to find out what imaginary offense has been committed. Why and how the killer relates to Cain and how it relates to that book, if it does at all.” Alejandro stood up. He pulled a pack of cigarettes from his pocket and lit up in the room.
“Balcony,” Lucas pointed.
“Fine,” Alejandro walked out, blowing smoke at Lucas as he did.
“Why is it more likely to be female if it is religion related?” I asked once Alejandro had departed the room.
“Because women are more likely to act on religious fervor than men.”
“Then explain monks.” I asked.
“Monks are not acting on religious fervor, they are acting on faith. Cult leaders tend to be male, but most cult followers are female.”
“I thought that was just because the leader didn’t like to compete for sexual favors.”
“There is a bit of that, but in reality, women are twice as likely to join a cult because women already have more inclination towards religious fervor.”
“Explain zealots then.”
“Zealots are a special breed, as you put it. They are acting upon their own desires and calling it providence. Huge difference.” Lucas assured me.
“You use the word providence and questioned me on the use of vogue?” I gave a quick flash of a grin.
“Well, I figure if you are going to use outdated references, I would as well,” he winked at me. For the first time, I suspected I knew Lucas’s secret.
“Religious fervor doesn’t normally include murder,” I went back to our original conversation.
“No, no it doesn’t, but normally isn’t always. One thing we found in common is that they were all out-going. Several were described as flirty.” Michael spoke again. “As a matter of fact, several were flirty even on their Facebook pages and blogs.”
“It’s amazing what you can find out about people now-days with the internet,” I commented.
“A Google search is a great thing for finding information about people.” Michael retorted.
Chapter 30