23rd June, 2020
The Past
Dr Erin Wood
Today one of my students asked me about the Music Box Killer. The familiar panic washed over me before I collected myself and was able to answer calmly. I don’t talk about the Music Box case. The case that made me walk away from the FBI and take refuge here at the university in the safety of lectures and essays. But tonight as I reached for a glass of wine, I saw again the row of six tiny white beds and the six tiny bodies that lay in them. I felt my failure again as I poured a second glass of wine. I wept again as I looked back at the ashes of my ambition. I looked at the future with despair: at the distance from the pure sinister certainty that is the hallmark of those I’d hunted. I mourned for the thrill of the chase and the unlocking of the puzzle even whilst I knew I could not play those games any more. I climbed the stairs to the beat of sirens in my head. I was lulled to sleep by the tinkling tune of the Music Box.
Dr Erin Wood
Dr Erin Wood is a forensic psychologist – a good one – a prodigy in fact. Attached to the FBI straight out of graduate school she helped apprehend the Music Box killer. Successful though she was, she found experience traumatising and returned to her home country where she now teaches criminal psychology at the University of Bath. She also works closely with DCI David Paulson and his team at the Serious Crimes squad. Erin loves running, Thai food and her dog Archie. She is writing a book on living with psychopaths.