Capítulo 2: Did you find anything?

Three weeks before Nian Jiezhen met Ren Shiyuan.

Sicily, Italy.

"Based on the demographics of the area, we believe we're looking for a Caucasian male in his mid-20s to late 30s," said a beautiful Asian woman, standing tall in front of the police.

"We just received confirmation from the coroner's office that each victim died from rabies," continued a man with blonde hair and green eyes, wearing a black suit.

"Two of the victims sustained significant human bite wounds, and dental records confirm that those bite wounds came from the other victims," reported Jeremy Smith.

Six people were standing in front of the police, sharing the information they got to them. They were special agents from the FBI's behavior analysis unit.

The Asian woman was a Chinese named Nian Jiezhen and she was the tallest woman in the room, "Which means that somehow or another, he's facilitating biting attacks. We think he's a sadist who gets off on watching the attacks. He may record them so he can relive the events over and over again."

The doctor in the group, Jeremy Smith, who has black hair and blue eyes, passed a paper to them, "Rabies has been around since the beginning of documented history. It has the highest case to the mortality rate in existence and is arguably the deadliest disease known to man. Carriers literally go stark raving mad."

One of the police raised a hand before saying, "Uh, I thought there's a vaccine for it."

"There is but the post-exposure prophylaxis is only effective if it is administered within 24 hours of infection. Once the symptoms appear, the prognosis is death. It's also contagious so it's a great risk for himself that he's chosen this method to kill," explained Jeremy. "Which means it holds special significance to him. He may have lost a pet or even a relative to the virus."

"It's is not easy to obtain a sample of the virus. We think that he most likely started with an animal," said Adeline Cortez, a woman with hazel brown hair and eyes. She crossed her arms before she turned to Dale Anderson, the man with the blonde hair.

Dale nodded, "That's why it is most likely that he may have worked at a veterinary clinic, maybe a pest control company."

"What's he's doing takes deliberation and patience and is rooted in a need-based desire, so he's not going to stop on his own. Thank you."

...

"Hey, Sop. What do you get?" Andre Colombo asked as he looked at the screen of his laptop.

Sophia Hunter, the woman on the screen adjusted her glasses before she said, "Do you know that over fifty thousand people die of rabies every year in third-world countries? Thank goodness for Monsieur Pasteur, or else we'd all be dead. Anyway, so I have looked into every known case of rabies exposure in the country over the last twenty years."

Her specialty, aside from behavior analysis was with computers that was why she was in charge of giving the group the information.

"Did you find anything?"Asked Dale.

"Yeah. Fifteen years ago in a town named Modica, Italy, a 9-year old, Alex Marino, was admitted to the hospital with severe flu-like symptoms. Symptoms get worse, he developed hydrophobia. Turns out, 3 weeks prior, he was bitten by a bat when he was out camping with his family."

Adeline turned to the map that was on the board before she took her phone out to check on something, "Modica is a less than two-hours drive from here, it's even closer to the disposal site."

"What's so special about this Alex Marino kid?"

"Here's what's special. A week after he was admitted to the hospital, he checked out of the hospital but I can't find any death certificate. It's like he disappeared. His father Patrick died six years ago of a massive heart attack. And mom, Wanda, works as a bartender at the Tropicana hotel in Venetia Palace Hotel in Rome."

"Any Siblings?"

"Yes, affirmative. He has one older brother, Sergio Marino, a 28-year-old resident of in that town."

"And what's his deal?"

"His deal is... Ay, Chihuahua. He works at Nasse pest control, which specializes in dangerous wild animal removal. It also showed here that he bought an abandoned animal shelter after he quitted his current job and you don't even have to ask me, I'm sending you his address!!"