She didn’t either, but she was grasping at anything. “Okay, I’m still trying to come up with motive.”
“Nothing on the individual victims?”
“Not enough to provide any evidence.”
“That’s always the worst, isn’t it?”
“Often it is, though frequently we have a suspicion of what’s going on, or a suspicion of who it might be, but this time we just don’t have any suspects.”
“Well, you do, but you just don’t want to tell me.”
She smiled. “Let’s just say, I don’t have anygoodsuspects.”
“That’s a different story,” he agreed. “That goes back to that whole evidence thing again.”
Kate nodded. “Still, I don’t suppose you know of any major accidents or anything that happened in or around Stanley Park in the past?”
“Nope, not really.” He frowned. “I know this area pretty well, but no.”
She nodded again. “It was a hope.”
“Keep hoping, just keep pushing too.”
“I hear you,” she said. “I’m working on it, and really that was a long shot anyway.” She sat and visited with her former professor for a little bit longer. As she got up to go, he turned to look at her and said, “I know you’ve probably already thought about this, but most people kill for only a few reasons.”
She nodded. “Yeah, power, sex, money.”
“Revenge,” he added.
She nodded. “True, something else to think about.”
She slowly walked back to the car. “Revenge,hmm.” She headed back to the office with that thought uppermost in her mind. As she got back in the bullpen, she looked over at Rodney. “Did you come up with anything in the past?”
He shook his head. “No, nothing at all.”
She nodded. “If somebody was doing this out of revenge, what would that look like to you?”
He stopped and stared at her. “If it was revenge, I would think it would be for specific victims, and it would be for something that they’ve done or had failed to do. And, if it weren’t for specific victims, it would be for the whole group of them.”
“So what are you thinking? Like targeting groups of healthy young individuals, if he’s no longer a healthy young individual?”
“Something like that is quite possible. Or against a running group, if he can’t run anymore or had some other grudge against them.”
She frowned at that. Her next phone call was to one of the largest running clubs, asking if they had specific group leaders for running groups in specific areas.
“We have a large running group that goes out every Saturday morning,” Charlie answered cautiously. “What do you mean?”
And she explained what was going on.
“We heard about the murders,” he said, with shock in his voice. “It’s so horrific to think about.”
“I’m just wondering if you had any trouble with anybody or if someone in your group maybe was kicked out or otherwise disenfranchised somehow.”
“We’ve had several disputes with various people over time,” he noted, “but we haven’t had a problem lately.”
“What doeslatelymean?” she asked, as she sat up, looking at her phone in surprise.
“I mean, there are always people who think that somebody should do something better or different. You know? Even the clothing envy—there’s always somebody who looks more dashing. Then somebody else takes offense because someone stepped closer or cut them off on the path, or the ones who have always got to win, even when not a formal race. Some personalities just don’t get along with each other, when you get them in a group, and there’ll always be one or two who will set things off.”