Deadly Cry (DI Kim Stone #13) - Angela Marsons Page 0,59

the attention back to himself.

‘To do what?’ Kim asked. She didn’t like the way this was going.

‘To speak to him, to answer him. To show he’s got your attention,’ Frederick interjected before Woody offered him a look.

Some juvenile part of her wanted to bob out her tongue at Frederick.

He got the message and closed his mouth.

‘He’ll be looking out for any sign that he’s reached you. He wants a response from you. He needs you to connect, and we need to do everything we can to keep Archie safe.’

Kim said nothing, concerned that all this was on the recommendation of one psychologist that she’d never even met before today.

Woody nodded to Flora, who pushed the single sheet of paper towards her. ‘This is what we want you to say.’

Kim started reading. It was pretty standard stuff at the beginning: ‘body of a female…’; ‘condolences…’; ‘no stone unturned…’; ‘the full force of the law…’ and then she got to the third paragraph.

‘You’re kidding, right?’

Three heads shook in unison.

Frederick looked to Woody for permission to speak. Woody nodded.

‘Given the nature of his letters to you, we feel this is the best way to address him.’

‘You want me to berate him while he still has possession of an innocent little boy?’

‘We strongly believe that this man sees you as a figure of authority, a person to be admired and respected. We feel he will respond to a level of sternness that this message conveys.’

‘You don’t think there’s a chance it could have the opposite effect?’ she asked, and then began to read from the paragraph that horrified her.

‘“This is an unspeakable act carried out by someone with no conscience… evil individual… callous… unfeeling… deviant… punishment of the highest order… met with no mercy…”’

She paused. ‘Hardly sending him to bed with no supper. Why not just tell him we’re firing up the electric chair ready?’

Flora leaned forward. ‘Because that’s—’

‘Yes, Flora, I know we don’t do that any more, but even though I’d like to say all this and worse to him, I’m not sure it’s going to have the desired effect.’

‘And we are confident it will,’ Frederick said, folding his arms.

‘I think we have to do something, Stone,’ Woody said. ‘Three women dead in as many days and a child missing. Somehow, you have to reach him.’

Kim considered arguing further, but it was futile. Despite her own misgivings. These people were the experts and there were times she had to accept that someone else knew better than she did.

She just wasn’t sure that now was one of those times.

Fifty-Eight

‘So where are we, guys?’ Kim asked, entering the squad room. ‘What have you been up to?’

Stacey spoke first. ‘Waiting for an email from the network provider for the burner phone that called Nicola at nine this morning. Tried calling it a few times, but it’s going straight to voicemail. Really don’t think he’s going to answer, boss.’

Well, that was one way of communicating with him that wasn’t going to work, Kim thought, still holding the piece of paper from the meeting in her hand.

From the window at the top of the office, Kim could see the press starting to assemble outside the building.

‘Penn?’ she asked, turning away.

‘Looking for any crackpots who trolled Nicola and seeing if they’re still unhinged now, but nothing so far.’

‘I ferried you around all day and then made coffee,’ Bryant offered.

‘Valuable work,’ Kim said, taking a sip from the mug he’d placed beside the printer.

She stared at the wipe boards. ‘And I’m still trying to work out the reason for the differences in the crimes. First one – woman killed but child left. Second one – woman killed but child taken. Third one – woman killed but no child involved at all.’ She paused and looked at Alison. ‘Anything at all to offer?’

‘We discussed split personalities earlier,’ Alison said, although her response lacked the conviction she’d have liked if they were looking at a highly plausible theory.

‘Is there any chance there’s another personality inside him telling him what to do?’ Kim pushed. ‘Would that explain why there are differences, if both personalities are murdering but doing it slightly differently?’

Alison shook her head. ‘I’ve not seen that before. Normally, with split personalities there’s a dominant and a submissive; even with multiple personalities there is one clear voice that controls the rest, but we’re learning new things about mental illness all the time.’

‘And what do you think his personality or plural are gonna make of this?’ she asked, dropping the sheet of paper