‘True. Next thing, escalation. Caroline Eades’ death looked improvised. He didn’t have time to restrain her properly, so he used whatever was at hand. And used it very crudely. Which leads me to believe that the baby he took from Claire Fielding is dead. He wanted this one as a replacement.’
‘You sure about that?’ asked Anni.
‘As sure as I can be, given what I saw last night.’
‘What about this baby?’ said Phil. ‘Is it alive?’
‘I’ve spoken to Nick Lines,’ said Jane Gosling. ‘And he says that judging by the health of the mother and how far gone she was, plus looking at the way the baby was cut out – and he’s getting better at that, apparently – there’s every possibility that it is.’
‘Let’s hope so,’ said Marina. ‘So let’s assume that it is. But there’s something else, as well. A question of gender. Normally, serial killers are male.’
‘This big woman thing again,’ said Adrian. ‘But we’ve got a picture, CCTV. Millhouse has got the techies working overtime on it, but it’s still not sharp enough. And we don’t want to rush it. Might get the wrong person.’
‘It could be a woman,’ said Marina. ‘Or it could be a man and a woman working together.’
‘Or a man providing for a woman,’ said Phil.
‘Exactly,’ said Marina. ‘Now, there are usually two kinds of serial killers. Psychopathic and sociopathic. The psychopaths are wild. They prey on victims, don’t care if they get caught. Sociopaths are harder to find. They can blend into society, hold down jobs, lead normal lives. Then one day something goes. And they have to feed their desires.’
‘Will they have a job?’ asked Anni.
‘They might do,’ Marina said, ‘but it won’t be anything prestigious. They won’t be head of Microsoft or anything like that. They can use a knife. Maybe slaughter animals? Farm worker? Abattoir? Something along those lines. Also the disregard for the victim. Just another piece of meat.’
She looked round at the assembled faces. She had their total attention.
‘At first I thought our killer was the first kind, a psychopath. Which, on reflection, might be better. This person lives on the edge. Single-minded. Not interested in taunting us or leaving messages. They’re doing this for a reason. They want something. The baby. They don’t see themselves getting caught because they don’t think about getting caught. They’re clever, cunning. Like an animal. This, theoretically, should make them slightly easier to catch. However…’
They waited.
‘If there’s two of them, one may be the psychopath, one the sociopath…’ She could feel an idea coming to her. ‘If… if there are two of them, then one, the contained one, the sociopath, could be finding the victims…’
‘And the other one ripping them up?’ said Anni.
‘It’s a theory.’
‘If that’s the case, then there’s another idea,’ said Phil.
They all looked at him.
‘Split personality. Is that viable?’
‘Could be,’ said Marina. ‘Two in one. I think that’s even scarier, actually. But the same principles apply.’
‘So how do we catch them?’ asked Phil.
‘Well, I don’t think they’re based in Colchester. I think they’re coming in to do this. The geographical profiling supports that. And because they’re all over the town, I think that means he’s targeting them another way.’
‘How?’ said Phil.
‘I don’t know,’ said Marina. ‘But I think that’s the key. Find out how he’s choosing them and we’ve got him.’ She nodded at Phil. His turn.
‘Thanks, Marina. Right. I want all the individual cases re-examined today.’ He scanned the room, making sure his words registered. ‘Similarities flagged, everything. Old reports gone over, the lot. Marina, would you help with that, please? I’d like you teamed with Anni.’
‘Sure.’
‘Good. Anything that sticks out, flag it up. We can cross-reference it against Brotherton and Caroline and Graeme Eades. Look for another match. Forensics are still going through the data from the last two crime scenes. No conclusive DNA yet, but they’ll keep looking. And there’s something else. I don’t know how significant it is.’
They waited.
‘Sophie Gale has done a runner. Brotherton’s solicitor was on the phone this morning.’ He told them about the call.
‘Good luck to her,’ said Anni.
‘Let’s keep an eye out for her, though. We should still talk to her again.’ He scanned the room once more. Despite the tiredness, he could see that they were all ready to go. ‘Get pounding those files, those streets. Good old-fashioned police work. We might have lost one baby but there’s another one out there and the clock’s ticking. Let’s get going.’
They all filed out.
As Marina got up, Phil moved in to talk to her.
‘Marina,’ said Anni, ‘come on.You’re with me.’
She looked at Phil, gave an apologetic little shrug and turned away. Phil walked out alone.
61
Clayton couldn’t concentrate. He looked round the bar, at the walls, through the windows. Anywhere but where he was supposed to be looking. Down at the report in front of him.
He was deskbound, tasked with paperwork. Unable to work the case, unable to function like the copper he wanted to be, believed himself to be. He hated it. He saw faces, clocked movements. He knew what they were doing, what they were thinking. About him. They knew.
His heart was hammering in his chest, his hands shaking. But how much did they know? If it was everything, then that was it, finito. But if wasn’t… he might have a chance. A slim one. He shouldn’t have done it. Let Sophie stay at his place. He shouldn’t have taken that blow job from her in the car the other night. Hell, if he traced it all the way back, he shouldn’t have got involved with her in the first place.
All he wanted to be was a good copper. Well respected by his peers, well liked by his colleagues. And the ladies. But he couldn’t see that happening now. Because he was weak. And being weak made him do stupid, cowardly things. Like getting involved with Sophie.
He looked round again. Phil was at his desk, attacking a pile of paperwork he had allowed to accrue. He kept his head, down, focused on his task. Didn’t catch Clayton’s eye. Millhouse was geeking away at his computer, in his own virtual world as usual. But it was Marina and Anni that he felt most scared about. Anni had pulled her chair up to Marina’s desk and was sitting alongside her, poring over reports and statements, scrutinising photos. Every once in a while Clayton would look across, find Anni staring back at him. He would look quickly away, his eyes nervous, shifty. Guilty.
She hadn’t told. He knew that. Otherwise Phil would have said something. But it was only a matter of time. She wouldn’t keep that to herself. She was as ambitious as he was, and hard-working. She wouldn’t want to be seen to collude in mistakes he had made.
They would find out where Sophie was. Because they might still need to talk to her. And when they did…
He had to get a grip, think about what to do next. Get a damage-limitation plan in operation. Clayton sighed, went back to his paperwork.
Still unable to concentrate.
Anni read the statement over once again. Geraint Cooper, Claire Fielding’s friend at school. She reached the end. Read it once more. Put it down, rubbed her eyes.
‘Nothing?’ said Marina, looking up.
‘I think it’s just… I want to see something there, find a connection so much that I’m imagining things…’
‘Take a break,’ said Marina.
