“So far we’ve got three hypotheticals.” Gordon MacDonald, the captain’s chief of security, was beanpole thin and sat straight as a crease; when he spoke, the only thing that moved was his trim red mustache.
“Scenario One: these were hate crimes. You can see the pattern. Schofield: gay man. Shiflin: strong woman in what some, regrettably, still regard as a ‘man’s job.’ And finally, Santiago: Hispanic. Three demographic groups the killer despised.”
“So our guy is a misogynistic bigot?” said Scott.
“Correct. Male, almost certainly white. Likely an enlisted man, ship’s crew. At least that’s hypothetical number one.”
Jackson frowned, a disturbing thought occurring to him. He pushed it aside for later contemplation.
Mac plowed on. “Scenario two: the assaults were driven more by a sort of class resentment, someone with a grudge against officers in general. Again: enlisted man, possibly flight crew, though I’d lean toward ship’s crew, someone who spends his days cooped up below. Possibly Schofield and Shiflin both insulted him, intentionally or not. Or maybe he just took their very existence as an insult.”
Now Arthur spoke up. “Santiago?” Not an officer, obviously.
“Witnessed something. Stumbled onto the killer’s identity somehow.”
“And the finger?”
“A warning to anyone else who might finger the killer. Classic witness intimidation. Like cutting out a rat’s tongue before whacking him.”
Jackson noticed Scott suppressing an eye roll at that last remark, and he had to agree. Mac may have watched a few too many gangster movies.
“And theory number three?” prompted Scott.
“The least helpful possibility, but it needs to be considered: that these were purely crimes of opportunity. Our three victims, in other words, all happened to be out on the exterior, isolated, and at night.”
“Chosen at random.”
“Correct. Wrong place, wrong time.”
“So why attack them at all?” asked Captain Eagleberg, irritably. “What’s the supposed motive here? Killing for killing’s sake?”
Mac looked at the captain. “Your guess is as good as mine, sir.”
Jackson noticed that Mac had consistently used the past tense. They were hate crimes. The assaults were driven. He was not describing a clear and present danger. There was no sense of urgency here. None at all.
Despite his vow to sit back and observe, Jackson needed to speak up.
“Skipper,” he said. “I wonder if we should look at stepping up security on the ship. Specifically, at all perimeter points.”
“Why?” snapped the captain.
Jackson chose his words carefully. “To forestall the possibility of any further incidents.”
“I hardly think that’s necessary. If these were assaults, which I’m still not at all convinced is the case, then our putative killer has bollixed it up with that bloody finger business. I don’t expect we should see any further episodes.”
The captain looked around as if gathering a consensus, then nodded and got to his feet.
“Good,” he said. “In any case, no point unnecessarily spooking the crew.”
You mean any more than they’re already spooked? thought Jackson.