g^iidying the minds of serial killers, the only hobby he apparently indulges in is hill-walking. On weekends he regularly drives to the Lakes or the Yorkshire mies and tramps the fells.
pounds like a real barrel of laughs," Penny said aloud g^bling more notes on her pad. She returned to the menu, where she selected the fifth option. Again, she enterec p py's name for a picture search. The data banks reve alec there was one stoc^ picture on file. Penny called it up and star^ at the ^ace tnlat sppc^red on her screen.
"Gotcha!" she cried. She had only seen him once before, but now she kne^ wn0 ^"" l Jordan's new sidekick was.
pgpny leaned back in her seat, savouring her third ciga rent' an<^ rsgi^ered that the newsroom was starting to fil One quick phone call, then she could afford the time to treat herself to a fry-up in the canteen. Reaching for the phone she dialed Kevin Matthews's home number. H< oick^ "P on t*le second '" "Matthews," came the sleepY voice "ble.
t^i, Kev, it's Penny," she said, savouring the stunnec .Igoce that greeted her announcement.
"Sorry to both el at home, but I thought you'd rather answer my ques t.^ there than in the office."
^h-what? " he stuttered. Then, muffled,
"Yeah, it's work qq back to sleep, love."
'plow long has Dr Tony Hill been on the team? "
"How did you hear about that? Shit, that's supposed to be top secret!" he exploded, his nervousness transforming itself into anger.
"Tut, tut. Kev, she'll never get back to sleep if you yell like that.
Never mind how I know, just be grateful you can put your hand on your heart and deny it came from you. How long, Kev? "
He cleared his throat.
"Just a couple of days."
"Was it Brandon's idea?"
"That's right. Look, I really can't talk about this. It's supposed to be kept under wraps."
"He's doing a profile, right?"
"What do you think?"
"Working with Carol Jordan? Brandon's blue-eyed girl on this one, is she?"
"She's the liaison officer. Look, I've got to go. I'll talk to you about this later on, OK?" Kevin tried to sound menacing, but failed.
Penny smiled and slowly exhaled a mouthful of smoke. "Thanks, Kev. I owe you a very special one." She replaced the handset, cleared her screen and opened a story file.
"Exclusive. By Penny Jordan," she typed. Never mind breakfast. She had far more interesting stuff to do.
Tony was back in front of his screen by half past eight. Instead of the guilt he'd expected to feel about his erotic encounter, he felt refreshed. Giving himself permission to indulge himself with Angelica had somehow released and relaxed him. Surprising though he found it under the circumstances, he'd actually become aroused as she'd talked him through an outrageous, imaginative sexual encounter. He hadn't actually managed to sustain his erection as far as orgasm, but because there was no one there to share his failure, it hadn't seemed to matter. Maybe a few more calls from Angelica would be all he needed to contemplate the reality with something less than abject panic.
Chapter 18
But not at work. What he needed now was complete peace. He'd already instructed his secretary to hold all his calls, and he turned off the ringer on his direct line. Nothing and nobody was going to interrupt the flow of his thoughts. His feeling of satisfaction continued as he read through the work he'd done the day before. He was ready now to put himself on the line and commit his conclusions about Handy Andy to paper. Tony poured himself a cup of coffee from his Thermos and took a deep breath.
We are dealing with a serial killer who will certainly kill again unless he is caught. The next killing will take place on the eighth Monday following the death of Damien Connolly unless some trigger accelerates this. What might push him over the edge into extreme escalation could be some catastrophic event that causes him to lose whatever it is he is using to keep the fantasy alive. Since, for example, he is using videos, loss of or damage to his tapes could lead to loss of control. Another possible scenario is that an innocent person is charged with the killings. That would be such an affront to his sense of himself that he might commit his next murder ahead of schedule.
I believe it is likely that he has already selected his next victim and is familiarizing himself with that victim's movements and lifestyle. The chances are that