Chapter summaries Jigsaw Jonathan Kellerman

Chapter 27: The Alberts Thread Tightens

Spoiler Notice

This page reveals key developments from Chapter 27 of Jigsaw by Jonathan Kellerman. If you haven’t read this far, proceed carefully.

Summary

After a full day of patient evaluations and an evening out with Robin, Alex finds missed calls from Milo. Returning them, he learns Milo spent the day digging into the Alberts investigation. Deputy DA John Nguyen was unhelpful and dismissive, but Milo persisted. He tracked down retired White Collar Crimes detective Angela Batchelder, who confirmed Martha was on the Alberts team. She described Martha as compulsively detail-oriented, almost manic, and noted her sudden resignation with only desk notes. Milo suspects a payoff. Alex shifts to the psychological profile of a possible killer: someone aggrieved by the case who let anger fester for years. Milo cannot contact suspended detective Mike Heck due to the looming Bel Geddes civil suit, and the FBI agents Batchelder named are hard to locate. The chapter ends with Milo deciding to send Alicia to check whether Alberts is truly incapacitated, calling it “creative futility.”

Key Events

  • Alex finishes a long day of back-to-back evaluations and an evening with Robin before discovering two missed calls from Milo.
  • Milo reports his fruitless conversation with Deputy DA John Nguyen, who dismisses the link between Martha’s and Lynne’s murders.
  • Milo tracks down retired detective Angela Batchelder near Spokane, who confirms Martha served on the Alberts White Collar Crimes team.
  • Batchelder reveals Martha was hyper-focused, detail-obsessed, and suddenly quit without a face-to-face conversation.
  • Alex proposes that the killer may be someone from the Alberts case whose life dead-ended, allowing anger to fester over years.
  • Milo is officially barred from contacting Mike Heck because of the anticipated civil suit from the Bel Geddes incident.
  • Milo plans to send Alicia to the prison where Alberts is housed to verify his mental state, despite Alex vouching for the original source.

Character Development

  • Alex Delaware: Provides the chapter’s psychological scaffolding, articulating how workplace grievances can warp into long-term homicidal rage. He admits his theory may be off base before Milo reins him in.
  • Milo Sturgis: Shows both investigative persistence and self-deprecating humor. He admits Alex was right about Martha’s involvement and doggedly works around departmental obstacles.
  • John Nguyen: Appears only via phone but his abrasive dismissiveness illustrates how bureaucracy can stall a complex case. His remark about Alex being “right about stuff” but urging Milo to “stick with the here and now” underscores outsider resistance to psychological profiling.
  • Angela Batchelder: A retired detective who provides the first concrete evidence tying Martha directly to the Alberts prosecution. Her description of Martha’s intense work habits—termed “compulsive” and “almost manic”—offers a new lens on the victim’s personality.

Themes, Symbols, or Motifs

  • Sublimation and Occupational Obsession: Alex references Freud’s concept to explain how Martha channeled compulsive traits into her work. Batchelder called Martha “almost manic,” hinting her professional intensity may have masked deeper instability or vulnerability.
  • Festering Grievance and Delayed Revenge: Alex’s anecdote about the IRS clerk who shot coworkers eleven years later crystallizes the chapter’s core psychological theory—violent retribution can incubate silently for decades if a person’s life turns sour.
  • Bureaucratic Silencing: Milo is “enjoined from further contact” with Heck, and the FBI investigation records remain inaccessible. The chapter repeatedly shows official systems sealing off information that might solve the murders.

Why This Chapter Matters

Chapter 27 represents the investigation’s fulcrum. Alex’s educated guess—that Martha’s death ties back to the Alberts case—moves from speculation to corroborated fact. The chapter also introduces the killer’s new psychological template: a disgruntled individual for whom the Alberts prosecution ruined a life, now seeking payback with surgical brutality. At the same time, it reveals the procedural walls Milo must scale: an uncooperative deputy DA, an embargo on speaking to Heck, and retired FBI agents who seem to have vanished. These obstacles raise the stakes and push Milo toward unorthodox next steps.

Study Questions and Answers

  1. What specific information did Angela Batchelder provide about Martha’s role in the Alberts investigation? Batchelder said Martha was part of the White Collar Crimes team for a year, described her as a “real bulldog” who was extremely detail-oriented and compulsive to the point where colleagues wondered about her mental state, and noted she resigned abruptly by leaving notes on everyone’s desk.

  2. How does Alex explain the possibility of a killer acting years after the original grievance? Alex suggests that people who perceive themselves as aggrieved can stew and seethe over time. If their lives spiral downward, the anger festers into a delusional obsession that can eventually erupt in violence, consistent with many workplace homicide patterns and psychopathic blame-fixation.

  3. Why is Milo unable to pursue leads through Mike Heck or the FBI, and how does he plan to work around it? Milo is formally barred from contacting Heck because the Bel Geddes civil suit means Heck is off-limits to the department. The FBI agents Batchelder recalled are not easily located, possibly because retired agents often vanish from public record. Milo decides to send Alicia to Alberts’s prison facility to verify his reported mental incompetence.