‘Well, as a child, this type of individual lacks the power to influence the actions of adults, other than by making himself a victim. But later in life he may realize there’s another way to deal with the unpredictability of people.’ The psychologist
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turned her head slightly to look at Fry. That’s when he discovers the power to make them predictable - by rendering them unalive.’
‘The big question is whether he’s serious about his statement that he intends to kill someone,’ said Fry. ‘Or could his messages be referring to something that’s happened in the past?’
‘If there was an earlier incident, it could have been a practice killing,’ said Kane.
‘A practice killing?’
‘Exercising that newly discovered power over people. This individual may be seeking some kind of perfection. It makes sense.’
‘None of this makes sense.’
Kane took off her glasses to look at Fry. ‘It does if you take the trouble to put yourself in the mind of the psychotic individual, to understand his motivations and thought processes.’
‘But we agree that we do have a killer here, Doctor,’ said Hitchens.
‘In fact, there’s no evidence of that. While we undoubtedly have an individual with a psychotic obsession, his obsession isn’t with killing but with death.’
‘I’m sorry,’ said Hitchens, ‘but I don’t see the distinction.’
The psychologist replaced her glasses and looked at the DI for a moment, raising her eyebrows. Hitchens squirmed uneasily. Watching her in action almost made Fry wish she wore glasses, just so she could do that.
‘There’s a very significant distinction,’ said Kane. ‘In his messages, almost all the details in the confessional passages refer to what happens to the body after death. How many murderers hang around the body? Once their victim is dead, they’re only interested in escaping detection or concealing the evidence. But not this individual.’
‘Doctor,’ said Fry, ‘would you say this type of man might
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gravitate towards an occupation where he was able to indulge his obsession?’
‘Certainly.’
‘The funeral business?’
‘I couldn’t be so specific’
‘A pity. We almost had a profile there.’
Cooper raised his pen to get attention. ‘What about the references to a sarcophagus and “the dead place”?’
‘The references are probably symbolic,’ said Kane.
Fry could see that Cooper was getting excited, like a schoolboy whose teacher had prompted a sudden insight.
‘So the sarcophagus could be to do with exposing something to the air and light,’ he said. ‘Perhaps a dark secret?’
‘He’s certainly demanding some intelligence from his audience. So, yes - think symbolically, rather than literally.’
‘And the flesh eater,’ said Fry. ‘Tell us, Doctor, is the flesh eater symbolic, or literal? It would be very helpful to know.’
After the psychologist had left, Fry found Hitchens in his office, tapping his teeth again. She resisted the urge to snatch the pen from his hand.
‘I’ve just had a call,’ he said. ‘Instructions from above.’
‘Oh?’
‘We have to play it cool on the phone messages, Diane. No more chasing around the countryside like rabbits after every report of someone a bit late coming home.’
‘We can’t sit on our hands and wait for a body to turn up,’ said Fry. ‘That might be exactly what he wants.’
‘It might be. But we’re downgrading the priority of the phone calls until we have further evidence.’
‘With respect, sir, we have an offender here who’s going to kill somebody soon.’
‘Strictly speaking, he’s not an offender, DS Fry. Not until he actually does something illegal.’
‘He’s making threatening calls.’
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‘Who has he threatened?’ said Hitchens.
Fry grimaced. ‘Nuisance calls, then.’
‘He’s wasting police time. That’s the worst we can say about him at this stage.’
‘He needs psychiatric help.’
‘Well, I’d agree with you there. He definitely has a problem of some kind. But whether he’s actually intending to kill anybody, we don’t know.’
‘What’s the next move, then?’
‘We wait. Patrols will check all the possible sites we gave them, when practicable.’
‘When practicable?’ said Fry. ‘That could be never.’
Hitchens continued with a small frown. ‘And we hope that Forensics can come up with something at the
