And sent. I wish they didn't need me, if they looked more carefully - The scraping just beneath the windowsill tells me they used a tool to gently pry the window open. Almost as if they were aware of the houses exploit, which also means that whoever murdered that young woman knew her or knew about her houses' faulty building structure. These are not cases that need and I quote from an excerpt of an email exchange; "greatest mind".

Not that I really ascribe myself to that kind of imagery, or that I inherently agree with it, but it is the reason these departments request me by name. Their real issue is a case of not so careful checking.To some Real Cases are the ones that are page turning tales. What they fail to realize is those cases are rare. Unfortunately those are the cases that people speak about, and speak about you. I wish they wouldn't.

I don't think that I would ever wish for something horrible to happen. I rather "minor" crime like this happen, then say the New Year Killer. He was rather impossible to catch, because he only killed on New Years Eve. And never in the same city. First victim was in Eastport, the second victim, a whole 3 hour flight away in Saltfield.

That really was my breakthrough case I guess. I theorized that he either had a job that had him travel a lot, but every year? Or that he had some sort of leisure money, a trust of some sort. Retired, likely to have the free time to move around, because constantly being uprooted all the time means someone has a very faulty foundation consistently.

Eventually it led us to an Edward Moore. Retired, had a lot of money left in a trust after both parents were killed on New Years, upstanding guy, the type you would never suspect. Constantly moving from state to state, choosing his victims based more on what seemed aesthetically pleasing to him at the time. It was tricky to pinpoint someone like Edward because his victims never had a clear profile, there was never a sticking detail that gave away a certain type, there was never a detail that he was limited in any shape or form when it came to travel.

Most people who kill are stuck in a specific region, unless they have the freedom to roam, it's why it is so easy to pinpoint them. But Edward, moved so much and only killed once a year at every start of the year it was hard to determine where or who he would strike next. It's cases like that give you a reputation, a name, and even then I was just fortunate to put together a very sparse jigsaw puzzle.

I don't wish for people like Edward. But people wish for Edwards. It's why I am contacted so very often. Because people think they have an Edward on their hands. Someone cunning and hard to pinpoint, though often the case is that they miss little tiny details. If they looked more critically they would realize that this is work that any detective could complete.

"Did you crack the case?" Wolf ask, peering away from her book.

"The window has a faulty lock, the killer came in through what appears to be a locked room, via exploiting the faulty lock with a small tool to pry the window open. Which indicates premeditated, and planned, especially not to leave a "trace" of them around," I tell her.

"So, anyone could have figured that out," Wolf responds, she places her book on the coffee table. MindGames: How to Win the Mental War

"Just required a closer look at the chipping at the windowsill," I tell her.

"I see," Wolf responds, "Which case is your favorite?"

"Explain the question,"

"Well, I mean," she takes a second, "The New Year Killer was your breakout case. But there was the Aristocrat. And then there was, the Tea Room Poisoning."

There's more than that, but I understand what she's trying to ask. I wouldn't say that any of them are my favorite cases. I admit despite doing this work, I don't like to revel in their gruesome negativity. I rather not entirely reflect on them because they only really bring to the surface upsetting imagery.

"I don't think I have a favorite case," I tell her, "They are all upsetting in their own ways and to define a favorite case, I think strips them of their humanity. That might sound strange, but in the end of the day we're still uncovering the secrets of people who died in horrific ways due to the malicious machinations of certain minds. If I just start looking at them from that point of view, I would worry that I would no longer be focused on the cases to resolve the unnecessary death of an individual or individuals, but only look at them through the lens of a case."

"I didn't expect an answer like that from you,"

"I know it's easy for those who work in this type of career to grow numb in order to cope with the constant bombardment of negative imagery, but I think that numbness then dehumanizes the victims, it merely becomes another puzzle to solve. And while, yes I will admit my own shortcomings when it comes to this, that even I crave an exciting case. I have to find some way to remind myself that living, breathing humans, were behind these cases,"

Because once you lose that you grow numb to these things, you lose your humanity. I have seen it with my very own eyes, officers who just look at a case as just another case, just another body, just a part of the job and that might be a perfectly acceptable way for them to cope, but it also means that caseloads like the ones I am sitting on sit in a backroom because it's "just another." There are countless people waiting for an answer, a reason, who have been stored in a backroom because of this.

I think this job requires some level of empathy, in order to recognize what you're really solving is the unjust way someone has been removed from a picture.