"The Russians have a word for it. Maskirovka. The art of misdirection. What she did was so unspeakable we can't stop ourselves from looking at it. And while we're trying to come up with some reason to make sense of this horror, we miss what this was really all about. It's a cover-up. Blood is the best camouflage."
— Arthur Wilde, The Head (2020)
"At one death you look for motive, at two you look for connection... at three you look for someone like Kyle; at three you don't need motive because mentally unstable serial killers don't usually have one."
— Richard Castle, "Flowers For Your Grave", Castle (2010)
Hercule Poirot: Hastings, you do not understand. Look at the crowds.
Captain Hastings: Well, yes, I know. It's jammed everywhere. It's like looking for a needle in a haystack.
Poirot: Yes, Hastings, yes! Where is the best place for a man to hide himself?
Hastings: In a crowd of other men?
Poirot: Yes, Hastings, and where's the best place to conceal a murder?
Hastings: A murder? I don't know. Among a lot of other murders, I suppose.
Poirot: Precisement, Hastings. At Churston, I said that the victims were chosen in a manner that was haphazard, selected only because of their initials, yes? I was wrong, Hastings! All of the victims are haphazard, yes, except for one. This monster is committing a series of murders in order to draw away our attention from one murder in particular!
Captain Hastings: Well, yes, I know. It's jammed everywhere. It's like looking for a needle in a haystack.
Poirot: Yes, Hastings, yes! Where is the best place for a man to hide himself?
Hastings: In a crowd of other men?
Poirot: Yes, Hastings, and where's the best place to conceal a murder?
Hastings: A murder? I don't know. Among a lot of other murders, I suppose.
Poirot: Precisement, Hastings. At Churston, I said that the victims were chosen in a manner that was haphazard, selected only because of their initials, yes? I was wrong, Hastings! All of the victims are haphazard, yes, except for one. This monster is committing a series of murders in order to draw away our attention from one murder in particular!
—Poirot, The ABC Murders
