Chapter 140: Still Saying It's Not a Superpower
Theodore shook his head. "Assaults are not all the same."
"Some rapists may be very insecure in reality, needing to assert their masculinity, dominance, and control through assaulting others. The act is merely a tool for exercising power and conquest."
"Some rapists fantasize about the victim as their partner, fulfilling their fantasies and alleviating loneliness and feelings of powerlessness by assaulting their imagined object. The act is merely the realization of a fantasy."
"Some rapists harbor long-repressed anger and hatred, and they achieve emotional release by assaulting specific types of victims who symbolize the objects of their hatred. The act is their weapon for punishing and degrading the victim."
"Some rapists have abnormal psychological states and derive sexual arousal and pleasure from the victim's pain, fear, and despair. They achieve their gratification through violence."
"There are also rapists who initially didn't intend to assault the victim, they might have just been robbing someone on a secluded road or committing a home invasion, and during the act, they had a sudden impulse and assaulted the victim as an afterthought."
Bernie was somewhat dazed by what he heard.
Theodore looked at him. "Except for the last type, which is opportunistic assault, the other four types are classifications of rapists based on their criminal motives and behavioral patterns. Almost all rapists fall into these four types."
"However, a rapist's criminal motive rarely belongs to just one type. Most are a mixture of multiple types."
Theodore paused here, giving Bernie time to process.
Bernie found it somewhat hard to believe. He hesitated and asked, "You're saying that all rapists can be categorized into these five types?"
Theodore nodded and continued, "Different types of rapists have different motives, and the traces they leave behind are also distinctly different. They're like fingerprints. Very distinct."
He used Robert Miller as an example.
"Take Robert Miller. He's a hybrid of the first and fourth types. He's very insecure, and can only feel pleasure by degrading and abusing others."
"Robert Miller needs to personally inflict abuse on the target to obtain pleasure, thereby proving his dominance and control. He must personally feel the target's life slipping away, allowing the target's life to be completely under his control."
"Pushing the target off a building is a loss of control for him. He can't feel the target's life slipping away, nor can he fully control the target's life. He would absolutely never do that."
Bernie took a moment to process, then raised a question. "When Robert Miller mentioned Annie Halleck, his description of her was full of fantasies. The paint company owner also mentioned that he was full of fantasies when referring to women, so why doesn't he belong to the second type?"
Theodore patiently explained, "The second type of rapist desires acceptance, and in their fantasies, they and their imagined object are a pair of lovers, deeply in love. In their consciousness, assaulting the target is not an assault, but a mutually consensual act. If the target resists fiercely, they may even stop the assault."
"Robert Miller's fantasies about the target are fundamentally different from those of the second type of rapist."
Bernie listened, stunned. This felt even more bizarre than listening to Cooper and Dennis describe what happened in Room 511.
He looked at Theodore with suspicious eyes. "How do you know all this so clearly?"
Theodore ignored the question. He tapped his notebook and emphasized, "The first two types of rapists generally don't use violence, and their criminal acts often only go as far as assault."
"However, the latter two types are completely different. They're very fond of using violence, and once they begin to commit crimes, their criminal acts will quickly escalate, soon evolving into serial killers. Criminals who transition from rape to murder mostly belong to the latter two types."
Theodore looked at Bernie and stated with certainty, "The killer we're currently tracking likely belongs to a rapist type dominated by the third category. He's already killed someone, and once he encounters a target that fits his screening criteria, he will definitely be unable to resist striking again."
Bernie secretly glanced at Theodore, thinking: How is this a skill anyone can learn?
He asked Theodore, "Why does the killer belong to the third type?"
Theodore gave the reason. "Because he's very angry."
"When Cooper and Dennis left, the lamp was intact, there was no broken glass from the wine bottle on the floor, and the window was also intact. The killer entered Room 511, broke the lamp, smashed the wine bottle, and after assaulting the deceased, directly threw her out the window."
"He didn't even consider opening the window. Instead, he directly smashed through the glass. This is typical emotional behavior. The killer was filled with rage."
The two soon arrived in Arlington.
Arlington was much closer than Georgetown, and even with heavy traffic, it only took them about forty minutes. Once they entered Arlington, their already slow speed became even slower.
Along the way, it was almost entirely familiar faces.
Bernie had half his body out of the car window and hadn't pulled it back in, constantly greeting colleagues.
Theodore highly doubted whether Bernie had spoken to every agent in the FBI. Otherwise, how could everyone know him wherever he went?
Finally, they pulled up in front of the residence, where the renovation company's people had been waiting for some time.
The leader was a middle-aged man with a rigid face, appearing somewhat humorless. He didn't engage in much small talk. After entering the house, he pulled out various plans from his bag and began introducing them.
This suited Theodore and Bernie's taste perfectly.
The FBI had requirements for agents' residences. Once a renovation plan was selected, it needed to be submitted to the Bureau for approval. And after the renovation was completed, the Bureau would send someone to inspect the residence and install a dedicated phone line to ensure the agent wasn't wiretapped or monitored.
The telephone in Theodore's Georgetown apartment had been installed by the FBI.
Of course, after the phone scam case, both Theodore and Bernie had begun to have doubts about the so-called dedicated phone lines. Theodore was currently writing a communication security report, focusing on summarizing communication security vulnerabilities, preparing to submit it to Hoover.
Bernie ultimately chose a colonial-style plan that was largely similar to the house next door, the one next to that, and the one next to that.
The exterior featured white wooden siding, black shutters, and brick porch columns. The interior had oak floors and an antique fireplace paired with built-in bookshelves.
This plan was highlighted by the renovation company, clearly indicating that the company understood the needs of FBI agents very well.
The renovation company's quote for this plan was $2,300, with an additional $200 for mold removal. Given the mold situation in the residence's basement, this was a very favorable price.
They agreed to sign the contract on the weekend.
Back in his Georgetown apartment, Bernie wrote down what Theodore had said on the way, read it twice, and nodded in confirmation.
It's definitely a superpower!
Who else could come up with all this?
[End of Chapter]
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