Chapter 8

During the evening, Cassie and the others came up with a profile for their killer. They decided that he probably had not killed before, since he did not know how much force it would take to knock Katy out, and that his heart was not in what he was doing. Cassie pointed out he did not continue hitting Katy with the rock but instead suffocated her from behind so he would not have to see her face. They also noted that the rape was a “token gesture” (174) after she was already dead indicating he did not really want to rape her, but felt he had to do so. They also interpreted from the way Katy was placed on the stone that the killer was trying to treat Katy with respect and that he wanted her found quickly. Cassie assumed the killer had kept Katy’s body hidden a day because he did not have a choice, possibly because Mark was camping on the site that night.

Cassie brought up the idea of religion as they discussed Mark as a suspect. She explained that Mark was not the only person who had come up with a religion of his own. That everyone needed something to believe in, something on which to set their moral code. She explained some people made a religion out of taking care of their bodies. Those people believed others were morally wrong if their BMI was out of bounds or if they smoked. In this idea of religion, Cassie explained that people no longer believed it was important to do the right thing, but instead did what they believed would have the biggest payoff.