Kiss the Girls

Alex Cross is a homicide detective in Washington, DC, He lives in Southeast DC—a rough area. He plays blues and jazz songs on the piano with his children, Damon and Janelle, and he thinks about his past romantic partner, Jezzie Flanagan.

Rita Washington—a 23-year-old woman who’s addicted to crack cocaine—bangs on Cross’s door. She announces that an 11-year-old boy who lives in the neighborhood, Marcus Daniels, has been stabbed. Marcus wants Cross by his side.

With Marcus bleeding profusely in his arms, Cross runs through Southeast DC and to the hospital. An ambulance passes, but it doesn’t stop. Inside the hospital, Cross tells the nurses that Marcus tried to cut his throat with a knife.

Casanova is in “love” with a 22-year-old college student who is tied up and gagged in his trunk. He drives to the woods and takes her out of the trunk. He claims she violated the “house rules,” so she won’t receive a “reprieve.” Casanova wears a death mask and injects the woman with Tubex (a sedative). The woman cries as Casanova sexually assaults her. He ties her to a tree and takes off his mask. Before leaving her to die, he kisses her lips. He thinks, “Kiss the girls.”

John Sampson is a police detective in Washington, DC, and Cross’s best friend. They grew up in Southeast DC together, but Sampson joined the army, and Cross earned a PhD in abnormal psychology from John Hopkins University. Cross pokes fun at Sampson’s “street detective” uniform, and then he smashes one of Sampson’s cigarettes.

Cross learns that Marcus is dead. He died by suicide because he felt like everyone around him was a “junkie.” His parents ran a “crack house” and turned their children (ages five through 12) into drug “runners.”

Sampson drives Cross home where, unexpectedly, he sees the cars of his family members. Inside are three aunts, two sisters-in-law, Nana Mama (his grandmother), and his living brother. His other brother, Aaron, was addicted to drugs and alcohol, and he died at age 33. Cross helped Cilla, Aaron’s wife, raise their daughter, Naomi. Nana announces that Scootchie (Naomi’s nickname) is missing.

Casanova screams as he drives away from the woods. He feels like he should save the young woman tied to the tree, but he realizes she’s seen his face. The narrator makes it clear that Casanova acted intentionally and with feelings. Now, Casanova must return to his other identity.

Naomi acquired the nickname Scootchie because she liked to “scootch” close to people when she was growing up. Naomi was Sampson’s “favorite.” Sampson calls a North Carolina detective, Nick Ruskin, who says Naomi has been missing for four days, and her law-school friend, Mary Ellen Klouk, filed a report. Ruskin told Mary Ellen not to alert Naomi’s family. Sampson and Cross go to North Carolina to investigate.

Cross tells his children that they haven’t heard from Naomi in a while, so he has to go find her. Nana jokingly thanks Sampson for accompanying Cross, and Cross thinks of a quote about faith from Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes.

Casanova walks around Duke University’s picturesque campus. He hears the 1990s rock band Smashing Pumpkins and sees two “delicious” women eating barbecue. Casanova thinks of himself as a hunter. He believes men are natural hunters, but contemporary men are too cowardly to follow their organic instincts. Casanova listens to his pulse, and it goes, “Tick-cock.”

Cancer patients who are near death receive care at Duke University Hospital, North Division, which is a small Gothic building. Kate McTiernan is 31. She recently graduated from medical school and works at the hospital. Casanova thinks Kate is the South’s most attractive woman. He’s surveilled her for weeks. She doesn’t wear makeup and isn’t pretentious. When she becomes a doctor, she’ll practice in West Virginia—keeping a promise she made to her dying mother.

As Sampson and Cross drive to North Carolina, Cross thinks about Naomi. She read Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking-Glass when she was just four, and she’s a talented violinist. She graduated first in her high school class.

In Durham, North Carolina, the police coldly receive Sampson and Cross. Sampson feels like they’re on “Mars.” They meet detectives Nick Ruskin and Davey Sikes. Ruskin is tall and strong, and reminds Cross of the actor Michael Douglas. Sikes is big, but Cross pegs him as the “sidekick.” The detectives learn about a woman’s body in the woods and invite Sampson and Cross to investigate the homicide with them.

On the ride to the woods, Ruskin explains the situation—it’s a “real bad one.” This is the third murder site they’re investigating, and they’re also dealing with several missing women. The crimes encompass multiple areas of North Carolina and neighboring states. The FBI is present, and there’s conflict between the federal agency and local police. The FBI has a bulletin board featuring pictures of the missing young women, and Naomi’s picture is on it. As the victims are attractive women, someone named the case Beauties and the Beast.

In the woods near the homicide, Cross sees ambulances and FBI cars. Cross feels like he’s about to find Naomi. Instead, he sees a white woman’s decomposing body tied to a tree.

The lead FBI agent, Joyce Kinney, wants Cross and Sampson to leave. She says that have “no authority.” Cross claims his missing niece validates his presence. Kinney lets Cross and Sampson stay, and Cross, who has contacts in the FBI, speaks to a forensic agent. The agent says Casanova repeatedly sexually assaults the woman, but he doesn’t leave DNA evidence.

Cross watches FBI agents meticulously search the woods for clues and evidence. A helicopter brings Ronald Burns, the FBI’s deputy director—the agency’s second most powerful person. Burns and Cross know one another. After Cross helped catch Gary Soneji, a child kidnapper, Burns considered Cross as a liaison for the FBI and DC police, but Cross turned him down. Burns describes the case as a “high-priority mess.” Burns thinks Casanova is a “collector,” and he’s keeping the women in a nearby “private harem.”

Kate excels in her karate classes. On her way home, she walks through Chapel Hill and hears the rock group White Zombie blasting from an ice cream shop. She thinks about what she learned from karate class: A hawk breaks its prey’s body only because of timing. She also thinks about her ex-boyfriend Peter McGrath, a smart but self-obsessed historian.

Kate considers herself an “old lady.” Tonight, she plans to make herself chili, read a Cormac McCarthy novel, and fall asleep by 9:30 pm. She lives in a three-room apartment on the top floor of a dilapidated home. No one lives beneath her, and there’s no one nearby. At home, she says hi to the mice that live behind her refrigerator. She remembers a feminine quip about the expendability of men. Though tomorrow she’ll work for 16 hours, she loves her life.

Kate hears a sound and thinks about the recent kidnappings and murders. She tells herself not to be overdramatic, and she wishes Peter was with her. He’d make her feel safer, but he probably couldn’t help her subdue a hypothetical intruder. Peter was “physically afraid” of Kate. She knows how to fight, so men don’t intimidate her. As she stealthily investigates her apartment, a hand covers her mouth. She senses a cloth covered in an anesthetic. Though drowsy, she tries to escape.

Remembering what she learned about the hawk and timing, she kicks Casanova in the groin, but he wears a cup. She screams for help and runs to the front door, but Casanova already put the couch in front of it. Calmly, Casanova tells Kate to “shut up,” and Kate wonders how he knows her name. She wonders if Casanova is Peter, and Casanova shoots her with a stun gun.

Cross drives Sampson to the airport. Though they’re “tough” men, they hug and kiss one another on the cheek. Sampson is suspicious of Ruskin and Sikes, but he believes Cross will find Naomi. Cross feels like he’s “chasing monsters” again.

Cross stays at the Washington Duke Inn. After a large breakfast, he meets with Browning Lowell, the dean of women at Duke. In 1980, there was a new story about Lowell having an affair with a basketball player on the US Olympic team. The player left the team, and Lowell married a woman. Lowell believes there’s a link between the murders and the disappearances.

The dorm area consists of small houses and cottages. Cross notices a silver BMW before he speaks to Mary Ellen Klouk, who last saw Naomi six days ago when they worked together for Habitat for Humanity. Mary Ellen wonders why police waited two days before putting out an all-points bulletin.

Casanova spies on Cross. He’s proud that he knows who Cross is while no one has a clue who of Casanova’s identity. He laughs, believing the lack of clues is the clue.

Cross interviews people familiar with Kate and learns about her down-to-earth strength. Peter appears distraught. He tells Cross that Kate is too willful for him. Cross realizes that Casanova is preying on women with exceptional beauty and character.

At the Washington Duke Inn, tabloid reporter Mike Hart—nicknamed No-Heart’s Hart—calls Cross four times but doesn’t hear back. Ruskin calls, but he doesn’t have any new information. Cross finds a postcard featuring an odalisque and a handprinted caption describing odalisques as sophisticated women forced into sexual enslavement and trafficking. The postcard is signed Giovanni Giacomo Casanova de Seignalt. Cross realizes it’s a message from Casanova.

Kate wakes up in a “tastefully” decorated room. Mimicking her home, there are scarves tied to the bedpost. Casanova also bought her perfume and clothes that match her style. There are no windows, and the only exit is a heavy wooden door. She feels like she’s in a “weird” Jim Jarmusch movie. She thinks of Casanova as a “psycho.”

Kate wakes up and finds a note from Casanova. He tells her he’s neither “crazy” nor “out of control”; he’s “in control,” and if Kate doesn’t scream for help or try to escape, she won’t face death or horrific consequences. Kate immediately thinks about escape.

Cross visits the Sarah Duke Gardens, where Casanova kidnapped Naomi during the day. He finds a spot Naomi would have loved—a fishpond in front of a rock garden—and cries.

Casanova is in Kate’s room, wearing another mask and looking like a “dark god.” He reminds Kate of the rules, emphasizing that Kate shouldn’t try to use her karate training on him. Kate tries to act seductive. Casanova wants to fall in love and tells Kate that she is beautiful. Kate replies flippantly, so Casanova uses the stun gun. While sexually assaulting her, he orders her to keep her eyes open. He repeatedly declares his love for her.

Cross speaks with Florence Campbell—one of Naomi’s friends at law school. Florence quotes the Black postcolonial theorist Frantz Fanon’s Black Skin, White Masks and tells Cross about Naomi’s boyfriend—Florence’s cousin—Seth Samuel Taylor. Seth is a social worker. As with Fanon, Seth has keen views about race, and they rubbed off on Naomi. Florence “loves” Naomi. After feeling like they were competing over race, they became friends. Florence doesn’t think Seth is connected to Naomi’s disappearance.

Cross meets Seth in his apartment. The hip-hop group Digital Underground plays, and friends and neighbors are there to help look for Naomi. Seth tells Cross that he looks like “shit,” and Cross tells Seth the same thing. Crying, Seth declares his innocence. He and Cross hug.

Cross talks with FBI agent Kyle Craig, who he first met while trying to capture Soneji. Unlike most FBI agents, Kyle has compassion. He’s in North Carolina composing psychological profiles of the murdered women—the “rejects.” Kyle believes Casanova killed them because they had “strong personalities” and weren’t obedient. Kyle applauds Cross’s work. He wants Cross to remain independent in the investigation. Cross tells Kyle about the odalisque postcard, but Kyle and the FBI already knew.

Cross calls home and speaks to Nana and his children. He learns Damon is behaving badly. Nana made him get a summer haircut, so now he’s “bald.” Nana asks for information about the case, but Cross is withholding. Nana jokes that she won’t tell the Washington Post. After the phone call, Cross wonders if Casanova read his book about Soneji.

Kate prays to God. Her head spins, and she realizes Casanova has access to professional drugs. She suspects Casanova is a doctor. She vows to escape.

Kate examines the small room, looking for a peephole or way out. There’s a closet-size alcove that functions as an outhouse, and Kate wonders if she can fit in the hole. As she inspects the drop, Casanova enters wearing a mask. He advises Kate not to escape through the toilet, and he asks her to put on a dress from Neiman Marcus. Kate isn’t in “the mood” to dress up.

Kate falls over, and Casanova violently pulls her up. Kate pulls down his mask and sees one of his blue eyes. Casanova uses the stun gun and kicks her. She watches her tooth spin on the floor.

Naomi bites her hand in her room and hears Kate scream for help. She tells Kate to stop screaming; it’ll make him kill her. Kate claims Casanova will kill her anyway. She says he’s using a hospital drug, Forane, so he might be a doctor. Naomi thinks Kate is careless but brave. Eventually, Naomi identifies herself. Soon, six other women speak up.