We talk about what it symbolizes, what it communicates, and
the fear it creates. There are whole books about the fear of
grotesque wounds. It’s always a message to the target population.
We talk about violation with foreign objects. We talk about
the deliberate display of violated bodies. The trail of abandoned
clothing is a classic touch.’
‘Do you talk about yogurt?’
She shook her head. ‘But that’s a very old joke.’
‘And the asphyxiation thing?’
‘Not on the Psy-Ops courses. But most of the people here can
read magazines. Or they can watch porn on videotape.’
‘Do you talk about questioning an enemy’s sexuality?’
‘Of course we do. Impugning an enemy’s sexuality is the
whole point of our course. His sexual orientation, his virility, his
capability, his capacity. It’s a core tactic. It always has been,
everywhere, throughout history. It’s designed to work both
ways. It diminishes him, and it builds us up by comparison.’
I said nothing.
She looked right at me. ‘Are you asking me if I recognized
the fruits of our lessons, out there in the woods?’
‘I guess I am,’ I said.
118
‘You didn’t really want my opinion, did you?’ she said. ‘That
was all preamble. You already knew what you were seeing.’
I nodded. ‘I’m a smart guy, for a cop.’
‘The answer is no,’ she said. ‘I did not recognize the fruits of
our lessons, out there in the woods. Not specifically.’
‘But possibly?’
‘Anything’s possible.’
‘Did you meet General Kramer when you were at Fort Irwin?’
I asked.
‘Once or twice,’ she said. ‘Why?’
‘When did you last see him?’
‘I don’t remember,’ she said.
‘Not recently?’
‘No,’ she said. ‘Not recently. Why?’
‘How did you meet him?’
‘Professionally,’ she said.
‘You teach your stuff to Armored Branch?’
‘Irwin isn’t exclusively Armored Branch,’ she said. ‘It’s the
National Training Center too, don’t forget. People used to come
to us there. Now we go to them.’
I said nothing.
‘Does it surprise you we taught Armored people?’
I shrugged again. ‘A little, I guess. If I was riding around in a
seventy-ton tank, I don’t suppose I’d feel a need for any more of
a psychological edge.’
She still didn’t smile. ‘We taught them. As I recall General
Kramer didn’t like it if the infantry was getting things his
people weren’t. It was an intense rivalry.’
‘Who do you teach now?’
‘Delta Force,’ she said. ‘Exclusively.’
‘Thank you for your help,’ I said.
‘I didn’t recognize anything tonight that we would take
responsibility for.’
‘Not specifically.’
‘It was psychologically generic,’ she said.
‘OK,”I said.
‘And I resent being asked.’
‘OK,’ I said again. ‘Goodnight, ma’am.’
I got up out of the chair and headed for the door.
119
‘What was the real reason?’ she asked. ‘If the display we saw
was bogus?’
‘I don’t know,’ I said. ‘I’m not that smart.’
I stopped in my outer office and the sergeant with the baby son
gave me coffee. Then I went into my inner office and found
Summer waiting for me there. She had come to collect her lists,
because the Kramer case was closed.
‘Did you check the other women?’ I asked her. ‘Apart from
Norton?’
She nodded. ‘They all have alibis. It’s the best night of the
year for alibis. Nobody spends New Year’s Eve alone.’
‘I did,’ I said.
She said nothing back. I butted the papers into a neat stack
and put them back inside their folder and unclipped the note off
the front. Hope your rnom was OK. I dropped the note in my
drawer and handed the file to her.
‘What did Norton tell you?’ she asked.
‘She agreed with me that it was homicide dressed up to look
like gay-bashing. I asked her if any of the symbols came from
Psy-Ops classes and she didn’t really say yes or no. She said
they were psychologically generic. She resented being asked.’
‘So what now?’
I yawned. I was tired. ‘We’ll work it like we work any of them.
We don’t even know who the victim is yet. I guess we’ll find out
tomorrow. On deck at seven, OK?’
‘OK,’ she said, and headed for my door, carrying her file.