Therapist Ch. 07

When he wakes up Friday morning the first thing George does is to look out his window to see if Robert's car is still there. It is and George figures that his latest victim has not been found. He wonders when it will be found. An hour later when he leaves for work Robert's car is still parked in front of his house.

George becomes angry that his latest whore has not been found. While driving to work, he curses his mother and Donna for destroying his life. Then he curses his victim because she was not found.

When he arrives at the hospital, George sees that the only decent parking space open is next to Linda's car. Other parking spaces are too far from the hospital entrance. He does not like to walk so he parks next to her car. He curses Linda and hopes that he can avoid running into her today.

But as soon as he gets off the elevator on the fifth floor, she is standing there waiting to catch the next one to the seventh floor. She had come down to invite him to lunch with her and another nurse from the NICU.

She figures that maybe she can get him to open up more if the two of them are not alone. But she does not tell him this. Instead, she just tells him that her neonatal nurse friend would like to know something about CPR and maybe he could give her some information. George does not feel pressured so he accepts the lunch date. They plan to go together to a nearby fast food restaurant.

Linda's plan fails. While they are eating the only thing that is talked about is how to resuscitate heart patients. Linda is disappointed but is happy that she got to eat with George as she learns that he knows more about CPR than what can be learned at a two-day seminar.

She realizes that George is very well educated, more so than can be gotten from a simple bachelor's degree. She assumes that he must spend a lot of time reading and studying. She figures that maybe that is why he has never married; he must spend all his spare time reading. She resolves to ask him about it the next time they go to lunch together.

When he gets home from work, the first thing George does is to turn on his television in order to catch the news. He learned from a coworker about an hour before he left work that another victim had been found. He is ecstatic that his fourth victim has been found. The Spanish WDSU-TV reporter is announcing that 'The Rapist' has struck again. She adds that with the first Mardi Gras Day parade only a few days away it doesn't look good for the New Orleans tourist industry.

George curses her. He hollers at the screen that he is doing a service for the tourists; he is getting rid of the whores. He then paces back and forth in front of the television. After several minutes of pacing he decides that he is going to show that bitch of a TV reporter a thing or two. He waits until eleven o'clock and then goes to the French Quarter and gets another prostitute.

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Davina Vitter never knew her father; he abandoned her, her younger brother Richard and her mother when Davina was only five.

Her mother Wendy could not get a decent paying job. She did not have a high school education, having dropped out of school when she was pregnant with Davina. In order to support her family Wendy took up prostitution. She also occasionally sold marijuana and crack cocaine in order to supplement her income.

When Davina was six, her mother moved to Houston and started living with her boyfriend Gerald; she can't remember where they lived before that. But that only lasted a few months.

Gerald and a friend of his robbed a bank. Davina can remember there were little stacks of money all over the living room coffee table and sofa. They were in the process of dividing up the money but Gerald wanted a little extra since it was his car they used and his idea. But Ronald demanded that they split the money 50-50. There was a fight and Ronald shot Gerald, killing him. He then grabbed all the money and filled a pillow case with it.

He would have taken it all but Wendy begged him to give her some. He handed her two stacks of one hundred dollar bills and left. During the whole time Gerald and Ronald were arguing, Davina was in the corner cowering with her four-year-old brother. Her eyes were wide open but she was holding her hands over his eyes.

That night Wendy packed up their belongings, loaded up her Chevy Blazer and drove off, leaving her boyfriend's dead body in the living room. She left a note saying who killed him and why. She also noted that Ronald could probably be found living with his girlfriend in the suburb of Jacinto City, Texas on Mercury Dr., near where it meets I-10.

She didn't say anything about him giving her ten thousand dollars. Two days later she heard on the news that Ronald was killed in a shoot out with the police. She was glad of that as then she was sure the police would not want her for questioning. They didn't; the case was closed.

Wendy took Davina and Richard to Beaumont, Texas. There she got a job as a waitress in a local bar. She again supplemented her income through prostitution.

Then for the next several years she migrated between Beaumont and Port Arthur, Texas, and Lake Charles and Lafayette, Louisiana. They never stayed in one place more than a few months and always lived with an abusive or alcoholic or out of work boyfriend. In fact, the best time of Davina's life was her fourth year of school. They actually stayed in one place, Lake Charles, long enough for her to complete one full year of school. Her mother's boyfriend at that time worked on the oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico.

Then one day Wendy met a traveling auto mechanic and decided life with him was better. She moved her family back to Beaumont so that she could be with her new boyfriend. But that didn't last either. He was killed one night in a barroom fight over what auto manufacturer produced the better pickup truck, Ford or General Motors. Jack's last words: I'm built Ford tough. Then the other man shot him in the heart.

Soon after Davina's fourteenth birthday Wendy broke her leg; she fell off a chair trying to change a light bulb. She was laid up for six weeks and couldn't work. She was working as a waitress.

Her landlord was about to evict her for not paying her rent but then offered to let her, Davina and Richard live rent free for a month if he could have Davina for a weekend. Wendy countered his proposal and said he could have her for a week if he would make it two months.

It was thus that Davina lost her virginity to a fat, slobbering chauvinist. After that Wendy frequently sold Davina's services whenever she needed extra money.

But after about a year of doing that she was caught when she tried to sell Davina to an undercover vice agent. Wendy went to prison while Davina and Richard were put in a foster home.

Her foster parents did not look after her and Richard. They only took them in because the state gave them seven hundred dollars a month towards child support for each child they helped raise; they had two other foster children, both in elementary school.

When Davina turned sixteen she quit school and started turning tricks on her own. She didn't tell her foster parents; she just left the house every morning as though she was going to school. When she came home late she told them that she had been on a date with a boyfriend. When her foster parents found out about her prostitution they gave her an ultimatum, quit prostitution or get out.

Davina has been on her own ever since. She tried to keep in touch with her brother but he got arrested and sent to juvenile detention for selling marijuana at school. She lost track of him after that.

As did her mother, Davina moved from small town to small town, never staying on any one place too long. Then one day she and another prostitute got an idea that they could make it big on Bourbon Street in New Orleans. As soon as they got to the Big Easy they got an apartment together. That was two years ago. Although they didn't strike it rich, they were doing alright. Davina even saved up enough money to buy a used car.

At the time she met George she was planning on visiting her mother, who was living back in Beaumont again. She was even contemplating trying to find her brother and maybe even having a small family reunion of sorts. But George threw a monkey wrench in her plans.

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After stripping off her clothes and hanging her from the contraption of cable and shackles he has fixed up, he gets a small tank of oxygen from the trunk of his car. He attaches a mask to it and holds it against her mouth. She wakes up and struggles against the shackles binding her. She tries to scream but the gag prevents her.

George punches her in the stomach several times; she grimaces in pain and nearly vomits. Next he takes off his own clothes, sits on the floor in front of her and masturbates. After he finishes, he beats her with his whip. He beats her until she has welts and lash marks all over her body. Then he goes to his bedroom and writes another letter to Donna. After he finishes writing the love letter he gets a shower and goes to bed in the nude.

For the next two days he beats her once in the morning, once in the afternoon and again just before he goes to bed in the evening. After he beats her Sunday morning he showers and gets ready to go to out for a drive. He enters the punishment room before he leaves to inspect her once more. She raises her head and looks imploringly at him. He ignores her silent plea and tells her that he will brand her when he returns.

He has no particular place that he wants to go on this Sunday morning so George drives to St. Charles Avenue. That is his favorite street in the whole city. After driving down the street for several blocks he decides to take a street car ride. He parks his car and gets on the next car that comes by. He rides the street car all the way to Canal Street. Then he gets off and walks up Canal Street to the River. He continues to walk aimlessly about until he finally ends up at River Front Park.

He sits on one of the benches and tries to figure out where he will dump his latest whore once he kills her. He does not know where to dump her body. His thoughts soon turn to Donna as he watches a cruise ship go by.

His mind begins to drift and soon he is talking to her. He describes to her how much fun the two of them could have if they were on a cruise together. After several minutes he realizes that he is talking to himself. His heart aches for her and he begins to cry for his lost love.

After sitting there until late in the afternoon he gets up and walks back down Canal Street. When he gets to the St. Charles Street car stop he waits for the next car. When it comes he gets on it and goes back to his car and then back home. As soon as he gets home he brands the prostitute, beats her with the whip and then strangles her.

He waits until after the ten o'clock news is over. He wants to see if that bitch reporter is going to say anything else about the serial rapist. There is nothing new said about the killings. As soon as the evening news is over, George puts the corpse into the trunk of his car and starts to drive around the city.

For a long while, he cannot find any place and he curses the dead woman in his trunk. Then he curses his mother for screwing up his life.

Around midnight he finally gets on the interstate and goes to New Orleans East. He dumps the woman along side of Interstate 10 near to where it crosses over Little Irish Bayou, not having found a better place to dispose of her. As he did with all the others, he lays her on her back and spreads her legs wide apart so that everyone can see that she is a whore.

He makes an illegal U-turn across the median of the interstate and heads back to his house. After driving for about ten minutes he stops and throws her clothes among a pile of garbage that is along Interstate 10. On his way back to his house he sees a couple of police cars heading in the opposite direction, flashing their lights and blaring their sirens. They are driving really fast. George wonders if they found the whore already.

When he gets home he notices that Robert's car is not in front of his house. He wonders whether it is in his garage or if Robert is out inspecting his latest victim. He puts his television on to see if there is any news of her. There is nothing so he goes to the punishment room. He has to clean up the mess the prostitute made; she had defecated while he was strangling her. When he finishes he showers, writes another letter to Donna and then goes to bed in the nude.

The Monday morning headlines are full of pictures and stories about the serial killings. One story chronicles the string of murders. Another story lists some details that all the murders have in common. Still another story discusses what the police have done thus far to locate the killer. But the biggest story is about the latest victim who was left on the side of Interstate 10 near where it crosses the Little Irish Bayou.

A man who was picking up his crawfish nets in the Irish Bayou Lagoon claimed to have seen the man dump the body. He said at first he thought the man he saw was just dumping some garbage and he ignored him. After the man left the witness went over to inspect what he pulled out of his trunk. It was then that he discovered the nude body.

He immediately called the police on his cell phone. When the police asked him to give them a description of the man he couldn't, saying that he was too far away to get a good look at him. But he described the man's car as a red Mazda. When George reads this, he laughs. He has a maroon Toyota.

The next two days are uneventful between George and Linda. She does not bother him to eat lunch with her. He hopes it is because she has found someone else to eat with. He does not realize that she is just biding her time until she can figure out a way to get him to open up to her about why he does not want to have sex with her.

She is determined to find out and has finally decided to space her lunch dates with him several days apart. That way she figures George won't suspect that she wants to get him to tell her all about himself.

Meanwhile, George is anxious to get to Robert's in order to get the latest information on the two prostitutes who were found, one on Almonaster Avenue and one on I-10 in New Orleans East. The time between Monday and Wednesday, when he and Robert play chess together, seems to drag by. When Wednesday finally does arrive, George does not waste any time. He goes over to Robert's house and rings the bell. Darlene invites him in with a smile. He smiles back.

While Robert is setting up the chessboard, George asks him if he is any closer to catching the rapist but the police lieutenant just shakes his head. George then notes that he saw him on television when that little reporter from WDSU-TV interviewed him.

"Hey! I saw you on television the other day. Have there really been five victims?" he questions Robert.

"I'm afraid so, George. But we got a big break in the one that he dumped on Almonaster. We were able to get a casting of his tire treads. He drove through some wet mud right next to where he left the body. When we catch him we'll be able to match his tires with the imprints we picked up."

"That's great Robert," George lies. He makes a mental note to purchase four new tires later in the week. "But what about that guy who said he saw him take the latest victim out of his trunk? I read in the paper that he said he didn't get a good look at him." George is attempting to find out just how good of a description he was able to give to the police.

"That jerk. He gave us a description all right but not a very good one. He'd be a better witness for the defense. All he could say was that it was a white man with a red car. He's no good as a witness. He'd been drinking beer and catching crawfish all day and was half drunk. He couldn't even tell us in what direction the murderer fled."

"That's not what the newspaper said. It said that he described a red Mazda."

"George, it was the middle of the night and the lighting out there on that section of the interstate is terrible. I don't put much credence in his description. His description is poor, that and the fact that the man reeked of alcohol when I interviewed him. Hey, the killer could have been driving a green pickup truck and I don't think he could have been able to describe it any better than he did."

"Knight to knight five, check. You left your bishop exposed there Robert. Now I'm going to get it. After you moved your rook, your king was the only thing that was protecting it and now I'm attacking it with my knight and my queen." George notes to himself that he will have to be more careful about where he dumps his next victim. He'll have to make sure that no one is around to witness it.

"I see that. Tell me George, are you asking me questions about the killings just to distract me from the game?"

"No, actually I'm thinking of becoming a lawyer and defending him in court after you catch him. I'm trying to learn all that I can about the crime so that I can get him acquitted. Are you going to concede now so we can play another game or are you going to force me to capture your queen in about three moves?"

"You think your smart don't you? Set the board up again and I'll go see what kind of dessert Darlene has fixed for us. It's my turn to have white."

They play two more games. Robert wins the second game and George wins the third. During the time they play Robert reveals very little that George does not already know. For the most part, he reveals only what someone with a little forethought can figure out, mainly because he is closed mouthed about the evidence but also because George's questions to him seem superficial.

George gives Robert the impression that his questions are only for the sake of keeping the conversation friendly. He gives Robert the impression that he is not trying to obtain undisclosed information, that he is only interested in the killings because they are in the news.

Although he does tell George some things that are classified, he does not tell him the most important information. What Robert reveals is information that most any reasonable, intelligent person following the case can surmise. He gives this confidential information to George because he trusts that George is not going to reveal anything he tells him to the news media.

What Robert does not realize is that everything he divulges, George is using to his own advantage.

George asks him about the branding of the victims that was reported in the news. Robert tells him that there is not much to it. That it is just the killer's way of marking his victims.

He tells George that many serial killers do the same thing. They have a certain way of tying their knots, of mutilating their victims, killing their victims and things of this nature. He tells George that some serial killers keep trophies of their victims, earrings, bracelets, scarves and other such mementoes.

George asks him if he believes the rapist is keeping any mementoes. Robert concedes that he does not know. All the victims have been completely naked; they have not found any of their clothing yet.

He does not tell George that the killer displays his victims, laying them on their backs with their legs spread wide open. This information is not classified but for some reason the news media has not mentioned it.

Inwardly George smiles at the information Robert gives him. Prior to this he had been disposing of his victim's clothing several blocks away after dumping their bodies. Now he intends to throw their clothing miles away from the bodies.

Robert tells him that this particular serial killer brands his victims with the word WHORE across the upper part of their chests, right above their breasts.