THE RORSCHACH MURDERS

It was a rainy day in the city. The skies were gray and the gentle sounds of the droplets
hitting the ground were almost inaudible over the sound of cars and other vehicles moving
across the roads. It was a dull, depressing morning and thousands of people went about doing
their work. In their own way, they were just like the rain. A thousand individual dops falling, but
nobody cares when one touches the ground.
Officer Brian Kennedy paused before a house. He had to meet a very important person. The
place was shabby and dirty and a crooked sign hung over the door. The words JOSEPH
COPELAND - PRIVATE DETECTIVE were visible on it., but only barely. Kennedy raised his hand
to knock, but the door swing open. A tall man stood at the door. His hair was salt and pepper
and his beard was grizzled. He had a crooked nose and his face was covered with scars. His
breath stank of alcohol and a cigar was clamped between his yellow teeth. He looked like a man
who had lost all purpose in life, but one thing about him was striking. His bright blue eyes that
were perfectly clear, though shadowed by dirk circles. He was the most famous detective in the
history of the city. But now he was just one more face among the thousands.
Sir, said Kennedy, a little awestruck. Im here to ask for help. Theres a rather disturbing
case that has been troubling us for days.
Im retired kid. Do yourself a favour and quit the police. Its a bad organization, built on lies
and works on principles cheaper than my cigar, retorted Copeland. He tried to slam the door
shut, But Kennedy jammed his foot into the gap.
Its a serial killer case, sir. The whole police force is clueless! We need your help.
Copeland scowled. There hasnt been a serial killer in this city for decades.
Kennedy replied quickly, its well its the Rorschach killer, sir.
Copeland gasped. The Rorschach killer was the only criminal who Copeland had never been
able to catch. He smiled for the time in years. Im in.
The next day, Kennedy showed Copeland the crime scene. Victim was an accountant.
Nothing special about him. Killed at 19.15, last week. He was - butcherd. But theres one
strange thing. He showed Copeland a picture of blood spattered over a wall. But not just
splattered. Almost printed into a pattern.
Jesus, breathed Copeland, Its really him. The blood arrangement its a perfect Rorschach
pattern.
A Rorschach pattern was a psychological test that had no particular answer. It was a pattern
in a page which could be interpreted as anything. It was used to determine a persons mental
process. The Rorschach killer had become notorious for this kind of crimes. He killed people
gruesomely, but without any reason or motive. Suggestions from experts ranged from an
obsessive killer to twisted interpretations of the pattern to just insanity revolving around a
particular theme. The murderer had then mysteriously disappeared, and never returned until
now.
Hes a serial killer, muttered Copeland, gritting his teeth. He was clenching the photograph
so hard that his knuckles turned white. Get me all the data that you have on this freak. Hes a
serial killer and he wants to be caught. Thats why hes leaving these clues. I will find a pattern!
I will not let him get away this time!
Kennedy rushed to comply
Copeland worked all night, trying to find a pattern. Every alternate day a new killing took
place. The crime scene was the same - butchered victim, no sign of the killers identity, and the
same bloody pattern on the wall. Every time, Copeland tried to work out a pattern in the
killings, he failed. No interpretations of the Rorschach pattern worked. Copeland tried linking

murder locations, but were randomly spread all across the city. He tried linking the time of
death, but they happened anytime throughout the day, not always at night. He checked the
victims profile, but nothing matched. He tried linking manner of death, but method of killings
ranged from decapitations to eviscerations. He even tried linking the records from ten years
ago, but there was only one pattern no pattern.
Kennedy was worried about Copeland. He barely ate, only drank an occasional swig of alcohol,
didnt sleep, talked to himself and had taken to avoiding any visitor, save Kennedy.
One day, when Copeland had gone out to interrogate families of the latest victim, Kennedy
received a distress call. He quickly led his team to the location, and they arrived just in time to
spot the Rorschach killer. His face was covered with a mask, designed like a Rorschach pattern.
His clothes were bloody and his hands were curled around a bloodstained axe. He was about to
bring on the axe down on an injured woman when Kennedy shot him in the leg. The killer
stumbled and fell. Kennedy kicked the axe from his hands and handcuffed him. The remaining
cops rushed to the woman to get her medical help.
Kennedy grabbed the killers collar and took a deep breath, trying to conceal his emotions,
before pulling off the mask.
The Rorschach killer was Joseph Copeland.
Three weeks later, Kennedy was finishing his police report. The analysts and psychologists
diagnosed Copeland to be suffering from Dissociative Personality Disorder. He and two alternate
personalities, Joseph Copeland the dominant personality and the Rorschach killer- a passive
personality that had only emerged ten years ago and now. Copeland wasnt aware of the killer
personality and had almost driven crazy by trying to put a pattern to his own actions.
Kennedys assistant walked into the room. She was a new recruit from the academy and didnt
really know what to say to her senior. Tough month, huh? she finally said. I still didnt get
the logic behind the Rorschach murders.
Kennedy said in an emotionless and dispassionate voice, Thats because there wasnt any
logic. Copeland tried to establish order, organize his own actions. The killer went against the
logic. Copeland made patterns and the killer broke them. He pointed to a picture of the
Rorschach pattern and said, The jokes on us. We try to organize and bring order. We
interpret evil and try to bring justice. We solve twisted mysteries by turning the mess created
by a crime into something that can be interpreted, just like a Rorschach pattern. But when our
logical interpretations dissolve into chaos, what do we have left?
He took the report and walked out of the room, leaving the assistant disturbed. She would
never look at a pattern or a crime, in the same way again.