He would do anything, anything to save her from the terrors of mental illness he knows his own mother battled and which now trouble him. Although it is hard to imagine any father hospitalizing his offspring to prevent an illness, still, in Searching for Blue Mercury, it seems perfectly reasonable, since the reader is privy to the increasingly disorganized, terrifying thoughts of Detective Parker.
In spite of what police think is disinterest, Merc Parker is deeply engrossed in the serial killings. He obsesses about each one. At times, especially when alone, demons bound into his imagination. He feels the victims being slashed with a knife as if he was their killer. He sees their blood — feels its warmth. He stares into the eyes of a man looking down at him, strangled. He is doused with gasoline and burned. He pictures a body stuffed in a trunk, gasping for air, dying from carbon monoxide poisoning.
Feeling doomed, Merc knows he must get to the bottom of his delusional ranting before complete insanity engulfs him. With his wife, he visits the center where his daughter remains hospitalized. Her psychiatrist wants a conference. During the meeting, Parker cannot concentrate on reality. He attempts to strike out at the psychiatrist but is physically restrained by a muscular attendant whom Parker claims is “on steroids.”
As more murders occur, Parker’s boss is forced to remove him from the case. Evidence begins to surface which indirectly points to Merc as a suspect. His boss refuses to believe any proof. But as he and other detectives examine the facts and the sometimes psychotic behavior of Parker, Merc indeed seems to be the killer.
More direct, damaging evidence is uncovered. Parker has secretly taken confidential files out of the police bureau and arranged them so any connection between one killing and another is deliberately removed. “There was a lot of information that never made it into the reports.” Clearly, Merc does not want damning data to surface. “Otherwise, someone might notice, someone might know.”
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