Monday morning George arrives to work early; he wants to avoid running into Linda. He figures that if he can avoid her in the employee parking lot then maybe she won't ask him to dinner again. Besides, he does not want to have to answer any of her questions about their diner together Friday night. He is hoping that his telling her that he did not want to rush into anything is enough to make her keep her distance.

But he has not figured in her resolve to get the man she wants; she will just have to take it a little bit slower. When she arrives and discovers that he is already checked in, she goes to his department. She finds him straightening out some cushioned pads.

"Hi George," she greets him with a smile, "I haven't got too much time; I have to check in and all. But I wanted to thank you again for Friday night. I had a wonderful time. And I totally agree with you. I don't want to rush into anything; I don't want us to do something we both might later regret."

"Linda, I was only thinking of you," he lies. "I want . . ."

"Yes, I know George," she interrupts him, "And I'm grateful for that. I think that it is better if we slow down. Take things a little slower. I know that I've been pushing you for a dinner date and maybe I should not be so assertive. I'm sorry.

"OK, Linda. That's OK. Why don't we just see each other for lunch for the time being?" George figures that he is safe if the only thing they do is have an occasional lunch together. At least she won't be pressuring him to have sex if they're at lunch.

It is just want Linda has been hoping for. Now she can continue to see him and learn more about him without pressuring him for a date. She can ask him subtle questions aimed at discovering why he won't have sex with her and why he has never married. She is sure the two reasons have the same answer.

"Well, I'll probably be busy today. I understand two more babies were admitted to intensive care this weekend. Why don't we have lunch in the cafeteria tomorrow," she asks him.

"I can't tomorrow. I'm scheduled to work late. I have to give a demonstration on CPR to some of the other employees in my department. I'll be coming in late and will have to take a late lunch."

"OK, then. Let's see how the rest of the week turns out. I have to go check in now. So, I'll talk to you later."

"Yeah, I'll talk to you later."

George watches her walk toward the elevators, glad that he doesn't have to put up with her for a couple of days. For her part, Linda believes that it is only a minor setback in her desire to learn more about the quiet little man in the physical therapy department.

That evening George gets in his car and drives around New Orleans. He loves to drive around the city, especially at the holidays, like Mardi Gras, Halloween, and Christmas when a lot of people put up decorations. He drives down Veterans Boulevard. He never has any particular destination whenever he tours the city; it is always different. He just drives around looking at the sights of his favorite city.

He turns on Severn Avenue and drives past Lakeside Shopping center. From there he takes a right onto 17th Street and then goes up North Causeway Boulevard. When he gets to West Napoleon he takes another right. He likes to drive down this street. It's very long with few intersections. There aren't as many stop lights and he can drive for blocks without having to stop or intersect with traffic. It gives him time to think.

By Thursday afternoon Linda has yet to meet him for lunch. George is becoming suspicious. But of what he is not quite sure. He calls up to her department and asks for her. When she comes to the phone he does not know what to say to her. He asks her if she would like to meet him for lunch; it is just what she has been hoping for, and in fact has been planning. She agrees and tells him that she will meet him at a nearby fast food restaurant. Suddenly George feels that he has been drawn into a trap. He curses himself for calling her up and for letting himself get further involved with Linda. Then he curses her.

Lunch is uneventful. They spend it in small talk. But when nightfall comes, to relieve the pressure, George goes and gets himself another prostitute from the French Quarter. On Saturday afternoon, while he was whipping her, she relieves herself on the floor. George warns her that if she does it again he will kill her. Then he brands her as he did his other victims. He keeps her alive, torturing her until Sunday afternoon then he mercifully kills her after she defecates on the floor for the second time.

He dumps her naked corpse late Sunday night in a pond off Friederichs Avenue near a private school that has its campus in City Park and just down the street from the New Orleans Museum of Art. It is found early Monday morning, again by a passing jogger. Lieutenant Pierce is only glad that the body is found before the middle school children began arriving at school.

However, classes at the school are disrupted somewhat during the day by the investigation, by the all police cars, and by the reporters. That evening the WDSU-TV news correspondent again reports that "the rapist" has struck again for the third time.

Listening to the news, George wonders whether or not he should go and ask Dave about this newest victim. After several minutes thinking about it he decides against it as he does not want to let Dave know that he is interested in the serial killings. Besides, he tells himself, any information the lieutenant gives him will be the same tonight as it will be Wednesday night when they play chess. He can just casually mention hearing about this victim while he defeats the lieutenant at chess.

The next two days pass by without any more bothersome questions from Linda. George is glad of that. He guesses that she is playing hard to get and is only too happy to aid her in it. He does not want to get involved with any woman, especially Linda. George believes that she just wants to go to bed with him and he has no desire to have sex with some whore who will only give him some kind of sexually transmitted disease.

He hates her; he hates all women. They are only good for housework and killing. Some of them aren't even good for housework. Then there are those whores in the French Quarter, giving his favorite city a bad name. He wishes that he could kill them all. There isn't any one of them worth anything.

Wednesday evening George knocks at Dave's front door. Jessica their oldest daughter answers the door.

"Come in Mr. Hoover. Dad's in the shower. He just got home." She leaves him standing in the doorway and returns to watching television. Darlene comes from the kitchen wiping her hands on a towel.

"I'm sorry, George. Please forgive my very rude daughter." Then turning to her departing daughter: "Jessica you know better than to treat Mr. Hoover like that."

"Momma, he's practically family. He's over here all the time. He knows where the den is as well as I do."

"That's OK Darlene. She's a teenager. I was a teenager once myself and ."

"But that's no excuse for being rude and not inviting you in," Darlene stops him in mid-sentence. "Dave just got in. He's in the shower and will be right out. Why don't we go into the kitchen and wait for him there? He said something about interviewing a prostitute all day about the serial killings. I'm not sure but I think he has to go out again."

They go into the kitchen. George hopes that Darlene does not babble on about nothing while he is waiting for Dave. Maybe she'll have some kind of pastry she cooked up. He never listens to her anyway, but just sitting in the same room with her totally disgusts him. She reminds him too much of his mother.

After about ten minutes Dave comes into the kitchen.

"Hi George. Has Darlene been feeding you again? This woman loves to cook and she knows I love her cooking." He kisses her on the cheek and smacks her on her ass.

"Stop that Dave!" she scolds him as she walks over to the sink.

"Stop what? Smacking your ass. You know you love it. Come here so I can do it again."

"But not in front of company," she says. "What will George think?"

"Ah babe, George ain't company. He's our neighbor. And he knows I love the heck out of you. Don't you George?"

George ignores Dave's question. "Darlene tells me that you won't be able to play chess tonight. What's up?"

"I've been talking to this prostitute all afternoon. She said that she knew the girl we found in City Park. Says her name is Candy. She thinks she saw the guy who picked her up last Thursday night. But all she could tell me was that he was white, couldn't give me a description or anything like that. After letting her look at mug shots of sex offenders for a couple of hours I let her go. She couldn't tell me nothing I don't already know. But as she is leaving, she tells me that they got a hooker locked up in St. Bernard for soliciting that she thinks was the room mate of one of the other victims. I got to go down there tonight and interview her.

"So, I guess I'll spend tonight with a book studying chess moves." George reminisces.

"I wish I had the free time you do. Then you wouldn't beat me so often. That's the only thing that I don't like about my job. Sometimes I have odd hours. It keeps me away from my honey. Doesn't it babe?" Dave puts his arm around Darlene and gives her a hug.

"Yes, but you make up for it when we're home alone," she answers him and then she gives him a seductive smile.

"Then I guess I'll be going. Oh, Dave the news said that the victims were beaten. What were they beaten with or is that classified information?"

"It's not classified. We believe that they were beaten with a whip and with a broom stick of some kind. Tell you what though. Forensics says that they found minute traces of semen on the buttocks of the victim found in the Ninth Ward. They believe he must have masturbated onto her and then wiped it off. They're running tests, but I don't think there's enough there to get any DNA or anything from it. Now that is classified. Only a few people know about it. So don't go blabbing it to everyone you meet. OK?"

"My lips are sealed Dave. Besides who do I know to tell something like that to?"

"Well it's not like you're the killer. We're looking for some psychopath. Not a therapist."

"Yeah, well I got to be going. I'll talk to ya'll later."

"George, I made a Dutch Chocolate cake. Would you like to take a piece home with you?" "Yeah, sure. Thanks Darlene. I have it with some butter pecan ice cream later on for a snack."

George takes the piece of cake and goes home. He hates having to be so condescending to Darlene. Why does she have to cook such delicious desserts? If he didn't like Dutch Chocolate cake so much he would throw it in the garbage. Then he thinks about what Dave told him, about the semen on his victim's ass. He makes a mental note not to ejaculate onto his whores any more.

George sits in front of his television for the next two hours, blindly switching stations. He does not watch any channel for more than a minute or two. He cannot get his mind off what Dave told him. How could he have allowed his semen, his life juices, to get on the ass of a whore? What was he thinking when he ejaculated onto her? Those whores are not good enough to receive his semen.

He closes his eyes and tries to wipe the memory from his mind. Then he thinks of his mother and Donna and how they fucked up his life. He goes to the punishment room. The picture of his mother is still hanging on the wall. He stands and stares at it for over an hour, his mind a blank the whole time. Then he goes to the kitchen for some cake and ice cream. But George cannot get the semen off his mind. He blames the prostitute. Then he blames Donna and finally his mother.

He goes to the French Quarter. He is lucky and finds a parking spot on St. Peter Street near Burgundy Street. He walks the two blocks to Bourbon Street. It is still early evening but the bars are open. The street is filled mostly with tourists, who are walking up and down Bourbon Street. George decides to walk by Pat O'Brien's. There is a man playing a saxophone in front of the famous night spot; he has a small pot in front of him. There are a few dollars and coins in it. George stops and listens to him play. He drops a five dollar bill into the man's pot and walks towards Jackson Square and the Caf du Monde for some coffee and donuts.

Afterwards, he walks down Decatur Street to Bienville Street where he got his first victim, thinking maybe he will get lucky and find another one there. But the corner is void of pedestrians so he walks up to Royal Street. It is not as noisy as Bourbon; he goes down it. As he walks past each corner, Toulouse Street, Orleans Street, St. Ann Street, Ursuline Avenue, he pauses and looks for a prostitute. But the only one he meets is an elderly man who asks him if he has a match. George tells him no. He is frustrated, having walked some 20 to 25 blocks and has not seen one whore. He decides to call it a night. He will come back tomorrow night and get himself a prostitute. He walks up Ursuline to Bourbon. At the corner a prostitute approaches him and asks him for a date.

She is a few inches taller than him and dressed in four inch heels, an extremely short mini-skirt, and tank top. She does not have a bra on. George wonders if she has on panties. He asks her how much and she tells him that for 75 dollars she will do almost anything he wants. He tells her that he would prefer to do it at his house where there is more privacy. When she asks him where he lives he ignores the question and tells her that his car is only about six blocks away. She agrees to follow him. When they get to his car George immediately puts some ether on a handkerchief and then holds it over her mouth until she is asleep.

Once he gets her inside his house he tears off her clothes. She has on a pink thong. George rips that off, puts a gag on her, and chains her up. While he is busy attaching the shackles to her ankles she wakes up and kicks him with her free leg. His mouth starts to bleed. He finishes chaining her up and then spits into her face.

"That's going to cost you, bitch," he hollers at her.

First he retrieves the letters from his bedroom and brands her with the word WHORE right above her breasts. Then he beats her with the whip until he is completely exhausted. He is standing in front of her panting and out of breath, watching her breathe. Her breaths are short and shallow. Her eyes are closed and her head is hanging down. There are welts all over her body; most of them are bleeding. He decides to tend to his busted lip.

He goes to his bathroom and looks in the mirror. His lip has stopped bleeding, but it is swollen. He stands in front of the mirror, looking at his lip for over an hour. He thinks about his dead mother, about Donna, and Linda. He blames them for his troubles, for having fucked up his life. Finally, he goes to bed.

George goes into his mother's bedroom when he wakes up the next morning. He has never changed anything in it; it still looks the same way it did when he killed her. The bed is unmade; there is a heavy coat of dust on all the furniture; and there is a coffee cup on the night stand next to her bed. There is also a small 15-inch screen television in the corner; it has long since stopped working. He had originally left it on.

His bed pan is still sitting on the edge of his mother's bed where he left it years earlier. George attempts to examine his lip in her vanity mirror, but the mirror is too dirty to see anything. He goes into the kitchen and returns with a towel and wipes the mirror. Besides being swollen, his lip is now black and blue. He goes to the punishment room.

"Look what you did to my lip you filthy whore," he yells at her. "You're going to pay for that."

She picks her head up and stares at him. She is weak from loss of blood. She is still breathing with short, shallow breaths. She watches him as he walks across the room and picks up the broom stick. When he rams it into her vagina she just lowers her head and closes her eyes. George repeatedly rapes her with the dildo, but the entire time she does not move. Every now and then she winces, which only gets George angrier. He pulls the stick out of her and begins to beat her with it. He beats her all over her body, but still she just hangs there and does nothing. George becomes frustrated.

"Bitch, I've got to go to work. When I get back this evening, I'm going to beat you with my whip again. If you continue to just hang there, then I'm going to kill you. Do you understand me, bitch?"

She picks up her head and looks weakly at him. Then she lowers her head again and closes her eyes. George leaves for work. He tells everyone at the hospital that he ran into a door in the middle of the night unable to see in the darkness.

When he returns from work, he beats her with the whip. Again, she does not respond; she is too weak. George ties a rope around her neck and strangles her. Around midnight he dumps her body just off Almonaster Avenue near the railroad tracks. A railroad employee finds it the next afternoon while checking box cars.