The woman was in the hospital bed surrounded by monitors, tubes and wires streaming from under the blankets. He eyed her for a moment before approaching. She was awake. The bruise around her throat from the rope used to nearly strangle her to death was an angry purple.
"Miss Wilson?" he asked.
She looked over at him with a wince that indicated that her neck was protesting the movement. Her eyes welled with tears. "Yes" she croaked.
"Miss Wilson I am Detective Adams. I'd like to ask you a few questions if you're feeling up to it."
She nodded agreement.
"I am sure you understand that you are the first person to survive an attack by this serial killer."
She nodded.
"I know it's difficult for you to speak, but this is very important. Can you give me a description of your attacker?"
Her voice was raspy and harsh, but she managed to make herself intelligeable. "He was a little over six feet tall and muscular."
"He?" Detective Adams asked.
She nodded.
"Are you sure it was a man?" he asked.
"Yes, it was a man." she replied.
"Did you see his genitals?" he asked.
Her eyes widened. "No, of course not!"
"Ok, so you can't say for certain that it was a man." he replied.
"I know a man when I see one detective." she croaked. There was anger and confusion in her eyes.
"ok, ok. Please continue" he said in his fatherly tone.
"He was black. He had short black hair. His eyes were dark brown or black. And he had a mole on the right side of his face. I remember the mole because it was right in front of my eyes as he was..." her voice drifted off.
"Ok, I understand. Take your time. Can you recall anything else about this person?" he asked calmly.
She shook her head no and then spoke again. "Oh yes, I just remembered. He spoke with an accent."
"An accent?" he asked. "What kind of accent? Like from another part of the country?"
"No," she said, "a foreign accent. Like from Haiti or some place like that."
"I see." he said, "Anything else?"
"No, that's all I can remember detective."
"Thank you for your help Miss Wilson. I'll get this description to our legal department right away so we can get it out on the air as fast as possible."
"Legal department?" she asked.
"Yes ma'am. Due to the Federal Profiling Act all suspect descriptions have to be approved by the legal department before being issued in order to ensure compliance. It wouldn't be right to have our officers out there profiling people, now would it?"
"No, I suppose not." she said.
The next morning the legally approved suspect description was given to all of the city's police officers.
'Be on the look out for suspected serial killer wanted for questioning in connection with the homicides of 18 people. Suspect has a mole on right cheek."