The Broken Window

“Good call, about the hoarding. I think you’re right. And first, let me tell you that I checked with the task force and they looked into the known hoarders in the city. There aren’t many and the odds are that it’s none of them. I eliminated the women, since you told me about the rape. Of the men, most are elderly or nonfunctioning. The only two that fit the functioning profile are in Staten Island and the Bronx and they were accounted for by social workers or family members at the time of the killing on Sunday.”

Rhyme wasn’t surprised-522 was too smart not to cover his tracks. But he’d hoped for a small lead, at least, and scowled at the dead end.

Dobyns couldn’t help but smile. This had been an issue they’d dealt with years ago. Rhyme had never been comfortable expressing personal anger and frustration. Professionally, though, he’d always been a master at it.

“But I can give you some insights that might be helpful. Now, let me tell you about hoarders. It’s a form of obsessive-compulsive disorder. That occurs when a subject is faced with conflict or tensions they can’t emotionally confront. Focusing on a behavior is much easier than looking at the underlying problem. Hand washing and counting are symptoms of OCD. So is hoarding.

“Now, it’s rare for somebody who hoards to be dangerous per se. There are health risks-animal and insect infestation, mold and fire hazards-but essentially hoarders just want to be left alone. They’d live surrounded by their collection if they could and never go outside.

“But your fellow, well, he’s a strange breed. A combination of narcissistic, antisocial personality and hoarding OCD. If he wants something-apparently collectible coins or paintings or sexual gratification-he has to have it. Absolutely has to. Killing is nothing to him if it helps him acquire what he wants and protect his collection. In fact, I’d go so far as to suggest that killing calms him down. Living humans give him stress. They would disappoint him, they’d abandon him. But inanimate objects-newspapers, cigar boxes, candy, even bodies-you can tuck away in your lair; they never betray you… I don’t suppose you’re interested in the childhood factors that may have made him that way?”

“Not really, Terry,” Sachs said. She was smiling at Rhyme, who was shaking his head.

“First, he’s going to need space. A lot of it. And with the real estate prices here he’s either very resourceful or very rich. Hoarders tend to live in big, older houses or town houses. They never rent. They can’t stand the thought of a landlord with rights to come into their living area. And the windows will be painted black or taped over. He has to keep the outside world away.”

“How much space?” she asked.

“Rooms and rooms and rooms.”

“Some of the SSD employees would have plenty of money,” Rhyme speculated. “The senior people.”

“Now, because your perp is so high functioning, he’ll be leading two lives. We’ll call them the ‘secret’ life and the ‘façade.’ He needs to exist in the real world-to add to his collection and maintain it. And so he’ll keep up appearances. He’ll probably have a second house or a part of a single one that’ll appear normal. Oh, he’d prefer to live in his secret place. But if he did, only there, people would start to take notice. So he’ll also have a living space that seems like anybody in his socioeconomic situation would have. The residences might be connected or nearby. The ground floor could be normal, the upstairs where he keeps his collection. Or the basement.

“As for his personality, he’ll play a role in his façade life that’s almost the opposite of who he really is. Say the real Five Twenty-Two’s personality is snide and petty. The public Five Twenty-Two will be measured, calm, mature, polite.”

“He could appear to be a businessman?”

“Oh, easily. And he’ll play the part very, very well. Because he has to. It makes him angry, resentful. But he knows if he doesn’t his trove could be endangered and that’s simply not acceptable to him.”

Dobyns looked over the charts. He nodded. “Now, I notice you’re wondering about children? I really doubt he has any. He probably just collects toys. That again is something about his childhood. He’ll be single too. It’s rare to find a married hoarder. His obsession with collecting is too intense. He wouldn’t want to share his time or space with another person-and frankly it’s hard to find a partner who’s so codependent she puts up with him.

“Okay, the tobacco and matches? He hoards cigarettes and matchbooks but I doubt very much he smokes. Most hoarders have huge stockpiles of papers and magazines, flammable objects. This perp isn’t stupid. He’d never risk a fire because it could destroy his collection. Or at least expose him, when the fire department comes. And he probably has no particular interest in coins or art. He has an obsession with collecting for its own sake. What he collects is secondary.”

“So he probably doesn’t live near an antiques store?”