Shit! He’s going to hang up, Jack thought, racking his mind for a way to keep the killer talking.
“You’re right,” he said, quickly. “You’re absolutely right. I don’t have a clue about you, so why don’t you even the odds by giving me a hint – or are you scared that I might find you if you level the playing field?”
◆◆◆
Inside the telephone box, the killer’s face grew taut. Tyler was mocking him. How dare the fool presume that he was afraid of a mere policeman! The murder squad detectives were intellectual insects, incapable of comprehending the magnitude of his genius. That they could threaten the outcome of his plan was inconceivable; that they had the sheer audacity to believe that they could catch him was an insult too great to ignore. It didn’t matter how many ‘clues’ they managed to scrape together, the end result would still be the same – and he would prove it to them, once and for all.
“Me! Scared of you?” The Disciple ridiculed. “Don’t make me laugh. Was my namesake scared of Inspector Abberline? I don’t think so.” He paused for a moment to gather his thoughts. “You can’t begin to understand the power that I now wield, Chief Inspector. I can’t be stopped, and I won’t be found. Mark my words, I will disappear after the fifth, when the final ritual is complete, and you will be left chasing shadows, absolutely no wiser than you are now.”
The music was playing inside his head again, and the volume control had been cranked up to the max. He had to shout to be heard above the ear-shattering din it was making.
“I will kill again, Jack Tyler, within the next twenty-four hours, and I’ll do it right under your very noses. Heed my warning, I’ll shred the next one like so much mincemeat, and there’s nothing that you or your pathetic minions can do about it. You’ll be eating humble pie the next time we speak; just you wait and see. You dared to challenge the New Ripper. Well, stop me if you can…”
◆◆◆
The line went dead abruptly.
Tyler stared at the handset in horror. “Oh, shit!” was all he could manage to say.
“What’s wrong? What did he say?” Dillon demanded, hitting the rewind button.
“I think I might have upset him,” Jack admitted, replacing the handset in its cradle.
“What did he say?” Dillon repeated.
“He said he’d kill again within the next twenty-four hours, Dill. He also said the fifth would be his last – and he said something about disappearing after completing the final ritual, whatever that means. I think I pissed him off by baiting him, but I didn’t know what else to do.” Tyler ran his hands through his short hair. “Did you manage to record anything he said?”
“Let’s find out,” Dillon said, pressing the play button.
“…Me! Scared of you? Don’t make me laugh. Was my namesake scared of Inspector Abberline?” The quality wasn’t the best, but it was plenty good enough for the lab to get a voice comparison from.
“If you want a drink that badly, Dill, then I suggest you put the kettle on. I hate to say this, but we’re not going anywhere for a while.”
With a heavy heart, Tyler reached for the phone. Holland was going to love this – not.
CHAPTER 35
At ten past nine, Sarah Pritchard was still sitting at her desk in the Sutton Mission, catching up with a few last-minute admin issues. Charise had gone home hours ago to get ready for a Friday night out with some old university friends, and all the evening volunteers had long since gone forth to help the less fortunate.
The Mission had a completely different, more serene, vibe during the evening, and it was one that she rather liked. Once the hustle and bustle of the working day had petered out, and she no longer had to deal with a constant stream of interruptions from her staff and some of their more needy clients, she found that she could get so much more done, which was one of the reasons why she often worked late.
Simon had called a few minutes ago to apologise for running late, and to reassure her that he hadn’t forgotten their date and would be there to collect her shortly.
It seemed weird – but in a nice way – that they were actually going out for dinner together again. They hadn’t done anything like that since he had committed the indiscretion that had torn their marriage apart.
She wondered if he was taking her somewhere intimate. Perhaps he wanted to say something to her – something important? But surely, if he was going to all the trouble of taking her to a restaurant, it was unlikely to be anything bad. Perhaps, she allowed herself to hope, they were going to turn a corner in their troubled relationship and he was finally going to try and put things right between them.
Was that too much to hope for?
As if on cue, Simon Pritchard poked his head around her office door. “Are you ready?” he asked.
Sarah nodded. “Just give me two seconds to send this email and I’ll be with you,” she said, smiling up at him.
◆◆◆
When the call-out arrived, the Commissioners Reserve were playing cards in the canteen at Limehouse police station, having just started their refreshment break.
“Call-out!” PC Jay Smith shouted as he walked in from the Control Room, where he’d just been to collect a printout containing details of the call-out.
Inspector Perry Twist, the unit commander, signalled for Smith to join him at the far end of the canteen, where he was enjoying a cup of tea with the four carrier supervisors.
He read
